Q I'm the proud owner of an SWB Series III fitted with a 3.5-litre EFi V8 from a Range Rover. The gearbox and running gear are all standard Series III and the whole lot sits on 750s.
The acceleration is fantastic but it's all over at about 55mph. Off-road, the low range gearing is just right, so I'm not keen on changing the diffs. What's the best gearing set up for high ratio so that I can cruise at today's motorway speeds, and who supplies them?
The other problem is the clutch, which is just starting to slip. Do you know if anybody manufactures a competition spec or heavy duty clutch that will fit the Series III box? The clutch from a Stage One must be strong enough to handle the power from the V8, but will it fit my gearbox? I've just read the November issue of LRW and noticed that your 80 uses a Series III clutch. Have you had any problems with it?
Many thanks for your help. Keep up the excellent work - LRW is a great magazine.
Chris Greaves
Reading
A On our 80 we geared up just the high range with a set of taller transfer box gears. It's not just a simple gear change, though, as the conversion also calls for the pin that supports the intermediate gear to be moved in the case. Not that you need worry too much about that, as an exchange case comes as part of the kit. The one that we run works as well now as it did three years ago when we put it in. On the road it makes for much more relaxed cruising and more mpg.
Unfortunately you can't fit the Stage One clutch - which is exactly the same as the one found in the four speed Range Rover - to your S3, as it won't fit inside the gearbox bell housing. The clutch we use is a genuine parts S3 jobby which has never shown any sign at all of wanting to slip. It is possible that yours is one of the cheaper pattern parts, or that it may be contaminated with engine oil, leaking from a worn rear seal, or gearbox oil, from a leaky input seal.
Q I am in the process of rebuilding the mechanicals of my 1973 SWB Series III. I have also purchased a second box (£5). This originated from an X-registered Series III. My questions are:
a) Would the box have different gearing?
b) Would it have the 'all-helical' transfer box?
c) And, if so, are these any better (strength and sound-wise) than the helical and spur type?
As far as I am aware, the LWB was a standard 2 1/4.
Marko Cosic,
Milford Haven
A Assuming that both vehicles had the same gearboxes that they left the factory with, the gearing will be identical. The all-helical transfer box was only fitted to the One Tonne models, and the easiest way to identify this type of box from the more plentiful Standard type is by looking at the plate that covers the PTO hole in the rear of the box. On the Standard type, the plate is dished in, while on the One Tonne type it's domed out. If you've managed to find a One Tonne version, unless the vehicle you're restoring is destined to spend its entire life off-road, I suggest you sell it and either buy a normal S3 type or rebuild the one you've got in yours. With its lower gearing, not only in low but also in high, the all-helical transfer box is not a nice thing to run on the road. To give an idea as to just how low the box is geared, the Standard has reduction ratios of 1.148-1 in high and 2.35-1 in low, while the One Tonne's are 1.53-1 and 3.27-1.
Q I have a 1984 Land Rover 110. I have recently replaced the 3.5 V8 with a 3.9 from a Range Rover, and would like to know if I can fit a Range Rover four speed auto gearbox? At present it has a four speed manual.
Tim Lane
Barnet
A There's no reason why you can't fit the later four speed auto, but you'll obviously need a transfer box to go on the back of it. Here you have a choice. You can use any of the LT230 range, which gives you a choice of 1.6-1, 1.4-1, 1.2-1 or 1.003-1 ratios. Ideally you should be looking for a 1.2-1, which is standard in V8 Range Rovers, Discoverys and Defenders. Alternatively you could opt to go more upmarket and use the viscous transfer box. Either way you can make it fit but (and this is relevant no matter which option you go with) do try and get as many ancillaries with the box as possible. Things like an oil cooler, shift mechanism and even the shift cable may only appear to be trinkets when, compared to the main box in terms of cost, they represent a fairly major investment. Especially if you're forced to buy them new.
Possible aggravation areas set to test your fabrication skills are the transmission tunnel and the construction of a kick down linkage for the auto box.
Q A few months ago I bought a 1962 SWB 88 inch Safari estate SIIA. The previous owner had fitted a Perkins 4203 diesel to replace the 2 1/4 petrol engine. He also fitted RR 3.54 differentials. The radiator came from an LR six-cylinder 2.6 with a Kenlow fan to cool the plot. He had replaced the broken mph speedo with a kph one.
So far I am very pleased with this, my very first Land Rover, and I've covered about 1,000 miles in it.
