Steve's unexpected Series 3 rebuild.

Just had a photo back from the welder. Looks like we're back in business.

cool , nice repair .

Alternator fitted today. Might be jumping the gun a bit but it might as well be on the car as sitting on the shelf. Plus I like fitting shiny bits. The old one was definitely not shiny.

It was full of mud with grumbly bearings and although it did charge it had to go.

New one looks very handsome.

I adjusted the belt and it does sit closer to the engine than the old one did. It clears everything so should be ok as long as I can get the wiring to connect.

That bolt has only just got room on the adjuster. It was about an inch further along with the old one. There is space though. Here's the back view.

Why does it sit closer - is the fan belt a bit short? You can always get a slightly bigger one, the numbers usually refer to the circumference of the belt.

I've had a couple of parts problems recently. Nothing major but a bit frustrating. Getting more little bits sorted while the weather is so cold. Started on the filler cap.

I think this should really be galvanised but mine's painted for cheapness. I wanted a new seal because my one is all sticky and manky. Got the new one but it's the wrong size. Inside diameter, outside diameter and thickness are all wrong.


Look how much thicker the old one is. The new one just won't sit flat in the cap so every time you take it on and off it falls out.
Not the end of the world but still a problem. At this point i've got to praise Paddocks. They are really trying hard to solve this. I was pretty sure I would get my money back. It was only a couple of quid and they have always been good in the past. But actually they have been trying seals on different caps trying to get one to fit and because none of them did they have ordered one from a different supplier and if that fits they will send it to me. They have really made an effort when they could have just given me a credit and left me to sort it out.

Spong said:

Why does it sit closer - is the fan belt a bit short? You can always get a slightly bigger one, the numbers usually refer to the circumference of the belt.

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I think it must be shorter. I can't remember where I put the old one to check them side by side. I'll have to have a rummage through the old bits that are stashed around the place to see if I can find it.

The other problem is these rusty things.

These didn't come from Paddocks but from another of the big suppliers. No names yet as I want to give them a crack at sorting the job out first. They look like they have been left out on the beach for a while before they sent them to me.

LincolnSteve said:

I think it must be shorter. I can't remember where I put the old one to check them side by side. I'll have to have a rummage through the old bits that are stashed around the place to see if I can find it.

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its fine as is,better than the other extreme

Craddocks sent me a reply about the rusty bolts. They say that as they are genuine land rover items it's fine. Of course i'm glad to hear it's genuine land rover rust. Imagine how disappointing it would be if it had been Britpart rust.

LincolnSteve said:

Craddocks sent me a reply about the rusty bolts. They say that as they are genuine land rover items it's fine. Of course i'm glad to hear it's genuine land rover rust. Imagine how disappointing it would be if it had been Britpart rust.

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if they are indeed genuine they are likely to have some rust as they would be quite old now

jamesmartin said:

if they are indeed genuine they are likely to have some rust as they would be quite old now

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They did say that they are 'new old stock'. They look like it as well.

Send em back. There is no way that’s deep enough for genuine Land Rover rust. For starters you can tell they are bolts

Good to see your progress Steve

May I point out however that more often than not new alternators tend not to last as long as older original parts. [Things don't seem to be as bad as they were in the 2000s - early 2010s however when the internet forums were flooded with "it was broken when it came out of the box" posts - but still] Even though the old alternator looks a bit grim and and has knackered bearings it might not be so far gone for a refresh. New (decent) bearings and a clean up might be all that is needed. If you have storage space my advice would be to keep the old grotty alternator for a while to see how the new alternator behaves. (Kind a like a threat to the new - see who will be doing your job if you don't behave?)

Stretch said:

Good to see your progress Steve

May I point out however that more often than not new alternators tend not to last as long as older original parts. [Things don't seem to be as bad as they were in the 2000s - early 2010s however when the internet forums were flooded with "it was broken when it came out of the box" posts - but still] Even though the old alternator looks a bit grim and and has knackered bearings it might not be so far gone for a refresh. New (decent) bearings and a clean up might be all that is needed. If you have storage space my advice would be to keep the old grotty alternator for a while to see how the new alternator behaves. (Kind a like a threat to the new - see who will be doing your job if you don't behave?)

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Hi. Good to hear from you. I was going to hang onto the old one in case. One of the very few sensible things I did on the day I bought the old heap was to check it was charging before we set off home. Looking back I still can't believe it got us all the way from Driffield to Lincoln. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if i'd just pushed it off the Humber Bridge when I had the chance.

More on the steering box. This was how things looked when I first opened it up.


To me that didn't look too bad. With all those sparkly bits in the oil earlier I thought it would be a disaster in there. I've found some signs of wear but I don't think it's too awful. Also it didn't feel too bad before taking it apart. I did find some of the tiny ball bearings from the top of the column down in the box but I don't think they came from the bearing that was in there. I have a feeling that the bearing has been replaced in the past and they were from an old one. Later i'll show you the state of the steering column. It looks like they chewed the old bearing out.
Seems ok I think. This is the time when the manual will say 'check parts for signs of wear' and I think to myself 'what am I looking for?'
In this case I turned to youtube. There's a bloke on there who I bet a lot of you have seen called steamwally so I had a look at his excellent video for help. The ends don't seem worn or pitted but there is one area of corrosion on the thread.
It's right where the bearings run but as it's the only bit and replacements cost the earth it'll have to do. The bearings seem to contact in the right place. Looks right anyway.

There's also some damage inside the main nut but again as these are so expensive i'm going to have to put up with it.
That's the bit that travels up and down the thread on the shaft. The worst bit of damage is thankfully on one of the bits that I can afford to replace so at least something will be improved.
These bearing races come in the refurb kit. Only worry there is that it's a Britpart refurb kit so it's a lucky dip to see if they last ok.

id have replaced the worm and nut they are usually pitted its were the hard facing has gone

Oh no. I was hoping to get away with that. Do you think i'm asking for trouble reusing these parts?

how much is a worm and nut

Put it back together and run it , It was working before and it will still be fine, albeit a wee bit rough in places, start saving for the refurb part and do it when you can afford them as a service job.. Its probably been like that for a few thousand miles and most of its life .. do the race to keep things in line and run it .. failure isnt immanent, its just a wee bit of wear that will get worse but there could be a couple of years use out of it yet ..

jamesmartin said:

how much is a worm and nut

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Best I have seen is £150. Now in the great scheme of things that isn't too bad but the original pot of money I set aside for this is just about gone. After that i'm into the household money so have got to tread carefully. There are still a lot of bits needed as well. I think from here on I'm going to have to get it finished as cheaply as possible. Otherwise there is a danger of the job stalling. If I wait until I've got the cash for everything this will turn into the world's first 20 year restoration.