1982 Land Rover series 3 88" 2.3 petrol station wagon

i realise that most of this thread will be past tense and drip fed by copy paste, but here goes !!

our gran passed away in 2015 (in her nineties) and a small amount of money filtered down from the will. i wasn't expecting anything to be honest so it was quite a surprise. i didn't want to stash it or blow it on pointless stuff (he says, about to buy another car) so decided to look for a physical keep sake, which in my mind translated as car ! something familiar, potential to be future classic and increase in value, plus be fun to drive and have a good owners scene behind it. having owned an early land rover ninety which i sold in 2013 i started looking at the older leaf sprung series 2a and 3. i viewed a couple and this one came up locally at a good price, i ended up viewing it and buying it on the spot!.

its a genuine factory series 3 station wagon 2.25 petrol (verified by vin) 109,000 miles but had engine rebuild in 1998 including new valves, guides, unleaded conversion, weber 34ich carb. it had a part respray in the noughties (unknown reasons) and a new OE steel chassis which is still in great condition, no welded repairs anywhere. manufacture date is 1981 but wasnt registered until summer 1982. the engine number comes back correct vintage 8:1 5 main bearing and the vehicle is otherwise original, untouched, completely knackered or gracefully restored. it has the original fairey overdrive and freewheeling hubs which were standard extras on the station wagon. It also came with a wallet of history dating back to its purchase from dutton forshaw ayelsbury (oxford registered) in the history is a little note book in which the second owner started writing down servicing and purchases, then each subsequent owners have carried it on, which is awesome ! even has date of purchase, price, name and address at each change of hands, amazing !

to do list at the time of purchase....

heater box is bypassed with rubber hose, replacement came with vehicle
sort bonnet catch as it wobbles up and down 1/4 inch
replace wing mirror as it has random round one the size of the top of pint glass (helpless)
door glass wont slide, felt runners are swollen/jammed with moss
door tops bow out at speed, possible replacement or fettling
roof lining is mouldy
one safari vent jammed open
rear side window runners (bottom) are rotting/swollen with rust
cross bars in rear door starting to rot
rear door check strap pulled out of floor pan
water pump is leaking out of the drain hole
choke cable rusted solid internally
heater control cable rusted solid internally
indicator stalk not self cancelling
reverse light not working
awesome 80s sharp head unit not powering up

biggy is the gearbox pops out of 4th occasionally, 3rd and 4th syncro are also non existent (works ok double clutching) gearbox was booked back in on 23rd feb 2015 to have the syncros done and whatever else crops up (seals bearings kind of thing)

Reading back, you bought / chose well. Where did you get the gearbox rebuild done, Darren?

Land Raver said:

Reading back, you bought / chose well. Where did you get the gearbox rebuild done, Darren?

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hindsight though! i think if i had known all the stuff i know about now, i might have haggled a bit better i took it back to the garage that sold it to me, who also happened to be a pretty clued up old school land rover garage. (RST land rovers in essex)

top job on check list the water pump and reinstating the heater (as it was february and i drove home in hat and gloves and 2 coats due to the roof vent and doors bowing out )



i drained the system using the plug on the bottom of the radiator, and the plug on the bottom of the block. in small quantities it had a good pink coolant mix, however by the time the trug had a few inches of liquid at the bottom it was turning very rusty. will replace it to be honest.



removing the radiator fixings, had the battery out at this point too. the whole job was getting a bit "stuff in the way of other stuff







i originally thought this was a drive dog for engine powered capstan winch, but i have since learned its for a starter handle !



old pump off and the timing chain cover cleaned up as much as i could in situ



new pump fitted and timing chain cover dotted in with paint



repainted and refitted the pump pully and fan



rad refitted, hoses plumbed back in, then the fan shroud and other bits of dressing replaced



also started investigating the bypassed heater matrix. blanked one outlet off and stuck a garden hose on the other, i take it this is outside of normal leak down tolerance



removed the heater box from the bulkhead (orange stuff round the hole is glue for foam seal) the matrix appears to be split along the end cap, should be able to braze that back up and keep it as a spare



onwards with all things ethylene glycol!

spruced up the replacement heater box and bunged up some of the holes with dumdum. i also did the garden hose leak test which came back ok, that was with about 5 bar mains pressure behind it too, the coolant system on a car is under 1bar



bolted in place with new foam seal, then started plumbing it back in.



also had the heater valve off to make sure its clear and free, which it is



then into the cabin to see why the heater controls weren't working. when i moved the lever the outer sheath was sliding through the clamp, so i tightened the clamp but then the lever was rock solid. then i took the clamp off, released the wire core and i couldn't even shift it with pliers on the end ultimately i had to take the cable off the landy, clamp the end of the wire core in a vice and pull the sheath off. it was rusted solid so cleaned it up with wire wool soaked in oil, then it slid back through lovely



while in the dash i delved into the birds nest behind the dials to fit the new lucas indicator stalk. no problems with the fitment all the wires and plugs matched, but the kink in the stalk wasnt quite right, it hit the wiper button when pushed forward to full beam so i gripped the stalk in an adjustable wrench where i wanted to bend it more, then tweaked it forward which cured that problem

Good to see you on Landyzone matey, enjoyed reading through your project on landrovernet. Looking forward to reading through it all over again!

