SERIES I ENGINE

Take a look at the shape of the inner wings and the battery arrangements. when the 87 inch become an,89 inch, that was to make room for the new diesel engine, and it was necessary to have a recess in the left hand inner wing for the second battery two six volt battery recess in the left inner wing, and both wings look like they ‘re the originals, then that’s good. Check the battery carriers too. if the lift side battery carrier looks ‘proper’ you’re probably looking at the genuine article. Also take a look at the electrical.

Components mounted on the engine side of the bulkhead. if these are fixed tidily and look original and undisturbed, chances are they probably are the real thing. Better still, check numbers a diesel model’s engine number would have the same prefix letters as the vehicle if they were both built in the same model year see front of the engine and build plate.

  Checking that the engine is right is easier than assessing condition. The series I diesels were good for their day but were often neglected, and the typical driving technique was to keep the foot flat to the floor unless actually slowing down. if you are seriously interesting in the vehicle, then its best to bid on the assumption that the diesel is completely dead. if you tinker about with it at the vendor’s you might get it to turn, or even run, but that will only put up the value. if the vendor wants to charge you for a good engine, he should have it running for you.

Anyway, by starting it you wouldn’t be yourself any favours because these engine quit commonly crack their heads between valves, and a small crack might not show any problems in a short run up then you’d have paid a lot for an engine concealing who knows what problems. If the engine is okay and if it seem to be in useable condition it’s worth keeping it in diesel series is are scarce nowadays. But if not, you can transplant a petrol or diesel from a later series vehicle or even 90/110 there are plenty of cheap ones about. Use the s III gearbox it saves swapping component with your Series I, and it’s a much easier box to live with.