Results 1 to 1 of 1

Thread: A knight and our new Landy

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    13
    Total Downloaded
    0

    A knight and our new Landy

    In October last year a classic car restoration company in Melbourne's eastern suburbs 'fixed' the brakes on my 1972 LWB Series 3 as part of $10,000 of mechanical work commissioned by my Dad prior to handing over the vehicle—which has been in the family since 1973—to me. Two weeks ago the brakes failed spectacularly: the single-line master cylinder started recirculating fluid and my foot went right to the floor.

    Fortunately it happened while it was parked in my driveway. At the time, I didn't know the master cylinder had failed. All I could see was that the inside of the left rear wheel was coated with brake fluid. Taking the wheel off confirmed that the slave cylinder had been urinating fluid all over the shoes and drums.

    The work done on the brakes was covered by warranty, but I couldn't trust whoever 'fixed' my brakes to touch them again. I've done very little work on cars myself and brakes are a critical system. Who could I turn to? Good fortune struck again: not only did the brakes fail in my driveway, rather than out on the road, but a knight in not-so-shining armour—an ex-military six wheel drive Land Rover Perentie, otherwise known as Archaeopteryx—came to my rescue.

    Dave, who goes by the name of Blknight on this forum, is a legend. I say this in all honesty and without fear of breaching the forum's guidelines on commercial plugs, because Dave isn't running a business: he fixes other people's Land Rovers in his spare time on weekends, charging a fraction of what repair shops charge, because he's passionate about Land Rovers and wants to help people like me learn how to keep them running. I've finally found someone (other than my brother Felix) who I can trust with my Land Rover, someone who won't just take my money and do a dodgy job and try to get away with it. Sadly, that's been my experience until yesterday, with the exception of the exhaust specialist who fitted the new muffler and fixed the mess left by the one who installed the extractors.

    We discovered (together, because Dave is happy to work with you rather than for you, if that's what you prefer) that the master cylinder and a slave cylinder had both failed. We also found that whoever had last installed the rear brakes shoes had put two leading shoes on one wheel and two trailing shoes on another (there's supposed to be a leading shoe and a trailing shoe on each wheel).

    It was clear why the master cylinder had failed: rather than installing a new master cylinder, as claimed on the restoration company's invoice, they'd reconditioned the old one with a cheap and nasty kit. There were three problems with the components: a tiny wavy washer that is supposed to act like a spring wasn't actually springy; the rubber seal in front of the metal piston was a flat cylinder, rather than the slightly tapered cylinder at the leading edge on the equivalent seal in the higher quality, Bearmach kit I'd ordered; and a small blue rubbery component was well on its way to disintegrating. Bingo. That would explain why the brake fluid had those mysterious blue specks in it.

    I learned more in a few hours working with Dave than I could have learned in a week of reading Land Rover workshop manuals and forum posts, invaluable as these are. This reminds me of my Polish grandmother, who never had a recipe book but had internalised well over a hundred recipes just by watching her mum cook.

    The brakes are fixed—for now, because more work will be needed to address some issues we identified. More importantly, my confidence in forging ahead with my Series restoration and upgrade project has been restored, now that I've found the right person to guide me through it and work with me rather than for me.

    Finally, I'd like to introduce 'Luisa', a 1973 LWB Series 3 that I bought for $1500 on Gum Tree today. We're calling her Luisa because our other one is 'Louis' (as suggested by the number plates, LUY 123). Luisa has a 1981 2.25 litre petrol engine and gearbox combination from a later Series 3, so I assume that's the 5-main-bearing variant of that engine. On first inspection there's only light surface rust on the chassis and bulkhead. The panels aren't in great shape but it's a complete vehicle, it's registered and I'll be able to drive it on three cylinders if I can fix the brakes and replace a clutch hose. My first impression is that she's too good to wreck for parts, but as Louis is the priority I might swap out bits that are in better condition than the ones on Louis, then get Luisa up and running so I can still drive a Series while Louis is being rebuilt from a galvanised chassis up. Who knows—maybe Luisa will inspire my partner Susie to finally get her license!

    .Luisa 1.jpgLuisa 2.jpgLuisa 3.jpgLuisa 4.jpgLuisa 6.jpgLuisa 7.jpg
    Last edited by Marce; 8th April 2019 at 06:51 AM.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Search AULRO.com ONLY!
Search All the Web!