Imagine that you had just spent 6 years restoring a 70 year old Land rover Series 1 from an abandoned wreck to a beautiful pristine vehicle. And then when you finally get it on the road for a few trips you realise how terribly basic and uncomfortable it is. What would be the first and most important upgrade for a Land rover Series 1 you would do?
Well I did an upgrade on this Landy to make it just that little bit more comfortable.
If you have followed this restoration then welcome back. Its been a few months since I finished and I will give you an update on how it is going and share my impressions. We’ve been on a few short day trips and its been fantastic, but there are areas that need improvement. Lets be honest a 70 year old Series 1 is a thing of beauty with mountains of character and unbelievable charm but it is not the most comfortable experience. So what is the best and first upgrade to do? Well I will get to that but let me give you an update on what has happened since the restoration.
The Restored Land Rover
Firstly I have way more free time on weekends but at the same time I have been wondering about the next project. But that is a story for another day.
The vehicle has been running very well. The engine has been good, the clutch needed a bit of adjustment to make it more comfortable and the brakes have been good. Just the front right has a bit of a squeak, but I think it just needs a few more miles to settle in.
Surprise surprise the gearbox is leaking , mostly from the selector shafts which is annoyingly common and expected. But also it looks like the rear outout shaft seal is leaking. I have also had it slip out of 3rd gear on engine braking, so I made some adjustments to the selector shaft so lets see if that solves the problem. Then also the front diff pinion seal looked like it was leaking, but it seems to have stopped so I am watching that too.
I also still have a short to do list that I am working on like
Passenger wiper motor wiring
Connect Wire accessory plugs
Choke Series wiring
Spare wheel rubbers on bonnet
Recovery points
Brake fluid cap rubber
Vacuum advance pipe 80cm 1/8 inch od
Upgrade for Land Rover Series 1
So the first easy upgrade was to get a decent leather steering wheel cover, it makes a world of difference especially on cold moist days.
The other possible upgrade is an overdrive. I have had one before and they really do make longer distances more comfortable. They are scarce these days but I got hold of a used Fairey overdrive that I am going to rebuild. So that will come later.
So that leaves the upgrade that I consider the best and am most interested in at the moment. I was unable to get a set of original Series 1 springs so had to settle for some locally made aftermarket versions. But it turned out that these are way too hard as they have thicker blades than the originals. The articulation was almost non existant, just a minor bump out of the garage resulted in an awkward cross axle situation. The first few drives also it blatantly obvious, on rough roads I would regularly be launched off my seat and on tar some bigger bumps would do the same. So that led me to fitting some parabolics. I don’t have much choice here in SA so had to settle for the Allmakes version.
Fitting Parabolic Springs
The springs are supplied grey but I painted them black and they came with the bushes fitted and are supplied with their own U-bolts. These are the ones for the rear but are actually the 3 blade version for the SWB. The LWB rear have 4 blades for the heavier loads of a LWB. The problem I’ve seen with the 4 blade spring on a 107 is that the rear sits too high. Also I don’t intend fully loading this vehicle so I thought I’d try the SWB 3 blade version. The front springs are all the same and just have 2 blades.
Fitting them was easy because the vehicle is still new and I had no problems removing the shackle pins. I also enlisted some help from my son which meant it went a bit quicker too. I did it with the wheels in place which limited access a bit but mad it a bit quicker I think. The trickiest but is getting the axle pin to line up with the locating hole in the spring. Most of them went in easily except for the rear left which needed a bit more effort.
Parabolic Springs Performance
The biggest problem I had on the front springs was the bushes moving inside the springs which probably points to the spring eye not being the right diameter. The result was that the bush was working its way out of the spring. I solved the problem by making a shim to get a tight fit of the bush inside the spring eye.
I do also have a slight lean on the right hand side which is a bit disappointing but hardly noticeable. The odd thing is that unlike the original springs these are the same for left and right handed.
So now with these fitted it has transformed the vehicle and the ride is significantly better than it was and even comparable to the feel of my d90. Dirt roads are still bumpy but at least you don’t get thrown around and the bumps aren’t so jarring. I am very happy with the outcome and would highly recommend it. Also the wheel articulation is excellent which will really improve off road ability. If you ask me I’d say that this is the best upgrade for Land Rover Series 1 and other leaf sprung Series vehicles.
If you want to see the full story of the restoration of this vehicle then checkout the Restoring a Legend Playlist for the 26 video series. Next up is finishing off those items on my list, rebuilding the overdrive and getting out on some more trips.
