The best Christmas present
Discussion
So whilst talking with my mother in law's boyfriend, it turns out he has a 1990 range rover on his drive that he doesn't use, no tax, no MOT, needs a battery to get it running and if I cover his diesel costs he'll tow it to mine for me to keep!
All I know is that it's a 2.5 diesel but I've been wanting a landy for a while and the wife has put her foot down over it (new baby means not allowed to spend money on a toy!). The fact it will be free means guilt free toy and a serious itch can be scratched!
All I know is that it's a 2.5 diesel but I've been wanting a landy for a while and the wife has put her foot down over it (new baby means not allowed to spend money on a toy!). The fact it will be free means guilt free toy and a serious itch can be scratched!
It's on a H reg, so 1990. I'll be doing no more than 2000 miles a year, just doing tip runs, lugging around things too big for the car, towing and then any days when a fwd golf won't hack the weather (pretty infrequent unfortunately!!).
I don't actually need it (just want it) so if it breaks in an expensive way I'll just park it up in the garage until it's convenient to repair. And at 2000 miles a year any fuel consumption is bearable!
I don't actually need it (just want it) so if it breaks in an expensive way I'll just park it up in the garage until it's convenient to repair. And at 2000 miles a year any fuel consumption is bearable!
It won't have been converted. The car has been sat for years now so will need a reasonable amount of fluids changing before its properly road worthy again, I'll need to do some reading in service intervals and buy in a load of oils and filters!
Edited by Nick1point9 on Wednesday 26th December 09:54
You'll need a job lot of 10W40 & EP90 then... 
Change the clutch & brake fluid. It'll also be worth checking the state of all the breathers (axles, gearboxes & engine). Don't forget the air filter either. Oh... and you'll probably need a new battery. IIRC, the VM used a pair of batteries, wired in parallel.
IIRC - The service intervals should be every 6k and if you're feeling REALLY keen, you might want to clean up all of the electrical connections behind the front & rear lights too.
Finally, the bushes have probably all perished, you'll be wanting to change those too. Don't use Poly, just stick to the regular 'Genuine' rubber ones.
However, you'll probably want to check the structure for rust to see if it is actually going to be worth doing anything with it first.
M
- The 10W40 is what the engine took but IIRC you can use it in the gearboxes of that era too.
- EP90 will be used in the transfer case, front & rear diffs.
- Only use 'Genuine' filters.
Change the clutch & brake fluid. It'll also be worth checking the state of all the breathers (axles, gearboxes & engine). Don't forget the air filter either. Oh... and you'll probably need a new battery. IIRC, the VM used a pair of batteries, wired in parallel.
IIRC - The service intervals should be every 6k and if you're feeling REALLY keen, you might want to clean up all of the electrical connections behind the front & rear lights too.
Finally, the bushes have probably all perished, you'll be wanting to change those too. Don't use Poly, just stick to the regular 'Genuine' rubber ones.
However, you'll probably want to check the structure for rust to see if it is actually going to be worth doing anything with it first.
M
Great list, thanks! What's the best place to buy parts? The last MOT advised a couple tyres and a steering ball joint so will need to add those to the list. I'm planning in renewing all fluids but otherwise I'm looking at getting it on axle stands, making a snag list of mechanical bits and going from there.
Nick1point9 said:
Great list, thanks! What's the best place to buy parts? The last MOT advised a couple tyres and a steering ball joint so will need to add those to the list. I'm planning in renewing all fluids but otherwise I'm looking at getting it on axle stands, making a snag list of mechanical bits and going from there.
Frankly, other then the oils, I'd be looking at using Genuine parts for those jobs. As such, you'll be looking at a main dealer...However, don't panic!! Quite a few dealership parts counters will do decent discounts for 'Classic' car parts. You could probably strike a bit of a deal for a 'quantity' of parts too. On top of that, some dealers do advertise decent discounts on mail order type things.
This is the sort of list you're going to need:
2x sets front bearings & gaskets.
2x sets rear bearings (probably the same as the fronts) & gaskets.
2x Front disks & pads.
2x rear disks & pads.
1x Drop arm ball joint.
1x Drag link ball joint.
2x Track rod joints.
Set of bushes (panhard rod, radius arms & trailing arms).
Battery (Poss 2x)
7L EP90
10L 10W40
2x sachets 'One-shot' grease.
Brake fluid
5x Tyres
I'm probably telling my granny to suck eggs here but although this list is a good starting point, you might well find other stuff while in there!!! So be prepared for some of these other jobs:
- Clutch master & slave.
