Which way????

[JohnE]

Soon i can get onto the series home pages and make a pest of myself.
here is my present dilema,
the ser 3 swb i have acquired from easo has a 186 in it, the gearbox is out and obviously stuuffed. there are a stack of conversion plates laying about up there,(holden to rover gearbox ones)
but there is also a 4 cyl petrol motor intact and a 4 cyl gearbox that i am going to take as well.
would it be better to put the rover motor back into it or leave the 186???
it will be a total strip down when i get started on it from the chassis up.


john

[Fusion]

Howdy JohnE , I have just gone through the same thing . I've ended going with the 4 cyl as i have been told that the rover motor has better torque down low . The holden motor will give more power but will be a lot more harsher on the drive train . The landy will not gain anymore speed because of the gearing and from what i can gather the 4cyl will put up with a bit more abuse . Go the rover motor . You know ya want to :D:p

[JDNSW]

I would use the Rover motor. While it is lower power than most Holden motors, the standard gearing is more suited to it - if you use the Holden motor, non-standard diffs, transfer or an overdrive are really needed.

The Rover engine will be more driveable at lower speeds, and unlike the Holden, does not starve for fuel, flood, or lose oil pressure on steep slopes.

If it is 7:1 (most likely) a modest incease to 8:1 or slightly more by shaving the head is worthwhile, increasing both power and economy. Early heads have not reliably got enough metal to grind by this much, but some increase should be feasible. The later heads have a boss on top of the head next to the rocker cover and between it and the carburetter. This should have 8 stamped on it if it is 8:1, and 7 or blank if 7:1, but beware that it may have been planed and not marked.

John

[LandyAndy]

Search the UK Landy sites.They can get the 4 banger up and going well.
My best Series was a 2A 88" with a 186.
Went anywhere,very good on fuel easy to maintain.I had a Ser3 with a 202 and LPG.Couldnt match the economy of the 186,even on gas!!!!
Had a 4cyl Ser3,had around the same power as the 186,it had a holden carb with vairiable mainjet,but really chewed the juice in comparison.
Andrew

[JohnE]

thanks all for the positive thoughts,
just looking at the 186 in the engine bay made me think it didn't look right.
plus there is a l/r radiator in the back, so i guess it wants to go back in.
then finding the complete motor and gearbox makes it even easier.
back to original is the best option.

more later


john

[Lotz-A-Landies]

thanks all for the positive thoughts,
just looking at the 186 in the engine bay made me think it didn't look right.
plus there is a l/r radiator in the back, so i guess it wants to go back in.
then finding the complete motor and gearbox makes it even easier.
back to original is the best option.

more later john
John there is a series 3 SWB on ebay in Bathurst at current bid $400 with the 2 1/4 and gearbox just waiting to be removed. SERIES III LAND ROVER (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SERIES-III-LAND-ROVER_W0QQitemZ170191259028QQihZ007QQcategoryZ1355 05QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

[JohnE]

thanks diana
that looks like a good deal, the firewall is 100% on the one from up here and the chassis doesn't appear to have the 'ex beach veh rust' the one here has.( have sent a message to the seller)

the wreckers got there before everyone on wednesday, easo had bogged his vehicle for two days visting a neighbour, i couldn;t get through as the river was up 5 ft over the bridge so a 1.5 hr drive turned into a 4.5 hr trip the long way. all the conversion plates for the holden motors ended up in the scrappy trucks, they had thrown on the good 4 cyl gearbox, lucky i noticed it so it is now here at home. still have to get the veh home.
The collection of motors once we took the covers off them were in one word, all stuffed, lucky uncle had written the probs on each one in texta, bits missing, rust and so on. He had just kept them for spares.
the chassis and firewall rust are what you would expect from an ex beach veh, the chassis cracked when i jacked it up to put another wheel on it. so the bathurst veh looks really good.

many thanks to everyone again.

john

[UncleHo]

G'day JohnE :)

The 4 cylinder motor is the way to go, ;) it and the gearbox/diffs were the ideal torque setup, I would advise to go the Bathurst Vehicle and use the Easo vehicle as a spares donor and if the Holden motor is any good, you could find a home for it around your local area:) as it would probably suit any and all Holdens and Hot Rods that take a Holden motor, be it Red or Blue:D and them you would have the rest of the vehicle as replacement parts, if possible get any brake bits from any LWB vehicle at Easo's as they will bolt on to give you a brake upgrade on the SWB;) M/cylinder, brake assy's front and rear as they are 11 inch units and will upgrade the 10" on a SWB;)

cheers

[JohnE]

thanks uncle for your suggestions,
as of now 1.10pm i have just bought the bathurst swb. so now i have two of them.
its a stepping stone you may notice, as i am working my way down to the remlr pages.

