Range Rover Classic

Evening fellas

Couple of jobs struck off the list today

I only got a few hours down there but got the brake lines that run along the back axle replaced and then the whole system flushed and bled.

After that I wire brushed the underside and rear axle which was a horrendously filthy job and then Shutzed the complete underside and rear axle. The front axle has a special anti-corrosion system using a mix of engine oil and power steering fluid which over time forms a rust preventative barrier, so it didn't need anything.

Mot much to see, just a fresh coat of shutz which sort of hides the new brake lines. I must remember to cable tie the brake lines to the axle..




With the brake lines done and the underseal done, I can now start reassembly. I did try and get the engine started but it wouldn't fire. Not sure if its that low on fuel or if one of the many earths currently disconnected has something to do with the engine. A fair bit of fuel did come out when I removed the fuel lines and it was on empty with the fuel light on when I bought it. Couldn't hear the fuel pump prime though.
So having wasted time faffing about with the engine I went and fitted the RH wing, headlight and indicator



And that's about it

Really need to get the tyres changed over now

Yup, awake. But then it is 8:45 in the morning!

Looks to me like that was 150 hours very well spent. Nearly there now?

I ended up down the motor club last night as there was nothing on TV as usual

I was supposed to be swapping over that relay panel that I keep putting off but decided to bite the bullet and re-cover the headlining.
You can see it in the background in this photo. I was hanging down where it wasn't clipped in properly at the back when I bout it and had split at the sides where it had creased. Its also missing the two grab handles, two speakers, the rear courtesy light and I think there's supposed to be something above the rear side windows as there's a small cutout here. All these things are supposed to hold the headlining up. It was brush painted silver which didn't help either and I was sick of looking at it.


I used this stuff from ebay
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUEDETRIM-Van-lining-Headlining-material-Easy-to-fit-Foam-Backed-Faux-Suede/171990605620?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=470874424069&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I've never done anything like this before so it was a steep learning curve. I had 50 odd little cheapo plastic clamps from the range and a load of large bulldog clips which where more useful.
The headlining material didn't stretch much so the trick was to lay too much material down and then shrink it where it creases with a hot air gun.
It eventually I got it how I wanted except for a little bit at the front where I put too much heat on it and it went a bit shiny. Luckily that's covered by the sun visor.
As usual I was rubbish at taking pics due to using my phone for music but heres a couple of the finished product minus 2 grab handles and the rear courtesy light





I need to have another go at cleaning the sun visors as they are still a bit grubby after cleaning. They where disgusting before though

Also made a little progres on the front bumper with a skim of filler. just need to do the other side and then it can be painted and put back on the car

I'm running out of excuses not to fit that relay panel now..

Yeah the list is getting shorter now with most of the major time consuming jobs done. I had a disco before this and the steel structure is almost the same, just with different aluminium panels on the outside. Drivetrain and engines are largely the same so parts are still pretty cheap andeasy to come by
Hoping to have an mot on it in the next couple of weeks. I need a dog car again!

You've done a fantastic job on this so far. And I have workshop envy... 

Looking forward to the next (Bookmarked) installment.

I had some brave pills today and went and tackled that bulkhead relay panel I've been putting off

This is it


It has 8 bolts holding it in from the inside which are behind all the aircon gubbins and two aircon fans. You cant take just the fans or the aircon gubbins out without taking the whole dash out as it all screws in from the inside.

So access is a very small, scratchy b*****d gap between the sound deadening and the bulkhead


4 hours of upside down swearing in the footwell resulted in this
no prizes for guessing which one the replacement is


And back in with a lick of sealant. One of the most annoying jobs I've ever done on a car


Whilst there I found that one of the aircon drain hoses was kinked just before it goes through the bulkhead due to a t-piece being put in the wrong way. It looks like its been like this from the factory and when taken off to relocate it, water spilled out everywhere. This must have been getting the LH floor wet from new, possibly why the LH floor was worse than the right.

My new exhaust has arrived as well and compared with what came off looks like its the right one for the job


Which is a job for tomorrow.

