The Range Rover Classic thread:

[V8 Fettler]

akirk said:

DonkeyApple said:

iDrive said:

iDrive said:

DonkeyApple said:

I think much depends on the Fe : Fe2O3 ratio to be honest. Then it boils down to what hard to replace items need replacing.

Fair comment!

Looks tidy enough tbh.

Price could be £8k (its a white Suffix D), just missing a few bits of trim. Not a fan of the 300TDi - he does have the original V8, not sure if its usable.

If I wanted to put a V8 back in, how much would I expect to pay for a useable unit and then fitting?

To answer my own engine swap question - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RANGE-ROVER-P38-4-0-4-6... - £1600

Again it does all depend how you want to do it. You can slap in a V8 but you might find that there is a lot of fettling with the drive train from the bell housing back to get it back to how it was. It's a difficult question to genuinely answer until the diesel unit is out and you can see how that was done and what's then needed to undo it. If you want originality or opt for a later drive train etc.

That price looks very cheap to:
- collect your car from anywhere in the UK
- take out an engine
- rebuild it completely with new parts
- reassemble
- reinstall
- car valeted
all for £1,600?! I am having a 4.6 rebuilt currently - to go into my LSE and even though I already owned the engine, it and car are both based at the workshop, I am getting a very good hourly rate, it is going to cost me I suspect double that - I have had several engines replace in RRs over the years and never seen anything that cheap - I would budget £2.5k - £3k realistically

It's not a full recondition e.g. camshaft

[CAPP0]

DKL said:

RobXjcoupe said:

Yes but wondered if the fitting issue with the easy on part was because it was welded on top of a panel rather than cut into the original floor?

Ah I see. I don't know is the answer but I imagine Cappo will reply. I'd have thought cutting the floor would be more work but the right thing to do rather than welding on top even if it is solid metal. Certainly cutting the new part in will give a better finish.
These are the other parst I'm aware of.
https://yrmit.co.uk/product-category/range-rover-c...

It was a couple of years ago that I did it. As I recall, it didn't even fit well as a "drop on and weld" option. I seem to remember chopping the panel and the car around to get to a point where I could slot it in and butt weld it.

Does anyone know how difficult it is to remove the body as a DIY - as in, at home without a 4-poster - job? From Rob's other post I suspect that might be the best option for his?

[stevehg1]

CAPP0 said:

Does anyone know how difficult it is to remove the body as a DIY - as in, at home without a 4-poster - job? From Rob's other post I suspect that might be the best option for his?

The body frame is light enough that you can lift it off with an engine crane. It’s possible to do it solo, but an extra set of hands is good, especially when you’ve got it high enough to clear the engine.

[V8 Fettler]

josh00mac said:

52classic said:

At risk of becoming PH's biggest P38 fan - Now in the second year of ownership I'm delighted with mine. I'd judge it to be the same sort of condition as yours Josh. Same colour and trim too but mine's a diesel. I bought because there was no prospect of finding a classic in comparable condition for my budget and I figured that from such a low threshold P38 prices will only go up...... eventually!

NomduJour is right of course but you need to put a figure on it and having made a bit of a hobby out of monitoring RR ads............
Ignoring the 'chancers' at the silly end of the market I'd say that the best cars, seriously advertised begin as high as £10K but I doubt they sell. A wide choice of nice cars seem to appear AND SELL at around half that. Something with an MOT, still looking tidy but with some of the common faults and you can half that figure again. Then there's a pretty steep drop to what's left in the market and it would be easy to get tempted by the sub 1K stuff - but not if you know anything about P38s!

There!! Having stuck my neck on the line, what say you?

Agree with your comments but I'm no nearer to valuing it! I was driving it this weekend and thought about just keeping it as I've done the hard work and its worth so little I might as well just enjoy it - thing is at 31 I've only owned 2 cars so far and I have very itchy feet!

I might put it up for 4 but open to offers as it is a buyers market and I have to be prepared for some movement down from that.

In response to what someone said about how they drive - they are great. You can bowl along at over 100 leptons in peace and quiet having a conversation. A friend who owned a classic assured me that would not be possible in his older model.

A genuine ton in an RRC is exhilarating; braking distances are probably substantial and wind noise is "noticeable", the latter even more so with the driver's right arm in the traditional LR position.

If I had the storage space, I'd have a P38 tomorrow.

[RobXjcoupe]

It was a couple of years ago that I did it. As I recall, it didn't even fit well as a "drop on and weld" option. I seem to remember chopping the panel and the car around to get to a point where I could slot it in and butt weld it.

