Questions About Restoring My 3 series '88

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MegaTrident

Member
Posts
10
Location
Bristol
Hello to anyone who's reading this!
My name's Fergus and I'm trying to get my dad's old Land rover 3 series '88 running after he bought it and left it sitting for 6 years. It is a 2.25L Diesel 4cyl and this thread will probably consist of me asking questions about issues, and also things I can't diagnose myself (This is my first time working on an engine at all but I've built numerous PC's soooo let's see:p). I will also post updates of my progress if anyone is actually interested in my progress. There's a lot to do but hopefully you and I, dear reader, will get it done. As of writing this the Lanny doesn't start...
 
Land Rover requirements and pricing
Completed:
⦁ Installed working hood catch (Free)
⦁ Land Rover series workshop manual (£10-15)
⦁ Cleaned
⦁ Recharged battery and got lights, indicators, screenwash, and cold crank working
⦁ Purchase Oil (6 1/2 quarts to fill) -20w-50 (5L £20), 15w40 mineral (multigrade?) (5L £20)
⦁ Purchase Hydraulic (Brake and Clutch Fluid) (DOT 4) - 1L £12.99 or 5L £19.99
⦁ Brakes + Clutch Bled
⦁ New brake + clutch fluid installed - Vehicle placed in Neutral
⦁ Interior floor panels removed
⦁ Oil drained and filter removed
⦁ Fuel Filter removed - presumed fuel tank is empty after bleeding lines also.



To do List:
Drain Fuel tank ?
Purchase Oil filter + Install
Purchase Fuel Filter + Install
Purchase coolant for engine (Water or 50/50?)
Purchase Glo Plugs (Potentially needed to start)
Purchase fresh Diesel for engine
Get Engine to start (Currently just cranks when trying to cold start)
Potentially purchase bigger battery
Fix Electronics
Fix windows (Driver side glass doesnt stay open just falls out because of no rubber to hold glass in)
Paint job - Quote needed
Install new wing mirrors (Already obtained)
Install dash (Radio, Glovebox, Speakers etc.)
Pass M.O.T


Let me know what to add or if you have any useful info about obtaining any items on the list in my local area preferably. Cheers Experts.
 
Congrats. I wish you all the best with the new adventure, you'll soon be bald and in despair like all the rest of us Series owners!
Any Series owner is full of advice and stories of joy and woe. Here are a few ideas:
  1. Get the official owners' handbook and the relevant parts list for your model.
  2. This web page is a great source for a diesel newbie, including tips and tricks.
  3. Steamwally, on YouTube, has a bunch of videos that has helped me a lot.
Last, but not least: browse this forum, there is a lot to gain from the wisdom here. Have fun!
 
To do List:
Drain Fuel tank ?

Unless the fuel is obviously contaminated I would probabaly not bother with this. Unlike petrol diesel does not reall "go off". It could be useful to see the condition of the fuel but if it is vaguely flammable, and nearly liquid these engines will probably run on it!

Purchase Oil filter + Install

Very straight forwards job, but if it the original paper filter you are replacing ensure you have removed the rubber seal from the top of the housing, it has a habit of staying in the housing and then not sealing properly when you try to install a new (second) one.

Purchase Fuel Filter + Install

Same as above, farily straight forward, but ensure you follow the proper procedure after installing to properly bleed the fuel pump, these do not self bleed like later engines.

Purchase coolant for engine (Water or 50/50?)

Get the concentrate blue (Monoethylene Glycol) anti freeze and dilute to the specified concentration for the brand you have purchased.

Purchase Glo Plugs (Potentially needed to start)

This is going to be very important if it is not currently starting. These engines will really struggle to go without them. I would first check that the glow plugs are receiving power. If they are, then I would look to replace, but be aware that there are different sorts of glow plugs and it depends which sort you purchase as to how they need to be wired in. I believe the newer ones are wired in parallel, whereas the older type are in series meaning if one fails all the ones after it fail as well.

Purchase fresh Diesel for engine

See above referance draining the tank, could be useful initially to use a known god fuel, but dont through the old fuel away unless contaminated as it will still be usable.

Get Engine to start (Currently just cranks when trying to cold start)

Potentially purchase bigger battery

I would only bother with this once the engine is running, for now just use a known good battery, then fit the largest battery you can physically fit in the space.

