Series 3 Land Rover

[Mr Tom]

Evening,
Just after a bit of advice. I have seen a series 3 local to me. No MOT and the seller wants £2k. Apparently it runs and has been on the road up until a few months ago. Is that in the right ballpark re price.
What are the main things to look out for. Was thinking of it as a bit of a project.
Chwera

[tight fart]

Bulkhead and chassis rot, the rest I'd say is easy mechanics.
Beware they are awful but get under your skin.

[300bhp/ton]

Mr Tom said:

Evening,
Just after a bit of advice. I have seen a series 3 local to me. No MOT and the seller wants £2k. Apparently it runs and has been on the road up until a few months ago. Is that in the right ballpark re price.
What are the main things to look out for. Was thinking of it as a bit of a project.
Chwera

Land Rovers are really simple and easy to work on. Price, hard to say without knowing more on spec and condition.

Chassis rust will be biggest expense. You can swap a chassis and people do. But it's a lot of work and ain't cheap.

Diesels are slow and noisy. What are wanting to use it for?

[Mr Tom]

Thanks for that. Just planning to use it at the weekends to take the pooches out. Also a bit of a project to keep me busy on days before a night shift or days in lieu. To be honest I know very little about it. All I know that it is a long wheel base (109?) series 3 (front lights on the outer part of the front with a recessed bonnet bit). The tyres look good and it has no MOT. I text the bloke who left me a message and says it should fly through an MOT which always begs the question of why hasn't he done it? Not too bothered about engine whether petrol or diesel. Is one better than the other? Cheers

[tight fart]

That's what I have Tom, full tilt is great for the dogs.

[bakerstreet]

Mr Tom said:

Evening,
Just after a bit of advice. I have seen a series 3 local to me. No MOT and the seller wants £2k. Apparently it runs and has been on the road up until a few months ago. Is that in the right ballpark re price.
What are the main things to look out for. Was thinking of it as a bit of a project.
Chwera

I personally think that is too expensive for a Series 3 with no MOT.

Can you tell us what engine and wheel base and body style it is? Pick Ups are the cheapest followed by van sides and genuine station wagons are usually the most expensive, but they are getting rare now.

The petrol variants are worth more than the diesels and the diesel really is a bit of a dog of an engine. Slow and noisey.

Original paint even if its a little rough is always worth bit extra.

However the MOT is still king.

Like many LRs, the gearbox is worth paying attention too. If you pop the clutch up when in second and it pops out of gear, then the syncro has gone and budget around £800 for a pro re-build if you can find someone to do it and not every box specialist will re-build a series box.

Don't underestimate how much time it could take to get it into a road worthy state. Mine has been off the road for four years now and I've been painting it since January. I move house in a few weeks and I've set aside all of Friday and Monday to get it in a road worthy state so it can be transported to its new home (My parents house)

[Mr Tom]

Thanks for that reply! I'm near the Land Rover on Thursday and may have a look at it then (if it is still there). I will try and get some more info on it and see what other opinions may be had. It is a van sided one. In a light blue. Will try and get some pics on Thursday.

[TooMany2cvs]

bakerstreet said:

I personally think that is too expensive for a Series 3 with no MOT.

The market generally disagrees with you, though.

I paid £1500 three years ago for a 1980 88" SW with no MOT, in need of a good cuddle, a full brake rebuild, an alternator, and a chassis outrigger. It was a bit of a bargain. Prices have easily gone up that much since.

If the chassis and bulkhead are solid, and it's not generally shagged, then it's worth £2k. Pickup/soft-top/truck-cab/sw - all easily changed around. About the only change that's expensive is a catflap upper tailgate, or a new set of hoodsticks/canvas.

109 is worth less than 88, generally speaking. If it's a stage 1 v8, then it's definitely worth the £2k.

[Mr Tom]

Righto, where on the chassis would you be looking for rot. Is it best to get a screwdriver and poke around?
Does the mot checker thing work on older cars like this?
Anyone in the NW whi knows their landrovers who could spare some time to come and have a look around it? Can pay in beer or a bit of cash? Cheers

[TooMany2cvs]

Mr Tom said:

Righto, where on the chassis would you be looking for rot. Is it best to get a screwdriver and poke around?

All over. Chassis - rear crossmember, front dumb-irons/spring hangers, bulkhead outriggers. Bulkhead - screen hinges, footwells, A pillars.

Mr Tom said:

Does the mot checker thing work on older cars like this?

Of course. Any MOT since 2005/6 is online, unless it was done in NI.

Mr Tom said:

series 3 (front lights on the outer part of the front with a recessed bonnet bit).

Not quite that simple. Later s2a had them on the wings, too.

Plastic grille, box section screen hinges, triangularish heater vent in passenger wing side, plastic dash with dials in front of driver = s3
'course, they're all meccano, so anything and everything is changeable-aboutable.

Mr Tom said:

Not too bothered about engine whether petrol or diesel. Is one better than the other? Cheers

original s3 petrol = slow and thirsty.
original s3 diesel = really slow, loud and not much less thirsty.
Again, though, meccano - so could have been upgraded to almost anything.

Edited by TooMany2cvs on Tuesday 19th September 14:32

[bakerstreet]

TooMany2cvs said:

The market generally disagrees with you, though.

