British Leyland Rover

British Leyland Rover

Active Member
Good evening

My Dad had a series 3 when I was growing up and I loved the adventure and waving to other owners. I remember my Dad however having to cycle to work on a few ocassions.
I think it was made around 1980. Sadly it was sold in the late 1990s and apparently the new owner shipped it out to Grenada in the Caribbean.
IMG-20231112-WA0004.jpg


I have waited nearly 30 years to own one and I finally went for it and recently purchased a 1978 S3 2.25 petrol.

20240217_173313.jpg


Like most, it has a long list of jobs to be done but the main priority is sorting out the stalling issue. It only makes it a mile or two before cutting out.

I've enjoyed reading through the projects on here, so I'll try and keep the forum updated with the progress and include photos of this one.

Have a great weekend.

Jim
 
Looks the biz good luck with it. Good carb clean and few gaskets set of plugs etc will most likely sort it. I have a 1948 ferguson petrol/tvo it ran till hot then would splutter and die but only sometimes. Later found all plug leads had been poorly made and had corroded at the distributor side. New plugs leads and service it has run like a champ since. I would love a 2a or series 3 pick up since my uncle sold a fully restored one about 10 years ago. Even had an overdrive.
 
Feral kid said:
Looks the biz good luck with it. Good carb clean and few gaskets set of plugs etc will most likely sort it. I have a 1948 ferguson petrol/tvo it ran till hot then would splutter and die but only sometimes. Later found all plug leads had been poorly made and had corroded at the distributor side. New plugs leads and service it has run like a champ since. I would love a 2a or series 3 pick up since my uncle sold a fully restored one about 10 years ago. Even had an overdrive.
Click to expand...
Thanks for taking the time to reply Feral Kid. I've just ordered plugs, points condenser, dizzy cap and a new ignition coil. It looks like it has a Lucas distributor and Zenith carb. I'll see what a good service does.

Whenever I see well looked after examples like your uncles, I appreciate just how much effort goes into getting them like that.
 
And all the parts numbered in the parts book make ordering a doddle which parts supplier are you using

The other handbook series 2/2a ? Has a great fault finding section which s3 does not
 
Between the showers yesterday, my brother and I spent the afternoon replacing as many serviceable items our skills permitted. It's running a lot better, but I think the Zeneth carb will need a service and tune.

20240219_114242.jpg


1. Drained the fuel tank it had a lot of sediment after 15 years storage.
2. Spark plugs 1 gap needed adjusting.
3. Lucas ht leads
4. Lucas dizzy cap
5. Lucas rotor arm
6. Lucas ignition coil
7. Inline carb fuel filter
8. Cleaned air filter and crank breather case.

The new points and condenser didn't arrive on time, so I'll have to do that next weekend with the fluids change.

We feel like we've made some progress but we have a lot more to do before we are confident taking it out further afield.
 
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It’s amazing how much ep90 you get through , best buy in 20l drum if not bought already
I’m sure a strip and clean of carb wil improve thinks more , not much you can’t do with manual and WD40 🤓
 
Nice one , I have one of these which helps get it in all the filler holes, otherwise big squeezee
IMG_3253.png
bottle with pvc pipe fitted
 
Ah yes I'll be needing one of those. I've cut some of my garden hose and added a funnel, but I don't know if it'll work until I've tried it. But for £9.99 I may as well get the pump too.
 
I got stuck in today and treated the s3 to some lovely fresh oils. When starting it up it threw it's toys out of the pram and ran worse, not idling well and running rich. The only thing I can think of is I cleaned out the fuel pump bowl and added fresh oil to the oil filter bath.


1.Clean fuel sediment bowl
2.Engine Change oil 6 liters + 0.85 litre when replacing the oil filter 20w50 oem filter
3.Gear box oil 1.5l ep90 gl4
4. Transfer box oil 2.5l ep90 gl4
5. Fairey overdrive 0.4l ep90 gl4
6. Rear diff oil 1.75l ep90 gl4
7. Front diff oil 1.75l ep90 gl4


I didn't get time to change the points or condensor so I'll give that a try tomorrow. A Zenith carb service kit has been ordered. Hopefully it we'll get there.
 
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