To answer a few of your questions. Most important first! WHY would anyone consider putting on stock springs now that parabolics are available???? Look up
www.wiseowlparts.com They make and sell the "Rocky Mountain Parabolic Springs" a package deal complete with every little thing you need and easy to install. The IMPROVEMENT is amazing. I changed from 1 1/2 year old standard springs to the parabolics and was really pleased. In the first hundred yards we noticed an improved ride, quieter and the windows had quit rattling. More was noticed after a longer ride and off-road performance improvements are phenominal. Going from old flat springs with dodgy shocks will be like a rebirth.
Series 3 speedo cable clips onto the back of the speedo, the older ones have a collar that scews onto the back of the speedo. If it jerks around it could be lack of lubrication of the cable and/or too tight of a bend. Do not get lube into the speedo head and wipe excess off the last bit of the head end of the cable. It sould be a grease not oil.
Some heads (all factory 8:1's) have a raised boss on the manifold side half way along, raised to the hight of the valve cover seat, that will have a 7 or 8 stamped on it. The 8 is huge, it looks more like two zeros stamped beside eachother than it does an eight. If the head has been planed you can only tell by measuring the hieght and having someone who knows tell you what you started with and what the original measurement would have been. If it is made to run on unleaded you would have to have a history of it to tell you. Failing that, remove the head and take it down to an automotive machine shop for them to check to see if the valve seats are made of stelite or not. It is the type of metal that the valve seats are made of that determines if it is for unleaded gas or not.
Your fueling problem is simply a blocked vent line from the top of the tank to the top of the filler tube. Look behind the seat back and you should be able to see it and get to it to replace it.
First and second gear are NON Syncro. You have to double clutch up and down. Too hard to explain right now. Go talk to a trucker for an explanation. They used to have to do that in most gears.
A distributor, well there is the 45D, the 25D, the DM2 the Ducellier, the-----oh hell. Try---
www.wiseowlparts.com ----(no, he doesn't pay me. He also isn't my only supplier but he does deal almost exclusivley in Series Rover parts and ships extensively across the US and world wide.) (Gee, maybe I should ask him to pay me!)
