Military Lightweight Forum

Thought it about time i posted some info on the Lightweight I've owned since March 1993.

Always wanted a Landy ever since i was at school, used to walk to school in the winter through knee high snow and used to watch the Bedford RL gritters and snowploughs along with Landies pass bursting through snowdrifts. So I had the idea that getting an ex-army machine would be a good idea as they would have been looked after... so after a night at the pub, wearing my beer goggles, in the dark, with a belly full of English beer, I spied the very machine for me, it had a graphic equaliser! So i ended up over-paying (my wife likes to remind me of that) for the biggest heap of rusty oil leaking c**p I could possibly have found. My next move was to drive up the M6 to Scotland where petrified i took to the A7 as soon as i could. With relief i began to relax, then the bonnet promptly flew up and bent around the top of the screen obscuring my view. More swearing, found some old wire not used in the 4 extra front spot lights, and tied the bonnet down.
So continued on my way north and home, stopped off at my bemused folks for tea before heading north up the A9 for home. Relief It hadn't broken down, i hadn't crashed, wait till my mates see this, they'll be so...BANG BANG BANG - what the **** was that? That was piston rings saying we're out of here, and that is how the last 4 miles were achieved being towed behind my mates 2a109.
Big problem...no money, so my Landy mad mate replaced the piston rings and one piston in his folks drive way while they were away on holiday.
Anyway over the years I've been slowly bringing it back to near original which included a re-bore, I've had loads of help from mates, this forum and had a load of fun in it on and off road. After a brief stint working in the deep south - Buckinghamshire, a friend transported it down and I drove it back North over 2 days in the winter (no door seals) 2 years later up the M40/M42/M6/M74 etc and I passed a total of 1 vehicle each day, mind you i still have nightmares thinking of that elevated stretch of motorway around Birmingham.

Over the last 5 years its been sitting in my garage, as i wasn't so well for a while. It's now been joined by an other 2a 88" Landy from 1962.

So as I'm almost back to fitness and have this enforced time off my work onwards i go. Photos will follow.

what an adventure, but thats every journey in a lightweight for you!

Great to see some pics, keep the progress reports coming.

So enough of the past, unless you want more.

Working on the seat box which has been bodged up in the past, i just never had the time to sort it out. Bought seat box ends a few years ago, haven't even unwrapped them yet. Took off the angle iron reinforcements off and am left with - see photos.

Has anyone got a decent picture of what a 2a seat box should look like?
I'm sure i can fabricate any of the cross members if they prove to be too far gone to use, but I'd like to see what the corners look like -see photo. I'm planning to bond the edges together.

Any ideas? Tips?

Nice machine and pics, Dougie. Took pics when renovating my old Lightweight (39FG42) some time ago. Hope they help?

That's excellent thanks. Just not sure what's correct or what's been mucked around. I'll update at a later point. Dougie

Time Team archaeological "dig"... So have been doing some work on my new stable mate for the lightweight, the "on the road" '62 88" and it has severely been bugging my happiness! Every time i take something off to fix a problem, another "challenge" raises its ugly head its amazing what salty air in the Western Isles can do to a car. I'm sure we've all been there.
Anyway for my sanity i turned my attention to the Lightweight, at least the only person to blame for shoddy work in the past was me - myself - I, 'cause I had already sorted out the previous owners' shoddy work of the past.
With my teenage son, we got down to stripping the wings off and get a good look at the footwells and quarter panels i had fabricated and fitted in the early 90's, the quarter panels were beyond saving and the footwells weren't too bad, repairable... i hope. big issue on one side is the OS A pillar it is well rotted out - Why so bad? Because for years the Landy used to be parked on a very steep hill side on, so water pooled in that corner. There's going to be a lot of head scratching done to fix that economically.

Ordered pair of quarter panels which are powder coated. let you know how i get on, although i'm a bit nervous when i look at some of the other projects on this forum.

Was never an expert welder first time around, any tips on fitting the quarter panels? Powder coat's impact on MIG welding, how much should i remove? Is bonding an option?

Lot of tricky work before you - perhaps you should be a bit careful with your head?

Amongst the jobs i have on the go i've been strengthening, tidying and cleaning up the bonnet ready for a nice new coat of paint. One of the jobs i needed to sort out was to replace 2 pop rivets which were holding down a couple of rotting repair washers in the middle of the bonnet. I had assumed they were there to hold the outer skin against the reinforced frame below.
But when i drilled the rivets out 2 big holes appeared. the location is right next to where the spare wheel staple is located, the picture shows the 2 small holes, and in indent where it was fitted.

Anybody got an idea what they might have been for, they are really neat - meaning they aren't rough in any way, however i can now see that they are not centre.