1983 Land Rover Series 3
Discussion
Tuesday night is choir night for Mrs Bakerstreet and usually I put the kids to bed and then browse Netflix and YouTube trying to find something to watch, but having had quite a bad day at work, I set about the wiring which is a job I’ve been putting off for a while now.
Connected the front and rear looms together. Joins are next to the Gearbox as it's easy for me to access through the seat box. The Eldest even helped me thread the wires through from the battery area, He laid on the floor and pulled the cables through whilst I fed them through from the top. Worked pretty well and it was nice that he was involved in it. OK, it cost me a Pokemon card as bribery, but he was still quite willing.
Wiring is all silicon, so it's pretty easy to strip and solder together. I then add some heat shrink which I happily shrank using my new mini heat gun tool (Very satisfying)
I’ve threaded a wire through for the front cab light as well. Remember commercial body Series Land Rovers literally came with no interior kit at all. County Station Wagons were at least fitted with an interior light
Rear Interior light is designed for motorhome awnings and is way too bright for what I need it for. But I wanted an angled design rather than flat and not something that was designed to go up in the roof as it’s currently a single skin roof.
Also, for reasons unknown, I decided to make a start on the headlining. 5mm closed cell foam and I will eventually add four way stretch carpet. Should have taken the roof off for this as its only about an hour to take the roof off, but then I have a challenge of where to keep the roof whilst I am doing the work. Also, this is more of a practice run as I am constantly on the lookout for a safari roof.
I went with 5mm deadening as I didn’t want it to take up too much space in the roof channel, but when you tap the roof, the 5mm really isn’t adding much at all. I’ve bought some 10mm to do the underside of the bonnet, but the material feels so light, I really don’t think it's going to do much, so I may go all out and add the 2.5mm silent coat and then the 5mm on top of the Silent coat for the bonnet.
It’s heading off to a small car show on Sunday, so trying to get the cab section headlining all finished and the stereo all wired up before then. Sadly the car show looks to be pretty small, so may take one look at it and turn round and go home
My rear 12v outlet box located right by the rear door so super easy to turn the light on when you open the rear door. This enclose was an Ali Express Special and I trawled the net for ages trying to find something just the right size to fit in the gap. Had to paint it black too.
Load Bay light switched on. Very bright. This came in white. Original plan was to paint it cream to match the roof, but then changed y mind so sanded it down and went with satin black to match other parts.
The headlining project that I wish I never started. This is the 5mm sound deadening which really doesn't do much
Corner part was pretty tricky. Cut out is for the light which will be eventually fitted.
Connected the front and rear looms together. Joins are next to the Gearbox as it's easy for me to access through the seat box. The Eldest even helped me thread the wires through from the battery area, He laid on the floor and pulled the cables through whilst I fed them through from the top. Worked pretty well and it was nice that he was involved in it. OK, it cost me a Pokemon card as bribery, but he was still quite willing.
Wiring is all silicon, so it's pretty easy to strip and solder together. I then add some heat shrink which I happily shrank using my new mini heat gun tool (Very satisfying)
I’ve threaded a wire through for the front cab light as well. Remember commercial body Series Land Rovers literally came with no interior kit at all. County Station Wagons were at least fitted with an interior light
Rear Interior light is designed for motorhome awnings and is way too bright for what I need it for. But I wanted an angled design rather than flat and not something that was designed to go up in the roof as it’s currently a single skin roof.
Also, for reasons unknown, I decided to make a start on the headlining. 5mm closed cell foam and I will eventually add four way stretch carpet. Should have taken the roof off for this as its only about an hour to take the roof off, but then I have a challenge of where to keep the roof whilst I am doing the work. Also, this is more of a practice run as I am constantly on the lookout for a safari roof.
I went with 5mm deadening as I didn’t want it to take up too much space in the roof channel, but when you tap the roof, the 5mm really isn’t adding much at all. I’ve bought some 10mm to do the underside of the bonnet, but the material feels so light, I really don’t think it's going to do much, so I may go all out and add the 2.5mm silent coat and then the 5mm on top of the Silent coat for the bonnet.
It’s heading off to a small car show on Sunday, so trying to get the cab section headlining all finished and the stereo all wired up before then. Sadly the car show looks to be pretty small, so may take one look at it and turn round and go home
My rear 12v outlet box located right by the rear door so super easy to turn the light on when you open the rear door. This enclose was an Ali Express Special and I trawled the net for ages trying to find something just the right size to fit in the gap. Had to paint it black too.
Load Bay light switched on. Very bright. This came in white. Original plan was to paint it cream to match the roof, but then changed y mind so sanded it down and went with satin black to match other parts.
