The S3 Beach Bus, and so it begins......

After many years procrastinating about what to get, S3 109 CSW, soft top, Defender 110 or Discovery I went for a S3 109 FFR. There were lots of reasons some of which included,
- having something big to put our bikes in for a bit of mountain biking without worrying about the mess in the back after a muddy ride.
- Something loud to drown out the noise of my three youngsters bickering in the back.
- A big soft top to take everyone out in.
- A bit of cheap motorsport, Tyro, RTV competitions etc.
- Something to all go down the beach in the sun.




So after waiting for my moment on Ebay I got this 1984 FFR 109 for a good price a few weeks ago. I was going to keep it as stock as possible, however the only remnants of it's military career are the shielded ignition and 24v system.
My intention is to get three seats in the front by reposition the two batteries from between the front seats to behind the seat bulkhead. This hopefully won't intrude too much into the rear tub space.
In the back I want to fit two fold up forward facing seats for the occasional long journey and competition stuff.
I also want to add a roll cage, this will double as a seat belt anchorage point for the rear seats.

There is also a fair bit refurbishment that needs doing such as,

- Welding footwells

- Refurbing door tops. I might be able to save them.



- Sort rear axle oil leak - oil traces/runs on wheel

- Re grease cart springs - currently covered in Waxoyl.


- Sort out engine timing

- Clean out left fuel tank which is full of cloudy fuel. The previous owner said he had never used it.

- Repair tail gate that has been bent when allowed to drop on the NATO hitch without the chains attached.

- Get oil temp gauge working

- Get Fuel Gauge working

- Try to reduce water leaks around windscreen

- Make sure all oil levels are what they should be including steering relay

- Examine and repair/replace starter motor that is making a disconcerting noise on starting

- Not sure what to do with the external paint. It's just had a quick blow over with flaky stuff underneath, but then it's an old S3 109.



Tasks already done,
- Gently Sanding down the tyres where they were green with paint where the wheels had been sprayed with no masking !!! The photo is before the sanding.



- Replaced the 12V relay that was in the 24V circuit and was producing lots of smoke shortly before it ceased to function.
- stopping the engine knocking (pinking). Traced to ignition being exceedingly out.

And so it begins.........

Looks finished to me.

Good luck with it. Looks fun.

Nice bus!

Cool project - keep us updated with pictures

As above - that looks like a damn fine start to a rolling resto to me Watching.

I'd love a series.... but it would have to converted to auto.... which sort of puts me off having one..... its not "original" in any way shape or form....

What's the chassis like ?

Heheheh, what a lot of bollocky reasons .. you saw it, you fell in love, and found reasons to make the family agree ...

Can't fault you ..

Have fun ...

Some military ones had an add on roll hoop that just fitted where the canvas tilt hoop went.Good enough for RTV trials.

That 's going to be a fine fun vehicle for you and your family members. Really does look ready to go and depending on what you are going to be doing, it looks authentic. And, welcome to the Loonyzone

tottot said:

.Good enough for RTV trials.

Click to expand...

Do you need the internal roll cage hoop for RTV trials? May be a good idea, but I did not think it was necessary.

Cheers

All RTV trials I know of require a truck cab or hard top but if soft top then most clubs require some extra protection but not a full MSA approved cage and this is where the military hoop comes in.However it would be wise to check with the club one is going to have a go at as to what they require.

Looks great enjoy

I like that landy. Later model S3 military. Also like your approach to keeping it running. Keep it out of salty water! Good luck with the project.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I was going to get a lot done on it yesterday but in the end loaded up the family & took it for it's first trip to the beach with them. Much more fun than the Mondeo having the coffee/ hot chocolate in the back with the sea facing side canvas rolled up. Actually worked better than expected. The lads (11 & 13) like working on it as well !

An update.

Several jobs done, though not as many as hoped. I’ve been too busy driving it about.

I got one of the lads to turn the engine over whilst I was looking into the engine bay and discovered the knackered sounding starter was even more knackered than it sounded. The motor was barely turning over. I had no option than to buy a new starter or get a starting handle or both.

The initial horror of the price of a 24v starter was relieved a bit when I found a recon one on Blanchards website for £150, less than half the price of the others I had seen on the internet.

This was duly ordered and I spent a few hours swapping it out on a Friday evening. It was not too difficult a task and now she starts quite nicely.

Returning from a beach trip she had developed a loud thump from the front when we went over big bumps. Initially I thought it was the spare wheel not seated properly. After doing the starter I went to take it out for a run but the thump was still there. I got out and gave everything a good wiggle (on the Landy) and found that the upper bushes on the front offside had disappeared. The thump was the shock walloping the chassis mount. I went straight home gently trying to avoid the pot holes.

