1976 Land Rover Series III 109 build "Montoya"

LR Max

Local Oaf
Question: Where did you get the switches and lamps from? I was originally going to put new fancy rocker switches in my 109, but these look correct.
 

Factoid

Three criminal heroes
Hey LR Max,

I bought the switches on eBay. They came with the various labels. I searched for Lucas switches and found a bunch. The lights are from Summit Racing.

The wife had book club tonight, so I knew I had to get to my garage bunker by 6:30 if I was going to be safe from a hoard of cackling hens reviewing Hillbilly Elegy. I left work at 6:00 and to my horror...hit traffic! My plan to shoot through the Whattaburger drive thru for a double burger meal was now in peril. One of the beautiful things about driving I-10 in San Antonio is how the frontage roads follow the highway. I jumped off at UTSA blvd, made the light and took the frontage road around 1604 and in a moment of clean living karma, made the light under the overpass. I won't admit to tipping the BOV on the turbo several times in my haste, but that's really the only way to make both lights. The light at La Cantera was all backed up, but a jog left and up over the overpass towards I-10 and I was perfectly aligned for the Camp Bullis exit and that greasy greatness. Into the drive thru and back out in about 10 minutes. Tried to wolf down the burger while driving, but a whattatburger double is no mere mortal. You have to go black snake on it and unhinge your jaw if you want to have a prayer of success. The problem with snake jaw is your eyeballs are now staring at the headliner. Not a good situation. Solution: tip your head down and maintain eye contact with the ballz sack on the trailer hitch of good buddies F150 meandering and barely staying in his lane. New problem: said burger now goes from a safe horizontal position to a condiment dumping vertical position and pukes double onion, lettuce, and spicy ketchup plus a healthy squirt of grease all over my new pants the missus bought me for Christmas. I was able to jam my right leg into the console catching the entire load with my leg and protecting the fine alcantara leather on my seat (a man's got to have his priorities straight) while maintaining appropriate throttle pressure.

I arrived home at 6:50 and there on the driveway was a package from Summit Racing containing the most powerful snap ring pliers known to mankind! Kissed the wifey, changed into proper Landy *** kicking pantaloons and got to the bunker with minutes to spare. As I was closing the door, I heard the doorbell ring. Listening intently, I cranked the volume up on the boom box until I heard nothing but Mick, Keith and the boys belting out Gimme Shelter.

Then I did this! Removed the giant snap ring from the turbo, rotated the housing 90 degrees, drilled and tapped two holes for the bov bracket, and bolted the manifold back on the engine. Only thing left is to evacuate the current smoker, trim the right motor frame mount and drop this puppy into place. As I was admiring my handiwork, the wife opened the door and said it was safe, they all left and then asked me what happened to my new pants. Well, there was a snake...

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Factoid

Three criminal heroes
Engine out!

This is where my OCD takes over and I work on every seal, gasket, and leak. Clean and paint, treat the internal frame members, and replace front suspension and steering. I can't help it. It's a sickness.

Seems this puppy had a color change. They did well. The entire interior is BG, as is every normal telltale spot where you can usually tell.

Tomorrow, assuming it ever stops raining here in San Antonio, I'll cut out the battery box/air cleaner mount, trim the right engine frame mount, and start cleaning up the tranny (did you see it? It's full of engine oil muck!). Then reseal and clean up the tranny, TC and front axel. A maniac's work is never done!

Anyone interested in a 2.25 diesel for free? 72k miles and you pick up or have it shipped.

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Factoid

Three criminal heroes
I never thought I would live to complain about rain in San Antonio, but I start today!

The good news is the engine is ready to install. The bad, every time I tried to work on the engine bay, it started raining. I tried to touch up some paint on the roof, rain. I tried to put oil in the missus mobile, rain. I tried to use the sawsall...well...the thought of catching me with major amperage on a wet driveway, it poured!

I did trim the lugs off the sides of the flywheel cover, ground them flush and touched them up with a file to remove devious little knife edges that would surely attempt to do me harm later when I forgot about them and was trying to install the engine. One side fouls the clutch slave cylinder, the other the front prop shaft. I also removed four studs that wouldn't line up, drilled and tapped a stud hole that would line up, and test fit the flywheel cover to the tranny. Fit like a glove!

Not bad for a Sunday. When the Cowgirls lose today, it will be perfect!

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Factoid

Three criminal heroes
I thought I would start stripping the front end down and cleaning the frame for paint and rust proofing, but I strained my back yesterday trying to stay in shape. Exercise, phewie!

