xychix

I've found (after cleaning my brakes) that I still need to try and kill the brake pedal in order to get brake force. after dis-connecting the brake vacuum rod with the engine running I found loads more vacuum with the lever more to the front of the car. So i set the knobs on the rod to almost maximum and reconnected it all. Braking appears better (could even have a proper 2-frontwheel slip on gravel road). 1. Is there a guide to set this? 2. how to find the optimum? 3. what happens if it's to far either end?

for parking a series in town.... did you really say that..... I believe this is the best parking aid for a series III 109

Hmm will britpart seals atleast hold the oil in for a few weeks? It's already on its way (also made a same order from a french website, we'll see what arrives first. To bad this repair starts of in a hurry in order to get MOT (once done it's valid or 5 years :) )

I believe i ordered unipneu 7.5/16 atleast 65% offroad thread, nice looking tyre. 630 euro's fitting included. As the guy was shocked himself by the prices per tyre he fit's 4 for the price of 2.

hahaha local specialist. There is a ford dealer with a landrover flag outside at 1.5 hours from here, he won't have it on the shelve... there is a specialist in Dijon at 3.5 hours driving he MIGHT have it. I'll order a kit from paddocks and order what ever I can find here on a french site hoping it arrives faster and is correct. Bye the way. are the seals (number 15 in the picture below) the same for older and newer axles (series III 109 <1980 >1980) ?? Is 15 (dual lipped seal) the item that should keep axle oil from getting in the brakes at the location in my previous photo? (also attached underneath leakage in the sleeve between turning piece and steady piece. In this picture just under the brake spring.

http://www.seriesdiesellandrover.com/Identi%20Front%20Axle.html 914 109 inch 4 cylinder LHD E Change to metric threads in certain components 1974 F Marked the point in 1980 when 88 and 109 axles were both started to be fitted with 11 inch brakes G Full commonisation of 88 and 109 axles, 1980 914-14141-E would then mean pre 1980 axle I assume... (as this serie started in 1974)

Is there any way I can determine what bearing / seal kit i need? My series III 109 says feb-1980 on paper.... but papers here in France lie most of the time. I can't get the hubnut of with a normal 52mm key and I was hoping to order it all together (as I've only got limited time for MOT revisit) There seems to be a number on the axle (front left) that could read 91414141E .... does that identity the axle?

uhm, now I understand the grease there... it seems all holes apart from the engine take 80W90.... same here?

I got the brakes of and there is oil in there again. Meaning I'll have to solve a oil leak before redoing the brakes. I've found the leak, just under the spring of the brakes the oil seeps trough. Does anyone have a partnumber of the seal that's likely behind there??

Is the square nut on top of the steering housing the one to use to adjust steerplay? I had to scrape a lot of grease off of the housing to discover nuts there.

Offcourse I wan't good brakes together with some other stuff to improve / take care of. For now I've only got 2 weeks left in France and I need it trough MOT in those 2 weeks will start another topic on steering issue.

in that case i need to hurry, next MOT in ~ 1 week.

What is the best way to clean my brakes? I failed MOT on the left front brake, and this was after we removed the drum, cleaned the oil with some petrol. The brakepad have been cleaned with petrol and set on fire several times to burn the oil out. Still MOT showed a 69% difference between the front left and front right brake.

Awesome thanks for the picture gives me an idea. I'd like to stay close to the width of the spare wheel on the bonnet. it's more the ideal hight I'm looking for.

265/75/16 would be wider right? A french site gave my 225/75/16 as alternative. I like a small (rover look alike) M/T tyre, not something wide like one would put on a BMW x5 I don't want to eat more of my turning circle as it is already horrendous. I can't even get in my driveway in one turn, while I can do it in 1 turn with a heavy 5 meter trailer behind my ford transit thanks all for the quick replies by the way :)

Hi all, Currently my series III 109 runs on 7.50R16 112L tyres. As they have to be replaces for MOT I tend to buy a new set. As it is my hobby car I will never wear these tyres out. Therefore I don't want to buy tyres that seem to big (current ones seem to hit the chassis a little bit on the rear end of the right front tyre when steering right fully. What is the standard size? What is the bigges tyre used without problems? (I like my current size for it's acceptable road speed and spot on speedometer)

Ok got the car @home. Last french MOT was done yesterday. - new tyres - 4 lights don't work (mass problem i guess) - steerplay - left front brake doesn't work (brakes are new but there's a lot of oil in the brake). after that a long list of remarks. All help is welkom regarding the common electric problems / steer play / oil in the brakes (from swivel or from axle) and quick fixes for these problems. I need to re-visit MOT within 2 weeks in order to get in arranged (thereafter I'm not in france anymore within the 2 months period i have to fix this)

This is exactly the operation my newly acquired 109 series III will need on front (and maybe back)