Fix Electronics

There should not be any electronics in one of these, the electrical system, especially on a diesel is very very basic, and is just a series of simple circuits for the lights. What is the current problem?

Fix windows (Driver side glass doesnt stay open just falls out because of no rubber to hold glass in)

Depending on the condition of the door top this may become a replace the door top job. you can get replacement channel that are held in by self tappers, but if the current channel has rusted away I would wager they door top it screws into has rusted away as well, and therefore you will have nothing to attach the new one to.

Paint job - Quote needed.

Don't bother with a quote, it will be more than the land rover is worth! Do it yourself, either spray or roller. plenty of people, myself included have roller painted their land rovers with very good results. clean it, rub it down, paint with etch primer, then using a foam roller and synthetic enamel roller the top coat. I can give you more details and pictures of the finished result if needed but there are several threads on here already about doing it this way.

Install new wing mirrors (Already obtained)

Very straight forward job, if tru wing mirrors (ie in the wing) they just unbolt from underneath. If they are door mirrors unbolt the door side of the hinge to reveal the wing mirror bolts on the inside of the hinge.

Install dash (Radio, Glovebox, Speakers etc.)

Don't bother with this either. With a 2.25 diesel you will not be able to get a radio loud enough to hear, just leave the dash standard, fill the tray with everything you would normally put in the glove box, and learn to enjoy the agricultural sound track that will accompany you everywhere you go.

Pass M.O.T

If it has been stood for a few years, before putting it into an MOT it would be worth checking all of the chassis for rust holes and suspension bushes, steering joints, propshafts, wheel bearings, swivel bearing/bush for any free play.


See comments in Red
 
Okay thanks guys! UPDATE: I purchased an oil and fuel filter and installed them both and have ordered the pieces to hold the driver side window glass in.
 
Congrats. I wish you all the best with the new adventure, you'll soon be bald and in despair like all the rest of us Series owners!
Any Series owner is full of advice and stories of joy and woe. Here are a few ideas:
  1. Get the official owners' handbook and the relevant parts list for your model.
  2. This web page is a great source for a diesel newbie, including tips and tricks.
  3. Steamwally, on YouTube, has a bunch of videos that has helped me a lot.
Last, but not least: browse this forum, there is a lot to gain from the wisdom here. Have fun!
I've got the workshop manual and owners manual and I used steamwally's video to find where to drain the clutch fluid and RimmerBros on how to oil change
 
Okay thank you for the info I will update you guys with my progress. Also I'd love to hear more about this self-painting mellarky if you have tips etc.

To paint it yourself you fist have to decide how thourough a job you want to do as this will determine how much dismantling is needed. you can just removing the light fittings and paint it all as one, or you can remove panels and paint them separately. When I did my series I did it over a period of a couple of months and removed and painted one panel at a time. When I painted the 110 I was replacing the rear tub cappings, so as it was already partly disassembled i decided to paint it, but unlike the series on the 110 I did not remove the wings, just the rear sides (to do cappings) and the doors.

For the actual painting process to roller paint you will need, an etch primer, an enamel top coat, and a set of small foam gloss rollers that you would normally used for household diy.
Etch primer: I used hamerite special metals primer because it is red and I was painting them red. this made things easier for me as red topcoat has notoriously poor coverage. If using a green or a blue the primer colour is less important.
Top coat: I Used HMG synthetic enamel which is available from paddocks in standard colours (link)
Rollers: (link)

Step 1: Thoroughly clean and degrease everything you are going to paint
Step 2: sand down the areas to be painted to remove the aluminum corrosion and to give the old paint surface a good key
Step 3: Thoroughly clean and degrease everything you are going to paint
Step 4: Roller on the etich primer and allow to fully dry
Step 5: Roller on the top coat, allow to dry and repeat for a second coat.

The rollering of the top coat takes a little bit of practice but you soon get the hand of it. to get a good finish you need just the right amount of paint on the roller and you then need to work it just the right amount to get it to smooth out and remove the bubbles. This sounds harder than it is, when you are actually painting you very quickly work out what is needed to get a smooth finish.

If you are spraying the steps are the same only you would spray the paint on rather than roller. Spraying will aslo require far more thorough masking of the areas you do not want painted.

