My brief car history, and my Range Rover 4.6
Discussion
So, I've now got pretty much all of the interior work done. To show best how it's come on, here's a before shot of the dashboard:
and here's how it looks today:
All in all, I'm over the moon. The heated seats now both work again as they should, in fact, I'm in the rare position of being able to say that currently, everything on the car works, cruise control included. The bolster damage on the drivers seat was the sponge in the cover, and actually has come up like a new seat. I'm just really happy with it. Here's some more photo's:
One of the things I'm most happy with is the stitched leather centre console that replaced the old plastic affair, the ash grey compliments the lightstone leather really well I think, and the wood looks great against it:
All in all, I'm really happy with it!
Also, an engine bay picture as requested:
and here's how it looks today:
All in all, I'm over the moon. The heated seats now both work again as they should, in fact, I'm in the rare position of being able to say that currently, everything on the car works, cruise control included. The bolster damage on the drivers seat was the sponge in the cover, and actually has come up like a new seat. I'm just really happy with it. Here's some more photo's:
One of the things I'm most happy with is the stitched leather centre console that replaced the old plastic affair, the ash grey compliments the lightstone leather really well I think, and the wood looks great against it:
All in all, I'm really happy with it!
Also, an engine bay picture as requested:
tty nappy thats exploded over the interior. But yours looks good.Thanks 
I'm keeping my eyes open for a wood rimmed wheel, they tend to be around the £300 mark, but it's more of a luxury at the moment as I have other things I want to get done mechanically before winter. I'm trying to get all the niggles and maintenance jobs done so I don't have to do anything over the winter. Nothing kills enthusiasm for the job like howling wind and rain in the upper realms of Northumberland
I think I have some mats sorted which is nice, it's definitely on the cards before the weather turns, the carpets suffered last year.
The walnut and cream interior seems be a marmite thing! A lot of people appear to regard it as old man, etc. I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be to be honest, I'm definitely far more pipe and slippers than carbon fibre
I'm keeping my eyes open for a wood rimmed wheel, they tend to be around the £300 mark, but it's more of a luxury at the moment as I have other things I want to get done mechanically before winter. I'm trying to get all the niggles and maintenance jobs done so I don't have to do anything over the winter. Nothing kills enthusiasm for the job like howling wind and rain in the upper realms of Northumberland
I think I have some mats sorted which is nice, it's definitely on the cards before the weather turns, the carpets suffered last year.
The walnut and cream interior seems be a marmite thing! A lot of people appear to regard it as old man, etc. I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be to be honest, I'm definitely far more pipe and slippers than carbon fibre
Update time 
So, an update as to what else I've replaced / fixed / broke of late.
First of all, I had a list of things I wanted to get done before the weather started to worsen, and winter arrived. If I can possibly get away with it, I don't want to be lying in a puddle on my back hitting things with a hammer this year. So, with that in mind, roughly what I had left on my list was:
New Rear Discs
New Rear Pads
Full New Exhaust pretty much
Decats for a bit of noise / torque / economy?
4 new dampers
Track Rods and Bar
Drag Rods and Bar
Steering Damper
Gearbox Flush and Refill + Filter change
Diff Oil Change
So I had a bit of a splurge on parts, and annoyed Parcel Force a bit:
Shiny things
First and easiest job, as you do, I replaced the green and gold Land Rover badge from the front grille. I've already debadged the rear, and I didn't really like the badge being the only green and gold on the car as it didn't really go in my eyes.
So I replaced it with a black and silver one:
Moving on to proepr jobs, lesson number 1, it's all in the prep:
So I removed my old downpipes and cats, you have to remove the gearbox crossmember to get them out. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the best way to get it out after you've unbolted it is to use a jack to slightly press apart the chassis rails and it drops out. Or, you can hit it, and yourself, a lot with a hammer.
