SIIa Bitsa and questions

[Leroy_Riding]

Hi all, so after owning a few land rovers, most recently a Discovery 3 which I loved I have been forced to down size and sell up, and my best mate has offered me my old sIIa back, which i aquired an then gifted to him before i even got around to touching it.

its a sIIa, been converted now to a tray back ute using an SIII rear cab, the guards will be SIII, has a gal firewall and i think the roof and rear cab top section are the originals also, chassis is original other than the sIII stage 1 v8 rear cross member we welded on last weekend as the original was about to fall off from rust. now also has a sals rear end. oh and its running a 2.25d from and S3 with a 200tdi turbo manifold modded up to it runs nice, just hopefully the old engine is up to the task, don't want a race car, just want to be able to do 100 in a head wind and tow by 700kg camper trailer.

I'm planning to do a few things to this to make it a little more 'comfortable' and wondering what others have done to achieve the same or similar.
number one is defender or county doors for wind up windows. . this seems difficult purely from the sourcing the doors perspective, the fitting on the other hand should be rather easy. so no real assistance needed there, just got to get them.

what i want some advice on though is what else can I do?
I'm thinking along the lines of the following:

-ride comfort, can anything be done? are progressive springs available? are they affordable if they are available? what options is there? not after a plush Disco 3 Ride just something that feels like the vehicle does actually have suspension. .

-noise, i know its a land rover, and i know even my Puma Defender was still noisy, but what can be done?ive heard of noisekiller kits, but seems mixed reviews as to if they really do much for cabin noise appose to the sound of stones hitting the floor. . . can Dynamat with carpet ontop achieve the same or better? and hows this affect the melty shoe syndrone? what can be used to kill some of the gearbox heat?

-AirCon, this will come latter, but wondering who has done this and what kit/bits and bobs were used? seems minibus ac units are the common?

-Dash, i know again its a series, but anyone made a 'soft' dash for one, mdf covered in thin foam then vynle or carpet perhaps?

thanks in advance
Leroy

[JDNSW]

It will be interesting to see how the engine holds up with a turbocharger - the results of Landrover's effort at turbocharging this engine, updated to five main bearings and 2.5l, are not exactly encouraging, but a gentle right foot and mechanical sensitivity would probably help.

Ride comfort. First thing is to check what springs you have and compare with what it should have. Next would be to overhaul the springs - disassemble and clean, paint and lubricate the leaves.

Dual rate rear springs exist for the 109, referred to as station wagon springs, and are well worth getting if you can find them. Parabolic springs will ride slightly better than refurbished factory springs, but you have the choice of either light duty or heavy duty - as far as I know, dual rate ones don't exist.

New shock absorbers will undoubtedly help, but only after the springs are sorted. Lightest feasible wheel/tyre combination will help marginally as well, but as you suspect, it is never going to be good compared to the D3.

To reduce noise, try the following, roughly in order.
Replace all body rubber - door seals, vent seals, plugs in unused holes, grommets for wires etc. Windscreen top and bottom seals, cab rear top and mid seals, window seals if necessary.
Replace door top and rear window bailey channels.
Fit seals to the sides of the bonnet.
Check that all holes into the passenger compartment are blocked. I find that sealing bolted together panels with self-adhesive closed cell foam tape is effective and can be disassembled easily, but some sort of goo is equally effective and easier, if a bit messy next time you need to disassemble something.
Replace as necessary boots on transfer lever, handbrake and gearlever, sealing as needed. Check again for any holes you have missed! Use silicone rubber to seal door corners if necessary.

After this, dynamat or similar will be useful especially for panels that may vibrate. Gear noise may be reduced by fitting a Series 3 gearlever with a nylon tip, but it is a lot noisier when the tip wears out. Excessive gear noise may be caused by a worn centre shaft in the transfer case.

Use tyres with a road tread.

Ensure that tappet clearances are correct.

Carpet or rubber on the floor will improve the overall noise level, and help the heat problem. Front mudflaps will reduce the stones on floor effect, and so will rubber sheeting glued to the back of the floor plates, but watch proximity to the exhaust pipe.

Can't help on the aircon situation, but although it certainly is possible, the restricted space in the dash area means ingenuity is needed, especially if you are unwilling to give up the centre seat position. For a trayback, and evaporator unit under the front of the tray should be possible, with multiple air feeds to the cab, but sourcing dust free air will be an issue. The simplest and most effective would undoubtedly be a rooftop unit, but you already have overhead clearance issues with a Series!

Hope these thoughts help,

John

[The ho har's]

We have defender doors here as we replaced a customers Defender with series III doors. He likes runnuing without a roof :) He is in England ATM, I will ask him if hw wants to sell them when he gets back :)

Mrs hh:angel:

[Leroy_Riding]

We have defender doors here as we replaced a customers Defender with series III doors. He likes runnuing without a roof :) He is in England ATM, I will ask him if hw wants to sell them when he gets back :)

Mrs hh:angel:

if you could find out would be good, and if so a price also :)

thanks

[Leroy_Riding]

It will be interesting to see how the engine holds up with a turbocharger - the results of Landrover's effort at turbocharging this engine, updated to five main bearings and 2.5l, are not exactly encouraging, but a gentle right foot and mechanical sensitivity would probably help.

--SHORTENED--

Hope these thoughts help,

John

Thanks for the info John, ill have to see if its a 5 bearing, im going to assume not, so ill take it easy on the poor old sucker, dont feel like doing an engine swap right now, (though i can get a 2.8td rodeo motor and auto box for $500 which i woudl if i had a spare $500 . . . )

the car is in bits still so all new seals are likely in order anyway, hopefully that will bring the noise down from where it was before it was disassembled and semi re assembled.

The center seat will be gone. . mostly because i don't have any seats right now. . not sure what to put in, i have some seats from my minis, not sure if they will work though? some defender seats would be nice, but ill put in whatever i can get to fit without having to kink my neck! (nearly do when sitting on the seat box!) and don't even get me started on leg room. . at least in my puma 90 with the mulgo extended rails and seat all the way back i could just manage, another 50mm woudl have been good though. . not sure how ill cope with this and im only 6ft. . .

[The ho har's]

Now who was telling me about a 5 bearing motor recently:confused:

Mrs hh:angel:

[JDNSW]

It may be a five bearing motor, but very few (if any) of these seem to have been sold in Australia, although there are a few about. The five bearing engine has a number of differences in external appearance, from memory, these include a pattern of raised ridges on the crankcase casting. Also it uses metric threads, I believe.

You are aware that any non-standard seats will require engineering approval?

John

[Leroy_Riding]

Ill take a look but my guess is that it will be a 3 not a 5, regardless I have no intention of pushing big boost and hammering it, just enough to get it to breath better and maintain 100 on the highway with a headwind, or manage to get up a hill with my camper behind it.

will look at a engine transplant down the track preferably with an Auto also! I may be taking a job in Malaysia soon, so it will end up parked in the shed for a year or two if that happens though. .

Leroy