This repair tip comes from my friends at Rovers North.

The choke cable that came on the positive earth Land Rovers is listed as no longer available. The general advice from most parts suppliers is to drill a new hole and convert to a later version of the choke cable. However, the old cable can be repaired if the cable housing is still in good condition.

You will need to purchase a new series III temperature control cable before you start.

Remove the knob/inner cable assembly from the cable housing. You will see the knob on a long metal rod with the remaining part of your cable coming out the end.

The rod has two holes drilled in it. One is the hole that fits the inner cable. The other transacts the cable hole near its end. This means that there is a little length of cable to the knob side of the transverse hole.

The inner cable has been flattened inside the transverse hole to anchor it to the rod.

So all you need to do is remove the old cable, insert a new one and flatten it inside the transverse hole.

To remove the old cable, you need to break the cable in the hole using a punch and a hammer. The cable is hardened and will not drill, but a punch will break it. I prefer to use a punch about half the diameter of the transverse hole for this. The reason being that the short end section seems to come out easier if it is not cut at the edge of the hole. I lay the punch against the edge opposite the short section to break the cable. Remove the old cable from the rod after you broke it.

Try to remove the short section of cable on the other end of the transverse hole. If it will not fall out, do not try to drill it out. It is hardened steel and you will end up widening the cable hole. If you can not get it out, don't worry, the fix will work anyway.

Remove the inner Series III temperature control cable from its housing and discard the housing. Insert the new cable into the choke rod as far as it will go. Set one punch into a vice pointing upwards. Place the rod with cable on the fixed punch so that the punch fits through the rod's transverse hole. Take the second punch and hammer the cable flat inside the hole.

Grease the inner cable well, insert it into your old choke housing, tighten it at the carburetor choke and cut the cable off to the correct length. I had enough cable left over to do a second choke.

Once again, this tip was provided by Rovers North, suppliers of Series, Defender, Discovery and Range Rover parts to North America.

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