Gearbox supported with a jack, and the crossmember removed:
Downpipe unbolted from the manifold and removed:
At this point I took the opportunity to heatwrap the passenger side manifold. I only had enough heatwrap to do one during the head gasket job, so I did the drivers side as it's a mare to remove, the passenger side is a doddle:
And refitted:
At this point I replaced the steering damper and track rod assembly, I did the drag link assembly when I replaced the front shocks, but I didn't take any pictures at that point. Old vs new:
Then I heatwrapped my decat downpipe:
I did a quick mock up of how the exhaust will go together, I chose a Janspeed stainless steel catback system. The quality seems really good:
Then I fitted it, no pics apart from the completed one. The reason being, I decided to do all these jobs before winter arrived and the weather turned, so obviously, come the fitment weekend, it lashed down with rain
Excuse the umbrella stand ruining the picture:
Anyway, I cracked on with dampers and brakes, with my makeshift weather solution
Shiny new drilled and grooved rear discs fitted, and EBC GreenStuff pads:
And old vs new rear dampers, I chose Britpart Cellular Dynamic's, as they're cheaper than the Bilsteins, but seem to have a good reputation, and my parts bill was already high enough
And fitted. That's the only picture I have currently, as it just got too wet to take any more pictures without risking my phone dying:
Last but not least, this is probably one of my favourite modifications so far, I wanted to relocate the LPG control unit. It was fitted to the dash in an easy to access, but not particularly useful place in the instrument binnacle. You have to lean forward over the wheel to see it the level easily, and I didn't really like how it looked like a bit of an afterthought. You can see it's old location in this picture I took a while back, it's the circular button affair out of focus in the bottom right of the clocks area:
As I fitted a new clock surround with a walnut veneer, I had the perfect opportunity to move it, as I would have needed to redrill the surround anyway to fit the LPG unit in the same place as before:
So here it is now:
I like the location because it's hidden from view when the ashtray is shut, and it's easily accessible, and easy to see from the drivers seat. The ashtray lid and general dashboard shield it from sunlight so it's easy to see the LED's during the day, and it just happened to be a perfect fit after some slight modification for the cigarette lighter location. I've simply unwired this. I think I've used it twice since I got the car, I didn't like it's location anyway, as to use it you had to have wires lying all over the console and it looked messy. In time I plan to relocate a power source in the boot, and use it to power a Land Rover coolbox. Excuse the state of the ashtray area, it's been used to stash interior screws and all kinds while I've been tinkering, it's been cleaned now!
Finally, now it's in pretty good order for the winter, sounds the part and rides better, I had a mission about some fields in it to err, bed the shocks in. Or just because it's fun:
The exhaust is fantastic, I'm really happy with it. It's very throaty, and you can get a deep V8 rumble out of it, but if you're on the motorway, it doesn't drone at all, in fact it's only just noticeable. Unless you plant your foot..
I'll sort a video out of the sound, but it's pretty much exactly what I was after, it's quite throbby under load. The decats sort of suprised me. I've heard some reports that removing them improves fuel consumption slightly, less restriction and all that I guess. My experience so far is that it's definitely no better, probably slightly worse. I think I'm currently averaging 15.8mpg, whereas before I was probably getting nearer 18.7mpg. However, the difference in driveability is profound. The car just feels like it has far far more torque. It changes down gears far less on hills, and pulls itself along like a train. I'm happy to take the slight hit on economy for the improvement in performance.
So that's where it's at now really, I've got a few more little things I'd like to do before winter, but not masses.
So, an update as to what else I've replaced / fixed / broke of late.
First of all, I had a list of things I wanted to get done before the weather started to worsen, and winter arrived. If I can possibly get away with it, I don't want to be lying in a puddle on my back hitting things with a hammer this year. So, with that in mind, roughly what I had left on my list was:
New Rear Discs
New Rear Pads
Full New Exhaust pretty much
Decats for a bit of noise / torque / economy?
4 new dampers
Track Rods and Bar
Drag Rods and Bar
Steering Damper
Gearbox Flush and Refill + Filter change
Diff Oil Change
So I had a bit of a splurge on parts, and annoyed Parcel Force a bit:
Shiny things
First and easiest job, as you do, I replaced the green and gold Land Rover badge from the front grille. I've already debadged the rear, and I didn't really like the badge being the only green and gold on the car as it didn't really go in my eyes.
So I replaced it with a black and silver one:
Moving on to proepr jobs, lesson number 1, it's all in the prep:
So I removed my old downpipes and cats, you have to remove the gearbox crossmember to get them out. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the best way to get it out after you've unbolted it is to use a jack to slightly press apart the chassis rails and it drops out. Or, you can hit it, and yourself, a lot with a hammer.
