1995 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE - Cool Running

And how did it go?

Put it this way, this comes to you from café Adriatico via a very cold San Mig.

Job done!

Yes, it may have been a little injudicious of me!

However, on the way to Adriatico, I deliberately looked for a traffic jam (not difficult) and got myself stuck in it. Nothing like a low speed crawl in +30 degree heat to stress a cooling system. Got to the bar and she needed around half a pint of top-up, a fair bit less than I did anyway. Did the same on the way home and the level was spot on this time.

Just been down to check this morning and again, right on the cold level mark with no sign of weeping from any of the new joints.

Talking of joints, when I took the old pipes off, every one was covered in gloopy rubberised seal. Horrible! Cleaned it all off before fitting the new ones and all fine. God knows why they'd used it. At least everything looked nice and clean inside the engine.

Another pleasant surprise was the radiator. When I fitted my new A/C condenser - bought from the UK and claimed to be OEM, all the mounting holes were a mile off both for the condenser itself and the fans and put up a real good fight. This rad, knocked up in some little sweatshop over in Quezon City, slid in like it was made for it...Oh, hang on Everything fitted perfectly and was a doddle. Makes a nice change, so hats off to my little mate Fritz from EuroSpec Motors for a) using his '38 as the guinea pig and b) (finally) organising this one for me. 

As I've said before, the best bit is given that the new one, being of traditional construction, doesn't have plastic header tanks so I can get it fixed pretty much anywhere if there was to be a problem. Just another bit of peace of mind when travelling.

The next job will be the drop links and bushes when they arrive from the UK, although just checking the tracking number put them in Clark Airport as of 5.30 this morning. Depending on Mr Philippine Customs, I'll get 'em today or Monday. TBH, Monday would be better as the old ankle took a bit of a bashing climbing under the motor every five minutes, so I'd like to rest it for a couple of days before another workout!

Whilst we're on the subject of garages, I got this yesterday in response to a mail thanking Fritz for the rad:-

Sounds great George! Glad to hear you are happy! Pls drop by the shop for a few beers if you find yourself in our area.

Cheers!

Fritz

This guy has a proper business plan!

Aye, plastic things that can strand you are not a good idea here, whereas metal things that can be cobbled enough to get you home by a little engineering shop, are. We do have the Philippine AA here but one, they make it impossible to join (nothing on their website works) and two, even if you could manage one, they're not interested in older vehicles. Also garages geared up for recovery are very few and far between once you're outside Manila, so the easier things are to repair, the better. 


My work here is complete! 

Just out of interest and looking at the factory manual, it tells me to 'apply suitable lubricant' to the ARB bushes I'll be fitting. Now, bearing in mind that rubber lubricant (oo-er missus) will not be available here, what easily found household product will do the trick? Washing up liquid, petroleum jelly, a handful of sand? What? Any tips gratefully received, as it looks like that's Tuesday's job now, along with new (metal) drop-links.   

And, whilst we're on things Range Rover-y, I've just had my insurance renewal through. GBP7,000 agreed value, fully comp, including flood, typhoon and other acts of God along with free windscreen, ambulance and hospitalisation cover, no restrictions, 197 quid. Didn't think that was bad at all. Whilst I've not had a claim here (and don't want one!), if Madam's extensive experience is anything to go by it's, "Right, stick it in a place of your choice, let us know where and we'll pay them direct." No inspections, nowt. Easy.

Amazingly, they also cover inter-island ferries as well. Given these are generally known as Roll-On, Roll-Over, this seems particularly brave of them.   

Looking forward to this trip. Plenty of pictures please, so that we can all ride alongside you.

Just having a nose around the house and something came to me, having seen a recent post from sweetpea repairing a mirror motor case in his thread.

A few weeks ago, I sent some flowers to Madam (I know, I know) and noticed they came wrapped in a kind of open weave, coarse hessian, which I tucked away in the, "It'll come in useful" cupboard. Now, let's think back to my bumper conundrum.

I can get resin, but matting is harder to source. My little Tondo man wanted me to leave the car there with him and that just ain't going to happen for obvious reasons, so I need another solution.

See where I'm going here? It's only for reinforcement, not structural and this could just be the answer. It'll serve to bind things together and, more to the point, it's a reet good rustic, and therefore very Filipino, solution.

Can't do any harm?

That's two of us then!

In official news I have just been reunited with my Certificate of Registration! Yes, two months after denying vehemently that the LTO had it, they did. There, wasn't that difficult now was it?

So, all fully legal, if you ignore the license issue that is.

Apart from a rat swallowing my V8?

If you go back to, I think, Page 21, you will read the sorry tale of family eviction from our Tondo house which took place earlier this year. Prior to this, we know one of her brothers shivved both Madam's front tyres over New Year and since then, the car has been 'keyed' on several occasions. Hence why it's coming back to live in Malate after the latest round of bodywork is finished.

Now, the guy who I was thinking about using repairs motorbikes, has no secure parking for vehicles and his workshop is also near to where the family currently live (probably not for much longer, they've been thrown out of two places since March for non-payment of, well, just about everything!). The '38 is, let us say, fairly distinctive and well known in Tondo and I reckon it would take about three minutes for news of its arrival to reach their delicate ears. Then it's game on.

So, lets just not put temptation in their way, shall we?

Quite funnily, I thought the 'obvious reasons' were that it would be stripped for parts and done away with in about 34 minutes, and it was something else altogether. What a fascinating place

How about leaving the girls driver in the car so he can resolve the problem by giving them a permenant case of lead poisoning, i'm sure the rats could clear up any unfortunate remains?