DiscoAlex's new project - a 1976 LR Series 3 LWB...

[discoalex]

Ever since I've had the Discovery and been a part of the LROCA I've been longing for a rover with a bit more character. Constantly on the lookout for ex-army 109s and stuff like that on TradeMe. Nothing ever came within my meagre budget though...and when trucks did pop up for $1000-2000...they were not running, or deregistered. too much work for me.

So then she popped up on TradeMe last Monday morning. A running S3 109. Still registered! And he was only asking $1000. It was in Palmerston North, but I give the guy a call and was on my way down from Auckland that morning.

I suppose I was never going to return empty-handed - having driven all the way with a hired trailer in tow. She was a bit worse for wear so I offered him $800 and away I went the next morning with my new Series 3 and a literal truck-load of spare parts.

Spare Holden motor. Spare gearbox. Hubs, axles, Panels, fuel tanks, drive shafts....so many spare parts I had no idea where I was going to store them - let alone the truck.

I convinced my wife it would be a long term project. Something I didnt spend on...but just put away and slowly chipped away on it here and there.

The journey back wasn't too bad. Blew a heater hose in my v8 discovery towing that load up some big hills. But we got home in the end.

I spent the first day regrounding all the wires and she finally started. The next day I reconnected the fuel tank. It took me a good half a day to figure out how to get the spare motor off the back. Ended up winching it off with a pulley block on a tree branch. Never lifted an engine before - that shit is heavy

Here's a few images of the journey. As she sits now she's driving. I need to figure out the brakes. And then she'll be really driving. I'm sure theres a bit of rust I need to deal to before I can look at getting WOF etc. But I'm excited to have a bit of a long term do-er upper!

[uptomynutsinruts]

Awesome mate!!!
Looking good both old and new

[lax2wlg]

Looks like fun, being a 109 S3 it will have the American Dana 60 rear diff, reproduced under license in Salisbury, England. A stout piece of engineering, though I think LR still used their 10 spline axles in it. Hopefully one of the spare gearboxes is a non synchro S2A unit, that plus GM engine plus rear diff, pretty strong combo

[discoalex]

I think when I do finally get her roadworthy it will be more of a Ponsonby road urban assault vehicle rather than a full on off road machine. Perhaps the occasional tip off cruise along the beach

[Ralfie]

Looks like fun, being a 109 S3 it will have the American Dana 60 rear diff, reproduced under license in Salisbury, England. A stout piece of engineering, though I think LR still used their 10 spline axles in it.

Nope, the Salisbury are fine spline axles. These are stronger hence why they were fitted to the LWB vehicles.

[Ralfie]

The journey back wasn't too bad. Blew a heater hose in my v8 discovery towing that load up some big hills. But we got home in the end.

With coolant inside the vehicle like that it will be the heater matrix rather than a hose.

[DieselBoy]

There truly is no cure for the Land Rover sickness

[ice4x4]

Oresome with a capital O

[Pedro]

There truly is no cure for the Land Rover sickness

there is , its called emptying your bank account......


As a mate the other day said, its hard to believe that you can put that much fuel into a V8 and get so little in return..... refering to a 4.6V8 rangy

Pedro

[discoalex]

The journey back wasn't too bad. Blew a heater hose in my v8 discovery towing that load up some big hills. But we got home in the end.

With coolant inside the vehicle like that it will be the heater matrix rather than a hose.

Yeah. That's what I meant to say. I was quite proud of my macgyver skills. Took the pipes that go into the firewall and looped them together so they bypassed the heater all together. Made it home sweet as. A tad chilly along the desert road though lucky I don't have carpet anymore. I can at least just put my hands on the metal above the transmission to warm them up!

[discoalex]

Today I'm gonna bleed the brakes. See if i can get any feeling out of them whatsoever!

