LR3 from stock to Overlandish?

[ArmyRover]

I have been at this a few months so I'm going to be doing a bit of catch up for this thread. There have been some surprises, but they are all something that can be handled after years of Rover ownership. I wasn't sure if build threads are cool on here but I guess we will see.

So in a fit of drunken stupidity I have bought yet another LR3 making that a total of 3 of these beasts in my drive. It needs a bunch of work but it is rust free and I don’t mean like no holes I mean like the frame is still factory in appearance. It has lights and codes galore in true rover fashion. It also blew an air bag while waiting to be loaded on my trailer for the ride home.

So yesterday I rolled out early to handle a couple things at work and to stop and pick up the trailer

So I turned the Excursion south, set the cruise and headed on to Hinesville, GA to meet my new rolling project. The Excursion really is a sweet tow vehicle, comfortable, roomy, stable and plenty of power from the big old lumbering V10 under the hood.

I arrived at Jim’s a fellow Land Rover guy with a cool old Disco and got to see my new to me LR3

We chatted a bit while it idled and I gave it a quick glance around. Some things were better than I hoped for some were a little rougher. It blew an air strut upfront while we talked, lol. In the end his price was extremely reasonable so I paid the entry price for another Rover to torment me and loaded it up.

I then turned the Excursion north and headed back to Augusta. Dropped it off next to its big brother and went home to relax after a long day of running around. Figured I would plug in the GAP and give it a good look over the next day.

 

[ArmyRover]

I went through it a bit the day after I bought it and finally test drove it two days after I bought it. It was cheap remember lol.

The interior needs a good cleaning but things like the arm rests are completely shot. So I am thinking a nice set of Knightsbridge Overland seat covers will be the order of the day for the front. If you haven't checked them out they make some great gear here in the USA. https://knightsbridgeoverland.com/

EAS will need a complete going through and it's likely the transmission will be getting swapped out. Over the last 10 hours of travel,. I think I have decided it's goal will be 35's. I would like to retain the EAS but won't rule out it becoming a coiler.

I drove it about 3 miles engine feels great trans seemed ok-ish. All the fun toys worked cooler, nav, satellite radio, AC, etc etc.

So there you go, I think I have a plan now I need to dig in and see where the truck is at

 

[ArmyRover]

my parents apparently decided to take advantage of Knightsbridge Overlands black Friday sale and get me some seat covers.

Really excited, they support the community with prizes at events and make some extremely nice kit. Lord knows the seats in the LR3 are tired so this will be a huge improvement.

i have heard they will even have custom graphics to match the decals my truck has.

 

[ArmyRover]

So some updates are needed. I got off my ass and got to work. I went to pick it up from POV storage and opened the door to watch water start pouring out. I learned it has a leak so I will be investigating that.

The interior was swamp smelling and funky as heck.

To top it off no power whatsoever so had to load it dead on the trailer to get it to the Garage that will be it's home for the next few months. Which of course has a steep driveway so I had to off load it in the backyard. Tarped it off using a ground tarp and a tent rain fly.

I didn't want to tarp it but rain was in the forecast so I wanted to make sure it didn't start to refill

 

[ArmyRover]

I cannot wait to open it up!

A little teaser in the seat covers. I will do a full write up on them next week when I get them installed.

From looking them over I am completely impressed with the craftsmanship in these seat covers.

 

[ArmyRover]

while I was in the road for work these showed up for me. Proud Rhino lift rods. I'll need these to help get where I want to be tire size wise.

 

[Bogwhoppit]

Nice looking seat covers. I need to get some for my front seats.

 

[ArmyRover]

They are damn nice. I'll have some pics coming up soon of them installed on the seats.

 

[ArmyRover]

Once it was at the house what followed was a couple days of shop vac work pulling a ton of water from the floors, a dehumidifier running around the clock and a box fan. Pulled the battery and ran the NOCO charger on it to make sure it was happy.

On day 3 things were looking pretty dry but disgusting inside. So I popped the battery back in and she fired to life. It seemed no more unhappy than it used to be so I quickly made a bee line to the garage.

 

[AggregateDemand]

Looking good Bill- I will be watchin the progress!