Offroad-Express

hi all

I have never owned a landrover before ( currently own a nissan terrano) but im looking at purchasing a Land Rover Series 3 1978 with a spare landrover 3 bearing diesel engine (head is off). It will be a "project ". is there anything/anywhere in particular that I should look for with these?

any tips/advise/suggestions would be good.

cheers

Check the chassis carefully for rust, they are a box section construction and hold moistre inside and rust from the inside out

And the firewalls tend to rot out too being a steel construction reacting with rest of the alloy body

ok, thanks for that, I will do that. what are the deisel engines like ?

No idea, I only ever had 2.25 petrol landie or Holden engines in em?

sweet, ah well will find out I guess. cheers.

I have a Series II 2.25L Diesel in my Series 1.

Its not to bad really for what i use it for, hunting etc. In low range its got good power, wel within reason of course (for a 62BHP engine). On the road, hills slow it down a fair bit. Nissan Diesels or Holden engines are the way to go with the Series landies, or even the rover v8.

Im not to sure how the diesels have changed between the S2 and S3 however.

But yeah, my diesel is ok, just dont expect it to tow big loads or pull like a safari.

thanks, at the moment it has a 2.25 petrol but comes with a deisel spare from what I can gather.

tracta wrote:thanks, at the moment it has a 2.25 petrol but comes with a deisel spare from what I can gather.

If the petrol goes at present, run that for now to save doing the conversion straght away. Thats what i would do for now anyway.

Dick.

cheers for that, are the petrols economic ?

tracta wrote:cheers for that, are the petrols economic ?

I've had the holden in the landie, and that wasnt to bad. Never had a petrol landie engine thou sorry.

tracta wrote:cheers for that, are the petrols economic ?

you are so funny i used to have a series 3 v8 had the rover v8 fitted and i got told that those motors were more fuel efficient than the 2.25 litre petrol engines

When you look at the size of the piddley little carb and you know its only 2.25l you are amazed how much fuel it chews through!

2.25 diesels are very slow and the cranks are not that strong.

The v8 is a much better bet and if you plan on using it much you can always go LPG.

Things to check on series -

Chassis especially out-riggers and rear X member. Look above the dumb-irons (leaf spring perches) and tap everwhere you can with a little hammer or screwdriver handle.

Front X members are usually rust proofed with the engine and box oil leaks -

Check the bulkhead down by the lower door hinges and up top along the screen, corners too.

Inside look at the footwells and make sure you look up at the pedal top area - rust here is tricky to get at.

Check the gearbox stays in gear on the over-run and low range is ok too.

Brakes are not a series strong point but it should have a firm pedal and pull up without too much wandering.

Steering should not have more than 1 inch of steering wheel play when straight ahead. Check the steering box mounts too.

Body wise its all alloy so look for cracks in the front guards where they have been stressed by damage and look at the back tub for huge dents where its been overloaded with 2 ton of stone!

Any aftermarket improvements like overdrive - parabolic springs - roll bar etc are all good value.

Cheers hope all that helps.

Muddymattt

thanks guys, ill bear all of that in mind. sounds like a repower could be sooner rather than later.