Series 3 Tranny Question

[toga Rover]

It has been @5 years since I lurked on the RN forum. It is good to be back. With my RR Classic now in the hands of my friend, I have gone old school and bought a 74 Series 3 88', and a '67 military IIa 109 pickup. I bought them as-is, package deal, for $2000. As winter approaches and I settle in for my winter projects, I will be reaching out to all of you for insight and advice as I get these trucks road-worthy again.

I am tacking the Series III truck first as that has fewer "needs" to get her running again.

#1. The first item that has me concerned is that the tranny will not go into Reverse, 1st or 2nd. Has anyone experienced this on their truck? I know this is kind of a blind question, but do you all think this is a "shot synchro's" issue, or something worse? If synchro's, how big of a surgery is it to fix? I tried doing a search on the forum but came up with no results.

#2. The 109 has the motor and tranny already out of the truck in unknown condition. I have to opportunity to buy a running, driving series III 88 with a shot frame for @$1200. Should I buy that and swap the motor/tranny into the IIa?

Thanks in advance for your replies, and stay tuned for more questions.

Dave
Upstate NY

[graniterover]

It takes like 20 minutes to take the tunnel and top of the trans off. I'd do that and see what you can find wrong from there.

If someone took the engine and trans out of the truck, they must have had a reason. For 1200 to get a known good engine and trans and then have the rest of the spare parts, I'd buy it. But strip it, get rid of what you don't think you'll use, and toss the frame. I picked up a few parts trucks over the years and they still sit after I've used parts I need.

The clutch slave and mechanism is different on the SIII, so if you do the swap, you may have more than just a bolt in bit of work. You could take the pieces you need off the engine and trans that are out of the truck and swap them before you put the SIII stuff in though.

And give us some pics!

Mark

[LaneRover]

I agree with taking the transmission tunnel off of the SIII to take a look. Maybe something is jammed right at the top and solving it is easy. But no matter what you'll need to get that tunnel off.

If the transmission tunnel hasn't been off in years it might take a bit more than 20 minutes to get it off this time! I used to bitch about snapped bolts until I realized that the ones that snap make taking things apart go a bit more quickly.

Brent

[toga Rover]

http://www.britishbarnfinds.com/Rovers.htmlCan't upload photos for some reason, but here is a link to some of the photos of my 3 "new" trucks.

http://www.britishbarnfinds.com/Rovers.html


After grinding a few rusty bolts off, I got to the tranny. With some PB Blaster and some gentle persuasion with a lead hammer, I got the fork that controls 1st and 2nd to slide. The little trap door for the reverse gear was crudded up, so I PB'ed that as well. Now everything works, and shifts properly.

While coming home with the 109, I was able to borrow an open 2car trailer. The Good Motor / Shot Frame SIII 88 (blue w/ red rims) will serve as a parts truck for the other two.

Has anyone used a Defender 90 heater in their Series truck? I heard that it is a worthy upgrade. I figure while the motor is out of the 109, I could do this upgrade (if its worth it).

And so starts the journey.........

thanks for the replies.

[NepentheSea]

That 109 is sssweeeeet! I love two door 109's with canvas tops! That may be my favorite rovah of all.
Congrats on your three piles!

[czenkov]

Very nice collection you have going there. I am envious - Rovers seem to be like weeds back there - out here they are few and far between. Good luck!

[LaneRover]

Looks like you're off to a good start!

Glad to hear that you were able to free up the trannie shifters so easily.

Brent

[Les Parker]

Really nice 109 Ex-MOD. !!
Keep us all posted as to the progress.
Sharp Mini there too !!

[toga Rover]

So the Red SIII is Alive!!. :thumb-up: She took her first test drive last week. (see videos at the bottom of the link). Next in line is a replacement exhaust system. Wow is it loud!! Odd too is that there is no needle in the speedo gauge ?!?!

http://www.britishbarnfinds.com/Rovers.html#grid

The blue SIII is now in the barn in preparation for its teardown. I am going to start a different post for that surgery.

Les - the Mini is a '74 Innocenti Mini. I bought it from an ex_Navy guy who shipped it back to the States from Sicily when he got out of the service. All the gauges are in Italian and the speedo is in Kilometers. Fun doing the math in my head as a cop is going by to figure out if I'm speeding...:nono:

Thanks to all for the replies and support.

Dave