I did narrow the Discovery radiator frame, mock it all up and weld in the lower frame mounts. That just doesn't seem like much for a whole day. Tomorrow I'll paint the radiator frame and if my back feels better, start taking the front end apart. Oh, I also figured out the intercooler mount and plumbing. The inlet/outlet are 2", but the stock I/C won't fit due to the steering relay on my lhd version. I almost bought a used discovery I/C until I realized I'd be welding and fabbing up mounts and plumbing ten feet of piping. No. I found an I/C that is a perfect fit and has 2" inlet/outlet on the same side (hard to find) and it was $100! It is 50% larger than stock, so I'll feel some lag, but that's not a big deal for my purposes. Couldn't get all my pictures to load, so I'm left with just this one:

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Factoid

Three criminal heroes
Seems Doug is the big winner on the engine lottery. Congratulations, Doug! You win a low mileage 2.25 diesel for the price of shipping. A few gaskets a little paint and you'll be good to go. Seems it is going to good use in his 1966 Series II down in sunny South Carolina! Glad I could help and give back to this great community.
 

blauvelt

Observer
Great looking build! whose parabolic spring and shock kit will you be using? seen lots of conflicting reviews. Rocky mountain springs seem to get a good review (generally). A friend who builds vintage race cars likes to have his spring leaves Teflon coated to ensure equality (in heat transfer) which is important for consistent handling.
 
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Factoid

Three criminal heroes
Thanks, Blau!

Rocky Mountain springs and OME shocks. It is the weekend! So, drunkfest with the wife tonight (tequila being the chosen spirit). I like tequila. Shots are okay, but we have a margarita recipe that kills. One cup tequila (give me the dirty brown stuff), 1/2 cup triple sec, 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice. Mix with ice, pour over ice and add a Grand Marnier floater. Makes three for me, two for the wife and lights out Matilda! Never a hangover due to the curing properties of tequila and citrus. Ahhhhh!

Anyway, tomorrow we grind! Start chassis prep, rebuild front dif, and add front disk brakes. Looking forward to it! Peace out and zen in.
 

Factoid

Three criminal heroes
Look ma, no oil! The left side had a leak and I expected it to have issues, but the right wasn't any better. I guess the Series II rule that if it isn't leaking, its dry also applies to the Series III.

I do have a question. How much lash is acceptable in the front diff? I can turn the yoke about 10-15 degrees before the gears engage and start to turn the axels. That seems like too much and if it is, where is the best place to source a new front differential? Okay, that's two questions, but they are related.

Tomorrow the springs and front axel come out so I can start cleaning everything up. Oh, joy!

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Factoid

Three criminal heroes
Camber, no such thing as too much!

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Actually, I live on top of a hill on a culdesac with one other house. Plus, I'm down a hill from the road, so no one can really see down my driveway easily. However, there are some Mrs. Kravitz types who love to get into other people's business and next thing you know I've been snowdened to the homeowners hysterical society. Ain't nobody got time for that! So, a little wheel subterfuge is in order.

Anyway, got the rest of the front stripped down to the bones. Inspected the diff and it is in great shape! What I thought was excess lash was actually in the transfer case (I'm currently in denial as to what that could mean). Everything was going well until a friend of mine came by who is a brilliant geologist, but had a little problem erecting his derrick in unauthorized work sites. Unauthorized by his wife that is and is now trying to restore his career and regain matrimonial harmony. That set me back.

You can see the radiator mounts I welded in for the shortened radiator. Final point, I picked up a battery powered impact gun at Lowes. Man, it made short work of 40 year old hardware after soaking it in PB Blaster. I did have to use the cut off wheel on a front spring bolt and one spring u-bolt, but that's not bad at all!

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Oh, Doug's engine is all packed up for pick up tomorrow. Here you can see the old packed up and the new ready to go!

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Factoid

Three criminal heroes
Cold and rainy here today in Tejas. Well, 60 degrees, my how the blood thins when you move away from the real cold. Turned on the garage heater and stayed inside.

I loosely attached the extended oil cooler lines and fuel lift pump to filter to injector pump lines. Anything to make the job easier once the engine goes in.

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I've figured out all of the connections, except this simple one. Where does the other end of this breather go? Air box? Intake? Probably a dumb question...

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StreetsofCompton

Adventurer
"Everything was going well until a friend of mine came by who is a brilliant geologist, but had a little problem erecting his derrick in unauthorized work sites. Unauthorized by his wife that is and is now trying to restore his career and regain matrimonial harmony. That set me back."

Im dying over here. hahaha
 

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