asking for advice on 1980 series3

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
H

hakuch

Member
Posts
14
hello, i am new member, and i always wanted to own landrover.
i have a opportunity to buy 1980 series3, 2.25 gasoline engine.
I would like to fully restore (most likely with new galvanized chassis).
Can you give me advice is this one is worth to buy and how much work/parts would be involved to fully restore it.
here is link to photos:

link deleted because some members contacted the seller ....

the car is here in Japan, and it is quite difficult to find one here. Probably all the parts would have to import from UK.
I can buy this car for about 1,500 pounds...

Thanks a lot,
[/SIZE][/COLOR][/SIZE]
 
Last edited:
I can't see any photos on the link?

New galvanised chassis for S3 are around 1200-1500 depending on whether it's an 88" or 109". More for 4 door station wagons and 1tons.

Prices

:welcome: Pop into the 'Introduce Yourself' section and tell us a little about yourself
 
As long as you realise it may never be worth the cost of the restoration and you're doing for the love and you have quite deep pockets and or you can

Weild a spanner.
Weld
Paint

You will also need a largish storage area cum work area i.e. double garage as a minimum.
Also to be honest it would help if you knew enough about Land Rovers to not need to ask the question ;)

Otherwise you have a serious amount of research to do too
 
how easy is it to import classic vehicles into japan?

that car wouldn't be worth £1,500 in the uk, might be easier to import one with a better chassis.

iirc japan drives on the left so you could pick a uk one up in much better condition for £1,500
 
Last edited:
honolulujoe said:
how easy is it to import old vehicles into japan?

that car wouldn't be worth £1,500 in the uk, might be easier to import one with a much better chassis.
Click to expand...

How is he going to know the imported one would be any better?? Take the seller's word for it? Or look at a few selected photo's of what could be filler :eek: Wouldn't be the first time :rolleyes:

Never mind the cost to ship it. Think that's about £3000 alone :eek:
 
Thanks for replies. Images - i have tested here, it works but maybe need to sign in with google account.
I worked on cars before but never did full 100% resto. Also, never worked on landrover (only on old landcruser). From what i can see on the pictures - if i buy the car - i will get new chassis.
Space I have, tools also - need to learn welding (or get someone that knows :) ).
I hope that i can do this project for about 5,000 pounds - including the chasis after i buy the car for 1,500 - is it possible 5k for restoration?
To import one - it is quite complicated to register here and inspection for registration.... cost quite a bit of money.
it has been a dream to own one - but i dont want to get stuck with something that is not able to be restored....
 
hakuch said:
Thanks for replies. Images - i have tested here, it works but maybe need to sign in with google account.
I worked on cars before but never did full 100% resto. Also, never worked on landrover (only on old landcruser). From what i can see on the pictures - if i buy the car - i will get new chassis.
Space I have, tools also - need to learn welding (or get someone that knows :) ).
I hope that i can do this project for about 5,000 pounds - including the chasis after i buy the car for 1,500 - is it possible 5k for restoration?
To import one - it is quite complicated to register here and inspection for registration.... cost quite a bit of money.
it has been a dream to own one - but i dont want to get stuck with something that is not able to be restored....
Click to expand...

Who can say.

I made a list of every part I would need and put a cost next to it



I only added it up once and never wrote down the total but only because it was going to be more than the vehicle would be worth.... for now. Not when finished. But then it will not be for sale ;)


I picked up most parts for less than originally costed
Still not finished as finding the time is a struggle I wasn't worried I knew it would take about 5 years with the free time I could allow.

How much free time do you have?
 
All parts can be found, what are the shipping costs and import taxes like to get to you in Japan ?
 
Time - hopefully no problem, but i am not in a rush to finish it, i want to do it correct...

parts - most likely I would get most of them (chassis and all heavy parts) shipped together by sea freight - should be ok (probably around 1500 pounds for shipping). Import tax - should be standard 8%.
 
Bromsgrove Defender said:
How is he going to know the imported one would be any better?? Take the seller's word for it? Or look at a few selected photo's of what could be filler :eek: Wouldn't be the first time :rolleyes:

Never mind the cost to ship it. Think that's about £3000 alone :eek:
Click to expand...


well if it was me and I wanted one badly and they were scarce I would look into it and cost the whole project, perhaps looking at closer rhd countries, netting off the shipping of all the parts against shipping a whole car, nothing wrong with combining looking for a car with a trip to the country.

Simply putting the idea into the pot, if it proves better to restore the only one you can find on your home turf then at least you will know for sure.

I wouldn't dismiss something because of a couple of negative points until I had tried to find a way
 
I'd just buy a refurbed one for 4k and be done with it if importing to japan......will cost you a silly amount otherwise. You can always strip it down again from there and make sure everything is spot on bit odds are it would be if you found one that was on a galv chassis already
 
thanks for info,
few more questions:
looking at the photos:
- is the car pretty much original?
- does it look like it had any major body repairs done?

current owner imported it from UK and it has been sitting not driven since 1990 ( he claims that she was driving fine before that)

it is possibility to look for one in UK (hope with galvanized chasis) and better shape body... but i still would like to do full resto - so maybe at the end it would be same cost....or more
 
might find a nice one in Australia, not as far to ship, and maybe less rusty if it has come from a dry area.

1990 was so long ago, not sure if it really matters now whether it was running or not back then, have you been able to ascertain if the engine, brakes and clutch are siezed
 
The rear cross member almost looks like an old galvanised chassis, but maybe it's just the photo? The bulkhead will need attention as you probably know - top corners and footwells. It should have the later 5mb engine at that year which is a bonus plus 11" front anchors. Looks original though which is always a good start.
You could do what I did...bought one already on a galvanised chassis which needed all the rest doing. Then again, I specifically wanted it as mainly a rolling resto with only periods of say 2 months off the road now and again.
 
If your going to do a new chassis, rest of the car looks ok, if it runs and works, just take everything fromt he old chassis and plonk it on the new one, hey presto, nice working landy (Until the bulkhead inevitably rusts through :D)
 
thanks again for replies.
I checked more and basically there are no parts available for series 3 here in Japan.
So thinking about the total cost - maybe my option would be to buy newer model > 1990.
Question - Defender which year/model would be best to buy - 90 or 110 and 2.5 deisel or 4 gasoline
thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Asking (again) for buying advice.
Replies
6
Views
969
Fatrover
Fatrover
H
Building the dream 110
Replies
12
Views
982
Highpeakdefender
H
K
What money should I be asking?
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
Karls
K
N
Freelander 2 (LR2) Advice Needed - Rust Issues
2
Replies
29
Views
3K
Ross Tait
R
L
Buying advice
Replies
7
Views
708
new to all this
new to all this
Back
Top