Saturday morning I rang up the local Land Rover dealers parts dept who sound amazed that I had been daft enough to call him for Series parts. He did however advise that I go to Dunsfold Land Rovers. So off I went on probably the first of many trips to Dunsfold.

DLR were very helpful and it was nice to be able to talk to someone face to face about bits instead of doing over the internet as seems to have become common now.

Returned home and got my 11 year old to help me do the bushes. He got a bit frustrated as everything was a bit too big and stiff for him to undo things without me freeing them off first. He still enjoyed himself though. Having done the bushes we had to take it out for a test drive, our first off road !

The test drive and the Ramblers.

We set off for the local BOAT called Chalk Pit Lane. This is a chalky lane that runs from Lavant up to the Trundle, the large hill fort next to Goodwood Horse race track. It has a various entrances that are used by motor traffic on a regular basis at several points along it’s length so it’s not like it’s never used by cars. I was a bit concerned about collecting a mountain biker in the radiator as being a mountain biker I like descending chalk pit lane and whilst I go round the corners at speeds that allow me to stop in the distance I can see, others might not. So we got to use the yellow knob for the first time and set off at a slow speed to avoid potential damage to mountain bikers. Fellow MTB’ers were not to be the problem.

Ramblers. I’ve come across these over the years on the mountain bike. I’ve got the odd sarky comment when I’ve alerted them to my presence with my bell like” well at least you used your bell” but generally I’m too busy riding the bike to notice the killer freeze death glare.

Now I was sat in a relatively comfy seat doing about 3 mph and could experience it in all it’s exasperated righteous piousness. The first lot just walked up the lane as we if weren’t there for about 3-4 minutes. Maybe the 50’s design engine was too quiet as was the whirring fan, maybe. Not to mention the XtraGrips on the flinty chalk or the tail gate chains rattling either. Eventually they stood on the grass verge and pretended to admire the view whilst watching us drive past out of the corners of their eyes with smug grins having got their victory.

The best one though was the one who was coming the other way and couldn’t avoid seeing us. They climbed onto the verge with an expression that can best be described as similar to an irritated Bulldog licking urine off a stinging nettle and nearly choked on their reply when I thanked them and wished them a good evening.

It has to be said that there were others who were quite pleasant and were not in the least annoyed with our use of the lane. Anyway we enjoyed ourselves and didn’t collected any mountain bikers.

Other jobs done,

Removed rear bench seats for refurbishment.

We made rear floor mat from a big 3 metre long sheet of chequerplate rubber matting bought on ebay for about £35. We will make some for the front but until I reduce the leaks I am concerned I will create a moisture trap.

Cleaned out passenger side fuel tank. It still has a small amount of crud in there so I will have to have another go.

I got a trade size can of WD40 and have been giving the leaf springs a good soaking in the stuff every weekend. Judging by the rust coloured goo coming out of the sides of the springs it seems to be working.

I soaked various parts underneath in it as well just in case I need to work on them.

Checked the levels of oil in the front and rear diffs. A decent amount was present in both. Need to look at transmission next. I discovered one of the prop shaft UJ gaiters has a hole and will need doing.

Today the sun came out properly so we decided to completely remove the canvas, sticks and the door tops so we could lower the screen. This took about an hour and a half. Worst was getting to the nuts for the centre hoop as access was blocked by the back seats.

We did several trips out in it like that today. I got her up to 49 mph but decided that I did not trust the screen to stay down any faster just on the tightness of the hinges, even though I had done them up as tight as i dare without stripping the thread. It was fun though.

My phone is not talking to the PC at the moment so no pics at this point. I’ll try tomorrow.

Oil mixed with some petrol is a good treatment for springs. Petrol evaporates and leaves the oil.

John S said:

Oil mixed with some petrol is a good treatment for springs. Petrol evaporates and leaves the oil.

Click to expand...

Or use graphited grease. As specified in the instruction book. Jack up the chassis, work the grease into the gaps in the springs.

Thanks, I might give the petrol and grease a go. If I had more time I'd completely strip them, but I don't so I'll have to try some of these methods.

One other job I got to do was paint the Land Rover badge on the back that had been sprayed over. Any way a few pics,

Top of Chalk pit lane, looking out to the sea.



Goodwood with the roof off. The Spitfire in the background is a replica. Nice to look at though.

Sputnik01 said:

Thanks, I might give the petrol and grease a go. If I had more time I'd completely strip them, but I don't so I'll have to try some of these methods.

Click to expand...

