Thread: To Buy Or Not To Buy A Land Rover

cripesamighty brilliant - saved me from scouring hundreds of threads

There is a Diesel 3 door Wagon here for sale. Not ours. If you want a running vehicle my series 3 88" is for sale in the markets section, probably out of your price range though.

Mrs hh

Thanks The ho car's but a little out my price range.

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

JDNSW & pop058 - thank you for the detailed response. I have read and reread the post.

It seems better to go for a four cylinder petrol engine.
I would prefer a series 3, just because its a newer model.
As for body style I am flexible.

Regarding diesel engine can you retrofit a turbocharger?
.........

I would agree about the four cylinder engine, although if you come across an Isuzu, I would not discount it - but if you prefer a swb, you need to remember the turning circle is much worse on the lwb - modern parking areas are not lwb Series friendly (thinking of this this morning as I am taking my 2a into town for a pink slip this morning).

I prefer the 2a, because it has almost no plastic, and at even newest Series 3 age the plastic dash is usually in poor shape. Also, most of the Series 3 production period (1972-84) coincided with the very worst of British Leyland, and in particular, some materials such as the steel used in the chassis were lower quality. On the other hand, the Series 3 had a few significant improvements, such as an alternator instead of a generator, and a Salisbury rear axle in the lwb. But all of these improvements can be fitted to 2as, as can late Series 3 improvements such as better seat belts, dual circuit brakes, better seats etc. The Series 3 gearbox is all synchromesh, where the 1/2/2a box only has this on the top two gears, but again, these are easily swapped.

You should seek a vehicle that has spent most of its life inland, as this means chassis and firewall rust is less likely.

The diesel can be turbocharged, but you need to be aware that Landrovers effort in this regard, fitted as an option to the same engine in the late eighties was less than successful, with major failures at low mileage common - and this was with the uprated engine with five main bearings and enlarged to 2.5l. Even without turbocharging, broken crankshafts are not unknown in the 3 bearing 2.25 diesel. (Probably mostly due to incorrect regrinding of the shaft and/or taking excessive advantage of the ability of this engine to lug at full throttle just above idle, in fact right down to stall).

Note that the linked PDF, while useful, has some aspects that are not applicable to Australia, both because of different conditions and because the models sold here were in some ways different - in particular, the 2.5 four cylinder engines were never sold here (the 2.5 engines sold in coil spring Landrovers post 1991 are a different engine, although until 1998, closely related).

John

Get in a few mate and go for a ride and see how you get on with them.
Cheers,
D

On the expensive to fix comment, yes and no.. parts are generally stupidly cheap even with global shipping, take a look at the paddocks web site. The real cost is the labour. Although not a landy I bought an MG years back, superb condition and got it for a steal, the reason being the previous owner said it was always breaking down and cost a fortune to fix.

I guess that was true as she waited for things to go wrong then booked it in at her local garage to be repaired. Most owners of old vehicles get to know their beasts and get ahead on the repair game, if it looks like it's on its way out change it yourself early. That's how I treated the MG and subsequent old cars and my thoughts on them all including 3 Land Rovers is the 'never missed a beat and cheap as chips to keep on the road.' By the sound of it you are happy to get your hands dirty, so get on the front foot with maintenance, get a collection of cheap and common spare parts for the shelf and I think you will find Landys cheap to run and reliable workhorses...

Otherwise you'll learn to hate it and your local mechanic will come to love you and your deep pockets!

JDNSW - That is a good points regarding Series 2 vs 3.

It looks like diesel is off the cards.

Inch - thanks for the paddocks website, parts cost looks reasonable.

There is a Land Rover for sale on gumtree at the moment I am thinking of going to just look it over, to get a feel for it. With no real intention of buying .

1971 Land Rover Series 2A | Cars, Vans & Utes | Gumtree Australia Knox Area - Knoxfield | 1130427047

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

Well that is the heart of the matter. How do I tell the gem from the dud?

Obvious things like rust can easily be seen or if something is rattling loose, however how do I know if there is a problem with the engine and if its big or small.

Like there is a Land Rover on gumtree:



A quick search tells me that "clutch slave cylinder" & "starter motor" are an ease cheap / fix however smoking motor tells me there can possible be deep problems.

Out of interest what is a fair price? $2000 seems to be on the low with $6000 on the high. Not mentioning the Land Rovers selling for +/-$800 range for scrap & parts.

What you pay will generally determine what you get. Spending $2000 should get you something that runs and drives, but may have issues like brakes, clutch, body work, etc. $6000 would buy you a good driving, registered vehicle that should need minimum work to punt around in on the weekends and have some fun. $12000 upwards would get you a supurb example that would be roadworthy and registered and could be your daily driver.

For $500 you would get a full restoration vehicle which you could/would easily sink $10000 more in parts into and keep you out of trouble for a couple of years.

I see you're in Melbourne - If you find one you think may be ok, sing out and I'll happiy tag along and take a look - I can point out everything that is wrong - some of which may or may not put you off, and I can also test drive it and let you know how it performs compared to the others I've driven over the years.

I get to almost every part of the city most weeks - been to Geelong, Ballarat, Hastings, Dandenong, inner city and Eastern burbs in the last week if that gives you an idea.

Cheers - Gav.