I am not sure about the miles as the RR diffs distort the k/mph readings. According to my son's '69 Triumph speedo, I am doing 40 mph, while my speedo shows 45 kph. If this is correct, could I fit 75/16 tyres to replace the standard 65/16 ones to increase the speed by about 10% at the same revs? If my calculations are correct, my kph speedo should then read about 2% optimistic to my true mph speed. If you are still with me, do you agree?
Now to my second, hopefully less confusing, question.
Is it alright to fit an overdrive to the standard IIA gearbox to increase my top speed by about 20%? If yes, will a second hand item do? How do I know that it is not clapped out? On the other hand, would a high range transfer box by Ashcroft be more suitable? I believe that this would increase the top speed by some 30%. I do not really want to travel much faster, but I would like to improve my mpg due to the lower revs. I am quite sure the motor is man enough.
Ted Riedler
Southampton
A If I were you, rather than worry about how far out my speedo was going to read, I'd finish off playing with the gearing first and then go and check it. As long as it comes up within around 5% accuracy, I'd put an mph sticker on it and then leave it alone. Of course, if you want the job done properly, or your old kph speedo is just too far out, you'll be needing a re-calibrated one.
There are no problems at all in fitting an overdrive to your S2 box. If you're after a s/h one, don't buy anything that you can't either try in a vehicle or doesn't come with a money-back guarantee. Should you be tempted to buy one off somebody's garage floor, do at least check that it's all there. Not only do you want the large lump that is the overdrive, you also want the gear lever and the gear that fits into the top of the transfer box. If my memory serves me correctly, overdrive bumps the gearing up by around 27%, and the Ashcroft by around 30%. In the past I've used both and both work just fine.
Q As a subscriber to LRW and someone who is relatively new to the Land Rover scene, I would be grateful for some help.
I have a 1974 M-reg SWB Series III, I would like to know if the wheelarch extensions from a 90 or 110 would fit my SWB?
Also I have recently purchased a Fairley overdrive, and according to my fitting instructions I need a special spanner No.600300 to remover the gearbox cogs. As the unit is secondhand, I wrote to Superwinch, who tell me it is no longer available. Do you know what other tool I could use?
The Land Rover has an electronic ignition (Efi 200) fitted with a three-way switch - up for standard, middle for off and down for electronic. The unit does work, or at least it lights up. What is the advantage of this and what is the difference between standard and electronic?
Ian Doherty
Argyll
A. Given time the arches from the Defender range can be made to fit the earlier SII & III but that doesn't mean it'll look right. The reason they were fitted to the 90s and 110s was that although the bodies were the same width as the leaf-sprung models they replaced the axles were a good deal wider. The arches were needed to cover the tyres which would otherwise have hung outside the body work. Now unless you're about to fit Range Rover or Defender axles to your SIII, or you're about to bolt on a set of seriously wide wheels and tyres, your standard wheels and tyres will look lost. Should you be planning to go to larger wheels and tyres then it's worth pointing out that they'll need to be very large if they're to fill the arches. The widest tyre Land Rover ever fitted to the SIII was a 9.00x16 and they managed to get that under the standard bodywork. Go any bigger than that and with the SIII's standard steering you'll find low speed manoeuvring a very unpleasant experience.
Hopefully by now I've talked you out of what I regard as one of the most tasteless Series body mods possible, but just in case you're determined to go ahead there are a few fitting tips to be made aware of. Firstly if you were to take a wheel arches off a 90 or 110 and then compare the wings with those on your SIII you'll find the lip that the arch clips to is a completely different shape to the lip on your Land Rover wings. In order to make the arches fit you'll need to cut a large lump of your original wing away. Having done that your wing will no longer have a folded lip around it and while the arch now fits there's nothing to attach it to. The way round this particular problem is to cut up some 2mm aluminium sheet into 40x20mm rectangles. You'll want one for every fixing hole on the arch and they need folding in half, turning them into 20x20mm angle. These can then be drilled and riveted to your wings before being drilled for a second time and the arches riveted to them.
The spanner 600300 you refer to is used to remove the castelated nut that holds the top transfer box gear to the main shaft. Most independent Land Rover garages will have one of these and while it's very unlikely they'll want to sell it they'll probably be more than happy to hire it out. Failing that you could do what I did and make one all of your very own from a length of tube.
Not having seen your electronic ignition module I can only guess that with the switch in the electronic position it uses the points to tell the black box when to fire the coil. The advantage this sort of ignition has over standard is that as the points switch much less current than they would if they were firing the coil directly they tend to last a lot longer.
Q. My 1984 2.5 petrol 110 runs very well and has been reliable for years. However, on long motorway runs it tends to be overtaken, even by ruddy milkfloats! 55-65mph is about the best without me starting to think about self-destructing. The engine etc isn't too tired, I think its the gearing. Without resorting to bigger engines, axles etc would it be right to assume that a higher ratio transfer box would give me more top speed?
