Series 3 SWB

Heavy Duty Hoodsticks

The Series 3 is, like so many other Land Rovers, a bit schitzophrenic.. it can never really decide what to be.   Sometimes it's a hardtop, sometimes it's a soft-top.   Due to the recent spell of nice weather, it's currently a soft-top.   

Now, in my reckless youth I didn't worry so much about things like safety, but being a reponsible adult now means that I have to at least give it a nod of acknowlegdement.

Now, my 3 year old son has never been in my Series 3 (aside from pretending to drive it to the beach whilst it was sitting on the drive), so I promised him that once it was working again, we could drive to the beach for real.   It was this that made me think I should probably provide a bit of protection for the passengers in the event that anything untoward happened, and decided to look at uprating the hoodsticks a bit.

The guys up at Protection and Performance did me a cracking deal on a couple of CDS hoops, made to the same shape / dimensions as the standard parts, along with a couple of bits of tube.
They make the hoops for their NAS spec 90 cages, so those bits were off-the-shelf.



A bit of careful measuring, and some tube notching got the basic frame assembled on the vehicle



Then it was a case of taking the whole thing off and welding it up properly.



The new hoops give a decent point for an upper seat belt mount as well, so I took the opportunity to add these at the same time.





As this is written, the new hoops are off the vehicle again, with a coat of primer on them.   A couple of coats of paint and they'll be fitted for good.

The Series 3 gets electronic ignition

Now, since I've been playing about with the Series 3, I've had nothing with trouble with the points.   I think it is because they were cheap, pattern versions.   The gap kept changing, the engine wouldn't run properly, I even had a set burn out on me...

So, time to bite the bullet I thought and get rid of the points...

Someone over on the 900 Club forum tipped me off to a guy who sold electronic ignition modules for the Lucas distributor.   At under 30 quid, it's a lot less money than a Lumintion unit, and cheap enough that I thought I'd give it a try.

The kit is simple enough, containing a trigger module which fits inside the distributor, a magnetic ring (or a replacement rotor arm with the magnets buit in) and some wiring.

The kit took no more than 5 minutes to fit, and seems to be put together very well.

So, the moment of truth.  I'd already set the ignition timing statically, so I was reasonably confident that it was in the right place...   turned the key and off it went !

Now, I know I was going from an older set of points, but I have to say the difference is amazing.  The engine starts in less than a turn now, it's stable on tickover and revs up and down nicely...   I wish I'd done it ages ago !     Better still, no points to go out of adjustment or cause problems.   For the price / size, I'd even be tempted to keep a second kit in the spares box in case of a failure.

Good work !

Headlight wiring upgrade

As you may know, I've uprated the headlights in the Series 3 for something a bit more effective than the old sealed beam units.  Whilst I was at it (seems to be a bit of a theme) I put some uprated headlight wiring, a couple of relays to control them, and a new fuseboard.

The fuseboard is a common-feed, 6 way affair, which will allow me to add some of the new gadgets in the future, like a heated screen, heated mirrors, etc.
It's all tucked away on the back of the radiator panel, so shouldn't be too badly affected by muck and water.

Uprating the headlights

Another 'half hour update' on the Series 3  (so-called because that's about the only time I seem to work on the wretched thing !).

Today, I replaced the lower dash, which makes it all look a bit more complete inside again.   

I then set about refitting the headlights.  In true Land Rover style, I decided that whilst they were in pieces, I might as well upgrade the headlights on the old truck.  So, I fitted a set of shiny new plastic headlight bowls to replace the rusty old cans on there, and then ran some new wiring in for for the halogen light units which will be eventually be going in.

Like I say, just a quick update, but at least it is progress.

The footwells are refitted, now to put it back together

With a day to myself, I could crack on with the footwell replacement on the Series 3.  Both footwells were welded in, so it was time to start putting stuff back together again.

The inner wings weren't perfect, but were sound enough to be refitted, so a coat of paint was in order.  The cover for the steering box was another story, so I took the decision to make a new one up in aluminium and fit that instead.

The pedals were next on the hit list, and should have bolted straight in...   I say 'should', but that wasn't taking into account the build quality of the Britpart replacement footwells.  Now, you'd think by now that I'd know enough about Land Rovers and Land Rover parts to have checked a Britpart part before I fitted it...  I didn't bother, not even Britpart could get a bent metal box wrong...  could they ?   Turns out they could !   The hole for the brake pedal was completely wrong !  

Thankfully, a bit of time with a drill and a reciprocating saw, I modified the pedal box to fit properly.   So, with the pedals and wings all in place, I thought everything could do with another coat of paint and underseal.

The chassis needed a bit of welding repair on the steering relay cross member, so once that was done, I gave the front of the chassis a coat of paint.   I'll do the back half shortly.

It's starting to come together again !

The driver's footwell is next on the list

Just a quick update today.   After a long, hard day at work, I decided that bashing some metal would be fun :-)

Having got the passenger footwell sorted, I turned to the drivers side.   First of all, I needed to get all the stuff that was bolted onto the footwells... off.

Out came the pedals and throttle linkage, off with the various brackets and bolts, and what's left is a rusty footwell !

Time to replace the footwells

The Series 3, like so many vehicles of a certain age has rusty footwells.  They have been patched far too often, but the

inevitable has happened and they need to be replaced.  With a spare afternoon, I thought I'd make a start on the job.

First of all, the floors had to come out, along with the tunnel and just for good measure, I took the lower dash out too.  I have a couple of replacement footwells from Devon 4x4 which should fit in nicely, and as with any job like this, it's important to make sure you get all the rotten bits out before you start.

I started on the passenger side, since there is less in the way, and removed the heater and heater fan from inside the engine bay, then unbolted the footwell from the bulkhead support.

Next, I set to work with the grinder, saw and sander, working around the footwell.  I drilled as many of the spotwelds out as I cound find,  but even then had to get the air chisel out for a few places to split the panels apart.  

Before long,. there was a big hole :-)

The new footwell panel fits reasonably well.  Time to leave it, and head to the driver's side.

I've started a new gallery of photos of the job here

My tax exempt Series 3

Built late in 1972, I have one of the few tax exempt Series 3 Land Rovers. Running a standard 2.25 petrol engine and 4 speed box this little truck is prety much as it left the factory. I first got the 88" from my Grandfather who got it at a farm sale many moons ago. After performing all sorts of tasks from moving hay around to transporting livestock, it was handed over to me as a project vehicle. This was back when I was 16 or so, making it my first real car. It's been a good truck over the years and I dread to think how many miles it has covered. It was even used as my wedding car ! It's off the road at the moment (quelle surprise !) as I do a few bits of welding and maintenance, but it will be going for MOT soon. We'll see what happens !