Thread: HELP: to sell or not to sell

Hello Blurry, yeh, nothings ever easy hey? The price we pay for driving the vehicle of our choice.
In our experience, almost everything is a compromise regarding taller diff,tc ratios etc. These give you a little more mpg but at the loss of acceleration. We've then had to reduce tyre sizes to compensate.
My advice would be to look at a 200tdi conversion and upgrade the brakes to 6cyl specs. From what I've read it is reasonably easy and you get better performance and cheaper to run, as well as keeping it all in the LR family. And in a swb the better power to weight ratio should give you a little more punch.
Just my thoughts I know,but I would be keen to keep with the s3.
cheers
Evelyn

Be careful of what you spend to modify your S 3. There are some cheap cars around at the moment. I have been thinking of trading my TD5 defer 2000 mod and am being offered only 11 to 12 grand for it. It has long range tanks and 180,000 ks for a 2009 defer @ $48 grand on road.

In my experience, while free wheel hubs and overdrive make a small difference, the difference will not be enough to justify the cost. On the overdrive question, be very careful about buying a second hand Fairey one, as they are rather fragile, and, while available, parts are expensive. On the other hand, if you find a Toro overdrive (with all its bits) jump at it. But don't expect a major change in fuel economy.

The simplest change that will make a significant difference to performance and economy is to change to road tyres, no wider than about 7.50-16. Larger diameter will improve economy and smaller will improve acceleration. As the engine revs quite happily, I would be inclined to look at tyres about the same diameter as the original 600 -16, perhaps 205R-16

I would not change the engine - if you are going to spend that much money, change vehicles! While a change to a diesel will mean a big increase in economy, performance will be lost unless you change to a 200Tdi, which will be a big job and pretty expensive unless you do all the work yourself.

The change to your existing engine that is going to make a significant difference is to increase the compression. This is particularly the case if it is a 7:1 head, but even if it is a 8:1 head, it can be increased a little by grinding the head. On top of the head, between the carburetter and the rocker cover, there should be a square boss on the casting (if it is missing it will be an older 7:1 head that cannot be safely ground to 8:1, but a small increase should be possible). This boss should have either a 7 or 8 stamped on it, possibly very lightly. If nothing it is 7:1. Compression can be raised to over 8:1 but much more than 8.5:1 will probably see you needing premium ULP. This will give a marked increase in performance and in fuel economy.

However, before even looking at these changes, make sure it is in good shape (I found a marked improvement in my 2a recently by adjusting the plug gaps and ignition timing). Check compression - it may need a valve grind. Check valve clearances, check the points and ignition timing, replace the spark plugs and leads. Make sure that none of the brakes or wheel bearings are dragging. Make sure that all reservoirs are filled with the correct oil. Most importantly, check tyre pressure - for highway work I would run 35 minimum on radials.

Fairly major changes to this engine such as improvements to the gas flow in the head and manifolds and fitting a larger carburetter can make a big increase in power (although not economy at the same time) and will be cheaper and easier than any engine swap.

If doing mostly high speed driving, replacing the fan with an electric one will make a significant improvement to both economy and performance, but is likely to result in overheating in hot, slow, hard working conditions.

None of these suggestions except the major engine modifications will make a big difference, but added to each other they will.

Hope this helps,

John

Thanks for the responses guys i really appreciate you taking the time.

I am going to pursue getting a 200TDi conversion, if it is above my budget I will have to give her the flick.

Thanks again!

Blurry

Having had series Landies with Holden motor I say don't go there. Also a V8 with better economy?? no way.
The best thing I did to improve my series was to put in extractors, believe it or not.
For the money, why not look at an LPG conversion??. Gotta be the best option. Come to think of it I have a stainless steel tank that should fit along above the wheel arch. Its in my County which is buried in the garage atm.
There's a good start.

thanks deejay. going on gas would solve the economy problem but as far as i know wouldn't do anything for the speed problem... also, storage space in a swb is hardly a plenty and i already have to figure out where to put some forward facing seats and still have room for camping equipment/tools when working... will get there in the end though!

My old series 3 was my daily driver for over 5 years - would cruise at 100 - 110kph but no more (would top out at about 125 downhill) - I used to average 17mpg - and it was no use having the radio on.

I had a recently reconditioned engine with a reconditioned head. The carby was fully reconditioned as was the dizzy that I had converted to electronic ignition. I had extractors on it as well. My car was running road tread narrow tyres with high tyre pressures - and FWH.

So speed is OK but fuel consumption is never going to be great.

A series 3 is not really the type of vehicle for what you use it for but ensuring everything is right does make it better.

Garry

I drove my SIII as a daily driver for 19 years. Things that improved drivability were :

1. make sure the carby is in good nick. The Zenith 36IV is the best, I also fitted a double barrel weber, which has been good, but compared to the cam regrind, the webers power was not noticable.
2. LPG & 8:1 head (unless you can find a 9:1).
3. Cam Regrind (all valves (inlet & exhaust) open 5 degrees earlier and close 5 degrees later). It's amazing what that on it's own does. It only cost just over $100, but you need to get the cam out. The specs are the same as the 6cyl 2.6 cam.
4. High tyre pressures (50psi)
5. Overdrive.
6. Extractors (I only put them on because they were free, I think the 2.25 has a pretty good exhaust manifold).
7. Removing the fan and fitting a thermofan added some kph, reduced some noise and allowed it to rev more freely.

with all this, on the flat I could sit on 110kph all day. economy didn't change much, hills still slowed it down.

PM me if you want any of these items, as the car is sitting unused and I could sell some stuff off it. The thermofan's in the shed, as I put the standard fan back on when I fitted an oil cooler.

If you can afford a Tdi conversion, then that would be the way to go.