New series 3 owner.

Hi all. Just thought I would post and say hi correctly. Picked up my series 3 the other week. Its a joint car with a couple of friends so will see how it goes. Was told it was a V8 model but as I was the one that collected it and not looked at it / purchased it I didn't really look until I got it home

A couple of questions about it though.

1. It's fitted with an overdrive unit. I sort of understand what this does But I don't know when to engage it / disengage it as the previous owner didn't really explain it.

2. the gear stick is all over the place. Is there anything we can so to make it stiffer again?

Welcome and enjoy stick some pics up of your motor.
Check the alloy housing of gearstick ball assembly should be a small grub screw that fits in slot can come loose and go missing.
Do a web search for smithies Landrover will bring a NZ site of interest.

Hello

If you're in 4th gear and want to change up, this is when you need to use the overdrive. Clutch down, engage the lever, clutch up - just like you are changing gear on the main box. My 109 will do about 60mph in 4th and I can get up to about 70 with the overdrive if I'm feeling brave. Your speeds might be different due to different tyre size and gearbox / drive ratios.
You can also use it in 3rd if you want a gear between 3rd and 4th, but it not recommended to use them in 1st or 2nd or any gear in low ratio as they are not designed to take large amounts of torque.

HTH

does it have a mottled/camo finish or is that just a light effect?

It does have a camp pattern on it. Sort of a custom leaf pattern

The gear stick is kind of all over the place, at least compared to modern cars. To select reverse though, you should have to push left against a spring to cross the gate.
You soon get used to the gear change . Culture shock at first though!

Make sure the overdrive has enough oil. They only hold a little and can easily run dry unless frequently checked.

I've seen some vids of series 3 and their gear changes seem to be a lot better and stiffer than mine are. I need to spend some time and start removing things to see what's what.

gear stick has a locator screw through ali housing into ball they can snap or maybe the ball on end of stick is worn can be welded up and ground to suit

Thought i would stick a better picture up of the car..



Just removed the roof rack as i managed to take half it off by going into a multi story car park.. all the bolts were rusted so had to cut the bolt heads off.

just put it into the garage to get some bits done as it failed the MOT. mainly on the non existent hand brake.

Not really been driving it but hopefully get to drive it a bit more in the future.

Springs said:

Thought i would stick a better picture up of the car..

Click to expand...

I like that a lot! Interesting paint job not seen a camo like that before

it certainly is unique. it's grown on my but my friend wants to paint it Nato green

Need to paint the inside as it's all red in the back and also try and find / seal a leak which is letting water in somewhere in the roof. not pleasant when you drive and start getting wet

is the red just in the back or are there traces of red elsewhere, just wondering if it was part of a fire service outfit in days gone by

depending on the shade of red obviously

I like your camo btw, so many are nato green be nice to keep it different

that's the trouble when more than one person has an interest in the car, we all have different likes etc

It looks more like red primer the previous owner used. It's not a good paint job either as it's all over the place.

What's with the grilles on the windows, is it ex northern ireland?

nope, we use it as a prop in our Airsoft events, the previous owner who was also in the same "sport" put removable grills on all the windows.

we take them off when driving on the main roads

Looks mean =)

unless I am mistaken (judging by the grill and bulkhead I think that's a 2a)

anything PRE 1971 is 2-2a but I love that very nice, G90 goodyear tyres (wolf style) what they like for the road? are they noisy?

series 3 sweet 16 said:

unless I am mistaken (judging by the grill and bulkhead I think that's a 2a)

anything PRE 1971 is 2-2a but I love that very nice, G90 goodyear tyres (wolf style) what they like for the road? are they noisy?

Click to expand...

It's a 1983 model so i'm sure it's a series 3.

in regards to the tyres. They came on the car. the whole thing is noisy so couldn't really tell you.

my s1 has goodyear g90 7.50's its noisy too mainly the doors, but I don't think the tyres are noisey, I had a 110 that rattled like eff too, but I had a full external cage put on it and that stopped all the body noise

Springs said:

it certainly is unique. it's grown on my but my friend wants to paint it Nato green

Need to paint the inside as it's all red in the back and also try and find / seal a leak which is letting water in somewhere in the roof. not pleasant when you drive and start getting wet

Click to expand...

If you are getting a wet right shoulder, run some sikaflex or paint in the external roof gutters - they tend to crack over time letting water in.