N Dentressangle

There's an AR dealer film on YT showing how to adjust the gear lever position which you've probably seen:

Would it not just be feeding a signal re gear lever position into the gearbox computer, which then signals the valve solenoids to move accordingly?

Good plan, and commendable self-control! 😉 Those fuse boxes are just shit (as far as I can tell) and not expensive, so if you can find a replacement which isn't purest Chinesium it's probably worth fitting.

Brilliant progress, as ever. Whoever wired the fan in (not me, honest!) was a right numpty, so nice to see another rats' nest sorted out. I see you've been picking at the dash varnish 😉 You're not wrong about the attention. I don't think I took that car out once without someone commenting or starting a conversation about it. It must be the colour, although Spitfires aren't nearly as common as they used to be. And the shape is gorgeous.

Looks like the story of Blackborough House is ongoing: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-12135703/Grade-II-listed-country-home-Blackborough-goes-sale-1-5million.html

Nice work, as ever. The rattle is the driver's door check strap. Took me ages to trace that. Sounds like the column but it isn't.

Fibreglass bonnet. No overdrive. No thanks

Mounts are new anyway, I think, and don't look to move at all so you can probably save yourself the ££. I also flushed the cooling system and filled with 40% antifreeze. Glad that wax doll of me isn't progressing any further 😉

Brilliant work - optimum solution I reckon. It never came close to overheating when the thermostat was working properly. Sat solidly just under the N mark, so I'd have thought that's a fix.

Now they look alright. Comfy enough and would suit the car too. Plus the ambience of a quality* marque like Triumph will definitely* raise the tone a touch 😉

Remember actually using that yard in what must have been 1990/91. I was at uni in Exeter (bad decision - too small, boring and rains all the fuckin time) and needed stuff for my Saab 96. It took some finding in those pre-satnav days. You basically headed for Cullompton then drove around the lanes for a bit until it appeared. Yard and house were exactly as the pics show. They had pretty much everything if you were into old crap, with no moderns at all. Very much a rummage through the brambles and undergrowth and see what you can find job. Then hunt for the guy who ran the place somewhere in that massive Scooby Doo house. Happy days.

That's how I got mine. Work of fiction - they didn't give a toss. I think the new 'Motoring Club' replicates most of the discounts these days, mind

This one's already been off-roaded, with shitty paintwork plus dents and scuff in most of the panels. Makes the decision an easy one - I'd have found it hard to treat a straight and original one this way. Top tip: if you want something to use off road, pick one where someone's already bought all the expensive kit (HD bumpers, skid plates etc). All that kit is actually really useful off road and saves you leaving a trail of torn off plastic bits as you go along. Plus you can't really off-road seriously in something you care about the paintwork or panels of. You'll spoil your fun by being worried about damaging it and won't go the 10/10 you need to sometimes. Apart from snorkels on petrols. They're just shit.

You seen how much people ask for that kind of stuff? The wireless hole on an RRC is really shallow, and any messy bollockry with the wiring means it don't fit proper like. I'll probably pick up a nasty cheapo like this just to listen to the radio: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283924193821?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=V68PLFIERvu&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=3fVYaSNwS9a&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

The brilliant thing about Halfords batteries is the guarantee. I've had two new batteries out of them under guarantee, no hassle each time. The receipt's on my emails, so easy to find, and you just have to take it back into the shop to sort it out. Try doing that with Tayna or another distance seller. A Halfords trade card or similar makes them only a fiver more than internet stuff too. So I'm Halfords FTW all the way.

Which leads me onto a bit of a ramble. WTF do you do with an old Range Rover? OK, there's the preservation argument, which I kind of followed with my last one: I kept it standard, looked after the bodywork etc and thought I could make use of it as a limited mileage runaround type thing. Also, if you want the sodding car to hold its value, that's the only way. Look at the ones where any decent coin is being asked, and you'll see originality is the way to go: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145086011207?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=SN5ZaUVWQgi&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=3fVYaSNwS9a&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY But once you've paid all that for an RRC my question stands - what do you actually do with it? The tipping point for my last one came when I realised that the last £80 tank of fuel (yeah, it really was that cheap once) had lasted about 130 miles. FFS - I'd be cheaper using taxis. And don't suggest a diesel. The 300tdi in my Disco is a wonderful engine in many ways, but refinement and power are not on the menu. It has no place in a Range Rover. And there are so many of them about. For a car that rotted like Aldi veg, they really survived well. FB Marketplace lists 13 of them within 60km of where I live, which is amazing for cars now all 30 years old or more. Almost all those 13 cars are £5k+ toys, more than most sane people want to spend on an off-roader, given we've already shown why running a 30+ year old 15mpg car as a daily driver makes no sense. I suspect they will take a long time to sell. So no apologies at all for turning this one into a 100% off road mud slag. They're actually superb off road, especially these late ones with the Borg Warner limited slip transfer box and more grunty 3.9 lump. There'll always be people who want a cherished original one to polish and tootle to shows in, but that's not really me. And there's something really liberating about just bashing a car into what you want it to be. I've never done it before. Costs on this one so far: Purchase - £1500 Trailer hire and diesel - £100 Wait for the next post: I actually have to spend some money on it

If you join these guys: https://glass-uk.org/keeping-information-up-to-date-home-grid-articles.html you get access to TW2 which shows all the green lanes. You could also join https://www.somersetandwiltshirelrc.co.uk/ and go trialling

All been done, yeah: https://www.megasquirt-v8.co.uk/ms_what_is_ms.php plus plenty of other options. Although you'd probably be better off just starting out with an engine that wasn't designed in the late 1950's and has been punted out by Rover using ever more knackered tooling since then. The LS1 swap is one avenue: https://www.alternativeconversion.com/ but to be eligible for ALRC events it needs an engine fitted to a Rover or Land Rover.