The whole thing to paint both vehicle cost me about £200 in paint, rollers, and masking tape. this is far cheaper than the couple of grand per vehicle it would have cost for a professional respray. The finish is good enough for me as I use both of mine for greenlaning etc so the paint is not perfect. For the same reason you will also notice that I did not bother filling any of the dents or trying to get the panels perfectly straight. If you wanted this it would cost even more for a professional job, but it is possible to do this yourself as well.

Couple of pics of the process and the finish. the 110 is immediately after painting the series is about 4 years later.

IMG_4335.JPG IMG_4359.JPG IMG_4344.JPG IMG_4362.JPG IMG_9204.JPG
 
FD91279C-D92F-4A83-890C-6502F067CF14.jpeg
884581E9-21E9-434A-8EA5-87349C68C023.jpeg
C178AFCB-4D34-400F-8075-8B56ED275AF5.jpeg
14CD3E57-A995-47D2-968A-65DEA9B5E269.jpeg

UPDATE: I have photos I took today after changing the oil in the series 3. You readers can hopefully see why I want to paint it as the paint is in a dire condition. Just to actually give you guys some visuals of the state of my Land Rover right now.
 
Looking good! Dag019 gave you some really useful tips in red above, I can only second them. My Landy hadn't been through an MOT since 2003, but with an investment of about £3000 (incl. garage costs), it passed with flying colours in 2016. This is what I had done to it before it could pass:
  • Full service, including a new diesel filter, oil filter, break fluid, oil, etc etc
  • All engine gaskets replaced
  • New radiator including top and bottom hose
  • New hub bearings (front)
  • New exhaust system
  • Complete brake overhaul, new pads and cylinders
  • New crystal halogen kits with backing bowls
  • New track rod ends
  • New wiper blades
  • New washer jets
  • New wiper arms
  • New rear crossmember
  • New towing ball incl. drop plate kit
  • New springs
  • New shock absorbers
  • Polyurethane bushes
  • New bump stops
  • Rear mudflaps
  • Heater plug conversion kit
  • 90/110 mirror conversion kit
  • New steering damper
  • New propshaft gaiter
Judging by your photo, and the fact that the car hasn't been used for six years, I would consider getting new tyres. The paintwork is not an MOT issue, but anything to do with traffic safety is, such as breaks and tyres.

My Land Rover is now at a standstill because of a knackered engine, but that's a completely different story.
 
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Looking at the photos the paint work is not that bad, I have seen worse, these days it would just be considered “patina”. Before attempting to repaint it if you are looking for something cosmetic to do after it has passed an mot I would remove that monstrosity of a front end trying to look like a defender and revert back to the proper series one!
 
Looking at the photos the paint work is not that bad, I have seen worse, these days it would just be considered “patina”. Before attempting to repaint it if you are looking for something cosmetic to do after it has passed an mot I would remove that monstrosity of a front end trying to look like a defender and revert back to the proper series one!

Hehe, the paintjob could also be seen as a new form of very advanced spray pattern. :) Try rubbing and waxing it and see what happens! :D
 
Greetings Land Rover enthusiasts! I’m back with another update! Put some new diesel in the series 3 and it currently sounds like it’s trying to start but not quite getting there. With a sort of half-poking, kind of cranking sound but not quite able to actually start. My thoughts are either the battery is too old and won’t be able to give the Lanny enough electricity (not sure of the right term here) to start, the starting motor could be siezed/old or there’s something else that I’m missing. Checked the belt and it isn’t siezed with all of the parts turning. The battery is also fully charged. Any help would be greatly appreciated:D.
 
It's not clear from your message - is the starter motor actually engaging and turning over the engine? If not disconnect the starter motor's electrical cables, clean the contacts very well and reconnect securely. Also disconnect the related ground connections and do the same. A fully charged battery should be turning over the motor well if the electrical connections are solid and the starter motor itself is in working condition.
 
UPDATE: Hi guys, sorry for being so vague on my earlier post today, the website wouldn't allow me to upload the video file i took so i tried to describe it lol. She's running, after buying a bigger battery and a bit of starter fluid in the intake my series 3 roared to life! I even managed to move it into the spare parking space outside my house (After sitting for 6 years i didn't expect it to move so easily). Thanks for your help so far intrepid adventurers but the real quest to restore my series 3 has only just begun! Join me on this quest and impart your expertise on me.

Thanks for your help so far!

Fergus.
 
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