the shorty will be an easy built, given the size etc, i spoke to the seller this am and from the photos and his description there is not much by way of hard rust to fix.
so have one ser 3 hardtop and spare half cab with 186 mtr
one (after pickup) ser 3 no top with all the bits already apart
one 4 cylinder gearbox.
plenty of storage and shed space.
and an understanding mrs, hmm what does she want, oh thats right the ex eel mobile has to go(quiggers time for a move) and the batmobile,but i so love the v8, never mind a mechano set will be more fun. Unless i do teh batmobile first only needs a spray.

john

[Lotz-A-Landies]

thanks uncle for your suggestions,
as of now 1.10pm i have just bought the Bathurst swb. ...

... john
John

Good decision I looked at the pics, and even dismantled the firewall and chassis looked good. Don't know how the dash will be however. In any case it sounds a better basis for a build than the one with chassis rot.

Are you going the Ute or hard top route?

Diana

[graceysdad]

My guess is look at what your going to use the Rover for, if your going to go bush I would be inclined to reco the 4 banger and re install it, I heckled over this same drama with mine in the end I got rid of the 3, ended up being stuck with a Holden motor in the replacement anyway, the majority vote on here is go the four over the six anyday. Has anyone given thought to the Starfire 4 which is a holden donk minus 2 cyls, very strong motor the conrods are used in really hot 6s as they dont break, would be an easy fit in and give you plenty of radiator space, I am considering this for my Series 1 80 in.

[UncleHo]

G'day JohnE :)

Congratulations John:D you are now a multiple Series owner:D:D THE BUG HAS BITTEN:D:wasntme: there will be plenty of help and advise available on this forum and info re disassembly and restoration:), also a brilliant learning tool for your young bloke in "mechanics and automotive engineering" it might even give him a nudge into rebuilding one of them himself so he has a car that he "owns" when license time comes up, and as he has spent his pocket money on it he will not only have pride in what "He built" but won't want to break it, as he knows how much it will cost to repair, and a 4 cylinder Series 3 with a smick paint job will pull the "Birds" and also not be in the 200kph brigade;) just don't let him have the dreaded "Plastic Card":D

Will we see one at the "All British Day" in Brisbane??

cheers

[JohnE]

thanks diana
by combining both vehs all the niggly probs will be sorted, the dash in the orange one is pretty good, can;t tell about the bathurst one.

at this stage, i haven;t quite decided there is a decent hardtop on the one up here plus i have the half cab off the cream ser 3 from up here, or a soft top, i'll decide all that at the end.Maybe there are some good
'bows on the bthurst veh?

G's D. I had a look at the engine setup and anything other than rover sites down low from the radiator, i will stick with rover 4.
don;t know have the starffire mounts sit. Haven;t seen one of them for years are they still about?

john

[JohnE]

After a few hiccups with various things and people. I was a bit peeved with all things land rover.
Here is an update, if anyone is interested.
Went down to Bathurst with a local trailer i hired, the bloody thing was heavy and that was empty.
so up to the new england and down, through tamworth,, gunnedah, coolah, mudgee , sofala to bathurst. Was flat out doing 80kmph with the trailer on on a flat road, made me wonder.

Got to the blokes place on saturday and they put it on with a forklift. It was as depicted in the ebay add. Great firewall, no rust and really good semi restored swb chassis, and the gearbox has a pto on it with the levers.The bloke is a scrappy that works out of a property.
anyway they left and I thought i would rearrange it to travel better as all the panel s were loose and just sitting in it. Did that then left the trailer at his place to pick up on the monday am. Went down to my mates in blayney for the weekend.
Monday am drove up to bathurst hooked the trailer on and headed east, the idea was to go to mudgee via the great western then head north.
I didn;t get past Yetholme. those who know the road, will know there is a gradual incline heading east from bathurst. the transmission overheat light came on, only 10 kms out, so waited for it to cool down , and it happened again, at this stage was a bit peeved, so called my mate and asked if i could drop it at his other property near blayney and put it under the shearing shed. Just getting there was a trip, Fitzgeralds Mount took me an hour and a half to get to the top, ( overheat light, wait till it cooled and so on)
got it there and sat down wondering what to do,
so i got it off the trailer and decided to strip it down, took about 3 hrs , it is now a rolling chassis, ( in really good nick with re welds and so on) gurads doors tub and all the bits, even took the firewall off. An interesting learning curve.

took photos of all the component bits, so i can ebay them again, and be rid of this landrover curse.
Stayed another couple of days, found the tranny oil cooler on the disco was clean and had gotten a bit hot,
got home got rid of the trailer, when i quizzed the bloke he reckoned it weighted 650kg, hell i have had 800kg of macca nuts in bins on a trailer hooked up and the disco powers along, so i didn;t believe him.

