Paddock Spares

This is the story of my series 3 short wheel base restoration on a budget and just using Paddock Spares and some second hand parts from the LRO Show.

[See image gallery at blog.paddockspares.com]

I was 18 years of age, living at Spalding in the East Midlands.  I was looking for about one and a half years on eBay for a project that was local and not too bad.  One came up and did not sell so i phoned the seller and arranged a look (it was not a pretty sight!), weed growing up 4 foot round the car.  I agreed a price of 400 quid and arranged to get it trailered back home.

I bought it a week before the annual LRO Show in Peterborough.  I bought 2 wings for £20, a tin of bronze for £40, a battery for £40, and a full set of shocks for £40.

Lastly, one piece of windscreen for £5, covered in scratches but will fill the hole for now

After getting back from the show I started on cleaning the project to see what I had got to start with.

This way it also got rid of the funky farm smell of the car that had accumulated over the past years.  Upon cleaning the car I found an old Abba 8 track and a lot of rubbish like old fag ends and straw from the fields.  I removed both wings and the front end section (This can be done by removing the bolt that goes in to the bulkhead and the top of the wing and unplugging all the wires).  I wire wool brushed the entire front end of the chassis with a drill (cheaper than a sand blaster), painted it in red oxide (from an local goods store for like £1 a tin), the nice cheap stuff and coated that in matt exterior paint made for gates and garden furniture.

I then removed the old shocks as these where in particularly bad condition and are easier to change with no wings on as it allows more access around the mount holes.  I bolted new shocks in place (this done by removing split pins and bolts, very straightforward but remember the front and back shocks are different lengths).  I replaced the wings and got started on the wind screen.   It’s a very simple process.  I removed the frame screws and cladding and scraped out the old bits of glass and rubbish.  Using some dum dum

from paddocks, I then formed the putty into rolled shapes and placed them in the edge of the frame and placed the glass in, then covered the edge again for the cladding, placed the screws back in and jobs a good ‘un.

Land Rover Series 3 88″ Diesel Budget Restoration – Adam Brooks