- Brake master.
- Brake lines.
- Calliper pistons & seals.
- Swivel taper bearings & inner seal.
- 'A' frame ball joint.
- Pinion seals.
M
I've got a dealer near me so will try and become friends with them! I think I'll look at doing things in stages, as it will need to stay mobile so that I can access my garage if I need to! What sort of money should I expect to pay for an axle set of brakes and wheel bearings? I can imagine that having been standing as long as it has these will be priorities!
A.J.M said:
Still think it's a free RR? 
Make sure it's solid and there will be plenty of guides online in various owners forums to give step by step guides to change all the above.
If you don't need it right away, then you can work away when you have spare time.
Yeah it's sort of like buying a business for £1 because the business is in a £billion of debt!!!Make sure it's solid and there will be plenty of guides online in various owners forums to give step by step guides to change all the above.
If you don't need it right away, then you can work away when you have spare time.
As I said above I'm going to tackle it in stages, as long as it can move under its own steam then it can be off the road indefinitely so not afraid of a long project!
The jobs aren't too difficult to do in stages or just blitz it over a couple of days.
- Stage 1 - Oils. Warm it up, pop all the drain plugs out and leave for a few hours. Plugs back in, top it all back up & bingo. Grease props, change battery, coolant, etc...
- Stage 2 - Brakes & bearings. These you can do 1x corner at a time and a couple of hours to do. Once all complete, change the clutch & brake fluids.
- Stage 3 - Bushes & steering joints. A puller (for the drop arm) and a 10 tonne press help massively for this. You should be able to do this in a day.
Nick1point9 said:
A.J.M said:
Still think it's a free RR?
Make sure it's solid and there will be plenty of guides online in various owners forums to give step by step guides to change all the above.
If you don't need it right away, then you can work away when you have spare time.
Yeah it's sort of like buying a business for £1 because the business is in a £billion of debt!!!Make sure it's solid and there will be plenty of guides online in various owners forums to give step by step guides to change all the above.
If you don't need it right away, then you can work away when you have spare time.
As I said above I'm going to tackle it in stages, as long as it can move under its own steam then it can be off the road indefinitely so not afraid of a long project!
Take it slowly and learn as you go. Will be a fun project to get into. Good luck
I meant more along the lines of the ones that lock the front wheels in place and pull it along on its rears, I take it it would need to be in 2wd to do this (don't know whether 2/4wd is selectable or not!).
Struggling to find someone with a trailer that can handle 2 tonnes so might have to pay a recovery company, but would rather not as the car is 100 miles from my house!!!!
ETA just found out its permanent 4wd so can't tow it, and its £260 to get it recovered! need to find a trailer to borrow!!
Struggling to find someone with a trailer that can handle 2 tonnes so might have to pay a recovery company, but would rather not as the car is 100 miles from my house!!!!
ETA just found out its permanent 4wd so can't tow it, and its £260 to get it recovered! need to find a trailer to borrow!!
Edited by Nick1point9 on Friday 28th December 09:17
Went to see it over the weekend, it's in surprisingly good condition. Chassis looks pretty good (some surface rust on some of it) but the actual chassis rails are in great condition, it's only the smaller flanges etc that have a bit of rust. Should clean up a treat! Dry interior, tyres still inflated (well, 3 of them, the 4th one is absolutely shagged though!).
Talking to the current owner, he said that they'd try jump starting it in the past (after it had been left standing) and it did crank but not fire. I'm thinking the fuel system may need priming, is there a squeeze bottle type thing under the bonnet for this? I'm going to buy a new fuel filter to fit and fill that with fresh diesel prior to fitting!
Also, does any know what the battery size is (The 0XX number) as I'm having trouble working it out from euro car parts/halfrauds etc! 031 has come up a couple times, and the dimensions look about right!
I was really surprised by how good condition it's in, I'm very tempted to get it running and drive it to a prebooked MOT!
Talking to the current owner, he said that they'd try jump starting it in the past (after it had been left standing) and it did crank but not fire. I'm thinking the fuel system may need priming, is there a squeeze bottle type thing under the bonnet for this? I'm going to buy a new fuel filter to fit and fill that with fresh diesel prior to fitting!
Also, does any know what the battery size is (The 0XX number) as I'm having trouble working it out from euro car parts/halfrauds etc! 031 has come up a couple times, and the dimensions look about right!
I was really surprised by how good condition it's in, I'm very tempted to get it running and drive it to a prebooked MOT!
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