Next day, did a tranny oil change and checked it all out, and thought these cursed land rovers must go have had enough of them.

Anyway after a bit of toing and froing SWMBO ( sometimes) decided i should get rid of all the superfluous vehicles around the place as it was looking untidy. the batmobile and the ex-eel now quiggers ffr mobile.
Batmobile sorted, tidied up for a sale, spoke to quiggers about the ffr, his circumstances had changed and he couldn't do the restore so he said i could have it.

So there you go had one in the yard all the time and didn;t know it, now have a landrover and bits at bonalbo and another one in bits near Blayney. And the funny bit if you accept karma, is they all all series 3's.

Work that out, are they cursed or am I.

Now to consolidate everything.


john

[p38arover]

don;t know have the starffire mounts sit. Haven;t seen one of them for years are they still about?

The "Misfire" engine was also used in Toyota Coronas of the mid-Eighties. Our Corona had one.

My IIA has a 202 in it - the original was a 6 cyl Rover engine, not a 4. Should I replace it with a 186? I understand the 186 is a better donk.

[Killer]

John E, If you have got a series III gearbox that you don,t need I would be interested in it.

Cheers, Mick.

[JohnE]

this is what it looks like now, interesting the body was ser3 and the chassis i think 2a. An unfinished project at a guess.



https://www.aulro.com/afvb/


and this bit too is really good, very heavy to boot

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/09/17.jpg


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/09/16.jpg



john

[JohnE]

Yes Pat, 780 unladen is a bit of weight, coupled with a veh on top, at least yours is a manual, the auto box in the disco was not as friendly to the heavy weight.
even though i only took photos of the shorty( for the resale) there is one photo here of the back end of the trailer, it wouldn;t be far of the same weight as the one you had.

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w248/JohnE_1/HomePhotos308.jpg

this may end up being the vehicle i get the springs off for perry.

just noticed the horn thing on top of the carby, thats the same thing that is on the ebay site you sent me, think i will have to pull this to bits as there are more things on there that are hard to find.

john

[JohnE]

Not sure if i should put a post in the For Swap section or not, the mod may get me!!.
but the ser 3 swb is no longer a project for me,
so I have up for grabs a swb ser 3 rolling chassis, that has had the tail replaced no rust in it, plus the other bits, the firewall, only surface rust, the panels, will put up the other photos.

make me an offer, prefer decent swaps though on parts for the ser 3 ffr.


john

[JohnE]

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w248/JohnE_1/HomePhotos319.jpg

aluminium big fuel tank


http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w248/JohnE_1/HomePhotos323.jpg

the front bits


http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w248/JohnE_1/HomePhotos306.jpg



the repaired bit



http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w248/JohnE_1/HomePhotos327.jpg



tub bottom, there is a big piece of aluminium sheet there as a replacement.



http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w248/JohnE_1/HomePhotos326.jpg


the guards


http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w248/JohnE_1/HomePhotos328.jpg


tray from the back and with other stuff




john

[UncleHo]

G'day JohnE :)

That SWB chassis looks like it's a 2/2a one as it is the flat panels edge welded, the chassis No will be on the left rear of the rear spring hanger mounting, 143*****letter is Ser 2 and 243*****letter is 2a ;) the LWB's are 153 and 253 respectively:) Series 3 is 9*******, the big 16 gallon tank will fit your Series 3 :D and I would advise to keep it, filler neck looks like it has been welded wrongly, should have the same angle as a standard tank, those rear lights on that tub on it's side look like 2a, one a Wipac type and one Aust Military type, worth keeping,as there will be somebody that will need them, 1969 gs for instance;) the firewall is a very good one and a Series 3 unit, I see what you mean about the bonnet rear gutter, it kinda looks factory, (that wouldn't supprise me) anything to save money, also looked at the Radiator:D:D:D;););) series 2a;);)

I will PM you with my wish list:)

cheers

[JohnE]

Yes uncle,
i omitted in the early one that I would be taking some donour bits for the ffr,
the tank , i was having reservations about, but now, you changed my mind, will keep it now.
was going to take the light off the tub, anyway,i only have one set the other is broken
the radiator too, its just the panels,
anyway i have everything written down and as the requests come in, I;ll notify accordingly.

also the gearbox is coming out and coming back up here.

my main concern is to get the big items removed and the rest I'l bring up here.
those guards aren't the ones i told you about, there is a hole near the cut out.


john