1980 Land Rover Lightweight Series III Build
- Thread starter telwyn
- Start date
J!m
Active member
Slow and steady wins!
I actually wasn’t supposed to bring my truck to Africa. I was originally riding with someone else. Well, that didn’t work out and all of a sudden I needed my truck on deck!
It needed the top end done (exhaust valves looked like daisies) so I ended up doing a full rebuild one weekend. Then started kitting it out with weeks to go before shipment.
It was literally pushed into the garage and then drove itself out, off to the welder to have the rack, rear ladder and front bumper made.
There is no way I could pull that off now. I was determined to go to Africa, no matter what it took. Absolutely no regrets.
I actually wasn’t supposed to bring my truck to Africa. I was originally riding with someone else. Well, that didn’t work out and all of a sudden I needed my truck on deck!
It needed the top end done (exhaust valves looked like daisies) so I ended up doing a full rebuild one weekend. Then started kitting it out with weeks to go before shipment.
It was literally pushed into the garage and then drove itself out, off to the welder to have the rack, rear ladder and front bumper made.
There is no way I could pull that off now. I was determined to go to Africa, no matter what it took. Absolutely no regrets.
getlost4x4
Expedition Leader
Looking good. My business partner and I almost bought a ex- Netherlands army truck like this except it was Left hand drive. We found it over in Wales. Cool trucks for sure.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
telwyn
Adventurer
A few more photo updates on my build... the external fuel filler for the front two tanks is now in and the hoses for the fuel are also going in. The front two custom fuel tanks are tied together with a gravity feed and the fuel sender will measure the combined tanks. There is a switch to toggle the fuel source from the front tanks to the rear tank. The rear tank will also have it’s own fuel filler and sender.
telwyn
Adventurer
The air conditioner is getting fitted now too. We removed the Land Rover Lightweight tool box under the bonnet and also cut into the passenger side footwell to fit it. We’ll put a box around the engine side of the air conditioner to insulate it from the engine heat and also a box on the footwell side to dress it up a bit. I sat on the seat with the air conditioner hanging into the footwell and surprisingly didn’t get in the way of my feet at all. With the 300tDI under the hood now there’s not a lot of room to put this air conditioner anywhere else...
telwyn
Adventurer
The build continues... we built a custom box to mimic the Smith’s heater box. This will house the alpine head unit (and allows me to keep the original instrument panels which will be restored), the rocker switches on top for accessories, and the ducts will still connect to the defrost vents which will have ball style vents installed on the back of them so you can toggle between cold air or heat blowing at your face or you can close them to defrost the windscreen.
And the air conditioner box is in the engine bay now too. Built a heat shield around it for the engine heat. It does come into the passenger compartment, however, it miraculously doesn’t impact the leg room at all.
Added a battery cutoff switch too for the dual battery setup.
And the air conditioner box is in the engine bay now too. Built a heat shield around it for the engine heat. It does come into the passenger compartment, however, it miraculously doesn’t impact the leg room at all.
Added a battery cutoff switch too for the dual battery setup.