You really dont need to strip them. Series one and two, the original manuals state to grease, with graphited grease, using the method above. As needed when the springs got stiff or dry.
Series 3 were a bit different, they had graphite pads let into little recesses in the leaves, to lubricate automatically. On an old vehicle, the pads wear out after a while, so just revert to the graphite grease. If you do a thorough job, jacking up on the chassis so the axles hang on the springs, and work the grease in well to the gaps at the side of the springs, you will be impressed by the difference.

I'm only managing to get Saturday mornings working on her at the moment so nothing major done other than sorting a few niggles. Easter was spent partly back in Wiltshire where I originally come from. We did a detour on the way back home via Imber village on the Salisbury Plain Training Area as it was open for the duration of the bank holiday. Saw a fair few Defenders and Discoveries having a play in the mud around there.

I’ve managed to maintain the children’s interest in helping out, though they aren’t so excited by the tedious bits like paint stripping, not unsurprisingly. It’s also a problem when you get to a stubborn part that won’t budge and they don’t have the strength to help out yet. They tend to drift off then because it’s not happening quick enough.

Jobs done.

Fitted new speedo cable as the connector at the back of the speedo was held together by electrical tape and worked intermittently. I’d started relying on the GPS speedo on my phone.

Fitted new rubber seals to the bulkhead vents in an effort to reduce the water in the footwells and hence reduce tinworm. Next time I will completely remove the vent to do this instead of just removing the split pins. My eldest enjoyed helping out though.



Started refurbishing the rear seats. Cut out the rusted sections and now need to fabricate some repair sections.

Removed what was left of the rusted out strip at the rear of the floor which the tailgate sits on when closed.

Started stripping the badly applied non slip paint that has been applied to the interior of the rear tub. Half of it has flaked off on its own so you get a pile of it in the rear after most trips.

Identified (I think) why it smells off EP90. I noticed some oil spots on the inside of the nearside tyre around the outer edge. It appears to be spinning off from the front diff pinion seal. That’s one for next weekend.

Anyway due to a lack of photos, here’s another of it in cabriolet mode. I’m looking at fitting captive nuts to the hoop mounts and the cab frame in an effort to reduce the time to convert it to this configuration.

Sputnik01 said:

I'm only managing to get Saturday mornings working on her at the moment so nothing major done other than sorting a few niggles. Easter was spent partly back in Wiltshire where I originally come from. We did a detour on the way back home via Imber village on the Salisbury Plain Training Area as it was open for the duration of the bank holiday. Saw a fair few Defenders and Discoveries having a play in the mud around there.

I’ve managed to maintain the children’s interest in helping out, though they aren’t so excited by the tedious bits like paint stripping, not unsurprisingly. It’s also a problem when you get to a stubborn part that won’t budge and they don’t have the strength to help out yet. They tend to drift off then because it’s not happening quick enough.

Jobs done.

Fitted new speedo cable as the connector at the back of the speedo was held together by electrical tape and worked intermittently. I’d started relying on the GPS speedo on my phone.

Fitted new rubber seals to the bulkhead vents in an effort to reduce the water in the footwells and hence reduce tinworm. Next time I will completely remove the vent to do this instead of just removing the split pins. My eldest enjoyed helping out though.



Started refurbishing the rear seats. Cut out the rusted sections and now need to fabricate some repair sections.

Removed what was left of the rusted out strip at the rear of the floor which the tailgate sits on when closed.

Started stripping the badly applied non slip paint that has been applied to the interior of the rear tub. Half of it has flaked off on its own so you get a pile of it in the rear after most trips.

Identified (I think) why it smells off EP90. I noticed some oil spots on the inside of the nearside tyre around the outer edge. It appears to be spinning off from the front diff pinion seal. That’s one for next weekend.

Anyway due to a lack of photos, here’s another of it in cabriolet mode. I’m looking at fitting captive nuts to the hoop mounts and the cab frame in an effort to reduce the time to convert it to this configuration.

Click to expand...

Great bit of kit mate, pretty much unstoppable, about 43 years ago I bought an ex Australian army series 2A set up just like that one you have, we were just newly married and no kids yet but had an enormous Golden Labrador dog (kid), we had many great camping trips in the old series, and our "dog kid" loved it because she just jumped in the back soaked or muddy.
I particularly loved the extra fording height ability of the army version, we used to drive into the Hunter River at a place where the track crossed, I'd remove the fan belt and we'd drive a couple of miles down the river bed to ours and the dogs favourite camping/swimming spot, cabin full of water near up to the seat box, and you're worrying about a windscreen leak.
Just use it and enjoy, it looks great.