Hi

I recently bought a Land Rover S3 (1972) her brakes have failed (with no pressure on the brake pedal) and I want to work on her myself, any advice on what it can be and how to repair it?

Also, the fanbelt squeaks (even though I replaced the fanbelt it still squeaks) I would like to know what to do there.

Some Info on her, She (Margret as I named her) was standing behind all the modern cars in a 2nd hand car dealership and I fell in love with her. All the little knocks and paint chips give her character, but I would like to completely restore her in time, the previous owner changed her engine to a Chevy straight 6,4.1L So she has plenty of power (Believe it might have been an EX-South African Defence force, Landy)
The old fanbelt snapped and the brakes failed, that's all the problems she has at the moment.

Thanks for reading

Shaun

 

Nice find!
My 2A brakes were very difficult to bleed, but they were a slightly different hydraulic configuration. I was always successful bleeding when I applied 5 or 8 psi to the reservoir and then opened the wheel bleeders.
Your engine isn’t LR, but I’ll guess that the fan belt isn’t tight enough, but there are other things that could cause it to squeak.

 

Belt squeak comes from belt slippage. Simple fix is often just to install new quality rubber belt if old one is brittle and glazed. Also, you can use Scotch Brite or light sandpaper to clean up the pulleys... they can get glazed a bit. And, finally, since this is an engine swap, and we don't have any info on pulley configuration, you need adequate wrap on each pulley. Generally speaking, you should have at least a 60° wrap around all pulleys with a belt (typical 250 Chevy config-- belt wraps around crank, water pump, and alternator). If alternator is not in original Chevy location (because, perhaps, it was moved to avoid interference with LR components), you might not have sufficient wrap. If this is the case, you'll need to physically reconfigure to get proper wrap... or learn to live with squeak and premature belt wear.

Side note: The Chevy 250 is a common swap in old Series LRs. A typical bone stock 250 came with 145-155 horsepower (some late 1970's were as little as 90) and 175-235 lb-ft of torque, depending on what it was originally installed in. That is a LOT more power than your other drivetrain components are rated for. Be gentle... you can easily snap the fragile stock axles or break transfer case gears.

 

Nice find! What are your plans for her, besides getting her mechanical sound?