Series III dash and vents

[B. Wallace]

Does anyone see anything odd about this dash? No one has been able to give me a good answer so far, but it seems as if the vents are completely covered, except for the 2 holes on the driver's side. Where is the air supposed to come through with the vents open? The black panel that the levers are attached to looks perfectly stock, i was thinking about removing it for the warm weather, but didn't know if I could or not. Any suggestions or pictures of others?
Thanks,
Ben

[Moose]

Is yours a '72? I have seen three other trucks with the vents blocked similar to yours and they were all 1972's. Don't know if they were all like this from that year but the ones I have seen were. Mine is a '74 and the vents have cut outs.

No reason you couldn't open your up.

Brett

[yorker]

That is normal. when you open the vents the air comes up through the defrosting vents IIRC. it doens't blow directly on you like in a IIa. Some people cut holes in the black panel so they can get more direct fresh air. I know I saw that modification on Ben Smith's SIII.

[Bostonian1976]

whew

whoever designed that wasn't in design school very long, were they?

[B. Wallace]

Yeah, mine is a '72. Like I said previously, it seems original, but so do the ones I have seen with the cutouts. It doesn't seem too difficult to do, but I've seen so many that do have the square holes, it seems a little odd that that many people would also cut theirs out.
As far as coming through the ducts, it would appear that way, but not really the case with mine. I live in Alabama, and we've already had 1 warm week, and this thing is like an oven. The air coming through the defrost ducts isn't really sufficient enough. So I'll probably end up cutting the holes.
Are there any other SIII owners on here who have a similar setup?

Ben

[bamarover]

Insulation

One thing we did was to insulate the roof. Take the headliner out, take the old straw material out. Replace with foil-backed material (our was about 1/4" thick from home depot) using some headliner glue. I do not know how it is in your III, but with the vents open and the door side windows open even rear side windows help, it is quite breezy. Might be worth retrofiting IIA set up. We are about 6-8 degrees warmer being on the coast than you are. One final thing to consider is the bulkhead and floor. Much heat comes from the engine bay through bulkhead and transmission tunnel. Take your bulkhead upholstery down and install foil backed insulation. We had a local seamstress sew a new piece of vinyl with a soft windshield aluminum board for the dash of a car cut to fit for the backing. Rovers North has a really nice tunnel cover that we recently purchased - cuts down on the noise and insulates, also. We ultimately used Dynamat under our upholstery on the bulkhead to reduce noise, but we had refurbished it recently and knew it would not give us trouble for awhile.
Here is a link to our headliner solution about halfway down the thread: http://www.landroversonly.com/forums...hlight=lasalle

Good luck
Greg

[siiirhd88]

re: Series III dash and vents

My RHD '75 SIII has large openings in the steel panel that lets some air through. My RHD '80 SIII has the same large openings, and has a small opening just above the instrument panel that lets air blow directly through when the vents are open. The opening was made by forming an indented area in the dashtop foam pad. Apparently Rover knew then lack of air to be a problem on the early SIII trucks.

Bob

[LH Drive]

I also have a 1972 Series III with the same set up. Not sure if original but mine came with an old school metal fan like the ones school buses have. It blows alot of air but watch out for chopped fingers. I took the side caps off to blow any trash that was inside the dash. The dash has its own vents aimed toward the driver to allow the outside air in the cab, the small narrow defrost vents are aimed toward the window.


What do the metal badges in front of the shifter read? Mine are missing and I would like to find some on e-bay.

[B. Wallace]

What do the metal badges in front of the shifter read? Mine are missing and I would like to find some on e-bay.[/quote]

The one in the upper left shows transfer case pattern and towing stipulations, and the upper right is the chassis number. Lower right warns of "reduced tyre life" from driving in 4 wheel drive on pavement.

[LH Drive]

Thanks,,,, I have one of the three so I only have to search for two. The VIN plate was relocated to the door jam.

No,,,I just checked. That plate on the door jam is different so I guess its lost.

[yorker]

The no vents thing was a feature on all 1972's, at least those sold in the USA, I'm not sure when it changed. The one I had was the same way as were all others I've seen, any 1972's I've seen WITH vents had them altered by the PO.

[Moose]

Yours is original. All the '72's appear to be that way. Some one at Land Rover must have given their head a shake because from '73 and on the panels all have cut outs including my '74.

While I wouldn't claim my interior is that much cooler on a hot summer day compaired to my buddies '72 with out the cut outs, there is a noticeable difference. Take that big round black thing off the bonnet and the airflow is even better

If you can make a neat job of it, cut 'em out.

Brett

Yeah, mine is a '72. Like I said previously, it seems original, but so do the ones I have seen with the cutouts. It doesn't seem too difficult to do, but I've seen so many that do have the square holes, it seems a little odd that that many people would also cut theirs out.

Ben

[Leslie]

A)
Guys, watch using the term *all*.

My LHD '72 SIII 88", a US-market one, has the "normal" dash panel that lets you see the vents, one hole between the steering and the center accessory panel, and two on the passenger side.


B)
Since RN doesn't carry them, I don't feel so bad pointing you to BP:

http://www.landroverparts.us/seriesLandRover/s_cat_pages/bp_series_cat76.pdf

FWIW....

[B. Wallace]

Leslie,
If possible, post a pic of yours so that I can cut the holes in the correct spot.
Thanks,
Ben

[J!m]

Not to throw a wrench in the works here, but if your truck has this limited-production run feature (which apparently did not run the full model year- this is why the VIN suffix is so important), wouldn't you want to preserve it?

What I'm saying is: get the later part which has the holes already. Once they are cut in the irreplaceable part, you can't fix them. Who knows, in another 20 years you may want to do a correct restoration on the truck, and won't be able to get that rare part...

Just a thought.

PS you have to tear the dash apart anyway to keep the chips out from drilling/cutting, so you might as well just change the part out...