Abandoned Range Rover P38... Resurrection or Bust

[Tyre Tread]

Bobberoo said:

It's soul destroying when you have to put something back together knowing you haven't fixed it yet!!!

Disappointing, yes.

Made it to the car meet AND BACK and in the process cracked the first thousand miles since it went back on the road.

one small puddle on drivers side mat under the dash (suspect cabin air filter) and one drip on my head from the sunroof from the rusty bit in previous pic. The main drain channel is dry so could it be condensation?

[Steve93]

Tyre Tread said:

The only piece of advice I can give you visa vie Range Rovers is, if you must buy a V8 P38 buy a later one with the Thor engine management (Bosch) rather than the Gems (Lucas) one.

Another few hours lost trying to get the passenger blend motor to work without success so I've thrown it back together(ish) for now until I can get a Nanocom on it.

Rear Jazz brakes freed off and friend's Fabia bumper off and back on again to sort the reversing sensors (He hadn't pushed the connectors back on properly on 2 of the sensors so easy fix) ETA: Oh and neighbours car put onto one of my battery conditioners to help bring it back to life.

Will take the RR to a car meet at Mahmilad near Pontypool tomorrow morning if I can drag myself out of bed after today's exertions (achey breaky) .

Edited by Tyre Tread on Sunday 29th January 12:57

Yes I fell victim to the Lucas system with my old V8 Disco ES....car is scrap now, but still have the 3.9 in my shed awaiting a rebuild.

Admittedly my P38 is more of a daily/towing/winter hack, so I don't tend to be too fussy with it but it's still had a load of work including a 2" lift coil conversion, big BF Goodrich all terrains etc...still manages to put a smile on my face though, even with a 0-60 time you have to measure with a calendar

[eliot]

Tyre Tread said:

The only piece of advice I can give you visa vie Range Rovers is, if you must buy a V8 P38 buy a later one with the Thor engine management (Bosch) rather than the Gems (Lucas) one.

Another few hours lost trying to get the passenger blend motor to work without success so I've thrown it back together(ish) for now until I can get a Nanocom on it.

Rear Jazz brakes freed off and friend's Fabia bumper off and back on again to sort the reversing sensors (He hadn't pushed the connectors back on properly on 2 of the sensors so easy fix) ETA: Oh and neighbours car put onto one of my battery conditioners to help bring it back to life.

Will take the RR to a car meet at Mahmilad near Pontypool tomorrow morning if I can drag myself out of bed after today's exertions (achey breaky) .

Edited by Tyre Tread on Sunday 29th January 12:57

Yes the thor’s (my2000 facelift) are much better.
As for the blend motors, you might have ‘sticky flaps’ where the whole blower unit is stiff and makes it hard going for the motors to work, I have pages and videos on my website (see profile) explaining it.
you should of removed the whole dash, can be done in a few hours with only one minor bodge of cutting a small ear off that supports the offside blower pipe which avoids the need to remove the steering column.

the whole blower assembly can be removed without disturbing the a/c system btw.

[Tyre Tread]

The sun shone for a few minutes today so I went outside and decided to do a small thing: Since it was already out, fix the glove box i.e. reattach the small bracket that holds the mini strut to the plastic box.

How many tools do you need for such a simple job?



Several minutes later:




Tided up the tools from the bench that I'd used over the weekend and then went inside to make a mess finishing off getting the internal house doors to fit properly.

Been reading up on replacing the sunroof seal. That doesn't sound like it's an easily accomplished task either.

Still haven't even removed the sunroof blind. I am assured that you can bow them and take them out but each time I have a half hearted attempt I feel like something is going to break and I chicken out.

The lexus is going back on the road on Wednesday so I'm half tempted to SORN the RR.

[Mikebentley]

SORN is the third from last stage of automotive Nirvana closely followed by “get rid” and “destroy “.

OP I admire your efforts with the old boat.

[Tyre Tread]

Mikebentley said:

SORN is the third from last stage of automotive Nirvana closely followed by “get rid” and “destroy “.

OP I admire your efforts with the old boat.

Thank you

Used to think like you BUT now I realise that nit SORNing a car that I might (i.e. probably won't) use, is akin to handing money over to the Government and saying, yeah, it's fine to charge me £30+ a month for me not using my car. So now, my policy is, if I'm not sure if I'll use it, I SORN it and save the cash. If I decide I need it, I just tax is. no big deal - 2 mins online and it's done. I've calculated that over the last year this new "policy" has save me IRO £500 that I can use for other things.

If any corporate body was to charge us in the same way we are charged RFL then Trading Standards would be taking them to task. In this day and age the tax being by the month, rather then by the day, and refunds being given by cheque is just ludicrous. The worst part of course being buying and selling a car where seller gets charged to end of the month and buyer is charged from beginning of month- Gov't gets paid twice for the month.

Edited by Tyre Tread on Monday 6th February 16:45

[Tyre Tread]

Almost a week since my last post but I haven't been idle.

I spent most of the weekend pulling the gearbox from a 1983 Marcos coupe and using bread to help dismantle it. Nope, I'm not joking, bread! Who knew?

Today I decided to see if fitting the silicone vacuum hose would fix the cruise control. I was dreading it but was much easier than I thought. Took it for a spin and well, what do you know, working cruise control.

This victory was soon overwhelmed by the fact the bloody car has started clunking on acceleration and braking! FML. Why can't it just behave so i can make some forward progress?

