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S3 Landie....


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Time for a bit of an update..

The beast now lives again and is home with a full MOT - albeit the tyres were advisories for next year. I managed to get 4 x Michelin XZL's off eBay, just need a 5th one for the spare and I can get them changed. Trying to source the original Firestone type was a nightmare beyond resolving... Engines runs well although I still have to work out where the capillary senders go for the oil and water temps and the fuel gauge will not play ball at all. Turn it on and the needle drops rather than climbing. Earth's and 24v supply checked out OK so I'm guessing a crook gauge.

 

This was the old girl whilst work was in progress back in December:

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Working inside to get the radio battery tray,box and table into place

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Finished ready for the MOT

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Back home after the MOT

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In the meant time the twin gods or war and wisdom have seemingly smiled down upon me and I managed to get hold of a 351 and 320 set for the interior plus the remote control box and combining box - Local/Remote plus a 5.4 m mast in one eBay deal and an almost new 8m mast in another. The 8m goes on the back into the special bumperettes - we had a rare spot of sun this afternoon so a test fit was carried out:

 

Mast in travel position

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Mast with top 3 sections erected (couldn't do any more in safety due to all the phone lines overhead)

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So we are getting there! Right now the tub gets very wet as the tilt has basically has it - either worn thin or has actual holes in it care of it's time down in the Fort :cry: Another job on the "to do!" list if I ever get another job and thus the ££'s to do it. Also still need to get the Sankey trailer plug hooked into the loom - been too wet to do it recently so I hope in the next week or so we get some good sunshine to be able to work outside. :)

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Yah right - then I'd never get it back to go to shows (it's by way of being a communal one right now - as my Landie has been off the road a while other members of the group tend to borrow it..) :D

 

Thought you had got fedup with others borrowing your gear:D good luck with the resto mate.

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Thought you had got fedup with others borrowing your gear:D good luck with the resto mate.

 

That was the Sankey, not the Landie - and they generally ask first !! :-D

 

Still trying to get the instruments working - heavy rain has put a stop to working outside and I am still hunting for the adapter that goes into the tapping point on the oil cooler line to take the union from the capillary oil temp gauge. It's a male thread into the oil cooler tap-off point and a female thread for the actual union...

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That was the Sankey, not the Landie - and they generally ask first !! :-D

 

Still trying to get the instruments working - heavy rain has put a stop to working outside and I am still hunting for the adapter that goes into the tapping point on the oil cooler line to take the union from the capillary oil temp gauge. It's a male thread into the oil cooler tap-off point and a female thread for the actual union...

 

Neil

 

I thought we pointed you in the right direction over on the EMLRA

 

Union (adapter) to thermo oil brass pocket ,, 264529

1/4" BSP x 5/8" BSF

 

Well that is according to a resident expert.

 

By all accounts Craddocks/Dunsfold had some.

Did ot turn out to be wrong part, or did you forget in the excitement of buying more expensive stuff.:D

Can't blame you a piffling junction is far less exciting.

 

Mike

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Neil

 

I thought we pointed you in the right direction over on the EMLRA

 

Union (adapter) to thermo oil brass pocket ,, 264529

1/4" BSP x 5/8" BSF

 

Well that is according to a resident expert.

 

By all accounts Craddocks/Dunsfold had some.

Did ot turn out to be wrong part, or did you forget in the excitement of buying more expensive stuff.:D

Can't blame you a piffling junction is far less exciting.

 

Mike

 

Nope - I forgot!! :blush: :blush: :blush: My goof!!!! I recall being directed to Holdens - but that was the wrong one - both ends were male (got it in front of me here !!) Off to Craddocks web site now :D

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  • 1 month later...

After a couple of months back on the road all seems to be OK now - apart from a nasty little problem that started rearing its head after the MOT. Every now and then - seemingly when a wheel, not both, hits a bump or a pot hole the entire front end starts the shake and shudder violently.. Also only seems to happen at speeds below 30 mph.

We've checked the steering and front suspension, all seems OK apart from the tracking needing adjusting after the replacement drag link was fitted. I've no idea what is causing it but it is so bad it makes the spare wheel bounce on the bonnet.

