series III 88 hardtop restoration

Seth 88 · Jun 6, 2020

Hi,
I'm new and got a fair bit planned for my new purchase that we picked up this week.

I know its got a non standard grill etc for a Series III, but that doesn't bother me much, its really about getting it mechanically sound so that when my son (@Seth 88 Jnr) turns 17, his first car is safe (and fun!).

It has an MOT til Oct so will likely tinker til then to keep it roadworthy and so we can enjoy it fir a few months, then take it off the road to strip it right down and restore/make good.

I've popped out between rain showers today and spotted some stuff I need to do immediately:
- rear right indicator
- rear side lights
- air box/vent (not sure of right name for it)
- drain radiator
- revamp brakes

I'm certainly no expert, so will very much appreciate thoughts and guidance along the way and expect to be updating this thread for a year or two to come yet!

More pics of current state:

Seth 88 · Jun 13, 2020

Looked to replace rear indicators and sidelights/brake lights as previous ones were variously broken and or not working.

I found that Heath Robinson must have owned the car at some point once I took the internal covers off behind the lights to get at wires!

Left rear....not so bad:

Right rear. Bad:

Anyway, sorted it all out so it works and replaced all relevant light covers and assemblies, so all good to get us through to October.

Once we do the rebuild 'proper' I'll rewire the whole thing and use the relevant looms etc!

Going to be ordering rear seats and belts too soon so that we can all go for a shake rattle and roll down the road over summer as well as giving the engine and brakes a service....but that's for another weekend.

Marmaduke · Jun 13, 2020

I've ended up rewiring mine from scratch with new colour coded wires but I've cheated a bit and used trailer cable front to back

It's quite therapeutic in a strange way

Marmaduke · Jun 13, 2020

Seth 88 said:
Looked to replace rear indicators and sidelights/brake lights as previous ones were variously broken and or not working.

I found that Heath Robinson must have owned the car at some point once I took the internal covers off behind the lights to get at wires!

Left rear....not so bad:
View attachment 212158

Right rear. Bad:
View attachment 212159

Anyway, sorted it all out so it works and replaced all relevant light covers and assemblies, so all good to get us through to October.

Once we do the rebuild 'proper' I'll rewire the whole thing and use the relevant looms etc!

Going to be ordering rear seats and belts too soon so that we can all go for a shake rattle and roll down the road over summer as well as giving the engine and brakes a service....but that's for another weekend.

I hate scotch blocks

Seth 88 · Jun 14, 2020

Yeah, scotch blocks not great. Your configuration looks really neat @Marmaduke. Something for me to aspire to!

Marmaduke · Jun 14, 2020

Seth 88 said:
Yeah, scotch blocks not great. Your configuration looks really neat @Marmaduke. Something for me to aspire to!

I tried to contact autosparks to ask them something about their pre-made looms and never heard back, I even visited them and spoke to someone who assured me that somebody would be in touch and she confirmed she'd seen my email. I still haven't heard back off them

So I found this place... https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/

As I didn't have any loom to begin with I needed everything and these sell colour braided wiring, crimping pliers, bullets and 2 and 4 way connectors and the old fashioned looking fuse box I used so yours would be a doddle in comparison.

Fortunately series 2a's are really simple when it comes to wiring

Seth 88 · Jun 14, 2020

Nice, will def be looking into that some more when the resto gets going proper. Thanks

Seth 88 · Jun 14, 2020

Washed all the cars today (mine, my wife's and the LR). Don't reckon the Landy has been washed for years! Obviously the bodywork is in poor condition, but even that quick once over has made a difference!

Marmaduke · Jun 14, 2020

Seth 88 said:
Washed all the cars today (mine, my wife's and the LR). Don't reckon the Landy has been washed for years! Obviously the bodywork is in poor condition, but even that quick once over has made a difference!

View attachment 212214

View attachment 212215

View attachment 212216

It's a shame that the lacquer is peeling cos it would have cleaned up quite well

Seth 88 · Jun 14, 2020

Agreed, its peeling a huge amount on the bonnet and wing tops, but always assumed I'd need to do a fair bit with the bodywork/paintwork, so will have that joy over the coming years once I take it off the road!

Seth 88 · Jun 27, 2020

Little bit more done today. Rear homemade dog guard removed and one bench seat fitted. Now ready for dome work tomorrow to take some stuff round to help my dad out with his roof!

Before:

Guard out:

One bench seat in:

Leaving the other side for another day and will be getting under the bonnet soon too

Seth 88 · Jul 6, 2020

2nd bench seat in today.

Oil service done, new fuel filter and radiator drained and refilled. Need to bleed fuel lines tomorrow.

Clutch hit the floor today. A clutch fluid top up sorted it, but think clutch is on its way out as barely any travel before reaching the biting point. Not too worried, will be checking it all during the strip down over winter and beyond...

Seth 88 · Jul 7, 2020

Bled the fuel today so Seth's back up and running!

Went out for a quick drive with the kids this morning and went through our first ford in the truck. Not too deep, probably only half way up the wheels. Fun anyway. Quick video below. We'll do it again sometime and get a video from the outside too. If you have your sound on, you'll hear a loud squeaking and i can't figure out where its coming from! (I've left a link to a vid on YouTube, hope thats OK on this site?)

Seth 88 · Jul 10, 2020

Couldn't resist another trip back to the same ford today. My youngest son jumped out to film both crossings and got his feet wet from the bow wave! All good fun

Marmaduke · Jul 11, 2020

Seth 88 said:
Couldn't resist another trip back to the same ford today. My youngest son jumped out to film both crossings and got his feet wet from the bow wave! All good fun

Let him have a drive next time

Seth 88 · Jul 11, 2020

Ha, well that's the plan in the longer term! Need to find some private land to get him behind the wheel a bit sooner though

Marmaduke · Jul 11, 2020

Seth 88 said:
Ha, well that's the plan in the longer term! Need to find some private land to get him behind the wheel a bit sooner though

Give him a blast through the ford, you know you want to

Seth 88 · Jul 11, 2020

Marmaduke said:
Give him a blast through the ford, you know you want to

Marmaduke · Jul 11, 2020

Seth 88 said:

I remember my cousins driving my step dads around the paddock at the bottom of our garden. I think that the youngest was probably 8 or 9

Seth 88 · Jul 11, 2020

Marmaduke said:
I remember my cousins driving my step dads around the paddock at the bottom of our garden. I think that the youngest was probably 8 or 9

Jnr is 14. He's done a driving course at Snetterton racetrack already and was really good (in a manual Mini). Just need to find some space for him to get have a go and make some mistakes without too much risk of doing any harm!

series III 88 hardtop restoration

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