If you've read the thread about my 110 Station Wagon then you'll have seen my other half's Series III in one of the pictures, well, here's its own thread.
To start, this is Tubs, the numberplate gives away the origins of the name, but if you understand 'Cans of Can't' and why 'it's a funny thing about toads', you'll get the other reason behind the name.
Anyways, she started life as a standard 2.25 diesel hard top, and through the years gained a set of freewheeling hubs, an overdrive, along with a set of windows in the back, and some rear benches.
Wendy (the mrs) bought her about 12 years ago after the 106 she was driving at the time was written off when she slid on a patch of diesel (on the road outside a filling station) and rear ended another car. When the insurance payout came through she decided that if it was ever going to happen again, she was going over the top.
Having a mental image of the Land Rover she wanted in her head she found Tubs on ebay, being sold by a chap who'd bought her to go off roading, but decided she was too nice for that.
Wendy took a train down to get her, and then drive home.
Lots of miles later someone was kind enough to pour a bottle of coke into the fuel tank which murdered the original engine.
She bought a good low milage 2.5 diesel, and with the help of a couple of friends got the spanners out and got on with swopping it over.
A few years ago Wendy met another chap who was a Land Rover sort, and he spent more time running Tubs than she did, along with Wendy taking something of a back seat with maintenance.
By the time they'd split up and I met her, Tubs was starting to look a bit sorry for herself. The spare wheels on both the bonnet and back door were both flat, whilst the two tyres on the rear were nearly bald.
Other issues included the u bolts on the rear springs being loose, and the ball joint on the steering box end of the drag link was loose.
Some time spent fettling had her driving a lot better again, whilst a few quid spent on ebay brought a set of Wolf pattern rims and four decent 285/85R16 tyres for about £200 all in, which all fitted up left her looking rather dapper.
Other works included adjusting the door catches so they shut with less effort, along with welding a couple of tabs between door tops and bottoms to stop the tops flexing outwards as they're starting to show their age, along with sealing some other draughts and leaks, and making her a bit nicer to drive in the cold weather.
The one remaining mudflap on the back end was also pulled off, and the whole set replaced with a set made from a strip of rubber we found washed up on the beach. They were made longer than the old ones, and positioned so the outer edge of the rubber was flush with the edge of the body, as opposed to slightly inboard, which -I think- makes quite an improvement to the overall appearance.
Next up, a bit of bubbling paint which was spotted when I had the front wheels off adjusting the brakes turned into a small hole when scraped at, and a 4 inch square hole on the side, along with an 8 inch hole the full width of the bottom of the main rail by the time the grinder had finished tickling it away.
A couple of hours welding saw it repaired properly, followed by doing similar on the opposite side having seen a small hole when lieing under her to weld the bottom of the chassis on the drivers side.
Sorting a hub seal and some bulbs got her through her last MOT without much drama, then a few weeks later the (2 year old) rear silencer blew itself apart.
Being the thrifty sort I didn't much fancy buying another standard pipe, so went into my exhaust pipe stock, and made a new one, which included a shiney tail pipe from a Td5 90.
Looked pretty cool all fitted up.
Some fairly reliable running followed, with off little niggles sorted along the way, she also had a feature in Classic Land Rover Magazine.
Just before christmas the gearbox started to make some lovely bearing failure type noises. Not ideal by any means, and some research showed that rebuilding the box would have been at least £300 in parts to do it properly using parts of known quality.
Another ratch through the spares department produced a 5 speed LT77 box from a diesel 90, along with a 1.2:1 ratio LT230 from a Range Rover, all in good condition and ready to go. This decision didn't take a genius...
First up, floors, tunnel and seatbox out...
Everything out.
The chassis required some trimming, firstly the bellhousing crossmember needed a scallop to allow front prop clearance due to the transfer box output being about 7 inches further back.
And the centre crossmember trimmed so I can get the handbrake drum off...
Some 2.5mm bent to fit...
And welded in. It was a bit breezy, hence the curse word welding.
Release arm reinforced with some 3mm strip to prevent the common problem of the pivot wearing through.
Gearbox in.