Nice, even if some of it is historical, not having seen the original I don't have a clue but then that's nothing new. Martyn

huzaah! said Darren in march 2015, the gearbox was done and the landy was back on the road

in the end it had new primary pinion and first gear (because its got drive teeth for 4th inside it), new 2nd gear, new 3rd gear, plus all new baulk rings. bearings, seals, gaskets. oh and a new borg+beck clutch

heres the primary pinion, the clutch goes on the splines arrowed green. red is the drive teeth for 4th gear, well there's no actual "gear" for fourth it just a direct drive.



heres a close up of the teeth for the direct drive (4th gear) i.e the red arrow above. notice the edges have become bevelled with wear





this is the chalice/syncro for 3rd and 4th gear. when pushed in one direction the inner teeth slide and mesh with the teeth inside the primary pinion from the previous pictures, this then provides the 1:1 direct drive to transfer box (4th gear)



close up of the teeth for direct drive (4th gear) so this horrendous wear/chamfering, plus the bevelled wear inside the primary pinion is why it kept jumping out of 4th gear, it was literally pushing itself apart



heres the other gears that were replaced due to the syncromesh teeth being terribly warn





it drives really nicely now, the gearbox is tight and quiet, slides into gear like a lovely bolt action rifle. very happy

visited the non functioning reverse light which had gone a bit melty inside



after quite a bit of effing and blinding at rusted whitworth nuts and bolts i got the metal cover of the rear of the lights. inside was yet more scotchlock heaven, the earth wire for none function reverse light was scotched into the cable for the tail lights. despite the +!2v being a dedicated feed from the dashboard, they had also used scotchlocks as means of joining it to the reverse light.



ripped all that off and filled the old holes with epoxy resin, then i had to drill 3 new holes for the new reverse light, which is just a generic yet correct for period bearmach one, matches my fog light on the other side. i used a grommet in the loom hole and put O rings round the bolts to seal them to the rear panel. +12v got soldered and shrink wrapped, i put a ringlet on the earth and slipped that under the bolt where all the tail lights earths are ganged together.





back up front remember it had a vintage lucas pull switch,



i unscrewed that and found it had a length of wire wrapped round it which went off to a dashboard earth post wtf are people like?



then i bolted in a brand new lucas SPB200 switch i bought to match the rest, laarvly ! this was given a new fused switch ignition supply from fuse box



i could probably have fitted a plunger switch to the gearbox selector and have it automatic, but figured it will be useful for a work light too

DarrenH said:

door tops bow out at speed, possible replacement or fettling

Click to expand...

May 2015 this happened !

this morning i unbolted the drivers door, i removed the bolts from the door side rather than bulkhead. i'm under no illusion why the doors are floppy mind you (rust), just knuckling down with the work



temporary door!



transferred to the work bench (2 gold stars for when i decided to make the bench 3 foot deep !!) you can already see some grott along the bottom rail



heres the 3 station wagon trim pieces removed, the strip pictured middle covers the join between the door bottom and top, appears to be stainless steel clad in vinyl. narrow section pictured left is the armrest and looks like its backed with some sort of zintec material, its rusted anyway and will need replacing. large section pictured right is the door bottom cover, its hardboard with vinyl stapled on.



close up of the arm rest backing. ive got a load of 1.2mm galvanised sheet in stock so i think i will just remake this.



now onto the door carcass, rotten bottom rail, no biggie as i repaired this on my ninety to good standard. already have some YRM repair lengths which came last week



then i unbolted the door tops, i was gonna repair these for originality but they are completely teabagged in the internal structural areas. i think i will get a new pair from SPlandrovers to be honest.







the following pictures are really just for reference so i know how the windows tops go back together. gonna keep the original glass and i also need to re-use the stainless steel packing pieces, but i've already received a clutch of brand new genuine felt runners a few weeks back













first job on the door bottoms is to peel the alloy skin back from frame. i learned my lesson on the ninety so heated up the paint to stop it cracking this time, then slowly lifted the lip up 90 degrees with combo of paint scraper and tack puller





then i sliced the entire bottom frame away, at a nice mitre each end



you can buy repair sections from quite a few places, this is from YRM metal solutions, cut to length and mitred to match the door



i also ordered a new pair of door tops for SPlandrovers, top quality british made items. rather than poor quality chinese made with a british name items

finished the welding, also had a decent wire wheel on all the other surface rust, plus a bit of hydate80 rust converter, lastly a word out to our sponsers Steve a.k.a gridman for donating a tin of landrover limestone coach enamel supplied to him in error (label says matt, contents is gloss). first coat on, a few more to follow.










