Not another series 3 power steering modification…….

[landymad]

Ok, before I get a horde of comments about how I should eat more spinach or how I should not be driving a series 3 if I can’t turn the wheel…..

The car’s been converted to a 200tdi with lt77 gearbox and lt230 transfer case… so the steering is ridiculously heavy. I can drive it, but the missus cant and this is starting to irritate me on long camping trips as she gets to do all the sleeping ( and that’s fairly hard in a series 3 !!! ) whilst I get to do all the driving and we want to start to take it for trips that are going to be measured in weeks or months.

So, I’ve been officially sanctioned by “the boss” to undertake a power steering conversion. Excellent! This conversion will be done using all Land Rover bits and bobs.

So, a few quick before pics and then we’ll get into it. For sanity I will break this thread into a few posts, posted 1 a day for the next few days.


Engine bay and front of car prior to mod. Air filter is not in the right place, I’d already started stripping the car and then thought I’d better take a before shot. I just jammed the air filter on the end of the turbo to stop crud from getting in there.

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Guard off, showing the series 3 steering box and the relay. Grrrrrrrrrr I’m going to have you…..
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Lets start at the top though… Series 3 steering column … now you see it… (label the wires first otherwise you’re just asking for trouble)
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The wiring removes easily, a few screws and it’s all off. Refit the screws so you don’t lose them, hang the wiring neatly to one side .

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/616.jpg

Defender steering column has the same sort of mounts so it fits to the firewall easily. It has a tab for the steering lock… that went to steel heaven.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/617.jpg

Disengage steering relay arm from steering box

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/618.jpg

Had to remove brake booster, master cylinder and pedal assembly to get to steering box

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/619.jpg

Let’s play “spot the difference between this pic and the last”

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/620.jpg

The old and the replacement item laid out for comparison

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/621.jpg

It’s your turn little man!!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/622.jpg

The revenge of an angry series 3 owner. Too many years of vague steering!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/623.jpg

Ok, a replacement plate welded into the chassis and cleaned up nice and flat. The 4 bolt defender PS assist steering box is ready. I had to remove one of the “ears” that the suspension bracket bolts onto. It’s late by now, time for this day to end. :zzz::zzz::zzz:


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/624.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/625.jpg

[banjo]

looks good sofar .i am eager to see the finished unit.i done the same useing toyota & RR bits bout the same amount off work but it is cheaper.& if i am lucky it should be regoed in a couple of weeks.

[landymad]

Yeah, the deefer bits are a bit expensive, but I like to keep things in the landy family where I can. :D Cheers banjo!

[landymad]

Ok, day 1 went well enough, but after that progress sloooooows ( this post covers about 3 days of work).

The first piece of advice I have for anyone undertaking this is not to use the old style steering arm with the giant rubber mount in the middle. Farting around with this ( it’s basically too long) and trying to get the orientation of the steering wheel right took a lot of time and effort. The tip here is to use a Disco 1 steering link. It’s shorter and waaay better looking. :D

Ok, so I had to fabricate a bracket to mount the new steering column to the original bracket and I fab’ed up a bracket for the power steering pump. Also made some plates for the PS box and was able to do a test fit ( PS plates have crush tubes in them too so it all pulls up nice and snug on the chassis without distortion).

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/583.jpg

To do the test fit I had to remove the front crossmember. During the test fit I also realized a few things like the uni joints were binding due to the angle of the steering column and the PS box. So I had to rework the steering column bracket to take this into account. Here’s the final bracket.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/584.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/585.jpg


Now, astute watchers out there will be wondering why the steering box is mounted so high, I’ll get to that… But has anyone spotted the other strange bracket?

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/586.jpg

I am using an electric power steering pump to power the steering box. I got it off ebay from a dude in Isreal. It is from a Renault, as it has Renault stamped on it and it works well. It also takes 40 amps when on full load, so I made sure it was on its own 45 amp relay direct to the battery. Quite a good unit, it can shoot fluid all the way across the shed. ;P
I selected this one based purely as it was easily ordered off the net and the all the parts recyclers I talked to here were too vague to know what I wanted or tried to rip me off. The only gripe I have is that I had to go to a hydraulic shop to get hoses made for it. not a big gripe really.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/587.jpg

Alright. Time to stick the front crossmember back in. Wet cloths cover the car so I can weld it without spatter going all over the paint and engine. I was trying to eye up how straight was by using the front panel.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/588.jpg

( A small aside, now that I am further into the project, the crossmember is badly annoying me as it is about 4 mm out on the passenger side and I can’t help looking at it constantly. I will have to oxy it out and put another one in there. Grrrr )

ok, I thought it was time to work on the front panel, as I had all the steering components laid out as I wanted them. A bit of cutting, welding and shaping later, I had it half done.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/589.jpg

Another days work and most of the plumbing is back together, radiator mounts have been fabricated, all the air inlet side is in and things are looking rosy

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/590.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/591.jpg

Now, we’ve covered about two days of work here and I’d like to explain why I mounted the steering box so high. In order to reduce any complicated thinking, I had decided to have an adaptor made that fitted onto the output shaft of the steering box and mated to the spline on the Series 3 pitman arm.

This was a bad idea and probably very illegal. In a later test drive the adaptor came free and when I went to turn a corner the car carried straight on. I was doing about 70kph at the time and it scared the crap out of me and the big ass trees I was heading towards.

No pictures of this shamozzle will be seen.

