Going to look at a 101

[heyitsmike]

I've been in the market for a stage one v8 for a while now... In my searching, a fc101 has kind of dropped into my lap this morning. I'm going to go look at it tomorrow. I know a little about them, but is there anything vehicle specific I should be looking for? What are the trouble areas?
Thanks,
-Mike

[greenmeanie]

Off the top of my head:
1. Drive train
Front axle chrome. The Swivels are integral to the axle case so their condition becomes critical.
Front axle swivel pins. Rare as hens teeth so make sure there is no play indicating wear.
Prop shafts run at high angles so the UJs live a short life.
Tyres. 9.00X16 ain't cheap to replace. Pick up any extra wheels available as the 6 studs are not compatible with any other LR.
Check all the Bowden cables for the hand brake, TC and winch. They can be expensive to replace.
Ask about gearing. The original set up revs pretty hard. Popular mods are Fairey overdrives (The 101 tends to eat the LT95 specific variant so pay attention if fitted.), high ration transfer gear swap and diff R&P swaps.
Check the operation of the vaccuum switch for the diff lock. If not used they tend to start leaking. Check hte vaccuum lines to the diff lock actuator as they can run close to the exhaust and become brittle/melt.
Check the filter on the side of the gearbox for metal. The gearbox should have 20W50 oil. Make sure of this. Listen for any nasty clunks from he transfer case as the thrust washers on the intermediate shaft are a bit weak and can go. There is a nice kit to replace them with thrust bearings instead.

2. Brakes and hydraulics
It should be able to stop VERY well. Look on the internet for photos of the Aussies doing brake tests.
Brake servo. Its a Lucas Girling Type 50 and unique to the 101. There is a bloke in the UK doing rebuilds for a reasonable price now.
Brake MC. It is another piece unique to the 101. With some machining skills you can adapt a SIII 109 part.
Load bias valve for the brakes. If it ain't working then either the rear brakes are not working or they become very interesting when you hit the brakes hard lightly loaded.
The reservoirs for the hydraulics are made from plastic and crumble at the slightest hint of UV. OEM are expensive to replace and don't last so replace them with bean tins from Pegasus parts.

Steering
Steering column is unique. If filled with oil it tends to trap moisture in the bottom bearing which leads to failure (A little dangerous.). There is a mod to help with this if you can do some simple machining. Check for up and down play in the column.
Some of the ball joints are unique and while the RH version s cheap as chips the LH item is rediculous.
The steering relay is unique and expensive so check for play and recent oil.
The steering wheel is unique although a SIII item will fit.

Body
Chassis corrosion. It IS a Land Rover after all.
All outriggers as normal. As an exMOD truck it will have the undercoat on it which tends to crack and trap water behind it so plenty of poking around any damaged undercoat. Ask about the military service life of the truck. Goods ones served in the RAF regiment. OK ones served in the normal RA regiments. Ones to avoid were dropped out of planes by the Paras or driven in the salty sea by the Commandos.
Rear cross member is a complex fabrication and has enclosed box sections so perticular attention there. You also want to see behind the rear bumperettes as the rear cross memeber corodes where they meet.
On the body check the goal post that forms the support for the nose of the truck and mounts the doors. Check the door frames as the seals tend to trap water. Door tops as usual although you can get very nice replacements from Rocky Mountain. Also check in and around the battery box behind the passenger seat as this tends to corrode too.
The full compliment of tools on the nose is a nice thing to have.
You will have a big canvas. Usual things here with tears, wear etc. You can buy new from the UK from several suppliers.
Body panels are all unique, if flat. A full compliment is useful. Check the tailboard as if it has been stood/jumped on a lot it tends to pull rivets and starts to bow.
Seat belts are ****. They can be replaced with modern inertia reels if you can weld up a bracket.

Winch, does it even have a winch? This is worth good omney on a 101.
Make sure the clutch has been set correctly or damage may result.
Has it has the right cable diameter installed?
Check for cracking in the front fairlead mount which is Aluminium.
Check for warping in the chassis or other damage that suggests winch abuse.

