Built this 12 years ago. Might even be a thread on here somewhere. This has the body, chassis, suspension and steering of an early 2 door Range rover, I managed to find an exceptionally good one, which was difficult even when I bought it in 2007. I dismantled, sandblasted and 2k painted, and not wanting a wheezy old clonky thirsty leaky unreliable Range Rover, I installed the running gear from a low mileage 4.2 diesel manual Nissan Patrol, with a turbo kit (Australian) and front mount intercooler added. I blasted/painted the axles as well.
It has a lot of things the original Rangie did not: 5 speed, 2wd mode (direct, centre diff) vacuum rear diff-lock, auto freewheeling hubs, servo assisted clutch, adjustable column, tacho, intermittent front wipe (variable) Intermittent rear wipe, load compensator, halogen headlamps, 50mm body lift.
Why did I not just get a Patrol I hear you asking? The Patrols were rustbuckets, chassis, sills, body mounts, wings, rear floor.. The 70s Range Rover has mostly aluminium exterior body panels and the shell IS MODULAR. The bulkhead, side members, floor, roof, inner wings, rear quarterpanels all simply unbolt, so although a Rangie can potentially rust in certain places, the thing can potentially last forever due to being able to just swap out bits of the shell, and you can still get most of these bits, even though these Rangies came out in 1970.
The turbo was reconditioned by Turbo Technics, the steering box was brand new, also had new clutch, caster correction bushings, swivel bearings etc.
Running standard fuelling, the Range-trol been used as tow vehicle last 12 years, never missed a beat and great to drive. Good on fuel. Easy (and clean!) to work on. Power could be increased substantially with some upgrades to injector pump. It has an EGT probe in the exhaust already. Vehicle no longer used as I only really used it for towing a trailer so reluctantly need to sell. Mileage on all the running gear is only 109,000.
Exterior still original 1970s paint. Interior original. No headlining. Could also split Vehicle and running gear but would be a little heartbreaking as this creation was planned meticulously and worked out great.
Vehicle is mostly rust-free but there is some rust in the (steel) door shells. Underside is still excellent for a BL product almost 50 years old.
Build photos
