Ex. Army Series 3 GS 109 6 cyl 2.6ltr - Never Say Die

I removed the rear tail light lenses (to protect what's left), retro spotlight mounted to the rear of the tub (tested and still works) and the hood bows and frame in anticipation of removing the tub.

A few of the bolts that secure the tub to the chassis put up a bit of resistance but eventually they succumbed.

Removal of the tub is required so I can fix one of the chassis tabs, straighten the right side of the rear cross member which has been pushed forward by 5mm and paint the chassis. I'm sure there will be other things too.

Just waiting on my next trip to town so I can grab some pallets to rest the tub on. I'll use my tractor to lift the tub.

Spare parts are starting to trickle in so I'm starting to turn my attention to the engine bay. Still need a few parts - namely water pump, which I'll publish a separate post on. I have parts coming from the UK, so not sure when they'll turn up.

Cleaned out the wasps nests that had moved in around the peddle boxes. Regie had more spider webs than Hogwarts. No rust found and now I can throw some WD40 around the threads of the bolts that hold the peddle boxes to the firewall.

The amount of dirt coming out of Regie is amazing. I didn't know that Landies had so many nooks and crannies.

Drained the oil in the gearbox, transfer case, diffs and engine to have a squiz.

The oils were dark, but no nasties found. The engine had 7.4 litres and it was as black as I've ever seen (including diesels). The transfer case had 3 litres and the gearbox around a litre. I'm guessing that some oil moved from the gear box past the seal to the transfer case. I have a new seal, but will wait before I replace it.

Will drop the engine sump to have a look-see.

Will use new gaskets and button the boxes back up, refill and see how they are when I eventually get Regie running.

Opened the covers over the transfer case to inspect. Nice and clean inside, with no wear or damage evident to the gears I could see.

Replaced the oil filter and filled the housing with new oil as I was keen to see the old filter and what lay at the bottom of the housing (a little sludge only).

Oh and removed the bonnet (my first one) and the wiper blades (harder than I first thought).

So far I'm pretty pleased with my progress and the general state of Regie. I've given myself 2 years to get him back on the road.

So, I got a visit by two couriers today;

1. Regie's paint from Protec arrived - Camo Black and Camo Green. 4 Ltrs of each at $75 a can. Great service from Protec and free shipping too! One can had to come from Newcastle.
2. A carby rebuild kit from RockAuto in the USA. Kit was around $50 delivered. The kit seems to contain more parts than other kits I've seen, from other suppliers.

I'd better buy a spray gun and some sand paper I guess.

I thought I'd do some work on the engine side of things.

So, I pulled the spark plugs. Hmmm, very black.

NGK's in otherwise good condition and with no replacements on hand, I gave them a gentle clean and checked the gaps. A little too open, so a slight tweak to factory specs and doneski.

Might be a good time to see if I have any compression.

Cylinder 1 - 120 PSI. Feeling good. Cylinder 2 - 120 PSI. Warm fuzzy felling is growing. Cylinder 3 - 90 PSI. Hmmmm. Cylinder 4, 5 and 6 - 120 PSI.

Recheck cylinder 3 - 110. Better. Phew.

Time to check for spark. Clean and gap points. Fix a PO's very dodgy wiring connection. Clean inside of dissy cap and a very light sand to the rotor arm.

Stand on frame above gear box peering over the windscreen at the points to watch the sparks fly.

Nothing. Grrrr.

I was about to get my multimeter out when I remembered that the PO had opened up the fuse box. I wonder...

Pulled the fuses. Ahhh, so this is where the rust is.

Cleaned the fuses on my bench grinder wire wheel. Cleaned a few of the connections inside the fuse box, including the fuse holder clips with my Dremel.

Replaced fuses. Assumed position standing above gearbox and turned the ignition. Spark time. Yee haa.

Refitted cap, leads to check spark at plug. No spark. Whoops forgot the rotor. Installed and restarted. Spark plug sparking like a champ.

Hmmm, big oil pool under the oil filter I had changed earlier. Well, at least we have oil pressure.

Tried for a while to reinstall the filter housing correctly from under the vehicle as previously the seal at the top of the housing had not seated properly.

Gave up and removed the little inspection cover inside the front passenger wheel well. Job done in a few minutes. I now for next time.

It did strike me as quirky that a vehicle where you can remove the bonnet in moments has a oil filter that requires you to jack up the car, remove the wheel, undo 3 bolts (that don't have captive nuts) and reach through to feel the oil filter canister.

Bonus from cleaning the fuses - my wipers work as do one head light and driving lights. I really like the head light switch.

So, on a high from getting the spark sorted so quickly and easily, I moved on to the fuel side of things.

I decided to start at the fuel lift pump, which is located above the fuel tank, on the chassis. When I turned on the ignition the pump remained deathly silent. Hmm.

Removed the pump and opened her up. Rubber seal scungie, but serviceable. Filter cleanish and serviceable. I have another on the way from the UK. Remove all of the accumulated muck and light rusting to the internal chamber of the pump with my dremel. Throw a bit of diesel around the inside of the pump and wash out the nasties. Clean the filter for temporary re-use.

Wire wheeled the earth strap and mounting bolts. Tested the pump on my car battery - and whirrrr. Sweet as.

Reassemble the unit and reinstall on the chassis. Blow out the fuel line and refit to the side of the pump.

Move onto the fuel filter mounted on the engine. Not the easiest to get too, but at least I won't have to remove a panel like another certain filter.