[basics]

il be watching this thread alex. i enjoyed reading your last build and love all the pictures

[muskie]

once you have had landies at anytime during your life they stay with you, i have had about 7 of them in my late 20's early 30's and i still love them now although i dont own one.. even the times they let you down become a story once you have forgotten the cost of repairing, as a pom one of the only things i really miss about england are the massive landie shows/swap meets ... everytime i see a project like this being started the passion comes back.. i would love to build rangie/landie combo at some stage. good luck with the build...

[discoalex]

as a pom one of the only things i really miss about england are the massive landie shows/swap meets

A mate of mine's dad has a small obsession with the series trucks and has 40 or so of them stored in a hangar at ardmore! They are all really nice too....more like a museum

I'm still looking for somewhere undercover to store this one....so I asked him...turns out mine isn't quite as 'nice' as it needs to be to be allowed hangar space. haha. oh well.

The Holden 202 motor I got with the truck is on Trademe if anyone is interested. Although, I should really hang onto that too.

In other news. She's now taking fuel from the tank like she should be and I've taken her for a few short trips up and down the road. Lots to do...but even those short drives around my neighbourhood are bringing a smile to my face (and waking up the neighbours with my non-existent rusty exhaust! haha

[raywongu]

looks good Alex, top down motoring in summer !

[discoalex]

looks good Alex, top down motoring in summer !

Thanks ray! Yup. If I'm being honest.... It's 90% of the reason I'm into the 109...that long sleek topless cruising fingers crossed she doesn't need too much surgery before summer rolls around again.

Currently struggling with carb and getting it tuned... And brakes... Some bigtime work needs to be done there

I drove to the washworld with just a handbrake. Even that was a bit sketchy when it was wet after a wash.... I made a pact to get some braking happening first... Before opening jump the gun and drive it again

[discoalex]

*jumping the gun.

[lax2wlg]

I drove to the washworld with just a handbrake.

Bro, its a transmission brake...

[discoalex]

I drove to the washworld with just a handbrake.

Bro, its a transmission brake...

... Which is operated by hand. Yup. I know. But it got me there.... And back... Just...

I'm quickly learning that nothing will be easy on this old truck that's been sitting on farms for almost 40 years.

First priority is getting some kind of action out of the brakes. Before I go changing cylinders and stuff I wanted to pull out the drums. Give everything a clean and see what I'm working with. Off came the first wheel with what seemed like 10kg of bugs and filth jammed in there behind the rim.. I struggled yesterday wrestling with stripped screw heads of the bolts holding the drum on. Gave up.

After reflection... I realized I don't even need those bolts as the drum is secured sweet by the rim. So next time I get a free moment I'll drill them out... To access the brake... To see what I'm doing with.

Two brake nipple are snapped off. I have some spare equally rusty cylinders with good nipple. So I'm debating drilling out the nipple and replacing those. Or replacing the whole cylinders.

I'm pretty new to all this. So everything is a first time. Always open to advice

Oh.... And. Annie still is in need of a sheltered home. Anywhere considered if there happens to be any readers out there sympathetic to her (my) plight.

[Cameron]

If you can get new cylinders for reasonable coin then do that for sure., keep the old ones in case you ever want to rebuild those and/or get stainless sleeves put in them.

for removing the drum retaining screws, even if they're mangled then I find these things are a godsend


Impact driver.
Basically you hold it hard against the screw with a little twisting pressure against it, then smack the end solidly with a hammer. boom. screw is loose. The one I have is a Koken one and from memory I only paid about $30 for it. Have had it pretty much since I left school and it's paid for itself millions of times over. You might not use it very often but when you need one then you'll be glad you have one.
Just looked around the net and they've gone up a bit in price but still worth it.

[oldyella]

I found with my rusted up series 2 brakes, once I drilled the heads off the drum retaining screws and removed the drum, the screws became finger tight. They seemed to seize where the screw head is in contact with drum.

Got get some CRC (or WD40 if your that way inclinded), think ahead of the work your going to do, and give anything your planning to work on a squirt or two a couple of days before you take to it.