The headlining project that I wish I never started. This is the 5mm sound deadening which really doesn't do much
Corner part was pretty tricky. Cut out is for the light which will be eventually fitted. Wired in the Bluetooth amp today and screwed the cubby box to the top panel and then screwed the top panel to the seat box. Even went round what looms like random holes in the seat box and blocked them with rubber grommets and nuts and bolts.
Noise comes out of all speakers at a reasonable volume but it's lacking bass so might add a separate sub one day. They are pretty cheap on Ali Express.
I'm pretty happy that after much faff that I now have four USB2 outlets, 2 cigarette sockets, volt gauge, four speaker Bluetooth Stereo and a a load area light 🙂
I was so pleased I even forced the family into the garage to celebrate my modern car tech 😁
Going to now crack on with the front headlining and the cab light.
Noise comes out of all speakers at a reasonable volume but it's lacking bass so might add a separate sub one day. They are pretty cheap on Ali Express.
I'm pretty happy that after much faff that I now have four USB2 outlets, 2 cigarette sockets, volt gauge, four speaker Bluetooth Stereo and a a load area light 🙂
I was so pleased I even forced the family into the garage to celebrate my modern car tech 😁
Going to now crack on with the front headlining and the cab light.
Wired up the front cab light tonight. Have now gone from next to no light to loads of light 
Kinda wish I wired in a dash switch for the light, but the light mounted switch will.fo the job.
Light is of course LED, but quite low profile and doesn't look too out of place in the cab.
The headlining carpet wasn't as difficult as applying tye stick ba k sound deadening, but I still needed to patch some holes where I hadn't quite measured it right.
Overall I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out. It's been at my home garage for about 6 months and I can safely say I have made much more progress in that time than 18 months at my mum's garage.
Next part is to add the sound deadening for the back section of the cab and possibly add some more securing brackets for the speaker board as once tye sound deadening and headlining in, the board will be very difficult to remove.
Kinda wish I wired in a dash switch for the light, but the light mounted switch will.fo the job.
Light is of course LED, but quite low profile and doesn't look too out of place in the cab.
The headlining carpet wasn't as difficult as applying tye stick ba k sound deadening, but I still needed to patch some holes where I hadn't quite measured it right.
Overall I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out. It's been at my home garage for about 6 months and I can safely say I have made much more progress in that time than 18 months at my mum's garage.
Next part is to add the sound deadening for the back section of the cab and possibly add some more securing brackets for the speaker board as once tye sound deadening and headlining in, the board will be very difficult to remove.
Project headlining continues. I don't sleep very well in the summer due to how bright it is at 5am, so I got out of bed at 5.50am (before kids usually wake up) and carpeted the centre rib in the roof.
I was going to leave this body colour, but it had a few scrapes on it. God knows what the previous owner had shoved in there.
It was.much easier to stick the carpet to the bare metal roof compared to the softer sound deadening. Some plastic trim removal tools made it easier to butt it up to the existing carpet.
Applied a spare sheet.of sound deadening at the end. Applying bigger sheets has been a massive mistake. Should have cut the rolls into A4 sheets. Would have been much easier.
I'm booked into a local show on the 16th July so I at least have a deadline to get the headlining finished.
I was going to leave this body colour, but it had a few scrapes on it. God knows what the previous owner had shoved in there.
It was.much easier to stick the carpet to the bare metal roof compared to the softer sound deadening. Some plastic trim removal tools made it easier to butt it up to the existing carpet.
Applied a spare sheet.of sound deadening at the end. Applying bigger sheets has been a massive mistake. Should have cut the rolls into A4 sheets. Would have been much easier.
I'm booked into a local show on the 16th July so I at least have a deadline to get the headlining finished.
Edited by bakerstreet on Monday 27th June 14:07
Red9zero said:
Very nice. I cheated with the interior light on mine and got a small magnetic strip light that is rechargeable by a USB slot. It is a soft top though, so I'm a bit restricted by where it can go.
Thanks Don't blame you for going the easier option. I recon I must have spent a day running cables, soldering and cable wrapping Cable route for the light was quite involved.
Along the roof channel, into the window panel, behind the speaker panel (Where the seat belt top mount is), behind the seats, into the seat box, along the chassis rail, up the front bulkhead, along the wing and into the fuse box.
Have been thinking about a light mounted on the centre rib, but just not sure I have the energy and the light I want is £36, which is quite a lot for something that is just occasional use!
Shall go with full LED headlamps and uprated headlamp looms at the end of the year, which is at the same time as its MOT. Might well be the last MOT that I put it through, but will still carry on with an unofficial inspection each year.