One new mounting bracket made. The new brackets were made up to sit on the original chassis mounts on the standard rubbers. Mounting holes needed to be 13mm diameter, and as the biggest drill bit I had was only a 10mm, I decided it was as easy to blow them out with the Plasma cutter.
Transfer box on the bench with the bracket designed to hold the transfer box controls, as part of the intent of the conversion was to retain the Series Land Rover setup of the red and yellow topped levers, even though it'll now be running permenant four wheel drive.
All in and sat on its mounts.
Right hand mount.
Left hand mount.
Made some propshafts, the rear was the original cut down to 16 inches, the front was a spare 109 rear, cut down to 31 inches.
Cut the tunnel out to allow the new gear lever to poke out.
Transfer box linkages installed, along with the seatbox, and the handbrake lever, which was connected to the drum on the transfer box with a strip of steel between it and original pivot attatched to the lever.
Another view on the linkage. The red lever does the high/low as before, whilst the yellow one locks the centre diff when pushed down. It all rather beautifully fits underneath the tunnel/floors.
And all back together. I still need to cut some ally and rivet it onto the redundant holes in the tunnel, but as it was getting dark when I finally got it finished and (as mentioned in its thread) we were without a car due to the 110 having shat a hub bearing it had a scrap of carpet fitted loosely to keep the elements out, which it's been doing admirably for just over a month now.
All in, the conversion has transformed the car, it's a lot quieter, smoother gear changes, and it feels a lot better to drive than with the old box plus Best of all, having used parts I had already, and the only cost being £25 for a new clutch, and having sold the overdrive which was on the old box, the total cost of the conversion leaves us over £300 better off than we were when I started.
Next up, it's due a timing belt change, and whilst the covers are off and it's in bits I've got a Bosch VE pump from a 300 Tdi to fit to it, which I'm hoping will give better starting than the Lucas CAV pump it currently has, and cure the rough idle it's had ever since the throttle spindle seal was changed.
The other hope is that as the VE pump is a lot more easily tweaked than the CAV pump it can be wound up a little to give it a bit more poke, and pull up hills without the power dropping off and needing to change down.
Stay tuned.
To start, this is Tubs, the numberplate gives away the origins of the name, but if you understand 'Cans of Can't' and why 'it's a funny thing about toads', you'll get the other reason behind the name.
Anyways, she started life as a standard 2.25 diesel hard top, and through the years gained a set of freewheeling hubs, an overdrive, along with a set of windows in the back, and some rear benches.
Wendy (the mrs) bought her about 12 years ago after the 106 she was driving at the time was written off when she slid on a patch of diesel (on the road outside a filling station) and rear ended another car. When the insurance payout came through she decided that if it was ever going to happen again, she was going over the top.
Having a mental image of the Land Rover she wanted in her head she found Tubs on ebay, being sold by a chap who'd bought her to go off roading, but decided she was too nice for that.
Wendy took a train down to get her, and then drive home.
Lots of miles later someone was kind enough to pour a bottle of coke into the fuel tank which murdered the original engine.
She bought a good low milage 2.5 diesel, and with the help of a couple of friends got the spanners out and got on with swopping it over.
A few years ago Wendy met another chap who was a Land Rover sort, and he spent more time running Tubs than she did, along with Wendy taking something of a back seat with maintenance.
By the time they'd split up and I met her, Tubs was starting to look a bit sorry for herself. The spare wheels on both the bonnet and back door were both flat, whilst the two tyres on the rear were nearly bald.
Other issues included the u bolts on the rear springs being loose, and the ball joint on the steering box end of the drag link was loose.
Some time spent fettling had her driving a lot better again, whilst a few quid spent on ebay brought a set of Wolf pattern rims and four decent 285/85R16 tyres for about £200 all in, which all fitted up left her looking rather dapper.
Other works included adjusting the door catches so they shut with less effort, along with welding a couple of tabs between door tops and bottoms to stop the tops flexing outwards as they're starting to show their age, along with sealing some other draughts and leaks, and making her a bit nicer to drive in the cold weather.