And the to do list gets a bit shorter

More tomorrow

Spent another day on the car, putting seats and trim back in, sorting sunroof, tailgate wiring, fixing seat switches etc etc and gave it a wash

I don't normally name my cars but SWMBO has christened it Big Dom

And you don't mess with Big Dom
There is a darkness inside of him. It wants to get out, it wants to walk around. It wants some walkin around money. And it wants to buy some shoes. And it wants to walk up to the people and say hey Big Dom don't play no s**t, you feel me? Big Dom never been about that, Big Dom never been about playin no s**t!




Love the sound of this thing. I need to extend the diverter valve pipe to a side exit, just in front of the rear LH wheel







Sadly its going to have to wait a while for an MOT now as I'll be away for a bit, but I'd rather give it a good few runs with me driving it before I'd trust it with the other half driving without me there.

So thats it for now. GT6 patiently waiting

Not sure what the garage will think of it for the MOT. Might have to blank it off for that!

Well I'm back in the country now so full steam ahead with the range rover.

When I left, all I needed to pass an mot where to fix the washers, fix the various exhaust leaks and extend the side exit and fit some road legal tyres.

So I bought some Discovery 2 wheels with decent tyres and some modular Steel wheels. Id been after some black ones but these silver ones came up cheap so




That done I unblocked the washers which went well and then took the RH exhaust manifold off which is where the problems started. Once off, I cleaned up the head and manifold and went to fit the new gaskets. Stupidly I attached the manifold to the downpipe first and then attempted to bolt the manifold to the head. It turns out my downpipe isn't quite at the right angle which put stress on all the bolts I was doing up and being an alloy head, the head lost on one bolt hole. Yep I've been an utter T**T and partially crossthreaded it

Couple days later, browsing ebay with a beer, as you do (how I bought the camper...), I stumble across an early discovery with a some decent bits attached to it that COULD be useful on the Range Rover. It was going cheap at £500 so i set myself a limit of £650 and ended up accidentally winning at £725
I really should ban myself from ebay

So here's my latest financial mistake




And What can I say, Its a reasonably cheap disco with all the usual faults.
Rusty inner wings, crunchy gearbox, steering slop, bad paint etc.
However, there are some good bits. Its a hotwire 3.5 V8 on a manual box, 7 seater and the headliner is mint which is unheard of. It also still has the original centre console bag, boot cover, bull bar and roof rack.
It also has some mods. A nearly new full stainless sports exhaust from rimmers, a nearly new and working LPG kit, 2"lift kit with dampers, black modular steel wheels with new tyres and a K&N air filter. Oh and polybushes all round and heavy duty steering arms.

Now this is strictly a turn and burn. The exhaust and LPG kit will be going onto the Range rover along with the wheels but not the tyres. I want the smaller tyres fitted to the range rover on the black wheels, which is a bit of a faf really. Then I'm going to sell the bull bar, roof rack, silver wheels and big tyres, led light bar and 2"lift kit.
Then it should just be a case of slapping on the standard wheels and exhaust, getting hold of some cheap standard springs and dampers and tarting it up a bit, mot'ing it and flogging it on.
It has a few faults that need rectifying. It runs curse word on petrol, possibly MAF related, and possibly due to oil from the K&N, not sure yet. drivers seat base is ripped, LH swivel seal is shot and I might weld up the inner wings to give it a clean MOT sheet. I'm not sure what to do about the gearbox yet, it only crunches into 4th. I can either ignore it, try swapping out the ATF oil for gearbox oil or bite the bullet and spend £150 on a gearbox rebuild kit. Oh and I got a stonchip in the windscreen on the way back from the seller, right in the drivers view. So new windscreen as well.

I've just removed the bull bar and roof rack this evening, so they'll be up for sale soon and I've also sorted the key fob which wasn't working
You might just be able to see the cracks in the solder going along the battery holder legs. This had happened all the way round and the battery was loose.



Just needed heating up with a soldering iron and a midge of fresh solder




Love a cheap fix

What else..
The paint on the LH side is horrendous. I think somebody has blown over it with a rattle can at some point. I've T-cut a patch and it looks like I can hopefully cut through it to the original paint underneath, fingers crossed. To that end I'm currently looking at getting myself a rotary polisher. Its about time I got one really.

The only delay to progress on this might be our forthcoming trip to Snowdonia in Wales. The disco is very much MOT'd, taxed, insured and cheap to drive being on LPG. So there's pressure from the woman of the house to use this instead of the Range Rover. We shall see

More soon

Cheers!

Ivan