New Chassis

A new chassis was required due to advancing corrosion in the main rails.

There were two main options – find an unused MoD surplus chassis, or order a new chassis outright. The MoD chassis had the advantage of being half the price of new, but would have needed significant alteration to fit the rear fuel tank and 12J engine. A new chassis could have these alterations incorporated by the manufacturer, and could be galvanised. These factors outweighed the price differential.

There are two manufacturers of 109 chassis in the UK – Marsland and Richard’s. The Marsland is thicker and allows more customer options, but is more generic. The Richard’s Chassis service offers accurate replacements for the exact spec of the particular vehicle, but is of standard thickness and is less flexible over spec alteration. Both have good reputations and similar prices.

I chose Marsland as I would be rebuilding with 1-ton suspension mounts for increased ground clearance and originality would not be an issue in this rebuild. I included the following specifications:

– 1-ton suspension mounts and bell housing cross-member;

– civilian rear cross-member to allow rear fuel tank mounting;

– forward fuel tank out riggers to allow future fitting of front tanks if required;

– removeable gearbox cross-member to ease gearbox removal;

– revised engine mounts and battery mount deletion to allow 12J/19J fitment.

The price, including VAT and delivery, was about £1500.