Newbie buying his 1st Landy...is it a good one?!

**Dutchy** · 29th March 2009, 05:30 PM

Hello everyone,

I joined AULRO today because I caught the Landy fever bad. I'm looking to buy my first car and would love for it to be a Series III. I have looked for good one in the Townsville area for a while, without much luck.
However, I went to inspect one in Ingham yesterday. It looked alright but as always, it did have some issues.
It is a 1978 Long Wheel Base with a Holden engine bored to 1.9L
1. The left rear brake was leaking fluid, owner said it was the seals that had to be replaced. When pressing the breaks, had to be pumped once before it slowed the car.
2. The when driving in 3rd gear and lift off the gas, it can pop out of the gear into neutral. Owner said that the gearbox had been revised and they put a gear or a spring back in the wrong way around? He's being drving with it for a while, annoying but not serious (he said).
3.Rust! There wasn't much but there was some on both front doors below the hinges. Not all the way through, "bubbly" rust. Is this going to be a RWC issue?
4.Little bit of oil leakage from gearbox. Though there was not much leaking at all, will this be a RWC issue?
5.The original engine was replaced by a Holden engine. It started in one go, ran well and no smoke. Do these sort of conversions usually turn out well? Or more pain than its worth? (certs for it in order)

Do you guys have any more tips for me? Especially in regards to getting it through the RWC.

Thanks!!

**justinc** · 29th March 2009, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by Dutchy

Hello everyone,

I joined AULRO today because I caught the Landy fever bad. I'm looking to buy my first car and would love for it to be a Series III. I have looked for good one in the Townsville area for a while, without much luck.
However, I went to inspect one in Ingham yesterday. It looked alright but as always, it did have some issues.
It is a 1978 Long Wheel Base with a Holden engine bored to 1.9L
1. The left rear brake was leaking fluid, owner said it was the seals that had to be replaced. When pressing the breaks, had to be pumped once before it slowed the car.
2. The when driving in 3rd gear and lift off the gas, it can pop out of the gear into neutral. Owner said that the gearbox had been revised and they put a gear or a spring back in the wrong way around? He's being drving with it for a while, annoying but not serious (he said).
3.Rust! There wasn't much but there was some on both front doors below the hinges. Not all the way through, "bubbly" rust. Is this going to be a RWC issue?
4.Little bit of oil leakage from gearbox. Though there was not much leaking at all, will this be a RWC issue?
5.The original engine was replaced by a Holden engine. It started in one go, ran well and no smoke. Do these sort of conversions usually turn out well? Or more pain than its worth? (certs for it in order)

Do you guys have any more tips for me? Especially in regards to getting it through the RWC.

Thanks!!

I think that the gearbox issue isn't as simple as all that. It could be a simple detent spring problem, but it still shouldn't jump out of gear on the overrun. Having pulled a few of these to bits in the past and seen some dodgy practices I would err on the side of caution and expect the worst with the trans. It could need a rebuild, or just a set of bearings and correct shims/ preload. Impossible to say really, except that they can soak up some $$$$.
Rust in the bulkhead and pillars is a definate RWC fail, and is expensive to fix properly to a good standard. Don't let your first landie experience be a bad one, get it looked at by a specialist BEFORE you buy it.

JC

**bcr2734** · 29th March 2009, 06:08 PM

i agree. look a bit harder and you will find one.

**The ho har's** · 29th March 2009, 06:13 PM

I was also worried about the rust in the bulkhead....keep looking you will find one

Mrs ho har

**Shonky** · 29th March 2009, 09:31 PM

I'm not so sure about it either...

I don't know much about gearboxes, but JC (as one of the most renowned Land Rover mechanics in the country) certainly has the guff for you.

There doesn't appear to be a huge amount of rust there, but there is invariably more than you can see and firewall rust is particularly bad and often terminal.

Hang out for a better one - they are out there.

Standard engines are better too IMHO. I'm pulling the Holden out of my shorty.

**Dutchy** · 29th March 2009, 09:59 PM

Thank you all for the quick replies!

I have decided to heed your warnings about this Series III and not to buy it. Shame though, it looked awesome, especially loved the BIG wheels!

I've browsed through the Cars for Sale section, lots of stuff in there!! Does anyone have more tips where I could find Landies for sale? And if anyone happens to hear about a good one for sale in the Townsville area, please let me know!!

Thanks again!

**series3** · 29th March 2009, 10:12 PM

My first usual port of call is the AULRO markets, have quite a few around. other than that, ebay and autotrader.com.au (tradingpost) also turn up some good ones.

wait for one with an original engine, pretty hard to beat.

Anybody else have good sources for series landys for sale?

**dandlandyman** · 30th March 2009, 11:28 AM

Bored to 1.9L? No Holden six is small enough to bore out to 1.9, the smallest red motor was a 138cuin (from a Torana) - the same size as a Land Rover 2.25L petrol four. More likely to be a 186 (cast on block behind the alternator) bored to 192 (0.060" oversize), a very common alteration which renders the engine on its last use.

That Landy needs a lot of work. If I were to buy it, I wouldn't be paying much for it.

Dan.
69 2A 88" pet4, 74 3 109" pet4, 68 2B FC pet6.

**isuzurover** · 30th March 2009, 07:11 PM

I wouldn't say it needs a LOT of work. Looks like it needs a general tidy up, some rust converter and lanolin (before it is too late) etc...

The gearbox is the most serious issue. The 3rd gear problem is most likely to be:
worn mainshaft bearings
Worn teeth on the 3/4 synchro hub
worn brass bush

Either of the above will mean a complete stripdown of the box.

If it was cheap enough I would buy it - except for the fact that I don't like the holden 6's in landies.

**aew849** · 30th March 2009, 07:47 PM

You get what you pay for ....and .....Buyer beware.

Despite this, no matter what standard of landy you get, bargain basement or flash new one, you will skin your knuckles trying to get a standard spanner onto a non-standard land rover bolt, drop it into a suddenly undiscovered cavity which is conveniently full of feral grease/oil/unknown liquid which you find blindly groping for said tool.

The simplest piece of trim work becomes the wierdest jigsaw puzzle, after you break one of the obsolete bits of plastic. Batteries under the passenger seat are brilliant, until you swing your spanner a little greater than the 30 degree arc available and arc weld it to the seat rail, or burn your hand or both.

The large areas of space around the engine belie the fact that you still need to be a magician or hold all the special tools (I think that is only JC anyway) to undo the last bolt on the bit of equipment you are trying to get out of the way so you can actually work on the bit thats needs work.

Wiring diagrams are good for resting your coffee mug on, since they don't represent anything at all.

Land Rover supplied tools are also good for holding loose paper/objects down, as they should never be used on a landy....

Crawling underneath the beast to investigate the spot marking of dripping oil on your freshly painted garage floor, you will bang head, bark knuckles, forget tools on front wings, find lost tool from last month, discover that another 6 components need attention.....

BUT standing back after the physical onslaught you receive in trying to fettle your own Land Rover, rubbing the bruised, bleeding and greasy hands together, and looking at the beast at that certain angle, you realise that there's no other vehicle in world like it. Coffee mugs and beer bottles sit on the wings without danger of falling off, same thing for the workshop manual. Demerit points are safe on the licence...well for speeding anyway. You can strap a 20ft bench top flush down the passenger side and front seat squabs are the best impromptu picnic seats.

Sixty years young, the same design elements still alive, each one it's own character to it's human caretaker.

It is the best 4 x 4 x far.....

aew849

04 130 DCPU
ex 1981 S3 88" Soft top
ex 1998 110 Wagon
ex 2002 110 Xtreme

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