restoration Land Rover Series 3 109 FFR rolling restoration?

[mike65]

Well strange things happen and it appears we had a Bank Holiday weekend with no rain.

So between gardening (after all it is a bank holiday) and better than watching paint dry

I managed to paint the front part of the chassis and have a go at spraying the replacement bonnet, wing and the radiator surround.

Needs another coat but that can wait till next time we have no rain.

 

Mike

[mike65]

Well the paint has dried so I did a bit of refitting.

Decided the grille would be black.

 

The plastic protection has made it back into the radio battery box

 

The tilt rope loops on the tub have been modified somewhat over the years amd most look like this.

 

Made a stat and replaced the drivers side front one. The others are going to be a bit more challenging to line up and refix.

 

Mike

[mike65]

Well it looks like I have been a lazy git and not done anything since June.

Honestly I have not been lazy and the truck has earned her keep by hauling some building materials and I now have an almost finished wall and steps to the rear garden.

Hand dug and filled 2 skips and mover 5 tons of blocks by hand, not forgetting the concrete.

The truck also did a bit of green laneing

and one of these got slightly rearranged

 

Got to Newbury and found these in a pile of tractor parts

 

They have been stripped cleaned and painted along with some other parts and of course a straight antenna mount

 

The old wooden radio battery box I made came in handy as a spray booth and also dit the underseat fuel tank cover tray hung from a PO's convenient holes.

 

Number 2 tank was dropped cleaned sealed painted and undersealled and after waiting months for it to stop raining was reinstalled in a cleaned and prepared chassis.

 

Nice brand new shiny 24v sender installed but for some reason the gauge works backwards (on both tanks) so full is empty and empty is full. Well it is better than guessing I suppose.

Now I just need to resolve that large pool of brake fluid under the truck before its MOT (gives me a couple of weeks).

Note to self. Take a bit more time with flaring pipes when making them and remember the brake flexipipe will leak at the T piece if it has the B word on the packaging.

[ArtistsRifles]

Does anything involving the "B" word work as Landrover meant it to???

 

We won't talk about wiper adapters for the Series 3 here !!

[mike65]

Work on the truck has been progressing.

After sitting around for like 4 years and almost 1 year repainted I thought I better fit the replacement bonnet. No more tripping over that in the garage.

The observant amongst you may notice one manky old hinge. I had some painted ones but one would not fit in the old hinge mount rubber. So two new ones of those fixed the problem a few days later.

 

Decided that it was time to do a wheel. The paint on it was a bit crazy paved and the rear was buried under a thick layer of congealed oil grease and dirt.

So after a good degrease and a bit of needle gunning followed by a good rub down, it was ready for a coat of zinc primer, 2 of normal primer and 2 coats of NATO green

Interesting this is the second wheel I have done and it is slightly different.

The 1st was stamped FV738903 K14 5.5Fx16 56?690 and carries the Dunlop symbol with 984 after it.

The one above is marker 272309 /64 and carries a symbol that looks like a squashed diamond with an S in it.

So that is probably one military wheel and 1 civvy one I guess

 

It was then time to get the lights working and get it to pass its MOT, which it thankfully did.

 

After passing I decided to take more bits off.

Driver’s side splash panel was removed from under the wing. The steering box cover is Ok but there is a bit of a hole in the splash panel.

The bulkhead behind is not to bad and just appears to need a good clean and paint

 

Another wheel has been removed with its cracked paint and rusty backside, with the tell-tale signs of something leaking. Another thing to look into.

I wonder what the heritage of this wheel is.

 

Newbury Sort-out this weekend so that cuts into truck time and Easter is almost upon us so that means garden time is here.

 

Mike

[john1]

Hi,

I am restoring a 1979 Series III 3/4T Landrover with VPK included.

 

Can anyone advise the correct green colour for this type of vehicle.

tax book states Green.

 

I have browsed through a few 'green' shades and still undecided.

[ArtistsRifles]

NATO Green - I think BS285 - try here on the dreaded eBay

[mike65]

I believe to be technically correct it is BSC381C 285 NATO Green

 

I have been using paint supplied by the ebay link above.

Use satin so it is not too shiny but a bit harder wearing then matt.