Gearbox supported with a jack, and the crossmember removed:
Downpipe unbolted from the manifold and removed:
At this point I took the opportunity to heatwrap the passenger side manifold. I only had enough heatwrap to do one during the head gasket job, so I did the drivers side as it's a mare to remove, the passenger side is a doddle:
And refitted:
At this point I replaced the steering damper and track rod assembly, I did the drag link assembly when I replaced the front shocks, but I didn't take any pictures at that point. Old vs new:
Then I heatwrapped my decat downpipe:
I did a quick mock up of how the exhaust will go together, I chose a Janspeed stainless steel catback system. The quality seems really good:
Then I fitted it, no pics apart from the completed one. The reason being, I decided to do all these jobs before winter arrived and the weather turned, so obviously, come the fitment weekend, it lashed down with rain
Excuse the umbrella stand ruining the picture:
Anyway, I cracked on with dampers and brakes, with my makeshift weather solution
Shiny new drilled and grooved rear discs fitted, and EBC GreenStuff pads:
And old vs new rear dampers, I chose Britpart Cellular Dynamic's, as they're cheaper than the Bilsteins, but seem to have a good reputation, and my parts bill was already high enough
And fitted. That's the only picture I have currently, as it just got too wet to take any more pictures without risking my phone dying:
Last but not least, this is probably one of my favourite modifications so far, I wanted to relocate the LPG control unit. It was fitted to the dash in an easy to access, but not particularly useful place in the instrument binnacle. You have to lean forward over the wheel to see it the level easily, and I didn't really like how it looked like a bit of an afterthought. You can see it's old location in this picture I took a while back, it's the circular button affair out of focus in the bottom right of the clocks area:
As I fitted a new clock surround with a walnut veneer, I had the perfect opportunity to move it, as I would have needed to redrill the surround anyway to fit the LPG unit in the same place as before:
So here it is now:
I like the location because it's hidden from view when the ashtray is shut, and it's easily accessible, and easy to see from the drivers seat. The ashtray lid and general dashboard shield it from sunlight so it's easy to see the LED's during the day, and it just happened to be a perfect fit after some slight modification for the cigarette lighter location. I've simply unwired this. I think I've used it twice since I got the car, I didn't like it's location anyway, as to use it you had to have wires lying all over the console and it looked messy. In time I plan to relocate a power source in the boot, and use it to power a Land Rover coolbox. Excuse the state of the ashtray area, it's been used to stash interior screws and all kinds while I've been tinkering, it's been cleaned now!
Finally, now it's in pretty good order for the winter, sounds the part and rides better, I had a mission about some fields in it to err, bed the shocks in. Or just because it's fun:
The exhaust is fantastic, I'm really happy with it. It's very throaty, and you can get a deep V8 rumble out of it, but if you're on the motorway, it doesn't drone at all, in fact it's only just noticeable. Unless you plant your foot..
I'll sort a video out of the sound, but it's pretty much exactly what I was after, it's quite throbby under load. The decats sort of suprised me. I've heard some reports that removing them improves fuel consumption slightly, less restriction and all that I guess. My experience so far is that it's definitely no better, probably slightly worse. I think I'm currently averaging 15.8mpg, whereas before I was probably getting nearer 18.7mpg. However, the difference in driveability is profound. The car just feels like it has far far more torque. It changes down gears far less on hills, and pulls itself along like a train. I'm happy to take the slight hit on economy for the improvement in performance.
So that's where it's at now really, I've got a few more little things I'd like to do before winter, but not masses.
5potTurbo said:
You did all that work to sell it?
I thought this was a keeper....
It was meant to be, however circumstances conspired against me. I've got a 90 mile a day commute now, and financially, it doesn't make sense to either run it daily, or run it as a weekend car and then have a daily banger. So, I decided to sell up and get one car that could do a commute and be economical, but also put a bit of a grin on my face.I thought this was a keeper....
I'll miss it, but I learnt loads bringing up to the standard it is now, and I enjoyed every minute of it!
D4MJT said:
It was meant to be, however circumstances conspired against me. I've got a 90 mile a day commute now, and financially, it doesn't make sense to either run it daily, or run it as a weekend car and then have a daily banger. So, I decided to sell up and get one car that could do a commute and be economical, but also put a bit of a grin on my face.
I'll miss it, but I learnt loads bringing up to the standard it is now, and I enjoyed every minute of it!
I can understand that. Real shame as the work you've done was superb.I'll miss it, but I learnt loads bringing up to the standard it is now, and I enjoyed every minute of it!
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