Next thing to do is try swapping the wheels from front to rear to see if it is the tyres. They are old and badly cracked - enough to be an MOT advisory. I do have replacement tyres but am waiting for the inner tubes to arrive. When they do I'll have them fitted immediately.

The bug is really p**ing me off though as drives that should be fun (yeah, I know - it's a Series Landie - wandering steering and cartspring suspension.... :cheesy:) are now nightmares as every time I feel a bump I have to prepare for the worst. Only cure is to knock into neutral, shove the indicator on and coast to a stop. As the speed dies so does the shaking. Once stopped I can just drive on - till the next time. :embarrassed:

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After a couple of months back on the road all seems to be OK now - apart from a nasty little problem that started rearing its head after the MOT. Every now and then - seemingly when a wheel, not both, hits a bump or a pot hole the entire front end starts the shake and shudder violently.. Also only seems to happen at speeds below 30 mph.

We've checked the steering and front suspension, all seems OK apart from the tracking needing adjusting after the replacement drag link was fitted. I've no idea what is causing it but it is so bad it makes the spare wheel bounce on the bonnet.

Next thing to do is try swapping the wheels from front to rear to see if it is the tyres. They are old and badly cracked - enough to be an MOT advisory. I do have replacement tyres but am waiting for the inner tubes to arrive. When they do I'll have them fitted immediately.

The bug is really p**ing me off though as drives that should be fun (yeah, I know - it's a Series Landie - wandering steering and cartspring suspension.... :cheesy:) are now nightmares as every time I feel a bump I have to prepare for the worst. Only cure is to knock into neutral, shove the indicator on and coast to a stop. As the speed dies so does the shaking. Once stopped I can just drive on - till the next time. :embarrassed:

 

Have you checked the pre-load on front swivels?

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Have you checked the pre-load on front swivels?

 

Haven't tried dropping all the steering links and using the spring balance as per the handbook Richard.

 

And the swivel pins on the hubs. The Railko bushes wear and cause that.

 

Can't feel any excessive movement in the Railco bushes Tony. With the vehicle jacked up under the axle the wheels barely moved when pulled and pushed - other than the loose bearing on the O/S one which we tightened.

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Had a busy day today - and mostly positive too.....

 

First off I took advantage of the good weather to

fit the replacement front bump stop this morning. On looking closely the two bolts were there together with the remains of the bracket - rusted solid. I had no choice but to carefully cut the heads of with a grinder and drive the rest of the bolt out. Did the first one without a problem, got halfway through the second and my ear started feeling very warm - then painful.. The sparks had set light to the hairs in my ear!! Jesus it smarted...... Whata mistaka to maka!!!!

 

 

 

That took me up to lunch time then afterwards I took her down to the local tyre shop to have the replacement tyres fitted. Now - you may recall I said my wheels/tyres had been swapped out (read "stolen") in storage??

 

Well - the b*gg*r(s) responsible not only took 5 good rims and tyres - they replaced them with two different rim widths!!!!

 

 

As the fitters were taking the tyres off the front rims, something looked odd - literally the fitter and I said at the same time "they're two different rims" - this being the first time I'd seen the two rims physically side by side.

On checking the vehicle one side had shallow rims, the other deep. So when they refitted the balanced wheels they put the shallow ones on the front and the deep ones on the rear.

On the short drive home I had no problems. It needed a longer drive to verify - which will need more fuel in first - but it did it twice on the same trip last week so the signs are good!!

 

 

This may explain why the drive from the store to the MOT station was without incident and why the problem started after the MOT - the fitter may have taken both wheels off on one side for some reason and put them back reversed.

 

Persuaded the OH I needed fuel tonight to took a longish drive to a filling station on some of the worst roads in the area. Nothing happened!! so it looks like a definite solution. I also noted the XZL's ran a lot quieter than the OEM Firestones and were less prone to wandering - I guess because they are radials. I know they are not what a S3 should have - but I needed 5 tyres this year and they were cheap!!!

 

Next jobs are to fix the problems caused by the violent shuddering - headlamps are U/S again and she won't idle when braking unless I "blip" the throttle as the revs drop to idle. Then I can look at fitting the control boxes etc for the radios.