It will make a world of difference

I got my impact driver from SCA for $25 I think. Used it on Saturday, has definately paid itself off.

Also, when you try un-bolt any of the UNF 1/4 bolts and by that I mean snap them off. Go get a packet of 25 or 50 of 1/4" UNC 3/4"long with washers and nuts. The course thread will undo easier next time.

Interested to see what you do with it.

[discoalex]

Update time...Annie is coming together! Slowly but surely

Slowly worked my way around all the brake cylinders. Drilled off the retaining screws and cleaned out all the almost 40 years of crap from the brakes. Many cans of degreaser and brake cleaner were used. I disassembled all the cylinders and tried to get them into shape.

Once that was done.....bled the brakes....but STILL no action. Noticed small leak between master cylinder and brake servo. Off to see Rex at Land Rover Spares who sold me a new master cylinder and servo. Had to replace a few brake lines too that snapped when I basically breathed on them. So many parts of this truck seem to just rust away before me when I try and touch them

So now the brakes kind of work. They work well after a pump...but my conclusion is that the wheel brake cylinders are old and not operating properly. They are jamming and not returning etc. I plan on ordering a new set from ebay...or from rex in the near future. But she's braking well enough for me now.

Had a set of 265/75 Kumho KL71s sitting there from my disco. So I threw them on some Disco steel rims and she was almost sitting right. But not quite. So i took my old disco 30mm wheel spacers and had them machined so they slide onto the series hub....that's perfect! the tires are right at the edge of the guards.

What else....Oh....Ignition. She was running ok. But one day she started misfiring hardcore. I've played with timing and cleaned the carb...checked all the usual ignition suspects. Checked compression. Nothing out the ordinary....so the hunt began.

check vacuum leaks
Replaced Coil (thanks Rex)
Replaced all leads
Replaces plugs
cleaned points
replaced dizzy with electronic one (ebay)

Still no better on the idle (she's ok now at higher RPM)

SOOO...I found a new old stock Zenith carb...same as what's in her now. I'm gonna install it when I get the chance and I'm REALLY hoping my poor idle is due to carb air leaks and maybe bad idle jets/circuit. It fires perfectly with a little bit of choke.

and in a nutshell, that's where I'm at. Oh yeah....and i took the roof off asap! and mounted that giant spare on the hood! Now we're talking. So she's driving rough...but at least she's looking the part.

Oh, also wired up the lights. That was a confusing job...but I got there. We're all functional in that department now...bar one indicator that's refusing to flash.

I got the balls to take her from my parent's place on the shore to a more permanent resting place at my house in town. That was exciting bombing the harbour bridge...backfiring and spluttering my way through town.

I'm learning heaps. Loving it. every minute!

that was typed at a million miles per hour...but I wanted to update the progress here. Pictures stolen from my instagram (http://www.instagram.com/alexdefreitas) follow me there for plenty more!

Alex

[Cameron]

awesome! are you keeping the roof so you've got options or just going topless?

[discoalex]

I've got the roof sitting there. Yup, i'll hang onto it. Not sure of the long term plans just yet. still just working through the basic stuff to get her roadworthy...

[muskie]

cool but i see the brakes are still giving you problems, did you use the red car as a buffer?? .. seriously it looks cool wheels and tyres make such a difference.

[DieselBoy]

You should see if you can score a ex army rag top for it!!!!

Rag tops are always cool

[Cheesy_Dave]

I havent played with one of these for a while (I think I had a build thread on here years ago with a different login) but from memory there are a few things to check;

First with the twin leading shoe fronts is to make sure the return springs are in the correct holes. (I had lots of issues with this on my 88)

Then there is the little valve for the diagonal brake system, I think it has three brake lines and an electrical plug coming out of it, undo the plug from the valve and make sure that the indent in the plunger is in the middle, this can flick over when you are bleeding the brakes.

The last thing I can think of is the plunger rod from the brake peddle might not be going back far enough to release master cylinder completely.

Other than that they are just a real pain to bleed