Having a snorkel on a diesel makes sense if you're going wading. Loads of vids on YT of folks driving with water up to the windscreen etc. On a petrol it's a bit more complex. Unless you've waterproofed the whole ignition system, the lightning's going to leak out as soon as it gets damp, the motor will stop and you'll have to swim. Rover thought about this with the V8, and gave the driver early warning that things were getting a bit wet and they should probably go home or buy a Toyota or something. They fitted a massive engine driven fan right in front of the lightning whirler, cunningly dousing it with water and stopping the engine if you try and drive through a deep puddle. Genius. Soil stack / snorkel delete complete: Hard to spot where the hole in the deck panel was, I know. But look carefully. You'll see it eventually.

Properly set up carbs are actually better than the primitive Lucas EFI on these - it's a bit like programming a ZX81 to run it. It has nothing to do with the ignition or timing either. Good explanation for 14CUX vorgins here: http://www.g33.co.uk/pages/technical_fuel_injection.html

Let's play spot the differences:

There now followed some more jobs. Jobs which the PO would have done, if he'd known the difference between a screwdriver and a spanner. Hey ho. This is the second RRC I've bought from someone with fuck all mechanical ability. Seriously, a car which was known in its day for raging unreliability and as an auto-fault shit magnet? Why do they buy these bloody things? Aaaaanyway, first on the list was to make the bastard back doors open from the outside as well as the inside. Kind of a reverse child lock effect. Here's the door, pants down: You need to remove that shiny gold plate (not actually gold), unbolt the door handle then adjust the fiddly little rod which links the handle to the lock. First door took me about 2 hrs trying to work out how to access everything, second was done in 30min. So it goes. The great* thing about LR products (old ones, anyway) is that although they're really shit and break almost all the time, you can actually mend or adjust pretty much everything so it works again. For a bit.

You haven't missed the boat at all. Defenders are £5k+, and rubbish value when you look at what they are and do. Disco 1's are basically an RRC with a better interior and a diesel motor, and they're haveable for £1500+. You can still find an RRC for this price - it's what I paid for mine - and the welding (there will always be some) isn't usually that difficult. The rear arches / belt mounts are abou £45 for the repair panel and just spotweld in once the old one is drilled and ground off. Sills are just box section, so easy to fix. The rear X member is a bit tedious if it's completely rotten, but can be patched. The worst area to repair is if it's rotted around the bulkhead above and underneath the brake servo. It's an MoT fail obvs, but it's also a right bollock to fix as you have to take the pedals out and also the entire dashboard - a day's work. I would walk away from one which was rotten around there. Front inner arches rot, but aren't an MoT fail as they aren't structural. You can just rivet on some repairs if you want. The ZF 4hp22 autobox lasts really well, the V8 puts up with neglect / abuse willingly, and the worst problem is the 12-18mpg. Which isn't a problem if you don't do many miles. £2-3000 will still buy a worthwhile RRC, only just a bit more than you'd pay for a Disco 1. Just ignore the dreamers who've been reading too many Kingsley Cars ads and think the blown paint rotten pooheap is worth £5k. Like this muppet: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1510546979688901/ No surprise it's been for sale for ages.

Right, so time to start welding the rusty shitbox up. No-one buys an RRC (or Disco 1 for that matter) and imagines they won't be doing a bit* of welding and the Big Red Turd was no different. That nasty hole in the rear X member was easily dealt with: As this is an off road toy, the final appearance was not something I gave two fucks about. However, after some sealant, paint and underseal it looked pretty good! Filler and paint makes me the welder I ain't, as they say. Bit of digging around the boot floor led to some more patching. Luckily I noticed the return fuel line was right under this hole before I deployed the sparkle stick and blew myself onto the moon: At this point I wasn't bored witless of welding so thought I'd be trick and actually make a panel that kind of fitted: But don't worry, I soon got fed up with this uncharacteristically conscientious approach and just blammed the next big patch over the top: Fuck it - it's an off roader and that's plenty strong enough. With everything seam sealed, I then bartled two nice thick coats of red oxide over the whole boot floor: That'll learn it. I've put the boot carpet back in but not the undermatting. The seats and all the rest of the crap out of the back went to the tip, as said. Not interested in screaming passengers anyway.

No worries. I think you probably drive a fair bit harder than me, which is great - as you say, it's what these cars were built for and I certainly drove them that way 30 years ago! Plus you'd be disappointed if there were nothing to fix 😉