I don't want a Ferrari but coming back from Hampshire on the A32 the other day I encountered one of those JCB FASTRAC tractors and believe me it was embarrassing - on level ground too!
As a pensioner I need a non-crippling solution. I do most of my own maintenance, is this feasible? Any advice is appreciated.
Nick Carter
Kingston
A By rights your transfer box should be a 1.6-1 ratio which was the lowest geared box ever fitted to a Defender. You can confirm that this is what you've got by rolling underneath your 110 and having a look at the sticker on the back of the transfer box. Assuming it is, replace it with a 1.4-1 version. Fortunately, as these were used behind both turbo-diesel and Tdi engines they are the most readily available Defender transfer box. The good news continues in that it possible to swap them without having to drop the gearbox out of the vehicle. Typically you can expect to pay £300-350 for a good 1.4 box and you can expect to get around half that for the one you're about to pull out.
Q. I own a 1990 Discovery Tdi with 125,000 miles on the clock (bit of a shed) which I love dearly. The thing that has annoyed me since I bought it two years ago, at about 90,000 miles, is a loud bang from the transmission if I drop the clutch a bit quick or bring in the power too fast on a bend.
There appears to be a lot if play in the front diff, and the problem is less obvious with the centre diff lock engaged (except when going down steep rocky slopes , which is horrendous). So I suspect that the diff could be the problem and am thinking of changing it, before it goes bang for the last time.
My question is , if I go for a reconditioned or secondhand diff does it have to be sourced from another Discovery or can I use one out of a Range Rover, Defender or Series motor? These seem more readily available.
A. If your looking to replace the front diff on your Discovery with a secondhand unit then there's no reason why you cannot use one from a Defender or Range Rover. Having said that , before you start pulling your front axle to pieces I'd make absolutely sure that the front diff was the cause of the problem - which it very probably isn't. Two much more likely candidates are the rear A-frame ball joint and the gearbox main shaft. Checking the ball joint is easy in that all you need to do is lever it about with a pry bar and see if there's any play in it.
Checking the main shaft is a bit more involved in that to do it properly you need to drop off the round inspection/cover plate from the back of the transfer box. Once you've got it off get in there with your torch and look for wear in the splined mainshaft and the top gear in the transfer box that it slides into. Bearing in mind the vehicle's mileage this is the most likely source of the racket but it's well worth checking the propshaft joints while you're under there.
Sadly if the problem turns out to be the mainshaft then brace yourself for a large bill. Both gearbox and transfer will need rebuilding and they have to come out of the vehicle for that. If you can't do the job yourself this could easily cost you a grand to put right.
Q. I have a 1988 Range Rover.
1. Is there any truth in the lore that the low compression engine (8.13:1) has hardened valve seats and is suitable to run on unleaded?
2. My engine number is 25D12102B. Can you identify the breed and advise on relevant details such as compression ratios? If not, who should I get in touch with?
3. I have been considering the LPG conversion LRW has been running. It is economically viable. But a friend who reads classic car mags pointed out that LPG requires unleaded heads. Any comment?
4. Regarding ignition, the timing given in the Solihull manual is TDC+/- 1 degree, I think. As the ECU does most of the timing sums I guess altering the dynamic timing would not be a good idea. What do you say?
5. I'm an electrical and electronic engineer and have no difficulty getting parts and test equipment to fettle the ECU. There are only one or two non-commercial components in the box. What generally fails in this sort of thing is the power transistors that open the injector's solenoids. It's not often that integrated circuits fail of their own accord. If they do it's usually down to something external like a failed stabilised power supply not suppressing spikes. If it fails I am loath to fork out £300+ for the sake of a 10 bob power transistor. Is there any chance of getting hold of a set of circuits for the ECU, if so, from where?
Brian Latus
Preston
A. As all Rover V8 engines have alloy heads they all have hardened valve seats as standard. Having retarded the ignition I've run every V8 I've owned on unleaded.
Your engine number identifies it as being a fuel-injected 3.5 with a compression ratio of 9.35-1. When it left the factory it would have done so bolted to an automatic gearbox.
Ideally if you're to convert from four star to LPG your engine should be fitted with hardened valve seats just as it would if you were switching to unleaded. As your V8 already has them you don't need to bother with that bit. Also when using LPG there's no need to retard the ignition. However, it's well worth pointing out that the fuel injection ECU makes no decisions that effect ignition timing. The electronic ignition module is a 'stand alone' unit which, as such, can be retro-fitted to earlier carburetted engines.
