Series3100's S3 88" rebuild...

[biosbill]

Brake Cleaner... Wonderful stuff and does not damage paintwork!

I use that for everything too !

William

[series3100]

Went for the lighter fluid option. I got most off (of what i tried too) so i'll give it another go and hopefully get all the stickiness off second time round... I didnt even bother trying to get the tape off the windscreen, thats for another day.

Anyway i'v attached some pics, defiantly looks better in the pictures than reality though.

Brian

[series3100]

Went and took the rear diff out of the 90 earlier - I thought it was knackered as the 90's running gear has LOADS of play somewhere but the diff has actually got next to none, far better than the series diffs. That thing is flippin heavy... to be lying underneath, not looking forward to fitting it.

I'v clean it, degreased it and now its in red-led waiting for a coat of black.

Brian

[sniff my diff]

They do weigh a bit dont they

Mark

[series3100]

They do weigh a bit dont they

Mark

I knew it was going to be heavy but wasn't expecting that much weight on my chest! Bloody awkward thing to get out. 3 more to take out (front from 90 and both from series) then got to get them into the series axles... One thing i have noticed though which is a bit of a bonus is i wont need to add oil filler holes to the axle casings (which is the case with a lot of series axles) because it seems my late(ish) series axles already have the filler hole in the diff pan.

Brian

[cornish rattler]

think if i was you brian i would keep the std diffs in as if you fit the 90 diffs your landy will be too layed back without the turbo fitted.

graham
__________________
1962 2a swb 200 tdi.
1997 disco 1 300 tdi.

[series3100]

I just wrote a really long post then closed the internet by accident.

think if i was you brian i would keep the std diffs in as if you fit the 90 diffs your landy will be too layed back without the turbo fitted.

graham
__________________
1962 2a swb 200 tdi.
1997 disco 1 300 tdi.

I'v talked to someone with a Di and someone with a 2.25p who both have 3.51 diffs and it seems ok + once its MOTed and i'v got nothing else to do the turbo's going back on anyway.

Instead of lying under the diff, sliding it out then lowering it onto my chest I got in some weird cramped kneeling position above it and found it much easier to be above it and lower it down. With my new (slightly less damaging) technique it was really easy. From starting off so removing the prop and half shafts, removing old diff, fitting new and bolting everything back up and ready to go took 1h15 so was a lot lot quicker and easier than i expected.

We took it for a spin to try it out and 1st is now much more car like. Going up a hill it still pulled up in 4th only faster and if you dropped down to third it accelerated very well. Its all a lot quieter! It was a bit wet when we went out but the goodyear wranglers were pretty impressive under braking, a lot better than dad's 90 was on similar tyres. Seeing as things we mostly working this time we were having a bit of a play and the gearbox seems pretty nice, giving it some welly it slips into every gear easily and no weird noises or whining either i dont think. The only problem now is the steering Beyond the steering box EVERYTHING has been replaced and is nice and tight but the box it's self is causing a bit of trouble. I jacked the front up and if I tighten the box up it just makes everything stiffer but there is still a good 2" play at the steering wheel. It's defiantly in the box because I can turn the steering wheel and the arm on the box doesn't move. Are there any other ways of removing play form the box? Shims i can remove maybe? Discuss please. The other thing i noticed with the steering is the bearings at the top of the column are completely past it - The wheel wobbles in all directions so im going to have to sort that too which is a bit of a PITA.

Other than steering I'm very pleased.

Brian

PS I have a pair of rear half shafts and flanges from the 90 that have only done 3000 miles if anyone's interested?

[series3100]

I had written a long post then i left the computer over night without pressing the post button... I didn't realise there was going to be a HUGE software update so I'll start again!

I'v been was very busy with tree/logging/pub work over Christmas so really haven't had any time to do anything, now I'm on exams too so the Land rover(s) have been pushed aside a bit .

Anyway the one thing I have managed to work on is the steering, I took my spare steering box apart and inspected it carefully then semi dismantled the one fitted in the series. I measured various things in the 2 boxes hoping to find something excessively worn but everything was identical. I was a bit confused! For some reason I decided to count the number of bearings in the bottom race of each box (not sure if my terminology is correct!?) and found the box fitted in the series was missing a ball bearing. At this point I decided put both the boxes back together and include an extra ball bearing in the box fitted to the series and hope this is the problem solve, I'm yet to road test it though. Now this may sound a stupid question but I was thinking could 1 missing ball bearing actually cause a 2" dead spot in the box? I hope so!??