Headlining continues
All the sound deadening has been applied. Have found out that it doesn't need to be super neat as the carpet covers it. Basically the sound deadening bit looks like a badly made patch work quilt!
Put the first section of carpet by the speaker board. Speaker board has had a couple of extra self tappers added to secure it as the ends were a bit flappy. Just drilled straight through to the channel metal work l. Seems pretty solid.
Just two more sections of carpet to go 🙂
After that is the sound deadening for the bonnet.
All the sound deadening has been applied. Have found out that it doesn't need to be super neat as the carpet covers it. Basically the sound deadening bit looks like a badly made patch work quilt!
Put the first section of carpet by the speaker board. Speaker board has had a couple of extra self tappers added to secure it as the ends were a bit flappy. Just drilled straight through to the channel metal work l. Seems pretty solid.
Just two more sections of carpet to go 🙂
After that is the sound deadening for the bonnet.
Added a load of sound deadening to the underside of the bonnet tonight.
2.5mm silent coat with 10mm close cell foil backed foam stuck on top.
When you tap the bonnet it now feels like an oak door vs a tin can which is what it was like before. Very solid thump when you shut it too.
Not sure how much difference it will make, but I'm sure it will improve things a little bit.
2.5mm silent coat with 10mm close cell foil backed foam stuck on top.
When you tap the bonnet it now feels like an oak door vs a tin can which is what it was like before. Very solid thump when you shut it too.
Not sure how much difference it will make, but I'm sure it will improve things a little bit.
Headlining is now complete
Still need to trim off some excess in places, but the hard work is done and overall I am quite pleased with the finished product.
Certainly got better at it towards the end and over all I would say its made a difference especially when you combine it with the sound deadening that has been applied under the bonnet. Should have run a DB meter app in the cab before and after.
Think new doors will be next on the list now, as all the sound deadening isn't much use as I can still see fresh air gaps between the doors and the tub. New seals are also on the cards too, but they are surprisingly expensive.
Rear seats could be about to take a priority as I have two young children and now that the Series is usable, its not as usable as it needs to be when on occasion I need to pick up two children and I only have space for one! Not putting middle seat back in either.
Mini bus seats have been recommended and they simply bolt to the floor using Unwin tracks. I might choose to add some additional bracing
Still need to trim off some excess in places, but the hard work is done and overall I am quite pleased with the finished product.
Certainly got better at it towards the end and over all I would say its made a difference especially when you combine it with the sound deadening that has been applied under the bonnet. Should have run a DB meter app in the cab before and after.
Think new doors will be next on the list now, as all the sound deadening isn't much use as I can still see fresh air gaps between the doors and the tub. New seals are also on the cards too, but they are surprisingly expensive.
Rear seats could be about to take a priority as I have two young children and now that the Series is usable, its not as usable as it needs to be when on occasion I need to pick up two children and I only have space for one! Not putting middle seat back in either.
Mini bus seats have been recommended and they simply bolt to the floor using Unwin tracks. I might choose to add some additional bracing
Bringing this full circle. The Series is now up for sale for a variety of reasons.
- WFH. The garage has now been converted into 3/4 office and 1/4 storage. I am full time WFH and working in the back lounge next to the Playmobil fire station and boxes of Lego was become harder and harder, so garage conversion was finished about a month ago and Series has been sat on the drive since
- Time. Maintaining classic cars is very time consuming and if you don't have the time or the skills you are left with sending it to the garage and this soon becomes very expensive for all the issues that comes with running a Series Land Rover
- It finally got is VED free status in May of this year after no less than three post office visits, three phone calls to the DVLA and two letters. The DVLA have a lot of room for improvement.
- The market. Personally, I think the Series market is on a downward trend. In my view the audience is shrinking and the younger classic car enthusiasts would prefer a Mk1 GTI which is much easier to live with in terms of comfort and performance
- To take the Series to where I wanted was going to take me at least another two years and probably £2-5k and quite frankly I didn't want to invest that cash into it.
- The Range Rover. I bought an 07 L322 in August last year and this is a great car when its working. Its reminded me of how good a LR can be and the Series is night and day when compared to the L322. The family have grown quite fond of the RR and its amazing ability swallow luggage and miles with ease. The Series has very limited use cases especially as its only running driver and passenger seat up front. I have looked at rear seat conversions, but once again, its time and money and you can easily sink £1k in to proper fold up fwd facing defender seat conversions and used ones are rare and sell very quickly.
