mwy1964

Just had to strip my lower dash off for the same reason.... The lower dash also has the heater (loose description) plenum and flaps in it and comes off complete. On mine I had to take the plastic tray out on top of the dash, held in with plastic pins which pull out with long nose pliers. You will then see 8-10 bolts which hold the lower dash/plenum assy to the bulkhead... Remove these and off it should come... I have seen problems with the bolt removal as the captive nuts in the bulkhead are Rivnuts and spin easily if the bolts are siezed... At this point you are in need of 125mm high speed rotary spanner... Hope this helps Mark

Graham, I'd be interested to hear your view on the Paddock Paras as i am looking at getting them for my Series 3... Many thanks Mark

Agreed its petrol... But could be caused by ignition, or lack of it... As a young man, driving Land Rovers for the RAF, we used to get the Landie upto 40mph turn the ignition off and keep the throttle pedal down. Turn the ignition back on and 'bingo' - Misfire and flame out the back upto 2'. Regularly used to hold competitions at nightfall on the way back to the MT yard. Downside as you stated is the occasional split rear box... Not a real help but puts it back at Fuel or ignition or culmination of both...

Petrol = Rubber Not sure about the Diesels.. Mark

Can't speak for the Oilburners but the petrol Isuzu takes about 10 mins per filter to change Oil and Air... Oil being the easiest and at £3 inc VAT for a filter from Isuzu not to painful either... Brake pads from Isuzu are another thing altogether price wise though... Milners etc far cheaper... Piece of tiddle to change though... Up until the Trooper we had Rangies and then Shoguns trying to find the reliability utopia. Shoguns being the worse. So the Isuzu was purchased, unfortunately I am a bit of Land Rover nut having learnt to drive in them from an early age and rebuilding many throughout my life so the Mrs had to compromise, hence the Series 3 Shooting car... Roll on an improvement in the weather to get it finished

My Mrs also has one for towing horse box, and I use it during the shooting season to carry the dog etc off road between drives... Pig ugly beast of a car but the most reliable 4x4 we have ever owned, great off road and not so bad on it... In 5 years it has had one set of tyres (The sidewalls perished first) two sets of brake pads and a starter motor (Known problem on 3.5 V6). Tows the horsebox (HB510) with two 16 2 IDxTB with no problem at all, never been stuck off road either. Great car to work on your self and some parts from Isuzu are not to badly priced, also a fairly good indie parts supplier marketplace as well... If they still made them I would buy another. My other car is a Land Rover though (Series 3 that I should have renovated before the start of the shooting season but has since turned into a complete nut and bolt rebuild) Mark

I was fiddling around on the web a few months ago looking for Parabolic manufacturers and came across GB Springs. I phoned them as they appeared at the time to sell direct ala British Springs. The long and short is they only sell to the trade and they recommended Paddocks as a supplier.... I thought a lot of the issues had been with another large Land Rover spare parts manufacturers springs, so maybe they have changed suppliers... Mark

Not insured either... Checked Askmid

255 sound even better... More flotation given the ground... Given that I want to keep the vehicle standard looking will these fit on the current Series rims (I think not) so if not can I run Defender rims, which from memory are wider (6.5" rings a bell somewhere) on the series 3 without any mods to the hubs etc.... The vehicle is a 1983 Series 3 would the standard rims have tubed tyres, currently running a very worn set of Bridgestone Desert Duellers with no obvious indication of tubes or not...

I am coming around, yet again, to just going with standard springs... The challenge, as with anything for this Series 3, being who to purchase them from for the best quality and price. As Sotal has said it it will only be used to do local work for shooting and dog carrying. Having spent a couple of hours with the shoot captain, of the new shoot I am working the dog on, on Sunday and seeing some of the drives we have to get too, tyre type will be far more important... Nothing extreme just boggy mud, grass and farm tracks. So do 235/85/16 fit with standard springs and hangers? And finally to tip me in favour of one or the other spring types do Allmakes still offer Parabolics - And any experience of them out there? Also the same for British Springs, who still have failed to return my calls or emails? Who is the best manufacturer or vendor of standard springs? Many thanks Mark

So anyone have the Paddock Parabolics that would care to share a review... Or am I being tight and should look elsewhere..

Hi All, getting close to start rebuilding the running gear on my 1983 88" Series 3 and it is in dire need of springs replacing. O.S front has collapsed and the rest are basically rusted up, with probably little or no spring action happening. My initial thoughts were just to replace the originals like for like with springs from Paddocks, then looking at it last night I realised I could buy Parabolics from Paddocks for around £60 extra by the time you throw in U bolts etc for standard springs. So I suppose I would like to understand the pros and cons of Parabolics over Standard springs, given that the Landie is nothing more than a dog carrier and shooting brake and will probably not do more than 5K miles PA. Also who/where is the best place to buy either spring type from in terms of best performance vs value. Having done a search on the site there are a number of manufacturers stated but it appears some may no longer be in business or have moved away from Series parts or out of stock for the forseeable future. My heart says Parabolics as they seem to be well rated on here, the head says standard as they will probably not be tested to the limit in general use. Look forward to your responses Mark

Thanks as I thought...