I paid £1500 three years ago for a 1980 88" SW with no MOT, in need of a good cuddle, a full brake rebuild, an alternator, and a chassis outrigger. It was a bit of a bargain. Prices have easily gone up that much since.

If the chassis and bulkhead are solid, and it's not generally shagged, then it's worth £2k. Pickup/soft-top/truck-cab/sw - all easily changed around. About the only change that's expensive is a catflap upper tailgate, or a new set of hoodsticks/canvas.

109 is worth less than 88, generally speaking. If it's a stage 1 v8, then it's definitely worth the £2k.

Hmmm....maybe I am bit behind the times on valuations.

Van side is a good base as you at least have the roof so you can easily add station wagon side panels which make the interior much lighter.

I bought my station wagon side panels for £17. I recon you would have to pay £100 now and be prepared to travel. You'd need new seals and mounting bolts too.

I've lost track of how much I have spent now and mine is actually good one. Previous owner did all the welding and the chassis is in a excellent state. Same with the bulkhead.

[Mr Tom]

bakerstreet said:

Hmmm....maybe I am bit behind the times on valuations.

Van side is a good base as you at least have the roof so you can easily add station wagon side panels which make the interior much lighter.

I bought my station wagon side panels for £17. I recon you would have to pay £100 now and be prepared to travel. You'd need new seals and mounting bolts too.

I've lost track of how much I have spent now and mine is actually good one. Previous owner did all the welding and the chassis is in a excellent state. Same with the bulkhead.

What sort of things have you paid out on? I'm fairly handy with a spanner but don't want horrendous bills... It won't be used as a day to day vehicle. I need to convince my girlfriend that having a fourth car is a good idea....

[CambsBill]

Depends on how carried away you get really, it can be tempting to lavish all sorts of mods . . .

Things I have done (S3 Lightweight):
- unleaded cylinder head if it hasn't already been done - alternative is fuel additive which I got fed up with
- only welding to date has been on rear outrigger
- new wheels - largely cosmetic as old ones were serviceable
- electronic distributor - pretty cheap and done as a last resort when I couldn't track down a fault. Upside is engine runs smoother then before
- new canvas
- rustproofing kit (Dinitrol). Messy but will hopefully extend the life of the chassis

Other than that it's been mostly service items that I recall

As above, if you're allowed to then poke around the whole chassis & bulkhead looking for rust. Fully agree with the areas already mentioned, and would add the area around the suspension bump stops (rubber blocks - rust often starts underneath them)

[TooMany2cvs]

CambsBill said:

Things I have done (S3 Lightweight):
- unleaded cylinder head if it hasn't already been done - alternative is fuel additive which I got fed up with

I'm working on the "It gets so little use, it'll probably never be a problem - and if it is, I'll just put a hardened-seat head on then." theory, and feeding it unleaded anyway.

Vast quantities. Regularly. For very little use... I reckon about 15mpg rough-numbers, but that's based on lots of cold-start short-journey use. I did take it on a 300 mile round trip one weekend... With a roughly 140 mile range, that did get... tiresome.

CambsBill said:

- electronic distributor - pretty cheap and done as a last resort when I couldn't track down a fault. Upside is engine runs smoother then before

Definitely a good call. I used a powerspark kit - cheap, easy to fit, and worked wonders. Modern condensers are all st anyway.

[bakerstreet]

CambsBill said:

Depends on how carried away you get really, it can be tempting to lavish all sorts of mods . . .

This!

The essentials:
The bushes in the springs were declared shot and they are known to be a pig to replace, I replaced the standard leaf springs with parabolics, which aren't as strong, but they are more comfortable and shouldn't rust, so they end up being completely solid!

The earth points on the indicators corrode, so I had to replace those with new ones, but that is only a few quid.

Had to tweak the shims at the top of the swivels

Replaced the steering ball joints.

Everything else has been cosmetic.
Complete respray including the interior. This has taken a long time...
Swing Away wheel carrier so I can make create some space in the load bay area
New wheels and tyres
New steering wheel
Towbar and rear step
Replaced van side panels with genuine station wagon panels
New door tops (Old ones had rotted out)
Rear door lock and latch

Still got several items on the to do list:

Fit insulation and mat to load bay
Paint rear cross member and fit spare wheel carrier (tonight's task). I'm planning on working till midnight
Fit rear fog light
Fit rear number plate light
Fit new number plates

As expected its all taken about three times longer than I had planned. Had real issues with paints reacting with each other...

[Mr Tom]

Just seen it again today. Not to have a look around but got the ref. MOT ran out last November so has been sat for a year. It is a 109 with a 4 cylinder diesel. 93k miles, van bodied. It is light blue which is faded with a white van back. So it may seem £2k is a bit steep.

[TooMany2cvs]

Mr Tom said:

Just seen it again today. Not to have a look around but got the ref. MOT ran out last November so has been sat for a year. It is a 109 with a 4 cylinder diesel. 93k miles, van bodied. It is light blue which is faded with a white van back. So it may seem £2k is a bit steep.

What's the MOT history say?

[Mr Tom]

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk

[Mr Tom]

Mr Tom said:

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk

Reg is this
RWN136S

[TooMany2cvs]

2013/4 don't look like they were fun, do they?

That apart, it doesn't look too horrible. Can't imagine £2k is ridiculously OTT. What's it look like in the flesh?