Series 3 Tidying up my sIII pick-up SWB petrol

As posted in intros, my first Landy is this blue number described as a ‘characterful little truck’ by the previous owner. Well I can’t argue there!

It has the petrol 2.2 with I was told a twin-choke Weber from a 2.5? Goes nicely, idle a bit lumpy. 4wd and low range all engage fine although a firm hand necessary occasionally! No overdrive but won’t be cruising anywhere. Chassis and bulkhead look okay, bit crusty around the gun-ports.

Here’s the to-do list (so far, only driven it 30 miles!) not too long but will still take ages because young family and loads of other excuses...

• Handbrake adjustment
• One sidelight is out
• Indicator stalk playing up
• Dash wiring and switches needs tidying up

Will update and probably ask lots of questions as we go!

First job was a nice easy one. Went to fill it up and noticed the cap was rattling around like a loose tooth. No gasket present ... new one £3

You'd think the side light would be the easiest and quickest job to do but it took ages to do mine. First, I replaced the bulb, worked for about 2 days, then I cleaned rust out of bulb holder, worked for a little longer, then I replaced the bulb holder unit, horrible fiddly job, made no difference. Then I eventually traced the fault to a dodgy bullet connecter in the wiring, now all good. Altogether it took about 3 months. Good luck.

Col

Sorry if I sound negative. I think you’ll discover a lot more after 30 miles. It’s inevitable in an old vehicle but it’s a journey! Side light fittings cost £3.50 plus vat; I’d be more careful dealing with the dashboard wiring. Unless you’re comfortable doing it get done by a wiring mechanic who’s familiar with older British vehicles.

Take your time to get to know it , but it’s the dark recesses you should check; engine mud shields, footwells , brake system.

Enjoy.

L

Bullet connectors are a pain. They slowly (decades) corrode and get a high resistance. The high resistsnce causes a lot of heat (Amps squared x resistance) and some of the circuits are unfused at 10 or 20 amps and the heat is in a very small area so you get fire.
Things to do:
Put in relays and get the current down in the old circuits
Pull every bullet connector apart and clean it and fit new female connectors. When you buy these make sure they are the copper or brass ones not the cheap plated steel that last a year then corrode.
If in doubt resolder the male bullets.
I now remove all the bullet connectors and solder the wires together and cover with heat shrink. Its not orginal but the differnce in the brightness of the lights and lack of failures is amazing.
Another problem with them is that they can feel quite hard to push in but once in they are actually loose. Another reason to solder so you are sure. You can solder then heat shrink then slip the outer sleeve of the female bullet over so it looks orginal if that's your thing (that's what I used to do on old bikes)
I've removed them all from the series and can go a year between electical issues, but my Sankey still has them and every trip with it begins with 10 mins underneath wiggling bullet connectors until all the lights are working. And that only means "working at this instant", 5 mins down the road and its another story)

Gun ports??

BTW - nomenclature is 2.25 or 2 and a quarter for the engine.

Enjoy

always puzzles me why is it classed as 2.25 when it is a 2.286? is it because farmers didn't know how to round? surely it should be 2.29 or 2.3

nice landy btw

suburban said:

always puzzles me why is it classed as 2.25 when it is a 2.286? is it because farmers didn't know how to round? surely it should be 2.29 or 2.3

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it was later called a 2.3 when fitted to early 90s and 110s but lr allways called it a 2.25 prior

rob1miles said:

Bullet connectors are a pain....

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Thanks for taking the time to post this. I definitely need to spend some time on electrics. I have subsequently discovered some more gremlins:
- indicator stalk dodgy: looks like a pattern part, left indicator gives BOTH flashing, right = nothing
- brakes and reversing lights are permanently live

I also found the battery is a bit weak and flattened it a couple of times (yay for the starting handle). Might be better as I get used to the carb characteristics (I.e. how many times to pump the throttle before cranking!) ... but anyway I got a 20W PV and charge controller.

There’s a fuel leak in the mechanical fuel pump. I’d been wondering where the petrol smell was coming from, and why it took so long to crank... I tried hand-priming the pump today and fuel leaked out, couldn’t see where but my fingers were soaked! And fuel all over the pump. Wouldn’t fire even on the hand crank after battery gave up.

So, fuel pump leak ... what should I be looking out for? Anything worth checking in situ of should I whip it off? Is it better to go in from underneath or remove the air-filter to get access from top? Thanks in advance.

Hello and welcome,

Life with a series 3 is a journey and my young kiddies love it. With regards to the fuel pump leak its an easy job. Remove the air filter and you'll have better access. Its only held on with two nuts and you may as well remove it and change all the gaskets / rubbers for piece of mind.

Lovely rover by the way

Rich

Gun7354 said:

Hello and welcome,

Life with a series 3 is a journey and my young kiddies love it. With regards to the fuel pump leak its an easy job. Remove the air filter and you'll have better access. Its only held on with two nuts and you may as well remove it and change all the gaskets / rubbers for piece of mind.

Lovely rover by the way

Rich

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Thanks!
Very helpful. I’ll whip the old one off. I suspect it’s a pattern part as the previous owner mentioned it was recently renewed. Let’s see. I suppose those accept the same gaskets as OEM? Amazing that an overhaul kit is £15 but whole Bearmach fuel pump is £22!

olriley said:

Thanks!
Very helpful. I’ll whip the old one off. I suspect it’s a pattern part as the previous owner mentioned it was recently renewed. Let’s see. I suppose those accept the same gaskets as OEM? Amazing that an overhaul kit is £15 but whole Bearmach fuel pump is £22!

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Replacement pumps are poor quality and not even worth £22.

Col

Yeah they can’t be up to much for that money. I’ll see what I’ve got, then see if I can make it work.

Well, whipped the fuel pump off this eve before it got dark. Lots of sediment in the bowl. But when I pump it makes good suction, squirts out petrol like a little whale and doesn’t weep by the main seal if I block the outlet. I think I’ll try to clean the fuel filter (the one in the pump) and put some PTFE tape on the unions, which is where I guess it was leaking, see whether that does the trick.

suburban said:

always puzzles me why is it classed as 2.25 when it is a 2.286? is it because farmers didn't know how to round?

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A farmer once asked me to round up 18 sheep
I said OK , that’ll be 20 sheep!

I had a decent morning with the Landy.
I opened up the fuel pump and there was a little bit of metal swath and crap in the top part where the valves are. I think the filter had been letting by, mainly because it’s such a POS! A little wonky Pringle that didn’t seat properly, so I filed out the inner hole carefully until it seated into the pump housing.

Put back together and off we go!

I sealed the unions with a little PTFE tape, but I think the remaining problem is where the fuel line seals onto the union between pump and carb, esp the pump which has only a straight nipple whereas the Webber has a ridge.. It’s got jubilee clips on which are at the end of their travel and not clamping. I could hear a slow hiss when priming. So I’ve ordered some of the spring type.

Oh, and I found the fuel leak (well, one of them)... the fuel tank sump was weeping - actually dripping - so I nipped it up a careful eighth of a turn.

jamesmartin said:

it was later called a 2.3 when fitted to early 90s and 110s but lr allways called it a 2.25 prior

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They were referred to as a "2 and a quarter", imperial style language, which converted to 2.25 in metric language.

Jubilee clips are the wrong thing for fuel lines as you've found out. Search for 'Mikalor', they're the right thing.

https://www.advancedfluidsolutions....i-clip-normal-nut--bolt-hose-clamp-1231-p.asp