First plan is to get it on my name and make sure it get's it Controle Technique (Like MOT in UK). Since it's registered as a 'vehicule collectoin' it needs only a MOT once in 5 years. Inner frame of the doors start to rot, I'll replace that in order not having to replace the whole doors anytime soon. I want to lessen the oil leaks on the front axle into the brake drums and fit rear seats and improvise some belts. Then enjoy driving it for a while and make new plans

Hello, thanks all for the help in my several topics and the complete rest of the forum. I've just aquired a 109 series III with double roof (safari style) and roofrack. 5 doors. with solid chassis only the outriggers holding the front of the rear leaves are sort of rotten. Next to that the front diff leaks into the brakes leaving the car with almost no breaks at all. Gearbox and clutchplate where changed 2000 km's ago. Vehicle has only done 70.000 km's. It's right hand drive and on it's second motor. After starting there's a plume of white smoke but after driving it's all good. Coolant looks good, oil was a bit low. There seem to be oil leaks at the front of the crankshaftseal and maybe at the rear. The owner had a fierce black stain where the car was standing but it had been there for years (dry spot onder a roof) and he said he filled about a liter a year with only few km's. the 4x4 engage lever worked fine, additionally there where lock/unlock front hubs installed (does anyone know if this was a genuine option?) Also there is a sunscreen on one side and 2 folding rear seats are with it. Normal rear seats / couch is missing. No overdrive installed, maybe a nice to have option as it now does 80 km/h downhill, on the other hand why should I wan't to go faster with only drumbrakes... wireing seemed working but not to neat, a extra key to cut down power was installed in the middle console. Extra fuel tank under the vehicle (not connected at the moment). Some dent in the chassis bottom but in general good. I couldn't poke trough anywhere no thick bitume/tectiel was applied only factory black paint as it looked.

wasn't grandpa's trick for that to add 5% red Automatic Gearbox oil to the original oil? Also seems to soften seals. I've used Whynn oil additive with good results on my Kia Sorento (which is somewhere in a desert by now with a gun on its roof.... of already dead)

He bought it 2 years ago from a "friend" for more money, he was handy enough to replace a fuel line but had no real idea about how things worked (for example diff-lock). Hey seemed a honest and nice guy so I assumed he didn't base his price on the value but on what he payed 2 years and 1000 km's ago.

asking price was 4800 euro's, was willing to lower 500 at max. for a new engine (maybe only head gasket), quite some welding and potientially a new gearbox thats a bit to much project for me. For half of that money I'd consider putting it in the yard and fixing it later on. (don't have that much time now as I'm still building the shed the project should be done in. And thats gonna take atleast 2 more years since I only have school holidays to be here) The helpfull owner (still feel guilty for how the day turned out) even burned his hands on the gearbox as he was trying to check the oil level in there. But with the screaming sound and the fact he burned his hands I sincerely doubt if I could make it the 300 km's motorway home... I've decided to go and see as much defenders in my area as possible (even the ones I don't intend to buy) just in order to get a good look for it. Short visits I hope not to bother owners to much. Does anyone have a good EU (NL or FR preferred) webshop for me where I can buy parts and get a feel for prices? I only find sites with mods, like alloy, new springs, lift kits etc. Where to get ne crossmembers or the copper fuel pipes?

well Mickey, I missed your post but almost all points your mentioning it fails on (didn't overheat) front cross member could be stabbed straight trough with a screwdriver (over the whole bottom area of the thing) The chassis rails had a few spots I could push trough. The rear member I could poke trough with the back of my screwdriver Engine smoked black all along its revs from 'take-off' to 'time to gear up', had a little clunk not to bad. Stationairy it shivers like running on 3 cilinders, for the rest it sounded 'ok' but comparing that engine to my ford transit 2.5di the transit is a whistle. Then the copper pipe to the first injector came lose (cracked) and gasoil all over. The guy worked his ass of to find one and 4 hours later it was on. I was for a last testdrive and still considering to take this beast (no hydrolics on steering) home... Then I noticed the 5th gear sounding like an anglegrinder when picking up some speed.... that was it. I felt bad for the guy working his ass off but felt like to much sh%T. ow bye the way, do landy's have special cooling fluids? it looked milky/yellowish and felt like sunscrean... Must say it did look nice and felt awesome, difflock was working (lifted a front wheel). But trying to find parts here in France for a 30year old UK engine and a new gearbox after welding 2 crossmembers and a dozen paches elsewhere....... Dijon is a 2,5 hour drive for me and that's likely where i'd end up Am I whining and should I buy a toyota, or did my gut feeling and whining 5th gear save my ass here I'm wondering at the moment.

The extra patch of grey looks to me as a fuel cap for a series III, maybe the vehicle had a extra tank fitted?? or a watertank... ?