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63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Sat Jan 18, 2020 11:35 pm
by nobueno
Afternoon Patrollers-

I swooped this lovely Patrol a few months back about an hour and a half from where I live. I had been eyeing this mystery vehicle Facebook Marketplace for about a month. The lady who posted it had it listed as a "Nissan Jeep." It looked orange in her listing photos and when I saw it in person I discovered just how orange it was. A little back story, when she bought her 40-acre property in the early 2000s the owner at the time threw it in to sweeten the deal. After letting it sit for another 3-4 years she brought it to the shop where they cleaned the carb, changed the oil and battery and fired her right up. She proceeded to redo the interior black vinyl and a blue grey rhino-lining, and the exterior in electric orange rhino-lining. It was originally the datsun blue color and somewhere down the line it was painted red. I'll scan the original photos at some point. She redid the floorboards and the door panels and some other stuff. She was rusty in places and leaky in others, and full of bondo... but I decided she was mine and we headed down the hill in the loudest car ride I've ever had in my life.

After a brief bout with buyers remorse, I scoured the internet for weeks upon weeks to figure out exactly what the hell I was going to do with this thing. Honestly I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had been looking for the right Series II Land Rover for about a year, but decided this was much much cooler of a project. In this project I will be drawing a lot of inspiration from CoolNVintage in Portugal and emulating a classic safari look.

Plans for the project as of 1-18-2020:
2-Inch lift w/ BFG KM2 255/85r16
Disc brakes
Soft top
Fix rust
Stop Leaks
Paint - Perhaps Sandglow?

I'm not sure if I want to go full body off resto, so we'll check back on that after enjoying it with the top off this summer. I have new 2" springs and KYB 343219 en route, and the KM2s are sitting patiently in the garage. A question to anyone who cares: Should I replace my steering stabilizer as well? If so, what should I get?

Here are some pics in no particular order.

Re: 63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 11:08 am
by zed
Wow and Welcome!!!

Re: 63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:33 pm
by Esteban
Congratulations and Welcome to 60Patrol!!

Great story, and it looks like you have a good plan to enjoy your Patrol.

Re: 63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:18 pm
by Kdiv_n_tx
Nobueno-

Nice find! I too love CoolNVintage and have many inspirational photos of their work saved locally. A quick search here will find you another Patrolee who is making a disk brake conversion kit for stock Patrols. My 1970 Patrol was already a small block 350, auto tranny resto-mod when I bought her so I was free to swap everything from the frame down to the ground (using front and rear axles from a 2001 Jeep Cherokee to gain disk brakes up front with no-switch locking hubs). Under the Parts page, there is a spreadsheet listing compatible parts, including the Trailboss SSD15 for the steering damper. It is an invaluable resource.

Raul Rodriguez out of Bogota will be your source for soft top and frame - he has made several for other users here and I am having one installed on mine right now. His work is fantastic and I was unable to find anyone local to me (Austin) to make a top (I had an one-off non-original frame already on mine) for even twice his price. Perhaps in CA you can find someone willing to take on the project - boat seat restorers, boat cover makers are ideas others have had.

Looks like the PO did a nice job with the seats - I would imagine the tinted rhino-liner is a love/hate kind of thing.

Welcome - everyone here is very friendly and knowledgeable - leverage this site well and learn from their scars.

Re: 63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:19 pm
by RiverPatrol
Welcome to 60Patrol! :text-welcomeconfetti: Congratulations on your new project, looks like a good one. Funny, I've got one I call 'Punkin' that has almost the exact same color scheme. It was even originally the same color of blue.

Keep us posted with your progress, and don't hesitate to ask any questions.

Re: 63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 3:16 pm
by nobueno
Dude, thank you so much for pointing out the spreadsheet. I'm gonna send back the KYBs and go with the Gabriel Classics. Also, I'm only seeing the MOOG SSD15, is that the same?

Whats the cost of the soft top with frame? I have an upholstery guy locally who is a family friend and does an amazing job, but If Raul is experienced at making these things and the color/price is right I'll probably just go with one of his. I really want to do brown canvas.

The tinted rhino liner is, in fact, a love/hate. They didn't do a very good job when it comes to marking things off, and I'm pretty sure theres only 1 layer of orange. Eventually I'll try to sand it or maybe even heat gun it off. I have my suspicions that it is the blue grey rhino lining all around, but I'm not gonna dive into caring about that quite yet.

Another question, has anyone purchased any panels from this company? Both of my fenders are rusted and my A/C vent on the driver side is stuck open so I will be looking to replace them. Just wondering if the price is right and the fitment was true.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/G60-Patrol-Fro ... 0677.m4598

-NB

Re: 63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 6:34 pm
by caterpillarman
What a jewell.

Congratulations

Re: 63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:43 pm
by RiverPatrol
Here's the post for the soft top frames: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4383&start=30

Some folks have bought body panels from that vendor. The only thing you need to be aware of is they are not one size fits all. There were subtle changes in body panels over the years making a direct swap not feasible. The panels he sells are for Patrols in the 70's, so there will be differences. For instance, the fenders will not work for your Patrol; the kick panel vents are mounted differently. You can find used panels most likely, I know I've got one or two.

And it would be great if you could provide ID number for the vehicle and engine so I can add it to the Registry if it isn't already there. ;)

Re: 63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 9:21 pm
by faux40
That looks great! Welcome to the NorCal Patrol gang! ;-)

John

Re: 63 CA Patrol - "Pumpkin"

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 5:36 pm
by nobueno
faux40 wrote:That looks great! Welcome to the NorCal Patrol gang! ;-)

John


Happy to be here!

River- It's Car No. L60-3-07165 And Engine No. 26888