Steve's unexpected Series 3 rebuild.

leg oot the bed said:

i just used my daughter as an excuse to buy a disco and used her to say i wanted to keep the series 3 so i could teach her to drive in it (in 16 years), i may have to have more kids so i can buy more land rovers? is there logic there somewhere?

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That's quite a drastic plan but well worth it.

LincolnSteve said:

That's quite a drastic plan but well worth it.

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a son next would surely justify a fc101, surely that would be a good family car?

leg oot the bed said:

a son next would surely justify a fc101, surely that would be a good family car?

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A 101 would be big enough for a dozen kids and then in turn they would all need land rovers. And after all that there's the grandchildren to think about.

LincolnSteve said:

A 101 would be big enough for a dozen kids and then in turn they would all need land rovers. And after all that there's the grandchildren to think about.

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thats decided then, 12 kids a disco a series 3 a 101fc maybe a series 1 to rebuild(a project for the kids obviously)

Just to let you all know this thread may go a bit quiet for a while. It looks like between my new job and extra family stuff my 'landy time' is going to be reduced to about 4 hours every other Saturday. So at 4 hours per fortnight I should get it finished just about in time for fossil fuels to run out. Keep me on your watch list and I will update you as soon as I can.

LincolnSteve said:

Hi. Thanks for the comments. I've just had a look at all the galvanised parts on your thread. It all looks fantastic! That landy will last for ever. Cracking stuff, good luck with it, I will keep watching.

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Thanks Steve, I look forward to more updates on yours too.

The chassis welding is finished! I can't believe it really, it's taken so long. Here's the last bits.
The rear cross member has been replaced in the past. It can't be too long ago as it's in good condition but they never quite got round to finishing the welding on it.

I hammered it straighter and cleaned it up a bit.

A bit of welding and it looks a lot healthier.

The red oxide paint covers some of the ugly.

The suspension bushes are out as well. What an absolute cow of a job that was! They were in a bad way so they had to come out but i'm dreading fitting the new ones.

This one in particular looks like I chewed it out.

So here it is done. Every inch has been prodded, poked and whacked with a nylon hammer to test for weak spots. If that doesn't satisfy the MOT man then nothing will. Next jobs. A last coat of red oxide then satin black chassis paint. I'm going to waxoyl it while it's upside down and again when I turn it over. That way it should settle into every nook and cranny.
I know some people don't rate waxoyl but I've already got 5 litres in the garage so it's got to be used up.

Chassis is looking good bet your glad all welding is done . Great thread

Superb job, keep it going

This video might help you when you come to fitting the new bushes

liam_italian said:

Superb job, keep it going

This video might help you when you come to fitting the new bushes

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Thanks Liam. I've already been and bought some high tensile threaded bar. I've just got to sort out the other bits to pull them through. I think freezing the bushes is definitely a good idea though.

Nice bit of metalwork and welding, I can see a lot of hours fabricating and welding have gone into it! and its not easy I know to get things realigned and looking right, look forward to the next photo update

purplemk said:

Nice bit of metalwork and welding, I can see a lot of hours fabricating and welding have gone into it! and its not easy I know to get things realigned and looking right, look forward to the next photo update

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Thanks for the comment. Alignment is a constant worry with this chassis as it has been bodged a lot in the past by the look of things. All I can do is press on and deal with each problem as it crops up and hope nothing too drastic shows up.
I just can't get any time on it at the moment. It's my boy's 8th birthday next week so it's his time at the moment.
Then spring is coming so the garden is going to need sorting out, then there's a bit of dodgy guttering that I've been going to sort out for ages. And on, and on.
My wife is a patient girl but I better not push my luck.

Definitely following this thread.

LincolnSteve said:

Thanks for the comment. Alignment is a constant worry with this chassis as it has been bodged a lot in the past by the look of things. All I can do is press on and deal with each problem as it crops up and hope nothing too drastic shows up.
I just can't get any time on it at the moment. It's my boy's 8th birthday next week so it's his time at the moment.
Then spring is coming so the garden is going to need sorting out, then there's a bit of dodgy guttering that I've been going to sort out for ages. And on, and on.
My wife is a patient girl but I better not push my luck.

