Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?

[Polizei]

Would be interested to see pics of stance with parabolics

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Would be interested to see pics of stance with parabolics

No problem, when I do the spring swap I'll photograph the tape measure against all 4 corners both before and after.

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The rebuilt heater matrix.

Pulled it completely apart and mounted the core on a foam surround. Blanked off any little airleaks at the same time.

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The front radiator support panel was modified in order to move the radiator forward as far as possible while retaining the original Series III shape.

The radiator was also moved across to the side just a little bit too.

Plenty of measurements were taken again and again before the modification began. Once the cutting started, the radiator was reinstalled and test fitted into the vehicle before being pulled apart again for painting.

It was a bit of a pain in the backside to get it right, but thankfully it all came together and has worked as expected ever since without any issues.

**Note, the NASCAR dual intake brake duct was only used during the mockup stage. A single intake NASCAR brake duct was installed before the front panel was reinstalled.

[juddy]

One thing I've noticed with the currently available Land Rover replacement parts, in particular the rubber bits, is that they all fail quickly.

The new rear mudflaps failed in just a few months. I chose the non branded style. They cost far more than I was happy to pay at the time, but I bit the bullet and got them as I did want proper ones. They had to "look" the part.

They were quite flexible/floppy when new, but hardened up pretty fast and then cracked.



The solution was to make a new set using old conveyor belt material, using the now useless ones as templates.

Sure, they're not the actual Land Rover ones now, but this time they'll endure.



Other new rubber parts which failed are the gearshift boot on the floor, and the handbrake boots (both of them)

Would I be correct in saying you did not buy genuine for the boot rubbers and mud flaps?

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Would I be correct in saying you did not buy genuine for the boot rubbers and mud flaps?
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I presumed they were genuine as they came from a reputable trader in UK.

When they arrived they were in brown paper, and no, nothing to indicate genuine.

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I should add that the failed mudflaps weren't the only ones to go in a similar fashion.

I initially had "Land Rover" embossed ones on it and they lasted maybe 3-4 years before becoming hard and cracking.

Had similar results with other stuff like the door lock covers too, NOS, in Land Rover packaging etc, but they might have been on a shelf for goodness knows how long. The one packaged on the bottom is still ok, but the one packaged on top was as brittle as a potato chip and crumbled upon touch.

I do try to buy genuine where practical, but after a few failures, I'm left to wonder if the NOS gear is perishing through age??

[juddy]

I think this is becoming a big problem. Some of my nos orders have looked very tired. High prices yet in a poor sate after being sat on a shelf for 50 years.

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I think this is becoming a big problem. Some of my nos orders have looked very tired. High prices yet in a poor sate after being sat on a shelf for 50 years.

Yep, I agree. We can only assume an item is still in reasonable nick even if it is NOS.

I went for a snoop and found an old sale you had here for rear mudflaps and I cringed when I saw the plastic wrapper, for it did jog my memory and I'm now fairly sure both sets of mudflaps I had were genuine. The little stickers jogged my memory.

"Perishables", is perhaps the proper word for these types of items.

I never blamed the sellers for what happened, as I did have them on the vehicle for a little while before they carked it, and the same with the door lock covers. I just accepted that these items, being rubbers and plastics, probably are a bit past their shelf life in some cases.

I paid top dollar for the mudflaps, so was expecting them to last a while. Then it happened agaon, same deal, but I opted for non logo the second time. They perished even faster.

Oh well, let's see how the conveyor belt material holds up.

[juddy]

Now don't confuse my genuine series mudflaps with 50 year old nos stuff, they are genuine and manufactured in the uk recently.  And I would be very surprised if they did fall to bits after a few months, In fact I have never heard of new land rover mudflaps failing so soon, yours cant have been genuine.

The other thing to remember with NOS items are in the good old days things were manufactured from better materials, Land Rover these days are very poor at at this, I had a 1996 130, the rubber seat moulding was like new after 15 years, my 2010 Defender was worn on the corners after one year, due to a light material being used.

I have some of the Yellow logo mudflaps, and these are from the 80s, the material is the same as the new OEM ones....

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I'm puzzled by your last comment as it's highly contradictory.

The ones I bought were genuine.

[Diana Alan]

The rebuilt heater matrix.

Pulled it completely apart and mounted the core on a foam surround. Blanked off any little airleaks at the same time.

....

Ross

Do you think there would be room for an air-cond evaporator after the heater element?

....
**Note, the NASCAR dual intake brake duct was only used during the mockup stage. A single intake NASCAR brake duct was installed before the front panel was reinstalled.

Ross

Just out of interest what are the NASCAR brake ducts used for on the SIII?

Diana

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Hi Diana,

There isn't a whole lot of room left inside the SIII heater martrix for the fitment of an evaporator, and if there was, it would be too small to be worthwhile I think.

I'd look at getting ahold of a Defender heater/aircon unit and just adapting that to suit.

From images I've seen online of the Defender unit, it wouldn't take much to make it work on an SIII.

The Nascar brake duct serves as an air intake, positioned behind the grille, and coupled directly to the front of the air cleaner assembly, then a duct carries the air from the air cleaner assembly, up and over to the carburetter.

Call it a "cold air intake", or an "air ram", or whatever, but it serves to force feed cold fresh air into the engine.

[Diana Alan]

Hi Ross

Before you attempt to fit a Defender under dash unit, I suggest you sit in the passenger's seat of a Defender with one fitted.  Like the Disco 1 the Defender unit is an after thought and only ideal for people who have no feet.  Aparently the puma Defender integrated type is quite effective.

My thoughts were to lift the heater core up, insert an a/c core and modify the shape of the air duct on the top so it fits under the bonnet and has a second duct to draw inside air with a flapper valve between the outside air and the recycled air.

If that's not an option I may go Plan B and have a RRc/Mk IV underdash unit fitted under the drivers seat and ducted to the Defender dash vents.  Not an option on your SIII with the fuel tank.

Diana 

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Oh, I'm not looking for aircon for my vehicle Diana, for if I were, I'd have tackled that during the last rebuild.

All the heat proofing I did seems to have worked fairly well in my favour and even on the hottest days I find it's fairly pleasant in there.

I'm also a bit pressed for room in the engine bay where I'd need to mount a compressor, and a supercharger would be fitted long before a compressor ever got the nod. 

If I ever did wish to add aircon, I'd probably go for an old roof mounted unit, similar to what they used to fit to trucks many years ago. Still I'd have that compressor issue though.