 

 

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Good news its cured, bad news about cause. Though I can't see why an MOT inspector would remove a wheel. Maybe you hadn't found the right sort of bump? If you had a mixed set of radial and cross ply tyres that can cause all sorts of hurt. If I remeber back in the old days, Radial on the back, Cross Ply on the front and NEVER mix on the same axle. I had a similar thing thinking about it on my old Montego. The tyres looked fine but one had a flat spot and it would start juddering at certain speeds.

Edited by Tony B
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Good news its cured, bad news about cause. Though I can't see why an MOT inspector would remove a wheel. Maybe you hadn't found the right sort of bump? If you had a mixed set of radial and cross ply tyres that can cause all sorts of hurt. If I remeber back in the old days, Radial on the back, Cross Ply on the front and NEVER mix on the same axle. I had a similar thing thinking about it on my old Montego. The tyres looked fine but one had a flat spot and it would start juddering at certain speeds.

 

IIRC Neil had some welding done to get it through, which would explain wheel removal.

They did not want them to catch fire.

 

Mike

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IIRC Neil had some welding done to get it through, which would explain wheel removal.

They did not want them to catch fire.

 

Mike

 

That makes sense. A man I know (Who is a proffesional welder) once did some work on a Ford Escort in a chaps garage. Unfortunatley there was an old pice of oil soacked carpet under the car. He did get his kit out safley though before phoning for fire brigade. :-D

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  • 5 weeks later...

Had a good time with the old girl down at War and Peace. No matter where I went she cut her way through the mud, only slipping slightly the times the tyres got chocked with mud. First day it was quite funny as I picked her up from lee's camp with the OH following in her Explorer - Landie is rumbling along like normal, Explorer behind me on all terrain tyres is going sideways... The OH was not amused by this - but I was!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

One lesson learnt during the week is it is pointless treating a series Landrover like a classic car - I'd spent days tying to get the headlamps working - no joy. One day of bouncing out of pot-holes and ploughing through mud and they started working!!! Doh!!!! :blush:

 

I had her shipped down on the swan neck of the OT-90's transport as the brake lights had decided to play at not working too. Reset the brake light switch down there and all worked well - till I drove home on the Monday.. As soon as I left the Hop Farm they stopped working again.. I think it might be a dodgy switch?

 

During the show the low oil pressure light started to come on at idle - checking the dipstick the level was just below the "L" mark so I topped it up and that problem vanished - again until the trip home. Heading up 7 mile lane there seemed to be a lack of power given the old girl had hardly anything in the back. I had to drop to 3rd which then sounded like it was screaming it's nuts off until the crest was reached. I'm guessing she got hot because when I slowed for the roundabouts & junctions that followed the light started flickering on again. A steady cruise up the m20 at an indicated 40 - but which the OH told me was actually 50 - 55 cooled things down until we hit the 2 mile queue to get through the tunnel. By the time I got to the toll booth I had to keep her at a fast idle to keep the light off. And the rotten s*ds charged me for a commercial vehicle too!!:mad:

Again - a steady run back up the A1306 restored normality but it is a right pain having no working gauges - temp or fuel - so I know what is happening under the bonnet. I need to get this sorted. Also the odd speedo readings. Rolling radius of the tyres is the same as on friends S3's and the part numbers on the speedo's are the same as their 109's.. So I've no idea why my speedo is reading about 10 mph slow..... Did the 88" and/or lightweight have a different drive gear in the gearbox take-off????

 

20120724_111443.jpg

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  • 8 months later...

I thought perhaps it was time to update this thread... :D

 

Things have progressed since the last post. icon_biggrin.gif

 

After getting her through the MoT this year which entailed screwing my back big time refitting the rear of the passenger fuel tank and having to fit a new brake light switch I made the most of the warm(ish) weather today and had the dash out again. Stripped out the original fuel gauge and fitted a replacement I got from Dunsfolds.

