1975 series 3 rebuild ongoing (lots of photos)

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honolulujoe said:
so is it just a case of putting the last panels on and its ready for the road, subject to mot?
Click to expand...

i wish. I've got all the electrics to do, there was so much bodging in originally and we had so much trouble removing it, that a lot of the dash was damaged. so I'm going for a full rewire, i am planning to get an autosparks loom with wiring for some of the future extras i would like, as i just haven't got the time to wire it myself.

but there are definitely still lots of little things to work on.

I'm still having problems with what turned out to not be a "fully restored bulkhead" as advertised on ebay.
last summer i spent some time welding and patching the rough bits, but last week i tapped an unusual lumpy bit and found a section of newspaper and filler that i missed when i was repairing.

haven't got access to a welder now, so i'm going to get a man in soon.

end of this year would be a goal though, as we all know its all a time & money balance
 
honolulujoe said:
so is it just a case of putting the last panels on and its ready for the road, subject to mot?
Click to expand...
Hah that would have been amazing!

slow progress again in the last few months. a few small odd jobs done, too much to go into details today, maybe soon.

Current big thing is purchasing a new set of wiring from autosparks.
anyone got any pointers or experience with this? I'm costing what i need VS what i want and hopefully i'll have a shopping list sorted by the weekend so i can sort it.
 
great thread, got me enthusiastic for when warm weather finally reaches us and i can crack on with mine its been sat since the summer, does anyone know of the best (most reasonably priced and still going to do a good job) place to get a gearbox reconditioned or exchange one for a restored one? i have decided this job is above my capabilities.....
when i first read what colour you where going to paint your S3 i made a funny face but seeing it in the pictures it looks dam smart. hope its all coming together for you and look forward to your next instalment! ;)
 
tomhop said:
great thread, got me enthusiastic for when warm weather finally reaches us and i can crack on with mine its been sat since the summer, does anyone know of the best (most reasonably priced and still going to do a good job) place to get a gearbox reconditioned or exchange one for a restored one? i have decided this job is above my capabilities.....
when i first read what colour you where going to paint your S3 i made a funny face but seeing it in the pictures it looks dam smart. hope its all coming together for you and look forward to your next instalment! ;)
Click to expand...
cheers, i was weary of the gearbox, which is why it took so long, in the end i went very slowly and carefully, and just followed the handbook. luckily things inside were pretty good and i only replaced a few bearings. fingers crossed it will all be ok.

i'm still a fan of the colour, its sadly looking a bit weather beaten these days and its still not on the road.
 
Long time no update, but i have made good progress this year!
most of the truck is slowly coming back together in a nearly finished way, millions of small jobs to do.

recently managed to get a decent fit on the body and the doors and had some final chassis repairs done, will update some photos soon.

once i'm back from my holidays i'm placing an order for an autosparks loom.
Electrics aren't something i have much experience of,I really want to consider how to upgrade the fuse box, i have an 8 blade box i want to fit to the right side of the Dash and simply route the wiring through this box ignoring the original.
is it as simple as i imagine or is there more to consider?,
how would i recreate the bridged connections between 5&7 on the lucas box?
see this photo:

advise in this area would be appriciated
 
I cheated with mine - but I wasn't putting in a new loom - I took a wire from the ignition switch from the terminal that is live when the key has fallen back after starting, then made a positive bus down one side with bits of wire and connectors, then just connected things in turn one on each terminal on the other side.

posbus.jpg


I made a list of what was connected to each, can't find it now though :D
 
Remember you'll have to declare that along with any other significant mods for your insurance. Looking good.
 
honolulujoe said:
I cheated with mine - but I wasn't putting in a new loom - I took a wire from the ignition switch from the terminal that is live when the key has fallen back after starting, then made a positive bus down one side with bits of wire and connectors, then just connected things in turn one on each terminal on the other side.

View attachment 103336

I made a list of what was connected to each, can't find it now though :D
Click to expand...
doesn't this mean that all the power/amps going through that fusebox runs through the ignition switch first?
can the switch handle that?
 
well now you ask that I don't know, i was a total noob to electrics when i took the plunge.

the switch itself was new from lr series. but iirc nothing worked on mine without the ignition on before (but mine had been fiddled with and was also petrol originally I believe). there is nothing extra electrically on mine. actually I think I wired the horn so that it works without the ignition on.

its been about a year and I haven't had any problems
 
Hi. Just read the thread from start to finish. Really enjoyed it. You're doing great work. It is staggering how much time and money big projects like this can take up. I'm 21 months into my project (my thread over in rebuilds forum called 'Steve's unexpected series 3 rebuild') and I haven't even got a rolling chassis yet. I was hoping that me and my then 7yr old son could have some laughs in it. At the rate i'm going he will have moved out before it's done:confused:. I'm really glad yours is not too far from finished, it really is looking good.
 
its been a while but i do owe this thread an update, I've barely had time to consider it recently.

