Recommissioning Boanerges, a Series 3

Hello Everyone

Welcome to my story about the recommissioning of Boanerges my newly purchased 88inch Series 3 2 ¼ Diesel. My intention is to have a good useable Land Rover, what it will never be is a highly polished show vehicle, I want to use and enjoy it. However the body work is very good with only a few minor dings and dents. This story will not be a total strip down and rebuild onto a new galvanised chassis simply because it had one fitted way back in 1990.........

The first picture shows him in his resting place for the last 14 years.


The second picture shows my first view .


Boanerges requires some recommissioning after resting outside for well over a decade, the clutch is supposedly stuck, however I did find the pedal very stiff to press and then it stayed on the floor, further checks revealed no fluid and a very rusted up slave cylinder, so first job is to rebuild the clutch hydraulics and free off the pedal box.


Finally lets see what a bit of Tcut will do for the blue paint.


Thanks for looking


David

I would have thought with a name like Boanerges, it would have had a V8 engine and a staight through exhaust.

Col

My memory of the diesels were that they were loud.

David

Toonarf said:

My memory of the diesels were that they were loud.

David

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Yes, usually more so in the cab than on the outside

Col

Toonarf said:

My memory of the diesels were that they were loud.

David

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Pardon ?

Good luck with getting another landrover back on the road

codfather79 said:

Good luck with getting another landrover back on the road

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Thank you codfather, I am sure Boanerges will soon be back on the road, latest should be Aprilish next year.

The new master and slave cylinders arrived yesterday along with the flexible hose, so all assembled today and the clutch bled.
The engine has not been started yet but in 1st gear and slowly turning the fan and he creeps forward until the clutch is pressed. I'm taking that as a win, clutch is releasing.
Next job is to start the engine followed by rebuilding the brakes. Sorry no pictures, I don't have permission.........

David

Hi All
So the big news yesterday was that my new brake master cylinder showed up from Paddocks, this was swiftly united with the painted pedal box as shown in the picture below hopefully....nope still not got permission.
However todays big news is HE RUNS.... and Drives a little bit.....
Hopefully the link works, I've never posted a video up before.

Thanks for looking

David

Hi Everyone


I have searched for the answers to these questions and perhaps I'm asking the wrong questions of Google , if so forgive me and please point me in the right direction. The issue I'm having on my recently purchased series 3 is that its stuck in 4 wheel drive.

My understanding of the operation of the system ( may be wrong...) is red lever forward = high box 2wd, mid position = transfer box in neutral so no drive and lever back = low box which also automatically selects 4wd. Is this correct ?

To select high box 4wd the lever is forward and the yellow knob is pressed, is this correct?

To deselect 4wd when in high box move the red lever all the way back to low box and then back to high box and the yellow lever jumps up, is this correct?


So having read about the very real potential of the shafts being stuck due to rust where they are hidden by the tin cover I have removed the floor, removed the 3 screws holding the tin cover and the 4wd locking plunger. The 2 shafts under the tin cover are completely rust free and move when pushed individually with a screw driver. They also move a bit when the red lever is moved back and forth, but nowhere near enough for the 4wd locking pin to drop into its hole.


The third shaft the transfer gear selector shaft (red lever shaft) moves, but less freely, and whilst a bit rusty it does not look too severe, I will of course clean it up. I would imagine I should feel 3 distinct points from the detent when the lever is moved through high, neutral and low. The lever does not move freely enough to be certain but I think I can feel the 3 points, but as I said above the 4wd locking pin hole in the shaft stays outside the housing.


Is my next place to visit inside the transfer case, or do you think my problem is inside the front output shaft housing.


One final nugget of information which may be completely irrelevant is that prior to being laid up it was driven for a while in 4wd (front wheel drive) due to a broken rear half shaft. By this I mean the half shaft broke at a set of traffic lights, 4wd was engaged to carry on driving and after a few days (weeks?) the half shaft was replaced and presumably 2wd once again selected, but could damage have been caused?


Finally if there is a video or a forum post that explains how this all works I would love to know.


Thanks for looking and hopefully posting some answers for me.


David

Hi Everyone
The problem with the locking pin not going fully down was in fact a bit of rust on the red lever rod which goes into the front output shaft housing. I cleaned it up with wd 40 and some emery tape and it all now works.
I have also got the brakes bled and a reasonable "pedal" which I think will improve more once the brake linings bed in.
The next big issue I have to tackle is this (hope the photos work)



Which develops into this mess, the wiring not the bulkhead, I'm pretending I haven't seen that .....




Thanks for looking

David

Looks lime normal landrover wiring to me.

Col

I have not posted for a few months, but I have been working away on Boanerges' return to roadworthy status .At the point I realised that the wiring loom was a disaster area an order was placed with Autosparks for a replacement. https://www.autosparks.co.uk/land-rover-series-3-right-hand-drive-main-wiring-harness I think a 6 week delivery time was quoted with an actual delivery time after only 5 weeks. I spent a couple of evening with the wiring diagram from the manual and my multimeter and labelled all the wires prior to fitting the loom.


At this time I also ordered a pair of rear springs from Jones Springshttps://www.jones-springs.co.uk/land-rover-springs.The front springs I removed stripped down wire wheeled the leaves and reassembled with the leaves greased. However I will need to replace them due to a lean caused by a weak offside front spring.



During my wait for the springs and loom I completed repairs to the bulkhead and finished the brake repairs including fitting a new wheel bearing kit in one of the front hubs.



For some reason, I bought it now, paying way too much ! And collection only a 100 miles away, a dash vent panel to replace my badly corroded one. Anyway I did the right thing and went to collect it, the seller, also had for sale a totally useable and rot free lover dash panel/ heater box, which I was able to purchase there and then. I then worried all the way home that I had bought a defender one that I believed would not fit......... but it fitted perfectly. I will need de rusting and painting in the future but for the time being it will do. My original was completely rotten, maybe saveable but a lot of work. And the price? £150.00 which even with my overpaying the dash vent panel made it a bargain


All this work gets us up to late May when I was able to insure and tax him and hit the roads.

Lovely stuff. Another one back on the road. Congratulations.

Thanks for your kind words Steve.
However, its not been plain sailing, I've had the engine out since he hit the road and had to replace a pair of (brand new!) brake shoes due to severe oil leaks and I am currently awaiting the return of the injector pump from Diesel Bob ( a great guy and local to me) again due to a leak. But these are mere teething problems and are not putting me off. They are all caused by being parked for a long time.

David