Have a cheap and an expensive spray gun so being using them seems to go on fine with my limited spraying abilities.

 

Mike

[WCMatt]

Mike

First off, the S3 looks great. It's really coming along. Now that I'm subscribed to this thread, thought I'd ask a question of you and some of the others on here. How does a S3 109 stack up to a D110 in terms of reliability & (on) road performance? Would it make a good daily driver (maybe just weekends)for around town type stuff?

 

Matt

[ArtistsRifles]

I believe to be technically correct it is BSC381C 285 NATO Green

 

I have been using paint supplied by the ebay link above.

Use satin so it is not too shiny but a bit harder wearing then matt.

Have a cheap and an expensive spray gun so being using them seems to go on fine with my limited spraying abilities.

 

Mike

 

I used a 2" paint brush - one of the Harris "Guaranteed hair free" type on mine - seems to have worked well save that the edges between green and black are sharp, not feathered as with a spray gun. But - in service you got pot luck on whether they were brush or spray painted so I am happy!

 

Mike

First off, the S3 looks great. It's really coming along. Now that I'm subscribed to this thread, thought I'd ask a question of you and some of the others on here. How does a S3 109 stack up to a D110 in terms of reliability & (on) road performance? Would it make a good daily driver (maybe just weekends)for around town type stuff?

 

Matt

 

Interesting.... First comment would be they have an appetite for the rather expensive motion lotion (at least - mine does even with a Weber conversion). Next up - they are not the most comfortable of vehicles and speed bumps do not mix well with them especially on the original Firestone pattern tyres. I have the later Michelin XZL's on my rims as I could not find the Firestone patterns when I needed them - they are radial and have a softer sidewall so the ride is a bit smoother but even these require the vehicle to be almost stopped to cross speed bumps. Steering is not PAS so requires an effort to turn - mine has the added fun of never going in a straight line but needing constant correction like in the old 50's movies. My wife refuses point blank to drive it because of this Turning circle is quite large too compared to the likes of a Range Rover or Discovery. Both soft and hard top will leak in heavy rains and I find that I need to have the back rolled up in mine to see out.

All this said - if well maintained there is no reason why it could not be used as a daily driver - spares are available and, touch wood, the only time mines broken down was enroute home from the NEC last year - and I've had her since 2006.

No idea about on road as I've never driven a 110 but off road they are well matched. S3 is fun to drive - just remember it is 40 years old - well mine is - and is all drum brakes so will not stop like a modern car. If you have the ex-military version with the front bumperettes you find people tend to get out of your way. This is improved by fitting a a bright red towing pintle to the front bumper :-) If you want a daily driver I'd recommend going for a GS version and not an FFR. The 12V electrics are a lot simpler and a lot less painful to work on

[mike65]

Mike

First off, the S3 looks great. It's really coming along. Now that I'm subscribed to this thread, thought I'd ask a question of you and some of the others on here. How does a S3 109 stack up to a D110 in terms of reliability & (on) road performance? Would it make a good daily driver (maybe just weekends)for around town type stuff?

 

Matt

 

Matt

 

What Neil has said is true, although petrol is expensive and disappears very quickly, especially in traffic, there is a plus side.

You save money on gym membership as the lack of power steering gives you a good work out at low speeds.

You also get plenty of smiles per gallon:D:D:D

By all accounts the nice bouncy coils on a 110 give you a softer ride, but like Neil not much experience of them.

Reliability is like many vehicles down to how you look after them. Only issues I have had were a failed float in the carb and a spark plug. I left it for 6 months, primed the carb and she started up, cannot really grumble about that.

A 109 FFR rides much more comfortably with a load in the back as the springs are heavy duty. So a GS or a spring swap might help, alternatively half a ton of logs would do.

You get the water leaks with all Land Rovers they were a factory standard fit along with the oil leaks:D

 

At speed they are noisy so forget ICE systems.

 

As Neil also mentions it is an old school vehicle so you need to drive them properly and think ahead. In reality a Series 3 is just a posh Series 3 so are really much older than 40 years even if it is a 1983 version. The 110 uses much of the same technology so they are still old trucks.