Does anyone know how difficult it is to remove the body as a DIY - as in, at home without a 4-poster - job? From Rob's other post I suspect that might be the best option for his?
[/quote]

There are an awful amount of brackets and crossmembers to cut out and refit. My mind is boggling and thinking possibly more wise to invest in a 2 post lift and my own welding equipment, than back and forth to a garage. Ideally I’d like to remove the whole front back to the bulk head. That gives easy access to the engine then once that has been given tlc a new inner panel front end fitted. Loads to do but more cost effective if I do the lot by myself.

[RobXjcoupe]

I think that’s the point in doing restoration work yourself is it does take time when fitting around family and Day to Day life.
I’ve have a reasonable garage space, so technically I can work on the car in all weathers if I’m not doing the house renovations lol.

[ruhall]

V8 Fettler said:

josh00mac said:

52classic said:

At risk of becoming PH's biggest P38 fan - Now in the second year of ownership I'm delighted with mine. I'd judge it to be the same sort of condition as yours Josh. Same colour and trim too but mine's a diesel. I bought because there was no prospect of finding a classic in comparable condition for my budget and I figured that from such a low threshold P38 prices will only go up...... eventually!

NomduJour is right of course but you need to put a figure on it and having made a bit of a hobby out of monitoring RR ads............
Ignoring the 'chancers' at the silly end of the market I'd say that the best cars, seriously advertised begin as high as £10K but I doubt they sell. A wide choice of nice cars seem to appear AND SELL at around half that. Something with an MOT, still looking tidy but with some of the common faults and you can half that figure again. Then there's a pretty steep drop to what's left in the market and it would be easy to get tempted by the sub 1K stuff - but not if you know anything about P38s!

There!! Having stuck my neck on the line, what say you?

Agree with your comments but I'm no nearer to valuing it! I was driving it this weekend and thought about just keeping it as I've done the hard work and its worth so little I might as well just enjoy it - thing is at 31 I've only owned 2 cars so far and I have very itchy feet!

I might put it up for 4 but open to offers as it is a buyers market and I have to be prepared for some movement down from that.

In response to what someone said about how they drive - they are great. You can bowl along at over 100 leptons in peace and quiet having a conversation. A friend who owned a classic assured me that would not be possible in his older model.

A genuine ton in an RRC is exhilarating; braking distances are probably substantial and wind noise is "noticeable", the latter even more so with the driver's right arm in the traditional LR position.

If I had the storage space, I'd have a P38 tomorrow.

I'm not sure that an early Classic would even reach 100mph, EFIs were obviously a bit quicker and easier; you could certainly wind them up a bit but it wasn't a case of 'relaxing' and I certainly wouldn't fancy a quick lane change at that speed . Exhilarating is probably a good description.

[RobXjcoupe]

Gotta start somewhere so I thought start again on these but this time finish and store properly

So another shot blast and a coat of etch primer. The rusty steel spacers I made previously i’ll remake in stainless steel.

[sunseeker]

Here is a picture of my P38 Overfinch 570 HSE. It is a very early production model. being November 1994 I have had it a few years now. I am wondering if there are many of these Overfinch P38s around. I am getting a 1989 Range Rover Classic. It needs a bit of work. So I might sell the Overfinch to fund the classic restoration.

Edited by sunseeker on Thursday 23 November 01:17

[stevehg1]

sunseeker said:

Here is a picture of my P38 Overfinch 570 HSE. It is a very early production model. being November 1994 I have had it a few years now. I am wondering if there are many of these Overfinch P38s around. I am getting a 1989 Range Rover Classic. It needs a bit of work. So I might sell the Overfinch to fund the classic restoration.

Edited by sunseeker on Thursday 23 November 01:17

It’s not a great surprise, as I suspect that Overfinch would have wanted one of the early production models to complete the conversion and generate photos and sales brochures etc. So your p38 may have been one of the first p38’s to be converted.

I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that the alloys that yours has were introduced around 99/2000 so may have been fitted later. I personally liked those, and IIRC they were lightweight OS ones made in that size and offset for Overfinch.

If you’re planning to sell, speak to Dunsfold, as they may be interested, and they have a good collection of unique/different p38’s.

Cheers, Steve

[sunseeker]

Thanks Steve,

I will give Dunsfold a call and see what they say.

Thanks again.

Here is the web site that has a list of Overfinch landrovers on it. This is my one. https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&am...

[DKL]

Thought I'd offer this up for our consideration
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
Looks the part, not tiny miles and 25th anniversay cars go for more than 3x the price.
I like it but you'd be a brave person to spend that on a p38. Maybe that will change.

[squirdan]

sunseeker said:

Here is a picture of my P38 Overfinch 570 HSE. It is a very early production model. being November 1994 I have had it a few years now. I am wondering if there are many of these Overfinch P38s around. I am getting a 1989 Range Rover Classic. It needs a bit of work. So I might sell the Overfinch to fund the classic restoration.

