1980 Series III LWB Restoration.

This is the beginning of the restoration of my 1980 series 3. The first goal is to get it road legal then road trip it to Wales from where it currently resides in the South East of England.

I have a deadline of a year max as the barn it's kept in is scheduled for conversion. So if I'm not ready by then I will be forced to trailer it behind a Defender, which in itself will hopefully make for some entertaining photos for the thread dispite representing a failed deadline!

The Landy in question was used by the MOD from 1980 to '88. It is a 2.25 petrol truck cab with free wheeling hubs, twin fuel tanks and an infra red light switch on the dash. It also has the bonnet mounted spare wheel characteristic of the military vehicles.

The PO has owned it since the mid 90s but never MOT'd as it was used as a farm vehicle and play thing for the duration of his ownership.

It runs and drives, selects all 10 gears and is relatively solid underneath although I expect to be finding all sorts of surprises as I have already found a rotten outrigger that was hiding under 6 inches of mud. The only other known issue is the lack of any working exterior lights and a leaky transfer box. Apart from that it's a goodun!

Here are some walk around shots, I will updating with more detailed pics as soon as possible but please forgive the slow progress as it is a 40 minute drive to where it's kept. Cheers.

Hot soapy water and elbow grease, it'll be fine!

I'd dump the bull bar, spoils the classic look for me.

Agreed on the bull bar, reduces access to the engine bay too.

+1 re the bull-bar. They went out of fashion in the late 90s and yes, they spoil the classic looks. The Series III grille is a wonderful thing (if you look closely, you can see that the Rover badge (the viking ship) makes up a good part of it. Don't cover it.

Further inspection of the rotten outrigger. Luckily the damage is contained to the outrigger and the hidden part of the frame. I will also order a new bolt as its clearly going to be sacrificed during removal.
Removed the bull bar too!

Looks so much better already.

This is going to be an interesting little project. Looking forward to updates.

Also agreed, looks loads better without the bull bar.

Foz

I had very similar bull bars on mine and they went straight in the bin, I had to cut them off because they had welded on. They are so heavy and if you did hit anything the chassis would be the weakest point.

I was also surprised by how strong it was compared to the bumper its attached to. I had to wrestle the last bolt free and pulled the head of the bolt clean through the bumper.

I've been preparing the chassis ready for the new outrigger. What is the routine with the extra material that comes with the outrigger? I've managed to make a flush repair to the chassis so I don't technically need any extra material either side of the new piece. Shall I trim it down or simply stick the whole thing on there?

I have now completed the chassis welding. The next task is to identify and fix all the leaky bits.

I have also discovered that I have the Salisbury diff and extended suspension mounts similar to the 1 ton spec. Mine is clearly a MOD spec vehicle though but its nice to have the beefy upgrades.

Great progress and photos. Keep going.

This evenings task was fitting a replacement alternator. I decided to retain the dual belt setup so I swapped over the pulley. This involved splitting the unit to reveal the armature which can be safely held in a vice. Seemed like the best way to do it if you've only got a socket set.

This evenings "two steps back" was discovering a coolant leak. It's coming from the front of the engine so I'm hoping its something straight forward. I haven't pin pointed it yet, I was too pleased with the 14.5v I was getting across the battery to bother looking into more problems.

Since fitting the new alternator I have fitted a new water pump, exhaust manifold and full exhaust system. The spark plugs also needed replacing as you can see from the pic!

For reference it is possible to fit the exhaust without a lift if you jack up the nearside front as much as you dare and also remove the gearbox rear tie-rod if fitted.

After hours of work this weekend I went to turn the key and the battery was flat. Either there's a major drain somewhere or the battery's duff. Electrics are next on the list so I'll be investigating this next.

Nice progress - great to see an old series getting some love!
Plugs are deffo past their best!!

Cheers

Rich

I managed to get the exhaust system installed. The kit didn't accommodate for the extended spring mounts at the back so I've got a bit of a clearance issue there. The mounting flange between the downpipe and centre pipe is also very close to the bracket for the hanger above it. It doesn't rattle at idle but I will get some contact as soon as things get bumpy. In both cases a few spacers and longer bolts for the hangers should fix it.

The aftermarket exhaust manifold also left a 1/4 inch gap between it and the intake manifold. Half of which is taken up by the standard gasket. I've bodged it by cutting out extra gaskets from cardboard and copper sheet as I just wanted to hear the engine run but I'll have to stack another proper gasket or two in there for a permanent fix.

She runs though! With the elimination of the rumbly water pump, alternator and exhaust blow it actually sounds like a serviceable engine now. Lots of tappet noise and a miss-fire which will probably be fixed with new ignition parts. Nice to have normal rather than major problems on the list for a change!

My attention has solely been on the wiring since the last post. Somebody has clearly been in there before me and not finished the job of converting over from the military setup. This made it a little difficult to find my way around but with the help of the diagrams found on http://www.land-rover-lightweight.co.uk/ I've managed to make sense of it.

At first I was keen to re-instate the infra-red switch and the rotary light switch but after damaging the infra-red switch and witnessing the rotary switch giving of more than the specified amount of smoke I decided that originality was a no go. I did however buy a new infra-red switch and this is now used for the rear fog light.

I also purchased a new six pin flasher unit which means I was able to match it up with the military style hazard warning switch.

Another quirk that I found was the presence of reversing lights but no switch or wiring leading to them. I'd be interested to know what the alternative setup is to having the switch on the gear lever but I went ahead and fitted one anyway.

So all exterior lights are now working and I'm just waiting on a replacement heater blower switch and instrument light switch before I can replace the dash.

The final electrical item to be tinkered with was the heater blower motor unit. It wasn't turning over despite seeing 12v at the unit so I got it out and had it on the bench for further inspection. It was the usual case of dirty connections which could have easily been sorted out in the engine bay but at least its had a good clean up now and I've learnt a bit more about how it goes together. The combination of ballast resistor and voltage stabiliser look like something out of the 1930s! I'm sure a more capable electronics guy than I could replace these with modern equivalents but it works... And the resistor doubles up as a hand warmer in the winter months

The most obvious next job is the welding on the bulk head but it's an easy access so job I'll probably save it until I've got a little better with the MIG welder I got myself for Christmas.

Brakes are next and I'm not looking forward to trying to get those drums off!