Removed the bowl and she's full of rust. Out with the old filter and in with the Dremel. Rusty bits ground out. Bottom of bowl is pitted. Looks dodgy, but might be ok for a test run. Clean with diesel and reassemble with a new filter. Reinstall after I'd blown out the hose between the pump and the filter with compressed air.

Time to check the carby. Dry as a bone. Top her up with 12ml of engine oil. Why 12ml? Well that was a full syringe (my only one) and it raised the oil level to 6mm below the top as per specs. I was wondering what lay inside the carby after seeing the pump and filter, and a rebuild is on the cards - but not today.

Reconnect the electrical feed to the pump and turn on the ignition and I can hear it cycling. Nice.

Dip the fuel line in a can of fuel and turn on the ignition. Lots of pumping noises but no fuel coming out of the fuel filter housing. Prime the pump and she's away, pumping like it's life depended on it.

Getting close now. Cleaned up the shed and time for a coke zero.

After cleaning the fuel system, getting the ignition system sorted, new oil and a couple of filters + turning the engine over a fair few times to circulate some oil, I thought I'd see if Regie's engine would fire up.

I fired a blast of engine starter down the throat of Regie, pulled the choke and he fired and ran for a second. Gave it another few goes to ensure all was good and I wasn't imagining it. Same result. Oh yeah!

Reconnected the fuel line, set up a jury rigged fuel can and turned the ignition.

Regie started on the second try. I couldn't believe it.

Here's a Vimeo link to the video of his very first run - WhatsApp Video 2021-01-07 at 24804 PM on Vimeo

In the video you'll hear the revs drop off as that's when I close the choke. He even idled. Bless him.

Unbelievable that he's running after almost 20 years of sitting in the open, with likely, not even a canvas top. I was happier than a pig in poop.

Fuel was gushing out of a rust hole in the fuel filter bowl, so I quickly shut Regie down.

Great to know he runs, so will work on getting the cooling system reinstalled and valves adjusted + a full tune.

Let the good times roll.

I had to drop my ute in for a service, then afterwards I left Regie's wheels at my favorite tyre shop in to be stripped, so I can clean up the rims etc.

Then I swung past the tip to drop in some used oil for recycling. Whilst at the tip I visited their freebie shed and found an ice cream container of old tools. Score!

After that, I decided to rat around the junk yard located a short hop from the tip and found a few Landie bits and a Range Rover bonnet. Unfortunately they didn't want scrap prices for the parts. The Landie parts are very damaged too.

Whilst out I called into my local bearing shop and ordered axle seals and a swivel bearing set and got a swag of workshop consumables, including a couple of new bulbs for Regie's parking lights.

Since I've got Regie running, I decided to start sorting out the cooling system.

The PO had removed the water pump and must have struggled a bit. Lots of broken pieces.... I did manage to scavenge a few important parts from this assortment of broken bits. The fan had disappeared too. I suspect it was broken.

Used a brass wire brush on my cordless drill to clean up the block where the water pump bolts too.

Then a little heat to unscrew the broken bolt. Fortunately this was the only broken bolt and with some gentle movement back and forth, it eventually relented and screwed out. Ran a bolt through the threads and all good. Awaiting a tap and die set so will clean properly with the correct tap.

Wire brushed the pulley so I could see the timing marks. Given the initial state, I was wondering if they had rusted away. Cleaned up nicely, including the V slot for the belt. Coated the pulley in rust converter in preparation for paint. The timing marks are nice and clear now.

Removed the washer bottle to check its state and wonder-baa - it's in great condition. Tested the motor and nothing. Drat. Cleaned the terminals, bottle and outside of the motor and retested - whirrrr. Filled with water and retested and was promptly squirted. Put some compressed air through the water pipe that feeds the nozzle on the bonnet and heard a pop. Something came out and flew across the workshop. Not sure what it was, but at least the pipe is not blocked now.

For the first time I started using citrus acid as a rust remover (thanks Youtube). Wow, I'm a fan now.

I topped up the clutch master cylinder with fluid and got pressure, so bled the system and it's working fine. Clutch isn't engaging though, so will pull the gear box to investigate in the not too distant future. Oh, and I got the horn working as well.

When I bought Regie, his radiator was sitting in the tray.

So, I decided to give it a closer inspection to see what sort of condition it was in.

At a quick glance, it looked pretty good.

So I removed the bottom hose, but had to cut the hose clamp, then unscrewed the steel and plastic shrouds.

The steel one had a dent which was quickly knocked out. I then gave it a soak in a citrus acid bath.

The plastic shroud was washed in soap and water and came up like new.

Returning to the radiator - well one side is mint, but unfortunately the top inside section of fins that had been hidden behind the shrouds is corroded. The fins are like crepe paper. So, I'll be looking for another radiator, or visiting the radiator shop in the near future.

Last week I dropped the wheels off to be stripped, so today I swung past the tyre shop to pick them up.

Tyre's are cracked in the side wall and the canvas is showing through. I'm keeping the tyres as they're really handy for storing stuff on, like tractor implements, to keep the item out of the dirt. Plus, you can get forks under the implement.

Any how, the wheels had rust around the valve holes, so quickly knocked that off to see the extent of the rust damage.

3 had minimal damage with minor pitting only. The 4th, the back rim, has a lot more rust, but is very salvageable.

A couple of rims have dents or minor flat spots in the bead, but again, I should be able to sort that.

Pleased to see that the 3 green rims are 1977 dated and the black one is from 1971.

Next job is a full cleanup and undertake any repairs of the rims and then throw some paint around.