Hi Folks. It has been a long time but here I am at long last and I have a tale to tell. Firstly, we were going to put a diesel into the Series 3 because a friend of my son who has 3 Landy's said it was fairly simple straight out with the 2.25 and the 2.0 diesel would 'drop straight in' and the gearbox as well but with minor modification. Well, we picked up an old disco with the required engine and with great difficulty extracted the engine and gearbox and then we realised that it would NEVER fit into the series 3 so sold off the engine/gearbox and the remainder of the Disco - Never listen to a knowledgable friend who says it is easy. BS. We trusted him but should really have checked - lesson learned.
Secondly, the 2.25 petrol engine is to remain and, after a long period of unforseen personal problems, my son is now working on it again. It has the Weber 34 ICH so that is good.
Here is the latest problem. It concerns the VIN Number on the Log book thingy you know, that piece of paper with all the vehicle information on it. We knew that it was a 1982 Series 3 but were told that it was 'Military', so I elected to check it all out via the Vin No. Thereby hangs a tale. The number is GALLBCA41AA158869 but the 1st digit G does not appear on any check list that I have seen so far. The 8th digit is not a 4 but an 'H' despite the DVLA. After the 9th digit it all seem to be 'elevated spherical objects' (I'm not allowed to say balls up) and the digits dont match the lists published. Additionally, the engine number quoted by DVLA is 33114275 but once again, in the listings, I cannot find the first 2 digits. If you have got this far through my burbling and have some information or site suggestions to impart, I will be very pleased and grateful. I imagine that the 4 and H mix up came about with the transition from hand to computer written documents owing to bad handwriting or other means of legibility. Thank you very much. Brian

He was right with the engine it will fit straight in but the gearbox won't as the chassis needs modification or gearbox modification to get it in but to get the 200tdi to fit the gearbox you need just to remove a stud from the rear plate on the engine and with the right clutch setup it should drop straight in as I have done to mine and like many other have, hope this helps

Thanks very much but he has decided to keep the 2.25 petrol and have LPG put on it. It has the Weber 34 ICH fitted and Weber do a great refurb kit which includes new jets. Thanks. Brian

The first letter of your VIN should be an 'S' (Europe) See here to decode your VIN:
https://twinwoods4x4.co.uk/how-to-decode-your-land-rover-vin-vehicle-identification-number/

What is stamped on the Chassis? What is stamped on the VIN Plate? What serial number is stamped on the engine block?

Quite right. My son established from the Vin plate on the Landy that the DVLA reg document has somehow changed an S to a G and an H to a 4. Will have to notify them of their error. They may blame the computer but a computer is only as accurate as the information fed into it by humans.
Thanks for your help. Most kind of you. Brian