Nick's Land Rover - Series III Rebuild

I’ve managed a lot over the last week in several areas. Sorry, no photos to go with this, but I’ll get some for the next update.

I have finished the electrics with the two exceptions being the rear towing socket, which just needs connecting to the rear lights wiring loom, and the split charge relay for the auxilliary battery. The centre dash has been fully fitted and tested, with all the circuits working properly. Both batteries are installed and connected to their various busses and looms, including the winch (via a heavy duty isolator). The seat and wing mirror heaters are far more powerful than I expected. The Smiths oil pressure and battery volt guages look much better than the LR ones used previously, and match the main instrumnts perfectly. The rear wiper took a long time to get working properly with the Carling Technologies switches, not only to get the intermittent wipe to function, but also to have the self park circuit operate correctly.

The front seats are fully installed, as is the cubby box. The matting needs cleaning, but with the completed facia, it looks really smart. The mountings for the inboard rails of the second row seats are built. I had two “biscuit tins” of 2.5mm steel (18.5″x9″x2″) made up and powder coated in black. They will support the seats and retain the seatbelt buckle stalks and have turned out very strong and extremely neat. They just need bolting to the floor (with spreader plates below) before fitting the seats.

I want to get those seats fitted, the batteries clamped into their cradle and the front left wheelarch spat fitted (the paint needs final polishing on the front corner of the wing first), bleed the clutch and adjust the brakes before New Year - if I can get those done, I can get the 109 through its MoT (UK annual safety inspection) and get it on the road. The last few tasks like fitting the interior side panels and mudflaps can be done afterwards.

I was showing this progress to Alun this evening, and fired up the engine from cold.  I didn’t even give the glow plugs a chance to warm up, but the engine started within two seconds and idled very happily - evidently the new rockers and shaft are all it needed, with the rebuild carried out a few years ago still giving good service.

Accessories, Electrics, Engine, Interior

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