My 109" Series 3 :)

nothing structurally wrong with it.

Blackburn said:

Are you going to have your steering midifications examined and approved?
As thats a major modification I would be highly worried about it failing and causing a crash and killing you or even worse someone else.

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Yes the steering modifications will be examined and approved. Along with every other modification that would need it. For example the engine conversion. I want this series to be above board and fully legal.

To be honest I'm drilling 2 extra holes which in my opinion won't compromise strength that greatly as it'll only be 2 m12 bolts.
Bolts will be 10.9 tensile strength. Which is what land rover use for this use.
And maximum thread strength is achieved at 1.5x the width of the hole which, if i use m12 will easily be achieved.
And also by machining the original lower pin I'll be bringing the new arm closer to the knuckle thus removing excessive twisting effects caused by the steering.

So effectively what I'm doing is making the swivel/steering set up almost exactly the same as it is on a series swivel.

I've also seen this conversion done on another series that is used on the road and very heavily offroad, ie trialling. And not one breakage.

If it makes you happier i could buy a lhd swivel knuckle and do it the bodged way of fitting the drag link to the track rod.
Or the even more bodged way of putting packing plates in between the spring and axle and using the original track rod.

Believe me I've spent a lot of time mulling over this and it's really not something I'm taking lightly.
Every decision i make has to be right as like you say if it fails the worst could happen.



Just to add.......

If I'm not happy with the work that I'm doing today on the swivels and it doesn't look right/doesn't go quite according to plan i will be binning the idea and going down another route. This is mainly a test (that could work to see what's possible and safe!)
I have another set of unmolested swivel knuckles so can always go back to the drawing board.

No problem was only curious if you had the confidence in what you where trying to do. Best of luck with it.
Others have fitted Discovery axles have they done similiar?

Blackburn said:

No problem was only curious if you had the confidence in what you where trying to do. Best of luck with it.
Others have fitted Discovery axles have they done similiar?

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Ah ok

Yea I'm confident in what I'm doing and really hope it works as I've only ever seen it done once! :

As for similar no not really. Most people pack out the spring seats so they overcome the problem of the stock track rod position (behind the axle) hitting the leaf springs. But you don't really gain anything apart from making axle and steering geometry dodgy as well as loosing ground clearance. As you also have to use longer rear spring hangars.

Or another route I've heard about recently is using a lhd steering knuckle so effectively you can run your track rod across the front of the axle but then have to bolt the drag link to the trackrod which again messes with steering geometry as far as i can tell.

With the way I'm doing it i can run it exactly the same as a series does and can use stock track rod and drag link from a disco if i wish. Well i won't, I'm making HD items

I don't have swivels and pins to compare sizes but what about milling the series pin to fit the disco swivel? You probably thought about it but I am curious.

csa000 said:

I don't have swivels and pins to compare sizes but what about milling the series pin to fit the disco swivel? You probably thought about it but I am curious.

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Unfortunately not. The series lower swivel pin isn't in the right place. If i were to fit it 2 of the bokt holes in the arms wouldn't be able to be bolted to the disco swivel knuckles.

I have though started to machine the disco lower pins. Although didn't manage to finish as work has been more hectic than usual this week

Set up ready to go in the miller.




And taking a cut before i got called off





More to follow next week as things look a bit quieter

Update time again

As there was a break in the weather today decided to get outside and put the engine back together





I did manage to get the plenum top on after that picture was taken but as the heavens opened again didn't get a chance to take a photo

So then went back in the garage and started stripping down and cleaning a couple of diffs





Seeing which one is better out of the 2. The better of which will be fitted to the front axle



Also some other news is the entire land rover will be stripped down again in a couple of months

Hopefully i won't need to touch the engine, axles or chassis as they will have already been done. But will go over the chassis again to double check all is still solid.

The main plan is to remove, repair, paint the bulkhead. Also make the engine side of the footwells removable to make spark plug changing easier.
And then strip down and paint the rest of it properly!
Also whilst it's apart I plan on fitting a 5 speed box with lt230.
Then maybe replace the wiring loom.

And all the other odds and sods whilst it's in bits.

Ahhh so close! Looks fantastic & its all very shiny.

The plenum lies! Get it off, machine the 9 off & a 5 put on?

marccleave said:

Ahhh so close! Looks fantastic & its all very shiny.

The plenum lies! Get it off, machine the 9 off & a 5 put on?

Click to expand...