here i was dressing the door-top with the new felt runners, really fiddly time sapping job trying to match the screw you are putting in blind, to the hole you previously drilled blind, basically doing it by feel and trial and error. i also put loads of waxoil in the screw holes and behind the glass sliders so it was getting a bit mind bending.



retaining strip on the fixed forward window



this is the fixed window from the outside, i used butyl rubber strip which comes in a preformed bead on a roll with non stick backing, like a huge comedy fruit winder, nicely squished out thatll do it



here i swapped over the window lock from the old door, fitted the rubber blade draft excluder thing that goes between the two panes, also riveted on the rubber seal that goes between the door bottom/top. (lip on the cabin side, lip upwards, incase you are wondering !)



also did a couple bits on door bottoms, fitted a couple strips of bitumen anti-drum pads. these will give the door a bit of build quality and stop the road noise a bit. gonna do the same on the floor panels.



confession time, i originaly said i was gonna refurb my station wagon trim set. then one evening while browsing exmoor trim (making my imaginary wish list for when the euro millions roll in) i noticed they sell exact copies of the deluxe/station wagon trim! you get 2x door cards, 2x arm rests, 2x upper door cards, for the same price as a weekend out on the lash. that was a complete no brainer, ordered them up because i'm getting lazy in my young age and saves me about 2 days. heres two of the bits test fitted to the door bottom



now rinse and repeat for the passenger side, although its not as badly rusted







last picture here showing the paint rectumfied

basically to show the finish from coach enamel applied with a mini gloss roller, followed by many weeks to let it harden, then 1500 halfords wet and dry in a bucket with a couple drops of washing up liquid, followed by polish with off the shelf "t-cut original". probably all of the shonkiest back yard methods.

tough to get a picture of white as its the least reflective but this is the before picture, note the reflection of the strip light on the glass and into the painted area, showing the texture



after the wet sanding and t-cut

Excellent work, excellent thread !

Please keep this updated !

Mr S1 said:

Excellent work, excellent thread !

Please keep this updated !

Click to expand...

thanks mr S1

Nice work great looking series 3

couple of cheeky low key upgrades in june 2014, the first is fitting a 200tdi oil filter adapter. the reason is that its a direct swap and can now use ten a penny defender style spin off oil filters. i had to blank off the various unused holes (oil cooler and temp sensor) which is pretty easy off the peg BSP brass plugs





second is an electronic ignition upgrade

i fitted the H+H ignition solutions electronic distributor kit. this is a well trodden path by myself as i had the exact same kit on my 2.3 ninety. it came with a new high power coil, lucas 45 style billet distributor plus all the wiring and mountings. inside is a hall sensor driven system to trigger the coil.

i started by rotating the crank by hand to get TDC and marked it with a blob of tippex. my crank pulley had 5 marks on it with 6 deg written at either end. i figured the middle mark was TDC and confirmed this by using a screw driver down no.1 spark plug hole and rotating the crank further.



then i took the cap off just to check the rotor arm was pointing towards the electrode for no.1 cylinder



one 11mm bolt is all that secures the distributor into its mounting bracket



i lubed up the new distributor and slid it into the block, engaging the offset dog drive by wiggling the rotor arm



then i wired up the new distributor cap, since the arm was still pointing towards no.1 cylinder and the rotor travels anti-clockwise, its easy to plug the leads in using the firing order, 1-3-4-2. i also fitted the new coil with its spades and screwed that to the bulkhead. beforehand i had cleaned up all the mounting points with wire wheel so it makes a good earth through the mounting bolts, put loads of vaseline on the bare metal. there's two wires coming out of the new distributor, positive and negative which go to + and - on the coil fairly easy. the standard distributor only had a positive as it earthed through the block i think.



then i got the vintage gunson timing light out (inherited from dad !) hooked it up inline with cylinder 1 and the engine fired straight up at the first turn! it was bang on TDC so that was a good guess to start. then i disconnected the vac feed and turned the distributor body slightly to get about 6 deg advance. you can see in the video i bring the engine revs up just to make sure the centrifugal advance works, the tippex blob migrates over to the left

august 2015, MOT items

left hand drag link ball joint excessive play. nearside brake flexi hose split



outer braids on the brake hose had split, it wasnt leaking but i imagine was ballooning a bit under pressure



the LR gods were smiling on me as all the unions undid with a firm hand, fitted a new genuine LR hose as i couldnt be bothered to test or do my own R+D on an aftermarket item.



new drag link balljoint, delphi lockheed variety.



while the hydraulics were disturbed i also changed the master cylinder reservoir as the old one had gone a bit weird, a bit like UV damage? bled the whole system front to back, very pleasing peace of mind job seeing all the old scummy black fluid flowing out.







no pictures but i also bled the clutch which came out like muddy water :confused2