The one remaining mudflap on the back end was also pulled off, and the whole set replaced with a set made from a strip of rubber we found washed up on the beach. They were made longer than the old ones, and positioned so the outer edge of the rubber was flush with the edge of the body, as opposed to slightly inboard, which -I think- makes quite an improvement to the overall appearance.
Next up, a bit of bubbling paint which was spotted when I had the front wheels off adjusting the brakes turned into a small hole when scraped at, and a 4 inch square hole on the side, along with an 8 inch hole the full width of the bottom of the main rail by the time the grinder had finished tickling it away.
A couple of hours welding saw it repaired properly, followed by doing similar on the opposite side having seen a small hole when lieing under her to weld the bottom of the chassis on the drivers side.
Sorting a hub seal and some bulbs got her through her last MOT without much drama, then a few weeks later the (2 year old) rear silencer blew itself apart.
Being the thrifty sort I didn't much fancy buying another standard pipe, so went into my exhaust pipe stock, and made a new one, which included a shiney tail pipe from a Td5 90.
Looked pretty cool all fitted up.
Some fairly reliable running followed, with off little niggles sorted along the way, she also had a feature in Classic Land Rover Magazine.
Just before christmas the gearbox started to make some lovely bearing failure type noises. Not ideal by any means, and some research showed that rebuilding the box would have been at least £300 in parts to do it properly using parts of known quality.
Another ratch through the spares department produced a 5 speed LT77 box from a diesel 90, along with a 1.2:1 ratio LT230 from a Range Rover, all in good condition and ready to go. This decision didn't take a genius...
First up, floors, tunnel and seatbox out...
Everything out.
The chassis required some trimming, firstly the bellhousing crossmember needed a scallop to allow front prop clearance due to the transfer box output being about 7 inches further back.
And the centre crossmember trimmed so I can get the handbrake drum off...
Some 2.5mm bent to fit...
And welded in. It was a bit breezy, hence the curse word welding.
Release arm reinforced with some 3mm strip to prevent the common problem of the pivot wearing through.
Gearbox in.
One new mounting bracket made. The new brackets were made up to sit on the original chassis mounts on the standard rubbers. Mounting holes needed to be 13mm diameter, and as the biggest drill bit I had was only a 10mm, I decided it was as easy to blow them out with the Plasma cutter.
Transfer box on the bench with the bracket designed to hold the transfer box controls, as part of the intent of the conversion was to retain the Series Land Rover setup of the red and yellow topped levers, even though it'll now be running permenant four wheel drive.
All in and sat on its mounts.
Right hand mount.
Left hand mount.
Made some propshafts, the rear was the original cut down to 16 inches, the front was a spare 109 rear, cut down to 31 inches.
Cut the tunnel out to allow the new gear lever to poke out.
Transfer box linkages installed, along with the seatbox, and the handbrake lever, which was connected to the drum on the transfer box with a strip of steel between it and original pivot attatched to the lever.
Another view on the linkage. The red lever does the high/low as before, whilst the yellow one locks the centre diff when pushed down. It all rather beautifully fits underneath the tunnel/floors.
And all back together. I still need to cut some ally and rivet it onto the redundant holes in the tunnel, but as it was getting dark when I finally got it finished and (as mentioned in its thread) we were without a car due to the 110 having shat a hub bearing it had a scrap of carpet fitted loosely to keep the elements out, which it's been doing admirably for just over a month now.
All in, the conversion has transformed the car, it's a lot quieter, smoother gear changes, and it feels a lot better to drive than with the old box plus Best of all, having used parts I had already, and the only cost being £25 for a new clutch, and having sold the overdrive which was on the old box, the total cost of the conversion leaves us over £300 better off than we were when I started.
Next up, it's due a timing belt change, and whilst the covers are off and it's in bits I've got a Bosch VE pump from a 300 Tdi to fit to it, which I'm hoping will give better starting than the Lucas CAV pump it currently has, and cure the rough idle it's had ever since the throttle spindle seal was changed.
The other hope is that as the VE pump is a lot more easily tweaked than the CAV pump it can be wound up a little to give it a bit more poke, and pull up hills without the power dropping off and needing to change down.
Stay tuned.
i have a soft spot for landys, don't know why cos, i have never had one, never driven one.