Engine. It a 8.13:1 low comp Rover V8. It has the small pre 76 valves and tin head gaskets.
Total miles as the cam shaft is gone at 60K. The speedo is weak and has almost certainly been replaced at some point so do not trust the figure shown.
The oil filter head on the oil pump is unique to the 101. Make sure the oil pump is in good nick including the bypass valve which is often scored.
Check for cracks in the exhaust manifolds. Nothing else fits and aftermarket headers are almost impossible due to the proximity of the chassis rail on the LH side. They can be found 2nd hand but are not cheap.
It should have dual ZS175 carbs. Check the diaphragms, needles etc. If you have to pass emissions it is difficult unless everything isin top notch condition.
The heater valve (Thing that looks and in fact was bought from a plumbing shop) tends to break inside so check you can get hot air from the heater.

Fuel system.
Fuel tank. If it has not been replaced it will need to soon. The original alloy ones ALL leak eventually. The braze they used eats the alloy seams out. It is not a matter of if but merely when they leak. You can get very nice SS replacements from the 101 club in the UK at a price.
Fuel pump is internal in the tank. There is a replacement from NAPA as long as the pick up tubes still exist.
The plastic fuel lines can get brittle with age so worth replacing.

Electrics.
The mystery IR switch has a weak relay and just means everything will go dark permanently if played with. You need to wire round it if fitting halogens or things will get dark and smokey. Check for shorts as some circuits were not fused and can melt the harness. Make sure the diff lock light works.
If it is a 24V system it can be great if it is working. If not convert to 12V. If this has been done already then spend a lot of time looking at the quality of the work.

As an import I would also stress documents, documents, documents. You want the full import history of the truck.
Post photos or PM them for a more detailed review of the actual truck.

S'bout it.

[heyitsmike]

Thanks for all the information... Lol that must have taken all day to write.

Here's a link to a bunch of pics. I figured a price tag of $3000 is well worth it here in the states, so I wound up buying it.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/w8pbf0j5chusxmc/7RjP56epHu

The frame has lots of flaky undercoat, but the steel underneath Is all in great shape. There is a couple of small spots on the rear spring perches, but I have access to a welder and plenty of scrap stock, and I know I can put something together. The chrome on the swivels all seemed really good, the steering seemed fairly tight for a 40 year old army truck with manual steering. It seems like it had been gone through once before. Someone had installed an overdrive, and built a custom (frankly a little odd) hard top for it. Everything is there except for the little "accessories" like the shovel and pick axe and the manual crank. It has the pto side winch which all seems to be intact. I paid for it and am picking it up Saturday, where I'll be able to play around with it a bit more and dig into the problems with a spotlight. The motor has been sitting, but is free and not seized and was parked where it was under it's own power. The transmission shifter seemed pretty tight and not all sloppy like you'd expect in an old truck with lots of linkage joints.

I have access to fab and machining equipment, plus we've restored plenty of vehicles frame off including jeeps, fj land cruisers and even and old volvo c303. I'm sure whatever I can't find for sale or refurbished I can reverse engineer and make if need be. I figured for the price tag it was way too cool a ride to pass up :P

[greenmeanie]

Nah, Just noting down a bit of experience.

From the piccies it looks like a good base vehicle if you lose the roof and the ironmongery on the front. About the only thing I see missing other than the obvious canvas hoops is the spare tyre mount that is usually just behind the driver's seat.

You have one of the much coveted steering wheel hub caps. Pull it off and look inside. There was often a personal message left there by a friendly, if bored, squaddy.

[RoverDover]

It took me a long time to get rid of all the Squaddie grafitti in my Ex-Mod. never let a 19 year old play with a permanent marker and government vehicules!

[heyitsmike]

Haha, thanks guys, I'll be sure to check for that.

Btw, I was wondering if the military 6 lug axles can have a Detroit or lock rite or similar locker installed? Watching them off-road, that seems to be their Achilles heel is the articulation and traction giving way

[greenmeanie]

There is a Detroit locker that is built specially for the 101 due to the side gear spline count. With the limited market for them I don't know if they are made any more.

JEGS used to advertise them. I think I got mine from Bill at GBR.

It makes a world of difference even without anything in the front axle. Ultimately the truck is sprung to operate with a load in the back so it doesn't articulate well if you are running light. Once you have about 1/2 tonne in the back the suspension wakes up and it articulates as well as any series Rover. That's hardly world beating but it does put a lie to the popular misconception they don't articulate at all. The 101 was really desined to haul heavy anti social objects around the German mud. It will never be a rock crawler. Having said all that Haystees make a set of softer springs if you feel you have cash to spare.

