Hello from Central NSW Australia.
Our trusty old 45 series was purchased new back in 1979 and has remained in working on our family farm to this day. Still registered and has original number plates so the old girl has never had a year off during its life but has been reasonably well maintained.
I have tried to keep the body and general appearance original for authentic reasons however the old H motor was getting bad blow-by with over 800,000ks under its belt.
The 45 joined our fleet of three petrol series Land Rovers. I remember back in the day it seemed a very modern leap in refined Japanese engineering with its seemingly smooth and powerful diesel six. (haven't things changed over the years) In 1982 we purchased a very nice HJ47 with 2H and factory ac but sadly was lost about ten years ago due to hand brake failure. (that's another story!)
So this brings us to the ongoing resurrection of our 45 series to this day.
Back to the old H motor getting tired,we did drop one set of liners in and sent head away due to dreaded cracked pre-chambers.
For some reason the H didn't last long till broke piston rings on no5 so I decided to heave the old lump out for rebuild.
it was on this sad day the low k 47 series got away and ended up looking like a VW bug. I have to say, they are almost unbreakable but things did bend. A lot!
This was the start of making the 45 more road friendly. In those days, we found everything out the hard way we went along!
while the H motor came out, I was always planing on fitting power steering but had difficulty finding the factory 40 or 55 set up so ended up obtaining a complete 60 series which was a slight head cluster to make work but we got there. Chassis crush tubes, shock mount, battery tray, steering column, drag links, radiator bottom outlet etc all had to be modified. I've got another nice 45 here to do but not sure I'd go this way again!
As the 47 came to a sudden halt, we confirmed the much more refined 2H motor was unharmed but everything around it was trashed. Ever seen a prop shaft punched trough a transmission? you get the idea..
I thought the 2H would drop straight in then suddenly realized to H bell housing had starter motor in different position and the back mounts where attached to the said bell housing. OK, no problem, we swap bell housings... This ended up a 47 series cross member, rear mounts and had to obtain a second had 47 transmission as from what I could see the 60 series had slight different offset and propshafts etc.
The 47 radiator was trashed to we had to swap the top and bottom outlets on old 45 radiator which is still going but must be upgraded for next summer.
The 2H served us well for many years, saw out other farmers buying and trading other utes until just recently blew the bottom hose and lost the coolant. This proper cooked the 2H to point of locking up. Once cooled down, the thing started again and seemed OK. New hose, coolant in and away we went! Would have pulled out of the Simpson and got home no worries.
Over time, cooling issues developed we we pulled the head to find she was a mess. All chambers cracked and broken rings on every piston. Now good 2H engines are getting hard to find (I do have a spare but in another future project 47)
and rebuild cost was prohibitive for a engine which is hopelessly under powered and have an incredible desire to cook them selves with the stupid pre-chamber design when pushed hard or turboed.
I've always liked the mighty 12HT when the HJ61 series came out so this is where we are at.
Given most of the hard work was done during 60 series power steering and 2H conversion I confident to purchase the low k 12HT and drop it in. Almost dropped in anyway!
Just lot of fiddly things such as alternator and ac brackets when using 40 series mounts, throttle cable, power steering reservoir, keeping all vacuum idle up and engine stop with 12HT, custom 3", making 61 series tacho with boost lights fit 47 cowl and 45 dash etc.
All done and runs beautifully. Still need to sort out a proper air filter as only has a bug catcher fitted for test run.
I come from a diesel background (with remote tuning experience) so have air fuel analysis, acceleration measurement, phyrometer and knock box but wont be pushing the 12HT to hard until rebuilt as I believe big ends and pistons are a weakness on the older ones.
I'll put some photos up over time if anyone is interested.
Our trusty old 45 series was purchased new back in 1979 and has remained in working on our family farm to this day. Still registered and has original number plates so the old girl has never had a year off during its life but has been reasonably well maintained.
I have tried to keep the body and general appearance original for authentic reasons however the old H motor was getting bad blow-by with over 800,000ks under its belt.
The 45 joined our fleet of three petrol series Land Rovers. I remember back in the day it seemed a very modern leap in refined Japanese engineering with its seemingly smooth and powerful diesel six. (haven't things changed over the years) In 1982 we purchased a very nice HJ47 with 2H and factory ac but sadly was lost about ten years ago due to hand brake failure. (that's another story!)
So this brings us to the ongoing resurrection of our 45 series to this day.
Back to the old H motor getting tired,we did drop one set of liners in and sent head away due to dreaded cracked pre-chambers.
For some reason the H didn't last long till broke piston rings on no5 so I decided to heave the old lump out for rebuild.
it was on this sad day the low k 47 series got away and ended up looking like a VW bug. I have to say, they are almost unbreakable but things did bend. A lot!
This was the start of making the 45 more road friendly. In those days, we found everything out the hard way we went along!
while the H motor came out, I was always planing on fitting power steering but had difficulty finding the factory 40 or 55 set up so ended up obtaining a complete 60 series which was a slight head cluster to make work but we got there. Chassis crush tubes, shock mount, battery tray, steering column, drag links, radiator bottom outlet etc all had to be modified. I've got another nice 45 here to do but not sure I'd go this way again!
As the 47 came to a sudden halt, we confirmed the much more refined 2H motor was unharmed but everything around it was trashed. Ever seen a prop shaft punched trough a transmission? you get the idea..
I thought the 2H would drop straight in then suddenly realized to H bell housing had starter motor in different position and the back mounts where attached to the said bell housing. OK, no problem, we swap bell housings... This ended up a 47 series cross member, rear mounts and had to obtain a second had 47 transmission as from what I could see the 60 series had slight different offset and propshafts etc.
The 47 radiator was trashed to we had to swap the top and bottom outlets on old 45 radiator which is still going but must be upgraded for next summer.
The 2H served us well for many years, saw out other farmers buying and trading other utes until just recently blew the bottom hose and lost the coolant. This proper cooked the 2H to point of locking up. Once cooled down, the thing started again and seemed OK. New hose, coolant in and away we went! Would have pulled out of the Simpson and got home no worries.
Over time, cooling issues developed we we pulled the head to find she was a mess. All chambers cracked and broken rings on every piston. Now good 2H engines are getting hard to find (I do have a spare but in another future project 47)
and rebuild cost was prohibitive for a engine which is hopelessly under powered and have an incredible desire to cook them selves with the stupid pre-chamber design when pushed hard or turboed.
I've always liked the mighty 12HT when the HJ61 series came out so this is where we are at.
Given most of the hard work was done during 60 series power steering and 2H conversion I confident to purchase the low k 12HT and drop it in. Almost dropped in anyway!
Just lot of fiddly things such as alternator and ac brackets when using 40 series mounts, throttle cable, power steering reservoir, keeping all vacuum idle up and engine stop with 12HT, custom 3", making 61 series tacho with boost lights fit 47 cowl and 45 dash etc.
All done and runs beautifully. Still need to sort out a proper air filter as only has a bug catcher fitted for test run.
I come from a diesel background (with remote tuning experience) so have air fuel analysis, acceleration measurement, phyrometer and knock box but wont be pushing the 12HT to hard until rebuilt as I believe big ends and pistons are a weakness on the older ones.
I'll put some photos up over time if anyone is interested.
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