79 109 hartop camper build .

so, after lassurance by a buddy that he was "definately" having the land rover I let down several other interested buyers and held it for him . He had agreed to pay for it in October. October came and went, its not been a normal year so I waited until the third week in November and having heard nothing but radio silence and having experienced the first fall of snow, broke it to him that due to non payment and lack of communication, the deal was off. He seamed relieved and told me that the house sale that he hoped to raise the funds had fell through.. So guess the old thing wants to stay put . Given its now winter the plan is to press it into service if the weather turns bad . Imkinda mulling over the camper conversion again.

Im also thinking about another land rover build, Had a look at a series 2 ut the fella selling was told by his buddy that it was underpriced, at £2k and since then the adds for it have been lifted .. So I guess its no longer for sale .. and im not to happy to play the price goes up with interest game . So I kept looking, found a dealer near edinburgh, had a rough series 3 for £2500,gave them a call but despite having it dumped up the back of the yard for the past year they wouldnt consider an offer ??
Next was a buddies series 3 , price was £1000, chassis was just barely holding together , doors were chuffed, bulkhead was pooped, body was realy good, engine turned but gearbox was locked solid .. decided to pass on that one
Another buddy has one in a small wood behind his cottage, parked it there 20 years ago .full resto on a galv chassis with a peugeot diesel transplant .. Engine failure saw it parked up and he went to work abroad .. He wont sell it because he didnt SORN it when it went off the road and he has a fear of being fined and back taxed. Probably unlikely but that's his fear.. so he plans to break it and use the chassis under his series pickup..

So got a heads up from the fella with the £1000 offering, he found me a project that comes with a new chassis with an asking price of £3500 so im going to make enquiry about that one and see how things pan out .. Phew !..

The prices for these things are all over the place requiring lots of research, questions and perceived time wasting, but that cant be helped when there are a few to look at and your looking for the best project for the best price .. not the best condition for the least amount of the worst condition for the highest amount , but the right project for the right amount, a bit like Goldilocks

So made enquiry about the £3500 one .. fella got back to me and advised that his son put the wrong price on the add and that it should have been £5k but since the add was wrong and I was interested he would take £4k .. I decided to pass, 2 days later I got a call to say I could have it for £3500 but they would need the registration back as it was a personal reg he had promised the previous keeper he would give back to them.

He has had the project since 2007, The V5 is still in the previous keepers name and the new seller isnt worried about how long it takes to get the landy restored ! I guessed that it was probably just another way to get the £5k as the reg issue was never mentioned previously it just materialised . Given how close it was to Christmas I decided that it needed more thought , then kinda wrote it off as just to much hassle as it would be down to e to MOT the MOT exempt project to release the reg which might no longer be assigned to the vehicle if DVLA decided to void it , then if it was transferrable I would have the hassle of getting it onto a retention etc etc.. The way I saw that was the price would have to come down if I was having the hassle of doing the transfer .. on top of everything else it all seemed a bit of a complicated story so decided in the end just to pass for the time being . I might get back in touch after the new year, once tings return to normal after the festive period and see if its still available .. Buying a project used to be easy, but Im not having much luck buying or selling .. although I do still get notes of interest on my 109 after being let down by my buddy, but it seems daft to sell it as winter approaches ,my other cars an Aygo and ive always had 4x4 capability living as I do out in the sticks ...

Well would you believe it , 6 months down the line and I still have the old 109 .. HOWEVER , the fella that originally said he was buying it has materialised again with the cash this time .. so With a sale agreed I set to servicing the old bus before it was due to go, Also made a point of giving it a very thorough power wash , re waxed the chassis and underside and changed the oil and filter .. then took it for a wee run. On return I reversed it up the slight incline at the house and would you believe it , it jumped out of reverse .. 1st time ever .. so I called the fella told him the news and said I would fix it before he took ownership..

Question is, is this a major gearbox rebuild or is there a common solution for a simple fix like a broken detent spring .. I have a feeling its probably a terminal thing and a fullon gearbox rebuild is on the cards ..

Is it more economical to spend the time and do it myself ( I believe they are reasonably straight forward to rebuild) or is it best to go for a refurbished box. ? trouble with buying a refurbished box is how refurbished is it .. a power wash and an oil seal wont cut it . Ive seen them on ebay for £700 and on a well known land rover parts suppliers web site for £1200 plus vat .. both exchange ..

Any insight would be greatly appreciated .. I can do with getting this one sorted and sold now as I have a short wheelbase resto on the back burner

There are several possibilities, but start with the easy ones.

Has anything been done to it recently?

Are you certain you'd engaged reverse properly? I'd check that a few times before getting any tools out.

Is the locknut on the reverse stop screw tight? If not it could have moved inwards and stopped proper selection.

It 'could' be a broken spring, worn idler, worn or maybe loose selector fork, but I think the stuff above more likely.

Do it yourself, I've had nothing but problems with 3 recon boxes. The only reason I went that route was to save time knowing I'd pay more.

In the end I wish I'd done it all myself.

Thank you for your replies .

It hasnt had anything done to it recently , the box was the original that came with the landrover and by all accounts having stripped the landy for a full rebuild ( not a full restoration) it was pretty evident that the engine and box belonged with that chassis .. with no evidence of it having been out previously . I changed the clutch and slave and added an overdrive but after that it always drove fine and reversed up the hill . It will go into reverse and take off but if it hits anything that might restrict progress , such as a divot, a pot hole or a large stone below the driving wheel, out it pops .. no grinding or fuss , It just jups out if you try to push it past the restriction jumps out with a bit of force though.. . ,

Regards the rebuild boxes that are offered, I did wonder about the integrity of the rebuilds .. I can do the job but the fella that's buying it is happy to pay something toward the replacement , so it was either fit one that was "professionally" rebuilt and take a partial hit on the price of the landy or do it myself when I eventually find the time to focus on the job..

I'd start by checking the stop screw locknut. And if that's tight there's nothing to be lost by undoing it a couple of turns and seeing if that cures it.

If not, then check the spring before then taking the top off and having a look at the selector fork for wear and tight pinch screw. I think a torch will let you see down to the reverse idler well enough to see what its corners look like. (Bottom front left)

Thanks for that info.I will give it a look before diggig to deep.. fingers crossed for an easy fix . The box was always fairly quiet ( relatively speaking ) there was never any graunching or hard shifting, it always selected fine and actually drove really well with no hint toward a pending failure .. which made me think it was probably something simple or terminal since anything in between might have gave me a warning ..

Would an option be dropping the price by 500 and let new owner decide what to do saving you the work and grief of doing the work and any come backs...tight Scot here..lol

Ha .. I did consider that but i went the other way and put the price up .. Us retired fellas are time rich well so im told,but the weeks fair whiz by ..

been doing my homework , apart from looking into the other sugestions on here I have read that if the gearbox main shaft nut is loose t can cause the bos to jump out of reverse .. Thats interesting because I fitted the Fairey overdrive and would have removed and replaced that nut whn i fitted the OD .If I remember rightly the lock tab was a bit buggered so perhaps over the miles I have done, a good deal of them at dual carriage way speeds ( I kid you not this thing goes well ) perhaps the nut has come loose .. Its always beena good shifting box with no hint of a problem untll now .. but come to think of it there was a very minor 1st gear selection problem ,like a "oh, thats stiff" moment , before it froped in.. and never reocurred .. then the reverse thing

I also use the OD all the time , so the nut could be the cause of this problem .. will check everything anyway and will keep you posted .. wish me good fortune ..