Bar grips are the other big off road limitation. They do what they do but it is a very out of date design. There are now Chinese XZL clones on ebay which are a better bet if you want off road grip.

[heyitsmike]

Finally got the truck home today. I had fun going through everything and figuring out all the little gizmos and doodads. Got the engine to turn over no problem at all, but for some reason its not getting spark. I have to dive in and look through the ignition system with the meter tomorrow. I even inflated the crappy tires to move it around, and its much taller than I originally anticipated. though I don't think they'll hold air very long as the rims need a good cleaning. Im starting my lookout for some decent 9.00x16 or 11.00x16 XZL's or XL's. I also found the canvas, but I'm missing the hoops/rigging for it. If anyone thinks they might have these, let me know :P

P.S. Have some updated pics!

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/o1zlsa9d84kttvv/ZLbinDX6m9

[Boston]

Don't think any 101 Detroits cost any more. Worth asking around though. On hoops never seen any advertised. But contact Blanchard sand other mod suppliers.
You might get help from six stud

[greenmeanie]

You could try this:

http://forums.roversnorth.com/showthread.php?13647-FC-101-axles

Its been some time but he's got everything you want for the axle.

There are now Chinese XZL clones available on ebay. I don't think they are quite the same construction as the originals but then they are also not the price of the Michelins either.

If you search on ebay you'll find these: Yellowsea YS20 Military Tire 255 100R16 9-00R16

Or there are the original bar grips for sale. Search the usual;ly military vehicle mags and you'll find them.

[heyitsmike]

Well I found this, fairly reasonable I think

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/m20ProductDisplayView?pageSize=10&resultCatEntryType=2&searchTerm=&catalogId=10002&langId=-1&productId=1036996&storeId=10001&sType=&pgGrp=search

Also, I think I might have someone who has some lightly used xl's which would be ideal I think. Anyone try putting 11.00 r16 on their 101 rims? Do they fit? I think it'd be a bit better to have the bigger tire. I believe there like a 38' comparable. Otherwise, I was even considering some tsl tires, but I like the tall skinny "pizza cutter" look

[greenmeanie]

11.00R16 works. I have not experienced them but you may find the gearing with the larger dia tyres and your overdrive to be a bit too much for the engine but that is largely down to how strong the engine feels. 101s are notorious for eating the Fairey which won't be in its first youth so I'd be a wee bit ginger with it while you experiment.

Oh yeah. I remembered something that I should have mentioned in my first post. Check the oil lines from the oil pump to the oil cooler. They will be old and have a habit of failing. They also have a fairly funnky fitting so replacement with anything other than OEM tends to be a pain to chase down. You can pick up replacemnts on ebay in the UK.

[heyitsmike]

Thanks I'll have to check the oil lines.

So these past few weekends I've tried chasing wires and digging through forums to try and find out why it's not getting spark. I don't know why the British liked to wire things strangely, even on a military vehicle. So after plenty of headaches, 4 different spare coils I had and finding the much questionable "lumination" ignition system, I decided to scrap the whole idea of messing with wire nests and my new HEI distributor is in the mail. I figure for $130, it's worth it to never have to go through the nest of wires again. Also for those of you who may also have this idea, the distributors for the "Buick 215 small block" I believe are the same for the 3.5, and cost about $500 less for the same one wire system.

I'll see where that can get me this weekend, hoping I can get the thing running

Also, I'm interested in finding the canvas hoops for this truck.

[greenmeanie]

I have an HEI from a Buick 350 IIRC mounted. If it is a coil in cap large diameter jobbie you'll need to shave the corner of the head and install a low profile head bolt.

After a rather catastrophic short circuit I removed the entire system and replaced it with an entirely new system with 12 fuses mounted up in the battery box. In my case it was the little wire to the rear plate light that shorted and melted all the way back through the harness to the dash.

[mearstrae]

I've had two different Buick HEI's, one was the short one and was a pain to fool with, the other has a longer shaft and dropped right in with no mods. On the short shaft one I had to replace the intake bolt with a flat head bolt, and do some clearance grinding to the very top of the water pump. However, Pertronix has a Rover dizzy all set up for these. All my Rovers have been V-8's so I've been playing with the different Buick Mods for a while .

'95 R.R.C. Lwb (Gone...)
'76 Series III Hybrid 109
'70 Rover 3500S