 

Mike

[WCMatt]

Neil & Mike

Thank you for your insite into the comparison of the two models. My only landie experience has been with an almost identical pair of D110 3 door hard tops both with 200tdi conversions. I have a "thing" for the D110s but would consider the S3 109 as a posible substitute if I can't source a 110.

 

Regards,

Matt

[mike65]

Well the old girl made it to Duxford and back without a hiccup.

Went to move it a week later and no clutch appears the slave cylinder has given up.

That’s for another day when parts arrive.

 

So I decided it was time to replace that damaged front wing with the one I have been falling over for months.

First job get this off

 

Second job look at all that lovely rust

 

Well It was not that bad, have seen much worse a quick attack with degreaser, pressure washer, wire brushes etc followed by some rust killer paint and underseal looks a whole lot better

 

Top corner of the bulkhead was pretty god again kill the rust and then a thin coat of filler to cover it.

 

Next job finish this section of bulkhead with some sanding, primer and green and put it all back together

 

Mike.

[minn200]

Blimey Mike that wing looks in better nick than he one I have just primed up on mine! :cool2:

 

Love the rust though I have plenty of that to share about as well

[mike65]

Blimey Mike that wing looks in better nick than he one I have just primed up on mine! :cool2:

 

Love the rust though I have plenty of that to share about as well

 

Looks can be deceiving. The front is caved in on a vertical to the right of the headlight as you look at it and the top has a 90 degree split beneath the TUAAM box.

 

Mike

[mike65]

Well clutch is working again. Must buy some bent spanners for next time I need to access the bleed nipple.

 

End of bulkhead painted.

 

Replacement wing reinstated.

 

Next job paint the sill panel, cable cover flap , tuaam box and refit.

Oh yes must not forget to sort the exhaust.

 

Mike

[mike65]

Well another summer has passed us by and I seem to have got nothing done on the truck.

I reckon the only thing slower than s Series 3 is my restoration pace..

My excuse was the weather was good so I went out to play, OK only once

 

Shortly after this weekend it rained most or was alternatively busy.

Bank holiday weekend I noticed a new oil leak. Then went to Bournemouth for the airshow.

Got homw and OPEC had set up camp on my driveway.

Sloping drives are very good for letting the oil run out passed a failed front oil seal on the transfer box.

So floor out and prop off

 

Those old leather and steel seals are right pigs to get out.

Cleaned chassis and painted the floor UJs on the prop were a little bit stiff but a good clean, paint and a large injection of fresh grease fixed that.

 

That is an improvement.

 

Mike

[mike65]

Next on the agenda was to fix the blowing exhaust, it has been doing that for ages but it has passed MOTs with help from gun gum.

I always new it blew where the manifold and downpipe met, but seemed to be getting worse.

 

So it was strip the manifolds off it only had gaskets on the inlet manifold (I know its an option)

Hmm it appears to be blowing at No. 4 and is that a crack?

 

Gentle tap with the specialist percussive maintenance tool and it was definitely a crack.

 

Good job I had already bought a new one.

Whilst in bits I decided to try out the other thing I did over the summer, I built this

 

Air inlet pipe before

 

and after

 

It then got painted and refitted.

i also took the opportunity to change the carb over as this one never seemed to want to run right.

Now has a proper Zenith 361V (at least that is what is on the side). Replaced gaskets and cleaned up and fitted.

 

It now seems to tickover more reliably, starts better, revs better, all I need to do is see if it runs better, a job for the weekend.

So far it seems to be one of the best tenners I have spent.

 

Mike

[GeePig]

 

Whilst in bits I decided to try out the other thing I did over the summer, I built this

 

 

 

Um, is it a TV cabinet, with separate access to channel and volume switches?

 

trevor

[mike65]

Well I have managed to survice the winter and the truck has passed another MOT.

Due to rule changes I am driving around displaying an out of date tax disc

Maybe I should remove it and ree up a huge section of windscreen.

 

Between the rain I have managed to clean up a replacement wheel and some YUAAM boxes.

 

 

Weather now seems to have picked up so I have stripped the dexion of the 351 bits and bracket and added another mount to the radio table.

 

Thought I better see if things fit. Seems OK

 

 

Not sure do you think I have enough in there?

 

Mike