Edited by sunseeker on Thursday 23 November 01:17

about 10 years ago I went down to Overfinch Farnham to view one exactly like that but in dark blue. It had an unbelievable stereo system fitted - basically a false boot floor had been installed and the entire 6 inch deep well was filled with kit, all beautifully laid out in a custome enclosure, and connected with gold plated cables. They showed me the invoice and the stereo had cost some mad fool £20k installed at the time the Overfinch conversion was done

I cant remember why I didnt buy it - probably an attack of common sense but it was a lovely car

[N Dentressangle]

Remember the blue RR I posted earlier? Well, the inevitable has happened, and I'm now looking at giving it a home...

I know this won't end well (or cheaply, at any rate), but hey ho.

Sounds like there's lots of expertise on these here, so I thought I'd take a few more pics for your thoughts. I've got no experience of RR's so my assessment of its rough bits could be way out, and happy to be corrected!

Not taking delivery until after Xmas, and it's going into the garage next week to have its heater matrix replaced (exploded in style on the M5 a couple of weeks ago), so not having to do that fun little job is a bonus! A couple more general views to start with:





Under the bonnet is scruffy, but looks OK. It's had a lot of new parts - steering column, alternator, water pump to name a few - and the bulkhead has a couple of rust scabs but nothing which looks serious. The n/s inner wing has a couple of holes at the top, which look simple enough to weld up:





Interior is similar - scruffy in places, with some fettling needed to broken bits of trim here and there. Of course, some of the toys don't work - heated seats, e mirrors, switchgear lighting etc - and there's plenty to be getting on with:




Footwells have had welding in the past but seem sound:




Rear arches are starting to bubble on the surface, but they're solid. I'm thinking it's a case of sanding and repainting on the top, and the usual cleanup and soak with underseal & waxoyl underneath in the time honoured LR fashion:




Moving to the back, it's a case of the usual scruffiness which'll need tidying up, as well as the same rust treatment for the rear of the boot floor. This RR has never seen waxoyl as far as I can tell - it's quite dry underneath and could really do with a filthy day with the paraffin gun, compressor and can of stinky Finnegans:




Engine sounds good and uses little oil, with no major leaks. It's used water for the past 3 years and 30k miles - about a pint a week, according to the owner. My nasty suspicion is that head gaskets won't be long for this world, although there's no evidence of water in the oil and I would have thought a dodgy HG would have failed by now? Not too much of a tragedy if so, as far as I can see, but again, all thoughts welcome. The doomsday alternative is slipped liners, I guess, but I can't hear any appropriate noises. I'm thinking at least a sniff test might be useful. I could still back out!

Ideas on value welcome too, before I tell you how much I've agreed!

[RobXjcoupe]

Tbh it’s not what you paid for it but where it’s going to end. My current grotbag has an agreed insurance value of £1500 and she isn’t too good but really worth only scrap. The question of value on these is when they go back together with good neat and possibly invisible repairs. I’ll be doing my car myself which of course is a challenge but it will take time as I don’t have an open cheque book.
They are simply built and my background is with body production and new panels so this is gonna be a kinda reverse build, repair and make good with what I have. An excuse to buy all sorts of different tools and equipment

[kevin st]

The problem I found was the deeper i dug the more rust I found , ended up replacing or major repairs to , front floors, sills, innner wings, 7 of the body mounts, kick panels, inner / outer rear arches rear doors, tailgate and bonnet!
On the plus side I only had to change 1 brake pipe on the mechanucal side.
I am.pretty happy with the way it turned out though.

[DonkeyApple]

That looks nice.

I'll have a pretty mint, 90s 2 door shell going spare in the New Year. They're going for good money now as people realise they can be so much cheaper than sorting rot.

[RobXjcoupe]

kevin st said:

The problem I found was the deeper i dug the more rust I found , ended up replacing or major repairs to , front floors, sills, innner wings, 7 of the body mounts, kick panels, inner / outer rear arches rear doors, tailgate and bonnet!
On the plus side I only had to change 1 brake pipe on the mechanucal side.
I am.pretty happy with the way it turned out though.

That is a lovely colour. A bit marmite to some but I really like it

[Purso]

Anyone know where I could find a driverside front wing at short notice other than the obvious ebay. Its a 1991 3.9 vogue se and some friendly so and so banged it when it was parked and decided not to leave a note only a dent and a lot of red paint!

[JonathaniTall]

whats an Overfinch classic worth?
I know its a "how longs a bit o string" question, but I have one and am debating whether to get it renovated, sell it or /junk it?
my 1987 car (conv in '94?) has the chevy v8, uprated transfer box and lots of goodies, but think the head gasket has gone.
has been sat in the garden for few years since fuel pump died, I had some work done on the rust, but......