Result - SUCCESS!!! I now have a working fuel gauge again. icon_biggrin.gificon_biggrin.gif

 

Then I had a try at getting the oil filler tube off of the scrap engine so I could get at the temp sender and adapter (ISPL gives the same part number for both sender adaptors) so I thought if I got this one off I could at least hook up the oil temp gauge. Murphys law kicked in though.. Looks like the bolts are a 5/16" and the smallest socket I have is 3/8".... icon_sad.gif So that is on hold till the shops open again and I can get a small socket......

 

Took a break for lunch then emptied about 110 litres of rain water out of the Sankey cover. Again! And then it was walk the dog time. If this weather holds then tomorrow I'll try and get a 5/16" socket and get at least the oil temp sender plumbed in and then have a look at getting the trailer plug wired into the loom. That will just leave:

 

  • the water temp sender to fit.
  • the shunt box to be relocated to the rear tub and the battery take-off box to be fitted.
  • the speedo issue to be sorted out.
  • the non-existent panel lights.
  • the correct rims to be fitted to the front wheel and the rested out spare.

 

 

I also had a look at fitting the heater fan - but for some odd reason I only have two of the 4 mounting bolt holes there. I need to make up a template from the base of the fan and drill two more holes

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Regarding the speedo, the gear in the speedometer itself is different. I need that sorting out on my 88" which has the bigger wheels from a 109" fitted. You can tell the difference because it says the number of turns per mile on the speedo, I've found a thread on another forum that explains the numbers http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=2301 :-)

 

Sam

Edited by samc88
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Problem with the speedo is that it is accurate when cold but as the vehicle warms up it starts to slow down - so much so that after about 15 miles the indicated speed of 30 is nearer 45...... For long trips I have to have the sat nav fixed to the windscreen which in turn brings it's own problems as the sat nav is 12v and the Landie is 24v.... :D

 

It's been suggested that I have a partially broken cable so as a new one is only £6 from Craddocks I'll try swapping it out.

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Took 55 FM 58 down to the tyre place today to have the SWB rims (anyone need a pair of these??) on the front axle and the rusty spare replaced with 109" ones and then on to refuel it. On starting up I got a nasty surprise - the green "low oil pressure" light would not go out - it stayed on, hard on, no flickering when the engine revs increased. Engine was running sweetly though so I took it on the run. Just wish I had working temp gauges... icon_sad.gif

Got the tyres swapped over then got the second shock - 1 tank was empty the other nearly so and the fuel bill was £113 plus a few pennies.... icon_eek.gif

 

Supposed to be at the "Fort at War" event down at Coalhouse Fort on Saturday and then off to Solihull for the 65th event on Sunday but the permanent green light has me seriously worried!!

I have the original engine still sat in the front garden that had the knackered main bearings so tomorrow I'll whip the pressure switch off that one and also try cleaning the relief valve on mine to see if that gets the light out. If it does - all well and good. If not - oh crap!!! icon_sad.gificon_sad.gificon_sad.gif

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Have you checked the mare's nest of wiring behind the instruments? That can cause a lot of spurious warning lights.

Neil

I will second Tony on that one. You have had ithe dash panel out on a few occassions to sort your fuel gauge.

As I have done this a few times it is very easy to dislodge or even break a wire at a connector in there.

 

Mike

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Problem with the speedo is that it is accurate when cold but as the vehicle warms up it starts to slow down - so much so that after about 15 miles the indicated speed of 30 is nearer 45...... For long trips I have to have the sat nav fixed to the windscreen which in turn brings it's own problems as the sat nav is 12v and the Landie is 24v.... :D

 

It's been suggested that I have a partially broken cable so as a new one is only £6 from Craddocks I'll try swapping it out.

 

=============

 

Not with Landie but with VW Beetles , the speedo head design will be similar. Speeds started to be indicated higher than actual , then needle zoooomed up the clock LoL

 

Decided to investigate the speedo head, what I found was there are two metal discs (rotating) with a air-gap , one disc is part of the needle mechanism IIRC with a torsion spring for damping. What I found was that grease had got from drive cable Bowden and a little had entered the clock and got between the disc(s) , therefore there was no air-gap , just a part direct coupling to the needle with variable slippage , until there was too much grease and then the neele is solid & zooomes to end of scale..

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