Hi all, some quick welding advice needed... Having now almost completed the cutting and replacing of the Bulkhead Pillars and Floorpans, all be it held in place with pop rivets and bolts where appropriate. I need advice on how this should be welded up... So should these be stitch welded, continuous or rose/spot welded to meet the requirements of the MOT man... My view is that stitch would be OK as it is not load bearing compared to the chassis, for example... After working on this for the last few months when weather and time allow its now great having doors that shut without slamming and lifting and almost perfect door gaps. However it has made me realise that Land Rovers tolerances were somewhat questionable on the Series 3, at some points I have found variations of 1/4 inch side to side which have now been corrected. I wont even start bitching on the quality of replacement parts which are frankly at best bad and at worst C@%P... Beggars cant be choosers though.... Look forward to your advice. Mark....

Just got a quote to re-galvanise some bits of my current Series 3 project. The quote was £70 + VAT for around 20Kg of stuff. Which seems to be the minimum price/weight. So I guess the question is, does anyone have any experiences of having components re-galvanised ie distortion etc. The bits I was planning on having redone were as follows:- Windscreen frame Door capping Tub capping and rear tub edge cappings Sills and brackets Seat box panels and toolbox thingy I was also thinking about galvanising the bulkhead bottom brackets and cleaning off where they need to be welded. Is this such a good idea? Any comments, additions or experiences welcome.. Regards Mark

Thanks for all the responses.. Crankins parts catalogue link has cracked it though... Dated June 1988. You do also need the optional parts catalogue as it appears that things like heaters were an option. I knew this was the case with many pre 1965 cars where heaters and windscreen washers were seen as a luxury but a 1983 Land Rover One thing I have immediatly discovered is how easy it is to find the parts from suppliers online when you have the parts catalogue.. Lot easier typing in the P/No than wading through the descriptions. Once again thanks all Mark Mark...

Great stuff - Please dont tell me you found that by searching using Google or similar... I have tried for the last two weeks and come up with nothing... Great find and thanks again... Mark..

Thanks for this... Already found the Bearmach FM catalogue, I really need the full catalogue... Went on the Gaydon website and they have exactly what I need except ' This CD does not work on Vista platform' useful when every machine I have runs Vista... What the hell is wrong with PDF files... Looks like I am going to have to buy a hardcopy which in this day and age and given IT is my business defies logic to me... Mark

Tried that site some time ago - No parts catalogue that I could find... It is where I downloaded my workshop manual from though... If not available as a download from a website does someone have an electronic version they could send...? There were a couple of sites referred too, within forum, that had the catalogue, but the sites now seem to be no longer available... Mark

What a day... The old floor had been cut out already just needed cleaning up... Removed the old Bulkhead pillar and bracket (Fell apart due to rust) Finally got it back together again, held together temporarily with a few pop rivets Just the other side to do now and a half chassis...

Cheers PB, not so much 'on a budget' as 'controlled spending' - Wife.. May be theres a spin that her Tack will benefit... Many thanks Mark

Does anyone have a working link for a Series 3 parts catalogue... I have searched the Forum and the links referred too appear to be no longer in use... I would prefer a .pdf rather than a hardcopy... Thanks in advance Mark...

Thanks for the response... Looks like I have to spend a bit more while she what must be obeyed is not looking... I have put a budget of £1000 to restore the car to its former glory, which she is now starting to include tool and ancillary costs on top, I'll just have to go for covert purchasing.... Mark

Over the last couple of days I have been refurbishing pedals, servo and brake and clutch brackets ready for refitting to my Land Rover once I have completed the removal and refitting of the pedal boxes. As you are probably aware the weather has not been fantastic, with the odd shower or so, and seems to be having an effect on my newly sprayed items - Paint bloom.. Now my garage is made of timber and 100% water proof and feels far from damp, in fact the wife keeps her tack in there with no adverse effects (May be a bit of overspray now) and yet I have had this problem. The interim solution has been to put the bits I need spraying in the low oven of the Rayburn for ten minutes and then rushing out to the garage to spray. Given that I have, at some point, to spray panels etc I could be challenged fitting them in the oven so need an alternative. So what do you guys do, that have sprayed there own Land Rovers, to overcome this problem. Or have I just been unlucky with the paint I am using. I intend to spray the car using cellulose and was thinking of buying an Infra red heater to put in the roof above where i will be spraying. Advice very welcome as I have a whole car to spray in the next few months and do not really want to wait until next summer, if we have one... Thanks in advance Mark

Brilliant thanks Les... I have the joy of starting this over the weekend, weather permitting... Many thanks Mark