Two days ago I thought I'd best try and get it running again seeing as we had had minus 15 and about 10-12" of snow. She hasn't run in about 6 weeks now and both my big batteries are down at the barn so I just tried my luck with the small battery that was sitting in the land rover. Key in, glow plugs until light goes out then I tried the starter but it just spun without engaging, thought oh here we go but on the second go it engaged turned the engine twice then died so third time lucky. Starter was really struggling but on the third turn over of the third attempt the engine she spluttered into life on 3 cylinders then 4. I was impressed, more than can be said for our other 2 cars... Few pictures of the snow.

Brian

[cornish rattler]

love the roof tent

graham
______________________
1962 2a swb 200 tdi.

[series3100]

Im finally trying to get back into things...

Today I set about trying to sort out the tracking which was set at some huge amount of toe-out. I used a telescopic painting roller extender thingy. First i measured between the front most part of the rims locking the pole to the distance than turned the wheels 180o and did the same at the back finding there was huge toe out so after some fiddling around with the rod doing a bit of hit and miss adjustment I finally managed to get the wheels strait ahead. From this point I just went for about 2mm toe-in. Also greased all of the steering rods up again. After this we took it for a spin up and down the back road but the steering still seems weird. The problem is how am I meant to set steering up if i don't know how it should feel on one of these things? There are a few problems that I just can't get my head around because I don't have the experience to know how it should feel. I'm one half from next friday for a week so I'm going to try and find someone (anyone!) who knows there way round these things to take it for a spin and spend a day with me helping me iron out some problems I just can't solve - Otherwise I'm just so close, just slightly stuck at the bottom of a brick wall really!

Cheers, Brian

[series3100]

And my shameless plea for help:

http://forum.landrovernet.com/showth...ase!?p=1443456

Cheers, Brian

[biosbill]

Sorry I cant really help...

Just wanted to say that I think its a very good idea to get somebody that knows what they should feel like to drive it and help you set it up, you can only learn so much from reading online and to have actually driven one before means you know exactly how they should feel, ive only ever driven one other series truck so I didnt really know how it should be, it wasnt until another guy in the club drove it that I found the steering box was way to tight and causing it to drive really weirdly (ie steering not auto centering, making it hard to drive). Its good to get this "second opinion" on things too..

William

[series3100]

Sorry I cant really help...

Just wanted to say that I think its a very good idea to get somebody that knows what they should feel like to drive it and help you set it up, you can only learn so much from reading online and to have actually driven one before means you know exactly how they should feel, ive only ever driven one other series truck so I didnt really know how it should be, it wasnt until another guy in the club drove it that I found the steering box was way to tight and causing it to drive really weirdly (ie steering not auto centering, making it hard to drive). Its good to get this "second opinion" on things too..

William

Exactly what I'm trying to say... The finer tuning really has to be done/ explained by someone who know's what it should be like otherwise setting the steering up for example is like walking around with my eyes closed - Not really sure where I'm going!

There are also a few little electrical niggles that my neighbour's going to help me iron out. Other than that it's a case of tidying up and finishing the interior and just generally finishing bits off .

Cheers, Brian

[DarrenH]

epic thread mate, took me yesterday evening and a bit of this morning to read through the whole lot !

i really like the attention to detail, hands on approach, fabrication and solutions.

excuse my ignorance with land rover history, but when did the lights move from the grill area out to the wings ? was that series 2 ?

i was wondering, are some of the bulkhead parts still finished in red oxide ? i've read that its porous (as youd expect from a primer) and may start rusting through, which would obviously be criticle on the lower bulkhead.

[series3100]

epic thread mate, took me yesterday evening and a bit of this morning to read through the whole lot !

i really like the attention to detail, hands on approach, fabrication and solutions.

excuse my ignorance with land rover history, but when did the lights move from the grill area out to the wings ? was that series 2 ?

i was wondering, are some of the bulkhead parts still finished in red oxide ? i've read that its porous (as youd expect from a primer) and may start rusting through, which would obviously be criticle on the lower bulkhead.

Thanks. I think* (not even sure myself) the lights moved out to the wings on series 2a or something... either way I'm pretty sure it was late series 2.

There are a few parts still in red oxide but it wasn't the primer one so I think it'll be ok. I'm not even entirely sure why I left some stuff in red lead, When i get round to painting the interior though I'll finish off a few bits.

I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and completely rebuild a steering box and fit that because this whole steering issue is becoming a bit of a PITA. It will also mean I can say the whole steering system is new/reconditioned and will know I can't do any more to the system and declare myself beaten if it's still not up to standard! Now I just need to work out what parts I need - Not so easy without a parts manual...

Cheers, Brian