Thanks! so close yet so far...... Still But does look the shizz

Snigger! I would but it looks better with a 9 on the end


Update incoming. Unfortunately nothing to do with the engine though

And here's the update

As mentioned yesterday i stripped 2 diffs almost completely down. Today i finished stripping and found a few things wrong with the diff that looked ok and no sign of water contamination like the other which i thought would be the one knackered

Heres was the really bad bit!





And this how much metal there's supposed to be!





In the first photo the bit where the halfshaft drive cog sits the metal has almost worn past the little hole you see in picture 2! Even the gear race opposite it i might add! no wonder there was a bit of slop in this diff.

So once i found that decided to use the good centre part out of the other diff and choose the best gears out of the 8 to make a decent 4





Next job was fitting the crownwheel. After a fair bit of heating up it slipped on a treat





Once that was on i could reinstall the the pinion and bearings. The bearings on this pinion are good for a few miles yet so decided not to replace, but will be replacing the main bearings. Once i have ordered them from ashcroft along with the relevant shim to get the pinion height set correctly.

So here it is clean and ready to assemble, check tolerances etc once the bits arrive







Also whilst I'm talking about the front axle i should mention that one lower pin has been machined, just need to do the other and i can finish this axle
And...... Hope i can get the smell of EP90 off of my hands

Hi all. Time for another update


Mostly today involved sorting out the front axle.

Machining of the lower swivel pin has been completed and the series arms are now bolted to the disco swivel knuckles






Luckily i was able to retain 2 of the original bolts then used 2 cap heads as the other to bolts with a recess inside the series arm so they sit flush.

Then proceeded to fit them and set up the swivels. One side needed all 4 shims that came with the kit i bought and one side only needed 2 shims.

Once that was done i painted the everything i could and will give it another (4th coat in total) tomorrow.







Then fitted the cv's and shafts whilst paint was drying.






And then progress stopped dead!

Turns out i forgot to order a new cv bearing and thrust washer for inside the end of the stub axle. :dohnot worried about seals as want my wheel bearings to run in ep90). All is not lost though! After a phone call to island 4x4 i should have 2 of each on the way by the end of next week
The thrust bearings aren't a stocked item so they need to order some in.

So once they turn up i can finish putting the axle together

top engineering work there

the link bar (not sure of its correct name) that runs between the lh and rh hub will need to be longer now i assume?? how will you overcome this? will the disco one fit in the series arms? or do the series tre's fit into the disco bar?

CarlosVanDango said:

top engineering work there

the link bar (not sure of its correct name) that runs between the lh and rh hub will need to be longer now i assume?? how will you overcome this? will the disco one fit in the series arms? or do the series tre's fit into the disco bar?

Click to expand...

Thanks man it's appreciated

Track rod is the correct name And yes it will need to be longer. The disco one is even too short!

My plan though is to make a HD item to fit out of some 1" bar. So can drill/tap so series tre's will fit, although I'm still a little uncertain about the drag link from the steering box though. Won't know until the axle is on the series. I do have a HD drag link from a disco already so if i can use it will save having to make another

good stuff look forward to seeing this finished

CarlosVanDango said:

good stuff look forward to seeing this finished

Click to expand...

It'll never be finished! there will always be something i want to improve or modify

Update coming once pictures have uploaded

Hello again!

Today has been a busy day out in the sunshine. Makes a change from all the rain

Major progress!

Anyway I'll let the pictures do the talking today










So that's the front axle on! Although forgot to take a photo of it underneath with it all bolted up :doh: Will get one tomorrow morning
Nice bit of poke even with the standard lwb rims on! Should be good when i get some offset rims

Rear to come next weekend if the weather int too bad.

Picture of the axle bolted on as promised




Only thing that needs to be changed in that pic is the track rod. Hopefully will be gettingon and making it tonight along with a new drag link. Oh and also need a longer shackle for the diff side of the driver side spring. Me welded one is temporary.

Also these arrived this morning so will get on and take the stub axles back off and fit them





Was going to attempt to remove the rear axle this morning but rain yet again stopped play

So will try again tomorrow morning

Hello again all

Rear axle will be fitted tomorrow Will also take the stub axles back off the front axle to fit the new bearings/thrust washers. As for the rear tonight, took shocks off, rear prop off, and also loosened all the nuts/bolts ready to take the axle out completely during daylight.

Once that was done I started getting the lt77 and lt230 ready tonight.

Giving them a good clean and a paint before fitting. But ran out of thinners for cleaning so didn't get very far here's a pic of the gearbox and bellhousing before cleaning and the transfer box mid way through cleaning





Update to follow tomorrow afternoon/evening

What a build thread!

Excellent work! Wish my welding skills were as good as yours, still plenty of opportunity on a landy!

Given me plenty of inspiration for a rolling project.