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Yes I know the problem well, despite careful measurements and alignment there is always an element of eyes on guesstimation involved, however land rovers are pretty forgiving when it comes to this sort of thing so any problems can be overcome later on in the build without to much stress.
Plenty to keep you busy then I think many land rover owners have a backlog of other jobs / untidy gardens / decorating etc etc on the "to do" list it goes with the territory of owning / working on an older landy
Keep chipping away at it, best of luck

Time to fit the new bushes into the chassis. I cleaned and prepared the holes as much as possible.

I made a puller to draw the bushes in.

I coated the inside of the holes with copper grease, ground a chamfer on the leading edge of the new bushes then put them in the freezer overnight to shrink them a bit.
Things started well enough.

The first of the rear ones went in really easily.

The other rear one and one of the front ones went in with a bit of effort.
Then the last bugger went most of the way in but jammed with about 7mm sticking out.

The piece of threaded bar was getting pretty tired by now and sure enough as I gave it a bit of stick it sheared.
At that point I decided to call it a day.
I made some improvements to the puller and used a really hefty coach bolt and tonight, finally, I managed to get it installed properly.
So that's the first new parts refitted to the chassis. I hope the rest goes back together easier.

LincolnSteve said:

Time to fit the new bushes into the chassis. I cleaned and prepared the holes as much as possible.

I made a puller to draw the bushes in.

I coated the inside of the holes with copper grease, ground a chamfer on the leading edge of the new bushes then put them in the freezer overnight to shrink them a bit.
Things started well enough.

The first of the rear ones went in really easily.

The other rear one and one of the front ones went in with a bit of effort.
Then the last bugger went most of the way in but jammed with about 7mm sticking out.

The piece of threaded bar was getting pretty tired by now and sure enough as I gave it a bit of stick it sheared.
At that point I decided to call it a day.
I made some improvements to the puller and used a really hefty coach bolt and tonight, finally, I managed to get it installed properly.
So that's the first new parts refitted to the chassis. I hope the rest goes back together easier.

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bit of a **** when that happens , usually with non genuine bushes i find

jamesmartin said:

bit of a **** when that happens , usually with non genuine bushes i find

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You're right. The cheap option probably wasn't best here. I hope they last because doing this again when it's fully assembled would be a bit of a nightmare. Trouble is i'm going to need so many bits that i've got to go as cheap as possible. I'm sure that will come back to bite me some time later but my budget leaves very little option.

LincolnSteve said:

You're right. The cheap option probably wasn't best here. I hope they last because doing this again when it's fully assembled would be a bit of a nightmare. Trouble is i'm going to need so many bits that i've got to go as cheap as possible. I'm sure that will come back to bite me some time later but my budget leaves very little option.

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some bits perhaps most are fine cheaper , i just know pattern bushes can do that as size isnt good or the steel ,genuine or poly bush are the best options

Waxoyl time now. I had some old stuff left over in the garage so that had to get used up.

The old stuff is on the left and although it doesn't look as good as the new stuff I think it's ok.
It's thinner and flows really well. It covers well and still forms a good coating.
So far I've put about 1 litre of new and 4 litres of the old in there. The chassis is upside down and i'm going to do it again when I turn it back over. I think that should ensure plenty will settle to the top and the bottom.
I had to drill some holes to inject the waxoyl but I have to say that drilling into a chassis that I've just spent about a year sorting out felt very wrong.


The holes are 19mm. Big enough to get the waxoyl tube in. I got some 20mm plugs but i'm not sure whether I should leave the holes open for drainage. I doubt i'm going to do any wading so there shouldn't be much getting in there in the first place.


For Christmas my son got a Harry Potter wand with a little LED on the end. It turns out that it's just the job for looking into the chassis to make sure I had got it covered. I thought I would have it back in his room before he got back from his swimming lesson but they got back early and he was plenty annoyed at me! There's nothing worse than a telling off from an angry 8 year old.
One last coat of red oxide next to make sure everything is protected and then it's on with the satin chassis paint. I cannot wait to see the chassis black and sound.

Did you use a compressor to do this, or aerosol cans? Is it as messy as they say? I'll be doing this soon but wondering if I need to take it outside first.