Weathertight again[emoji23] that is extreme optimism I really doubt that was ever weathertight it would be a unique series 3 if it was[emoji2]. A good steam clean followed by a couple of days on your back underneath scraping off all the old crap, paint and inevitable rust followed by derusting fluid of your preferred make followed by a good coat of chassis black and then waxoiling or preferably dinitrol cavity wax is likely to do a lot to preserve the chassis. While you are at it don't forget the bulkhead door posts. Ideally strip out the dash and inject the top rail as well this is a regular rust trap and cause of major bulkhead problems. The foot wells are also a regular rust problem. Pull off the wings and wire brush the foot wells back to bare metals then get some really heavy duty epoxy mastic and cover the lot this is much more chip resistant than any other covering. Similar treatment should be given to the file panels between the top of the wing and the footwell and refix with stainless steel screws to the footwell and passivised steel screws to the wing top, if there is anything left of the tab, if not figure out how to repair or replace this. The steering box cover also needs this treatment.
There are quite a lot of things bolted to your FFR that are not original, it is up to you if you keep them or not, check out historic pictures to see what should be there.
Mechanically the engine and transmission are pretty robust. It is not possible to get a lot more power but careful maintenance is worth it to keep,all running smoothly. Carbs can cause problems as the top plate tends to distort. Get hold of a spare and if you have any trouble at all swap them over and rebuild the dodgy one keeping it handy for the next time. I bought a very cheap chinese one for my series 2a which made a huge improvement however I was lucky some of these are really poor.
Biggest improvement for usability is an overdrive. This allows reasonable cruising at 60 to 65, just be glad fuel is so much cheaper where you are! If your springs are in good condition then you will not get much improvement from parabolics. If they are rough it is a pretty easy job to strip the springs to individual leaves wire brush with cup brush on angle grinder until really clean and reassemble with waterproof grease the improvement in ride quality is amazing. This will. Need doing again after 5 or 6 years as the grease will wash out and they will rust and start sticking again.
Enjoy the truck, regular preventative work will do wonders for a long easy life with this truck
Caber