[JeremyH5]

Go on, you just love all the deferred maintenance items coming out to play, don’t you?

[HarryD]

I think it might be best to get rid now.

If you’re still looking to scratch the RR itch I’m sure there’re some better/newer (L322) examples - at not too much money, that whilst won’t be faultless, may afford you more use between spanner time.

[Tyre Tread]

HarryD said:

I think it might be best to get rid now.

If you’re still looking to scratch the RR itch I’m sure there’re some better/newer (L322) examples - at not too much money, that whilst won’t be faultless, may afford you more use between spanner time.

Thanks for the positivity and encouragement but judging by the experiences of a friend who has two L322s it would be out of the frying pan and into the fire.

[Tyre Tread]

JeremyH5 said:

Go on, you just love all the deferred maintenance items coming out to play, don’t you?

Of course. At least it saves me on gym membership fees and keeps me from spending my money on beer, cigarettes and drugs.

[Tyre Tread]

Tyre Tread said:

The Lexus is going back on the road on Wednesday so I'm half tempted to SORN the RR.

I know it's considered bad form to quote oneself but I've been bumbling about in the Lexus IS250 again today. It's 16 years old, so not much younger then the RR but a completely different experience and, relatively speaking, so reliable. Yes it threw a code the other day but cleared it and it's been fine since so probably objecting to being l;aid up for 3 months.

If only Lexus made Range Rovers (Somebody will say Land Cruiser I'm sure but they really are not the same)

[Bobberoo]

Tyre Tread said:

JeremyH5 said:

Go on, you just love all the deferred maintenance items coming out to play, don’t you?

Of course. At least it saves me on gym membership fees and keeps me from spending my money on beer, cigarettes and drugs.

So just what do you use to numb the pain then?!??!?

[HarryD]

Tyre Tread said:

HarryD said:

I think it might be best to get rid now.

If you’re still looking to scratch the RR itch I’m sure there’re some better/newer (L322) examples - at not too much money, that whilst won’t be faultless, may afford you more use between spanner time.

Thanks for the positivity and encouragement but judging by the experiences of a friend who has two L322s it would be out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Haha sorry! That didn’t sound as negative in my head!

I have read with interest and looked forward to seeing it in action.

I have fond memories of being a passenger in a P38 one on a trip from the UK to Bruges many years ago.

[Tyre Tread]

Bobberoo said:

Tyre Tread said:

JeremyH5 said:

Go on, you just love all the deferred maintenance items coming out to play, don’t you?

Of course. At least it saves me on gym membership fees and keeps me from spending my money on beer, cigarettes and drugs.

So just what do you use to numb the pain then?!??!?

Self abuse!

[anonymous-user]

Tyre Tread said:

Bobberoo said:

Tyre Tread said:

JeremyH5 said:

Go on, you just love all the deferred maintenance items coming out to play, don’t you?

Of course. At least it saves me on gym membership fees and keeps me from spending my money on beer, cigarettes and drugs.

So just what do you use to numb the pain then?!??!?

Self abuse!

Coke and hookers?

[Arnold Cunningham]

Tyre Tread said:

Almost a week since my last post but I haven't been idle.
I spent most of the weekend pulling the gearbox from a 1983 Marcos coupe and using bread to help dismantle it. Nope, I'm not joking, bread! Who knew?

Pilot bearing in the flywheel?

[Tyre Tread]

Arnold Cunningham said:

Tyre Tread said:

Almost a week since my last post but I haven't been idle.
I spent most of the weekend pulling the gearbox from a 1983 Marcos coupe and using bread to help dismantle it. Nope, I'm not joking, bread! Who knew?

Pilot bearing in the flywheel?

2 pilot bearings, one behind the other and a bush which had to be removed as it protruded as far as the bolt heads securing the flywheel and was so close that you couldn't get a socket on the bolt heads,but even if you could have got a spanner on them the hex of the head wouldn't have turned because it would have fouled on the bush.

Today I took the Strange Rover to the gun club; a 40 off mile round trip and i was sat on the motorway using the newly fixed cruise control set at 60mph in the sunshine with some heat emanating at least from the driver side and all seemed right with the world.

Just need to work out what the clonking is.

[Bobberoo]

Tyre Tread said:

Arnold Cunningham said:

Tyre Tread said:

Almost a week since my last post but I haven't been idle.
I spent most of the weekend pulling the gearbox from a 1983 Marcos coupe and using bread to help dismantle it. Nope, I'm not joking, bread! Who knew?

Pilot bearing in the flywheel?

2 pilot bearings, one behind the other and a bush which had to be removed as it protruded as far as the bolt heads securing the flywheel and was so close that you couldn't get a socket on the bolt heads,but even if you could have got a spanner on them the hex of the head wouldn't have turned because it would have fouled on the bush.

Today I took the Strange Rover to the gun club; a 40 off mile round trip and i was sat on the motorway using the newly fixed cruise control set at 60mph in the sunshine with some heat emanating at least from the driver side and all seemed right with the world.

Just need to work out what the clonking is.

Have you checked the boot for dead bodies/forgotten about abductees????

[Tyre Tread]

Bobberoo said:

Have you checked the boot for dead bodies/forgotten about abductees????

Frequently but it would have to be a live abductee under the car at the front as that's where the noise is emanating from.

Actually there's no room in the boot as it's full of spare wheel, a box of spare parts and the trim from the dash and glovebox which I've left off until I can get my hands on the Nanocom