Series 3 Sorting out a few issues on my Shorland

dk8019 · Aug 23, 2021

Happy to be here guys! Looking for some technical help on my Shorland.

1. This guy has the 2.6L six in it. She won't rev past 3500 RPM. Been through the Zenith carb, seems clean. She runs out ok up to 3500, but makes very, very little power. Just enough to pull herself around in low in first or second gear. Everything seems normal enough, only oddity is that if I pull the cap off the distributor, I can move the rotor assembly back and forth by say 15 degrees. Never had one that did that, but I'm new to Lucas distributors, except for the one in our Midget, which doesn't do that.

2. The passenger side front wheel is binding. Pulled it apart, brakes are backed all the way off, but she is very tight, needs a bar to turn the wheel over at the studs, can generally move it with the wheel when jacked up. Fairly confident it isn't brakes, and that it didn't do that when I first got it, but not 100% sure. Transmission had a bad reverse gear (teeth chewed off) so I pulled it and replaced it with a rebuilt transmission. Should I tear into and assume I have bad bearings?

3. The 4wd lever doesn't seem to want to come up far enough to release it out of 4wd. Any trick to this? Before I tore it down, the lever would come up and release almost all the tension out of the spring, now it seems compressed down.

Thanks again everyone!

tottot · Aug 23, 2021

Hi, It may be better to contact one of the military vehicles preservation clubs or owners groups as although based on the Land Rover the Shorland has many differences.

dk8019 · Aug 23, 2021

Possibly, they aren't all that common, at least not in the States. This one seems to roughly be a 1-ton variety with 11" drums etc.

Tall Ratbag · Aug 23, 2021

A possibility for the poor running problem is that perhaps the springs in the base of the distributor are broken or missing altogether.

If the timing were set by strobe light, this would be with the distributor at full advance owing to the lack of the springs. From there, there would be no centrifugal advance, and so, the engine would, effectively, be running very much retarded at speed.

This was a common problem on eighties Vauxhall OHC engines with the delco electronic distibutor - they would run so far retarded that you could get the exhaust manifold glowing red just by holding the revs at ~3000 rpm for a minute in the workshop. In this case, the springs would corrode and fail.

dk8019 · Aug 23, 2021

That could do it for sure! I think I'll get an electronic distributor on order. This appears to be correct: https://www.ebay.com/itm/124037143390?hash=item1ce1309b5e:g:PDYAAOSw5T5ftopS

northern scot · Aug 23, 2021

i had a 6 cly ,i would say 3 500 rpm is max for that engine,never known springs in lucas distributor to break,? had one stuck on full advance,engine ran but used a lot of petrol,why dont you take it off and strip it down and see whats going on?
your problem may be the rubber diaphragm in zenith carb,if its split or a little hole, the piston wont rise when you use throttle,look in carb with engine running to see if piston lifts when you throttle up
i used a power spark kit , but kept the original dizzy, makes an odds!!

steve2286w · Aug 23, 2021

dk8019 said:
Happy to be here guys! Looking for some technical help on my Shorland.

sounds interesting any pics

1. This guy has the 2.6L six in it. She won't rev past 3500 RPM. Been through the Zenith carb, seems clean. She runs out ok up to 3500, but makes very, very little power. Just enough to pull herself around in low in first or second gear. Everything seems normal enough, only oddity is that if I pull the cap off the distributor, I can move the rotor assembly back and forth by say 15 degrees. Never had one that did that, but I'm new to Lucas distributors, except for the one in our Midget, which doesn't do that.

2. The passenger side front wheel is binding. Pulled it apart, brakes are backed all the way off, but she is very tight, needs a bar to turn the wheel over at the studs, can generally move it with the wheel when jacked up. Fairly confident it isn't brakes, and that it didn't do that when I first got it, but not 100% sure. Transmission had a bad reverse gear (teeth chewed off) so I pulled it and replaced it with a rebuilt transmission. Should I tear into and assume I have bad bearings?

can you get the drum off and test/ take a pic

3. The 4wd lever doesn't seem to want to come up far enough to release it out of 4wd. Any trick to this? Before I tore it down, the lever would come up and release almost all the tension out of the spring, now it seems compressed down.

the shafts poking out of the front output housing likely seized a wire brush and release agent will help

Thanks again everyone!

are the other drums getting hot after driving

dk8019 · Aug 23, 2021

Well she's so low on power that any actual road testing is difficult. Couple that with trying to get the brakes to bleed.... I believe I have air trapped in the master cylinder, the brake fluid tank is lower than the top of the cylinder, not sure how that's ever suppose to work!

steve2286w · Aug 23, 2021

So what max speed can you get in 4th , are you stuck in low range , does the red lever pull back but the yellow knob stays down

dk8019 · Aug 24, 2021

I can basically get into 2nd gear, in low, and she'll pull herself around. I'll pull the distributor this weekend and see if there's anything obvious. On the shift lever I can shift it into high no issue, but I'm relatively sure it's in 4wd still though. At the lever end on the transfer case, how far should she come up? I'm wondering if perhaps my 4wd arm is perhaps shorter than it should be with this setup.

steve2286w · Aug 24, 2021

Series 3 Sorting out a few issues on my Shorland

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