The build has continued, plodding on and tackling each job slowly, but i'm at the 98% done stage, It's looking about finished, and its driving and running fairly well.
a couple of update photos as proof:



I owe it a set of legal tyres, some final electrical tidies and there's a little more oil that i would like coming from between the gearbox and transfer box, unfortunately if i'm doing things properly, i might need to pull the gearbox back out.

In the meantime, when i first start it, its very slow, needing over 40 seconds on the heaters and sometimes a 5-10 seconds turning over, but it generally goes and then restarts on the key.

At the same time there's a bit too much white smoke on starting and black smoke on acceleration, engines aren't my confident area, but i think this means compression issues as well as fuel timing.
when running it seems to have a sensible amount of power and it can pull without issue son hills etc, as far as i can tell, the engine's not making the wrong sort of noise.
I assume i need to start with the fuel timing, and then get into the compression testing.
why thread is needed on a compression testing tool?
can anyone suggest the best order to troubleshoot these issues?

cheers guys, i'll do my best to get this thread back up to date as i go along. i hate reading a thread that never finishes
 
Hi. I am absolutely no expert, especially with diesels, but i'm going to suggest that the first thing to check would be compression. I've forgotten if you have had the head off already but if the compression is down it will need to come off. I'm just doing the head on mine and finding all sorts of small problems that I hope will explain the nasty exhaust I was getting.
 
onecelledcreature said:
its been a while but i do owe this thread an update, I've barely had time to consider it recently.

The build has continued, plodding on and tackling each job slowly, but i'm at the 98% done stage, It's looking about finished, and its driving and running fairly well.
a couple of update photos as proof:



I owe it a set of legal tyres, some final electrical tidies and there's a little more oil that i would like coming from between the gearbox and transfer box, unfortunately if i'm doing things properly, i might need to pull the gearbox back out.

In the meantime, when i first start it, its very slow, needing over 40 seconds on the heaters and sometimes a 5-10 seconds turning over, but it generally goes and then restarts on the key.

At the same time there's a bit too much white smoke on starting and black smoke on acceleration, engines aren't my confident area, but i think this means compression issues as well as fuel timing.
when running it seems to have a sensible amount of power and it can pull without issue son hills etc, as far as i can tell, the engine's not making the wrong sort of noise.
I assume i need to start with the fuel timing, and then get into the compression testing.
why thread is needed on a compression testing tool?
can anyone suggest the best order to troubleshoot these issues?

cheers guys, i'll do my best to get this thread back up to date as i go along. i hate reading a thread that never finishes
Click to expand...
might be worth testing or renewing glow plugs,and setting tappets, if compression is down its a rebore and new pistons
 
jamesmartin said:
might be worth testing or renewing glow plugs,and setting tappets, if compression is down its a rebore and new pistons
Click to expand...
I am pretty sure you were right about glowplugs, i renewed all 4 last night, i had used a cheaper britpart heater conversion a few years back, i checked and the 4th one had a faulty electrical connection.
i replaced these and did a cold start with about 20 seconds on the plugs and i got a near instant start.

However there was now an unusual knocking noise, took a short drive before coming back to take a look and i found the brittle old fuel filter to leak-off pipe (564905) had split, i must have knocked it when fitting the plugs.
OWFb0Mal.jpg

so I'm now £40 down and waiting for a new part before i can test again, but the speed it started this time around made me feel more confident
 
Last edited:
I put a new starter on mine (2.25p) and it was like a whole new engine!

Good luck with yours. Fyi, having rebuilt my SWB and got it back on the road, I've broken down twice so you're about on par :D

Shame your not down south, it would be great to have a fellow series to bimble round with :)
 
LincolnSteve said:
Hi. I am absolutely no expert, especially with diesels, but i'm going to suggest that the first thing to check would be compression. I've forgotten if you have had the head off already but if the compression is down it will need to come off. I'm just doing the head on mine and finding all sorts of small problems that I hope will explain the nasty exhaust I was getting.
Click to expand...
I'm fairly hopeful there's not a compression issue, i had planned to test this myself, but reading the workshop manual, it only guides a petrol compression test and says that a diesel needs to be tested by a professional.
is this still true or just something that was more dificult at the time?

Rubins4 said:
I put a new starter on mine (2.25p) and it was like a whole new engine!

Good luck with yours. Fyi, having rebuilt my SWB and got it back on the road, I've broken down twice so you're about on par :D

Shame your not down south, it would be great to have a fellow series to bimble round with :)
Click to expand...
A new starter made a big difference for me, i went with a powerlite motor.
 
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