I thank everyone for their positive comments in this thread which has spanned over 10 years. It will certainly shed a tear when it rolls off to a new owner, but selling the Series and the RR will allow me to buy something much nicer and easier to live with day to day. Porsche Panamera 4s, RR L322 5.0 Supercharged and Cayenne GTS are all candidates. Petrol is a must as I do so many short journeys.
Its currently on FB marketplace and will make it onto EBay when I get back from holiday. Once bit of snow might even increase the sale price!
- WFH. The garage has now been converted into 3/4 office and 1/4 storage. I am full time WFH and working in the back lounge next to the Playmobil fire station and boxes of Lego was become harder and harder, so garage conversion was finished about a month ago and Series has been sat on the drive since
- Time. Maintaining classic cars is very time consuming and if you don't have the time or the skills you are left with sending it to the garage and this soon becomes very expensive for all the issues that comes with running a Series Land Rover
- It finally got is VED free status in May of this year after no less than three post office visits, three phone calls to the DVLA and two letters. The DVLA have a lot of room for improvement.
- The market. Personally, I think the Series market is on a downward trend. In my view the audience is shrinking and the younger classic car enthusiasts would prefer a Mk1 GTI which is much easier to live with in terms of comfort and performance
- To take the Series to where I wanted was going to take me at least another two years and probably £2-5k and quite frankly I didn't want to invest that cash into it.
- The Range Rover. I bought an 07 L322 in August last year and this is a great car when its working. Its reminded me of how good a LR can be and the Series is night and day when compared to the L322. The family have grown quite fond of the RR and its amazing ability swallow luggage and miles with ease. The Series has very limited use cases especially as its only running driver and passenger seat up front. I have looked at rear seat conversions, but once again, its time and money and you can easily sink £1k in to proper fold up fwd facing defender seat conversions and used ones are rare and sell very quickly.
I thank everyone for their positive comments in this thread which has spanned over 10 years. It will certainly shed a tear when it rolls off to a new owner, but selling the Series and the RR will allow me to buy something much nicer and easier to live with day to day. Porsche Panamera 4s, RR L322 5.0 Supercharged and Cayenne GTS are all candidates. Petrol is a must as I do so many short journeys.
Its currently on FB marketplace and will make it onto EBay when I get back from holiday. Once bit of snow might even increase the sale price!
hidetheelephants said:
What did you use to stick the carpet to the roof with? The headlining in my truckcab is a bit sad but I'm too mean to buy any of the new offerings.
The roof headlining is made up of 6mm close cell foam sound deadening which is self adhesive. Much harder to apply than you think it will be as you've essentially got one shot at it and its quite messy to do. The carpet is four way stretch carpet and its the same stuff they sell for trimming of vans. Available in loads of colours too.
Mine is stuck on with high temp spray adhesive from Trimbond and having used cheaper stuff from Screwfix, I wouldn't use anything else apart from the the Trimbond. Available in Ebay for about a fiver a tin.
Small plastic decorative roller helps with the seams. Sharp knife essential too. One blade is only good for about three cuts.
I was stupid and did it with the roof in situ. Should have removed it for the hour it would have taken me, but I just didn't have the space to store it.
Bobupndown said:
Just read your entire thread. You've put a lot of time and effort into that car over the years, shame you're selling it.
I've been a big LR fan for as long as I can remember. A ride in an RAC series back in the 70s when I was about 3 left a lasting impression. I've been around a lot of specialist landrovers all my working life. I had a Discovery 2 for 11 years and have now had my Freelander 2 for over 5 years. The modern LR range doesn't do anything for me, apart from maybe the new Defender but it's way out of reach price wise. I don't see myself having another current LR as a daily driver unfortunately. I currently have a classic Mini, a 1963 Mk1 and have a desire to get a stable mate to join it, a Series 2A canvas top 88 in bronze green (or marine blue) would be my ideal. Prices for decent 2As have really rocketed though so a 3 might be a bit more affordable. If prices are on the downward slide due to less interest from the classic owning age group all the better (for a buyer anyway). Its what you see currently with the pre and post war stuff, the people who knew and loved them are no longer of an age to buy and run them. Quite sad really. Its something I think about treating myself with as a retirement present, something I can tinker with and potter about in. Not practical or sensible at all but it's something I've always wanted so we'll see what the future holds.