Anyways, after that small incident there was a lot of rethinking and about 2 months break as I had other work that needed doing. ( i.e that paid. :D )

I leave you with a few extra pics. The first one is RUST. A lot of rust came out of the front panel by virtue of its layered construction. This was another reason why I decided eventually to cut it all apart and remake it.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/592.jpg

The next is everything hooked up in working configuration prior to the exciting test drive.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/593.jpg

The next one is Gogo, our cat. Meow.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/594.jpg

Stay tuned for the next installment…. :angel::angel:

[Jimmy]

ther eis a whole lot going on in that engine bay. nice work.

[Bigbjorn]

I do hope you are not going out of town with that air cleaner.

[DeeJay]

Looking really good Winston...
I bet when its all up & running you will be feeling as smug as the cat looks :D

[landymad]

I do hope you are not going out of town with that air cleaner.

hehehe, neah, it's my "drive around town" air cleaner.

I've got a deefender one for going anywhere more rugged. One item further down the list to make a cool air intake like psimpson's exhaust tube one.

that thing rocks hard!

ok..today's update follows...

[landymad]

Alright, I was having troubles going from the steering box to the drag link in the last episode, but big thanks to Deejay for an article he sent that enabled me to get going again.

What I needed was a swan neck from a range rover classic. This fitted into the end of the series 3 drag link and onto the std pitman arm on the 4 bolt defender box I was using.

Here’s a pic of the drag link with the rangie swan neck on it and the old series 3 end above it. You can see that even when the swan neck is screwed all the way in there is a little bit of geometry change to the pitman arm. Not a problem in my case, as my arm was off, so I could reattach in any way I wanted. Excellent!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/480.jpg

Here’s a few pics of the total installed system. New sandwich plates mount snug on the chassis rail and the steering’s all hooked up.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/481.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/482.jpg

Alrough majorly exciting, there’s still so much to do before I can enjoy the power steering.. I had beeter get a hustle on.

I have always wanted a radiator shroud and my electric fan install has always bugged me.
I also got myself and early chrissie present with my tax refund.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/483.jpg

It cuts, bends and rolls sheet metal to a max width of 760mm and max thickness of 1mm. Plenty for what I want to do with it!

Ok, make up a tray that snugly fits the radiator

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/484.jpg

Next mount the tray and the fan and old support bracket onto the radiator as a template. Mark hole and cut.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/485.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/486.jpg

My fan has a small shroud around the edge that has places where I can screw to. So using 25 mm pan head sheet metal screws I attached the fan to the shroud from the inside.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/487.jpg

A test fit to the radiator and the whole into put into place convinced me it was all good. I was going to put some more bracing to hold the fan in, but the 1mm sheet with the edges bent into a tray and the fan screwed to it is very rigid. A few screws hold it to the actual radiator, which is bolted to the front panel. It’s all good!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/488.jpg

Lets shut the lid and have a look. Ahhh… looking more like a landy now!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/489.jpg

Now I wanted to get creative and build a shroud for my K&N pod filter. This is my city filter, used when I want to hear induction roar and there’s not much dust or water issues.

It’s never been on for vehicle inspections as it’s never been covered. I want to change this.

Ok, I rolled a piece of sheet into a slight cone shape. Bent the outside edges into a flange and riveted it together.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/490.jpg

Traced the bum out onto more sheet and marked it for cutting. Cut it… does it fit? Like a glove, beautiful. Hrmm. Mebbie I could have just bought a gal flower pot from bunnings and saved myself the trouble. Neah. I have to justify my machine!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/491.jpg

I want some attachment points so I can hold the “can” onto the pod filter.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/492.jpg

Hrmm, we need to do some work to make these fit.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/493.jpg

A blowtorch, hammer and some round bar stock held in a lathe ( with a bucket of water ) and a bit of fanciful blacksmithing and 10 mins later… voila!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/494.jpg

Here’s the final result…
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/495.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/496.jpg

( I have to braize the bottom on yet, but I have no photos of it after this point! )

OK.. final thing for today….

Provent 200 install.

Have to make a fitting to bolt onto the side of the engine. 1 bit of 25mm NB pipe, 1 bit of plate offcut and a scrap of 1mm sheet later….

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/497.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/498.jpg

The 1mm sheet was rolled into a tube and inserted into the 25mm pipe so that the fitting would locate onto the rocker cover nicely and not rotate when tightend up.
A bit of paint and some permatex and here’s the finished product.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/499.jpg

Here’s a nice shot of everything on the rh side that’s gone in so far.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/500.jpg

That’s all for today folks! Still got lots to do tho. L
Won’t get it finished this trip to the farm…

Here’s a tip for novices ( I know there’s lots of experts on this forum, but we were all dumb once… I know I still am! ) … fer crying out loud, when you embark on a project that’s going to take more than 1 hour… make sure you label everything from where it came from. Doesn’t have to be nice little boxes.. can be plastic lunch bags… but label it or else you’ll suffer from ‘cardboard box of bits in the corner’ syndrone 3 months later when it comes to assemble your pride and joy again. It also helps you not to lose things.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/11/501.jpg

Ciao!

Winston

[Randylandy]

Nice job. That machine is awsome what did it set you back?

[dickyjoe]

Nice job. That machine is awsome what did it set you back?

A lot of blood sweat and tears by the looks of things :)

[landymad]

Nice job. That machine is awsome what did it set you back?

Why thank you mate... but which machine are you talking about? The landy? Or perhaps the sheet bending machine?

The landy cost $6000 about ... urm.... 11 years ago .. i've put at least that much into it by now though... Too much to ever consider selling it! lol

The sheet bender was about $800 delivered. It's 150 kg's so it kinda needs to be delivered. Even then, you need a forklift ( or bobcat in my case ) to get it out of the delivery truck.

And lotsa lotsa of the aforementioned blood sweat and tears.