Finally if it's an ECU circuit diagram you're after then you're on your own. There isn't one in the workshop manual and while Lucas, the firm that built the ECU, obviously have a few about the place I don't see them sharing them with you.
Q. I own a 1971-2 Series IIA, 2.25-litre petrol, SWB which has seen several stages of rebuild since 1989. It has been used extensively but has not done much off-roading.
All the major components have been replaced, including the chassis. All oil and engine filters etc have been well maintained. Apart from the usual 'Landie' problems, three things defy solution.
1. Engine run-on. This occurs at random, when turning off the ignition , and is, at times, violent and prolonged. The engine has done c.49,000 miles, having been replaced about five years ago as a fully re-conditioned unit. I have replaced the carburettor and distributor, all the ignition leads and petrol lift pump, fuel tank and hoses. The radiator sprang a leak so I replaced that and the hoses too. A pressure test revealed no 'visible' problem but the coolant has to be topped up regularly. The heater radiator has also been reconditioned. The temperature gauge sits at N, going halfway up to RED in hot weather or on the motorway. It starts OK from cold, there is no loss of engine power and it does not feel 'lumpy'.
It's been suggested that the next stage is to remove the cylinder head for visual inspection, but I'm resisting this. There is the usual spitting of small drops of water from the exhaust, which disappear when it warms up. There is hardly any smoke from the exhaust in normal conditions and oil consumption seems normal for the age/mileage.
Is it possible that changes in lead content in four star have contributed to the problem? Is it worth converting to unleaded?
2. The gearbox leaks oil from the around the front end of the transfer box housing, but possibly from higher up. The gearbox was a recon fitted 51,000 miles ago in 1991. It has a noisy layshaft and stiff first gear.
The original IIA crash first and second was replaced by a synchro type II. What seemed like a slight, normal, leak has developed into both main and transfer housings needing to be topped up regularly. Oil appears under the transfer box housing even when the vehicle has been standing for some time. I have minimised additional load and vibration by replacing the front and rear differentials, prop shaft etc. The vehicle has not done any serious towing and does carry heavy loads. Clutch assembly and thrust housing were also replaced. It has been suggested that the problem is a leaky gasket or oil seal, but I do not want to spend time and money on those unnecessarily.
3. The last problem is a front hub oil leak, resulting in slight pulling on one side during breaking. The hubs are the Fairey free-wheeling type. They were stripped and rebuilt three years ago, new chrome balls, gasket assemblies, oil seals etc were fitted. The oil seal fits and the hub is not scored. The wheel bearings are OK; it's not overfilled with oil. Both differentials were fitted with high level breather pipes when a similar leak appeared at a rear hub.
I usually run in freewheeel mode, regularly engaging the hubs to give the front transmission some exercise, I'm told this helps lubricate the front bearings. It has been suggested that the mix of old and new components could be throwing tolerances out in the wrong direction. I doubt this.
I would appreciate your opinion on these basic problems as my wife and I find the Land Rover fun to ride about in.
Keith Ealey
London
A. There's nothing unusual about 21/4s that run on. Most owners put up with it and either let the hot engine rattle itself to a stand still or slap the gearbox into first and stall it. Alternatively it's possible, and a lot more engine and transmission friendly, to drill and tap the inlet manifold and fit an anti-run-on valve. These electrically operated solenoids take their feed from the ignition and while the engine is running, remain closed. When the ignition's turned off power is cut to the solenoid which then opens allowing fresh air into the inlet. As this incoming air hasn't been through the carb it contains no fuel and as the engine can't run on just fresh air it stops straight away.
Of course, if you want to come up with a cure rather than just treating the symptoms then you'll probably find yourself with the head off. That being the case then without question now's the time to invest in an unleaded replacement.
From your description it seems that the most likely cause of your transfer box leak is the front output oil seal. The only reliable way to confirm that this is the case is to have the box steam cleaned and then, following a drive to warm the oil, look for the leak. Replacing this seal is a cheap and easy fix. Despite the fact you need to keep topping up the main box as well it's very possible that it doesn't actually have a leak to the outside world. Instead it's dumping its oil into the transfer box. If that's the case the only cure is to replace the mainshaft seal at the back of the main box. Most people don't bother.
Hub oil seals that leak do so for one of a very few reasons. It's either worn, poorly fitted, damaged or the wrong one. If it's none of those the ring that it runs on can be either worn or damaged. Other causes can be slack wheel bearings, which allow the hub to float about in the seal, or a blocked axle breather. Basically there's no reason at all why it cannot be fixed.
One final point regarding free wheeling hubs is that engaging them makes absolutely no difference to the amount of lubrication that the wheel bearings. |