I'm a massive Land Rover fan and have been since the launch the Discovery 1 back in 89. My dream car was the Discovery 3. Owned one for two and half years and it was a PITA and cost a fortune. The L322 is pretty much the same. Engine is in a another league though. I've been a big LR fan for as long as I can remember. A ride in an RAC series back in the 70s when I was about 3 left a lasting impression. I've been around a lot of specialist landrovers all my working life. I had a Discovery 2 for 11 years and have now had my Freelander 2 for over 5 years. The modern LR range doesn't do anything for me, apart from maybe the new Defender but it's way out of reach price wise. I don't see myself having another current LR as a daily driver unfortunately. I currently have a classic Mini, a 1963 Mk1 and have a desire to get a stable mate to join it, a Series 2A canvas top 88 in bronze green (or marine blue) would be my ideal. Prices for decent 2As have really rocketed though so a 3 might be a bit more affordable. If prices are on the downward slide due to less interest from the classic owning age group all the better (for a buyer anyway). Its what you see currently with the pre and post war stuff, the people who knew and loved them are no longer of an age to buy and run them. Quite sad really. Its something I think about treating myself with as a retirement present, something I can tinker with and potter about in. Not practical or sensible at all but it's something I've always wanted so we'll see what the future holds.
Series 2 will keep their prices better than a Series 3 I think as people do prefer the inboard lights and the metal dash. The Series 3s are just too close to the price of a 90 and with that you get better engines, gearbox and suspension. Calling the 19J better could well be pushing it. I could fit a LT77 box to the Series, but so much work involved and I just don't have the space anymore or the will power to take it on. Even a new clutch, cooling system, brakes and a few other bits cost me the best part of £2.5k and I still have a few issues to sort even now.
Part of me is tempted to keep within the green oval, but they are generally just massive headaches and even if I up the budget and buy a last of the liune D4, you still have that cloud hanging over you on the engine and that is £5-10k bill!! They are holding their money well though. Better than early D5s.
Today, after 11 1/2 years, the Series 3 was taken off on a flat bed to its new owner in Canterbury.
I feel strangely relieved. It sold for what I think was a fair price which I will not disclose here. It was on Facebook Marketplace for about three months and I had a few tentative messages from people but no one actually turned up. I also paid £15 to boost the listing too.
Two weeks ago, I put it on Ebay and quite frankly I was expecting the same slow uptake then I got a phone call yesterday and its all been relatively easy.
I did make me question Facebook Marketplace as a selling platform. I sold my Nissan Cube, Subaru Outback and Discovery 3 on there, but its changed so much in the last few years. So many scammers advertising cars for a 1/3 or less of their real value and just skinning other people's genuine ads, so you are faced with 10+ ads of the same car and I think the original advert just gets lost in the fog.
I expecting to get quite emotional as it drove off, but I feel strangely numb. For the first time in many years I don't own a Land Rover product and I still don't know what I am going to get next. Probably a Range Rover Sport or maybe a D5 if I can stretch the budget (Scraping the barrel there though)
The reality was, we converted the garage to a much needed home office which mean here was no where to store the Series or work on it due to the steep driveway. Also if you don't have the time and space, you have to pay someone else and that can and will get very expensive on a Series Land Rover. They always need something fixing on them.
Also, as I look back on it, the car had given me very little joy over the years and I know it needed more work doing on it over the next three-five years. the engine swap was looking like £2-3k and I just didn't have it in me to do that.
Once again, I thank everyone here for all their positive comments over the years that I have kept this thread active.
I feel strangely relieved. It sold for what I think was a fair price which I will not disclose here. It was on Facebook Marketplace for about three months and I had a few tentative messages from people but no one actually turned up. I also paid £15 to boost the listing too.
Two weeks ago, I put it on Ebay and quite frankly I was expecting the same slow uptake then I got a phone call yesterday and its all been relatively easy.
I did make me question Facebook Marketplace as a selling platform. I sold my Nissan Cube, Subaru Outback and Discovery 3 on there, but its changed so much in the last few years. So many scammers advertising cars for a 1/3 or less of their real value and just skinning other people's genuine ads, so you are faced with 10+ ads of the same car and I think the original advert just gets lost in the fog.
I expecting to get quite emotional as it drove off, but I feel strangely numb. For the first time in many years I don't own a Land Rover product and I still don't know what I am going to get next. Probably a Range Rover Sport or maybe a D5 if I can stretch the budget (Scraping the barrel there though)
The reality was, we converted the garage to a much needed home office which mean here was no where to store the Series or work on it due to the steep driveway. Also if you don't have the time and space, you have to pay someone else and that can and will get very expensive on a Series Land Rover. They always need something fixing on them.
Also, as I look back on it, the car had given me very little joy over the years and I know it needed more work doing on it over the next three-five years. the engine swap was looking like £2-3k and I just didn't have it in me to do that.
Once again, I thank everyone here for all their positive comments over the years that I have kept this thread active.
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