Project Land Rover resto - new project and Sandy p25

[richardthestag]

ok, bit of man flu last week but lots of projects on the go and 2 new customer commissions coming in. Business is starting to work out for me. Fucking love my job 

Daily driver plods on, no coolant leak issues at all, now that I have decent core plugs fitted. Still running on petrol rather than LPG and must admit to rather enjoying the little bit of extra urge. which could well be from the new cam and followers.

Southpaw (the 1990 spanish registered RHD conversion) is also enjoying a little more performance. Here I was checking the fuel pump timing which is pretty easy to set. It was a couple of degrees out. Also had the front tracking set which was a little too "toe in". Performance is still leisurely compared to V8 and the gearbox does need to be stirred quite a lot but at least it pulls well from 1500rpm now. Lack of use and year old diesel fuel are also probably not helping.

Other tinsy issue on Southpaw was that the window lift channel rotted out and dropped off. These things are unobtainium so I had to fashion a 4door front window channel to fit instead, here is rusty against donor.

Might seem dramatic but glass flame is only held in by 3 bolts and 3 screws. Here is the cut n'shut window channel fitted. note that the bottom rail of the quarter light has also rotted out.

used the little bit of the window channel left over to fix it! That is all bolted up now and secure again.

Refitted the frame and glass to the door and adjusted it for fit. Door glass now slips up and down more nicely. It could do with new channel felts but they work well enough

Nipped into town and took a pic of the now finished* Southpaw in South Molton (phase 2 works to take place later this year maybe)

A quick distraction from a not entirely uncommon bodged old Land Rover, fix the rattling brake pads on my daily. For some reason new pads, even to OE standards knock back and forth in the calliper, this is fucking annoying.

the fix is to get anti squeal tape from BiggRed and stick it onto the back of each brake pad. This gives the calliper pistons something to bite into on the back of the pad and does hold them steadier in the calliper. 400 mile round trip this weekend will tell whether it is fixed. The pads do have anti squeal backing but it is shiny and slippery

Youtube vids are online for Southpaw

 

[Cooper1]

Great progress. 

 

Did you refit a stock lift cam? 

 

I've been considering putting a Cam in my P38, in 2 minds whether to go "stock" or High lift.. 

 

 

C

[richardthestag]

2 hours ago, Cooper1 said:

Great progress. 

 

Did you refit a stock lift cam? 

 

I've been considering putting a Cam in my P38, in 2 minds whether to go "stock" or High lift.. 

 

 

C

yes, stock cam and composite head gaskets to get the comp ratio back to standardish.

This chappy http://www.v8tuner.co.uk/index.php is very good at explaining pros and cons 

Other specialists just seemed to scoff at my desire for torque over "gearbox and driveshaft wrecking" BHP increases

 

[tapir]

Hi @richardthestag just seen your core plug video, 

Not sure if you subscribe to Britannica Restorations Ltd (in Canada) - reminded me he's mentioned issues with Bripart parts previously (there's a few videos)

 

[Asimo]

This thread is brill. It has completely and permanently removed any desire to own* a real** Range Rover.  But it is really interesting and I still like real** Range Rovers.

 

*Own: "be completely responsible for" as well as "posess, enjoy, control and benefit from".

** Two-door V8 on Strombergs, four speed manual, squadron blue.

[Cooper1]

I personally try not to go blue box/bag unless i have to, bought a rad of them for my P38 and it lasted a week before shitting itself. 

 

[Cooper1]

On 5/12/2018 at 9:29 PM, richardthestag said:

yesterday was supplier finding mission.

 

Main objective was to see Nationwide trim, famous in Range Rover circles

 

After lots of Devon lanes we are on the A361

 

Which can haz be close because of nasty accident but more nice Exmoor Devon / Somerset border roads

 

Rover P4 Guild "we haz us a convoy"

 

Redditch and nationwide trim with lots of interesting neighbours. 

 

Including 20 10 engineering - where I want to be at

 

M5 Grockle traffic jamz

 

A361 still closed - arse

 

Pub to celebrate getting home. 325 mile round trip. average 10.3mpg on LPG ouch

 

This pint is well worth it

That P38 looks familiar  

The twin to mine  

Thats what you need next

[richardthestag]

On 2/6/2020 at 12:21 AM, Cooper1 said:

That P38 looks familiar  

The twin to mine  

Thats what you need next

keep looking at P38, especially the dirt cheap examples, It must be petrol and still have air suspension. Mrs said NOOOOOOOOOOO

[richardthestag]

in other news I am merging my Land Rover and Range Rover threads.

I do not intend to update the Sandy thread,  

 so....

On Sandy the Landy, lined up the new footwell and a-post, ready to weld in

had to make up some repair sections to the inner - transmission tunnel area

butt welded in good enough for a skim of filler and a brush of paint

lifted the whole assembly back onto the car and confirmed that it still fit

before welding it all into place. Here I had also unpicked the vent panel outer skin, what remained isn't worth writing about. outer skins are just in place for alignment checks

remains of passenger side footwell and a-post were quite easy to remove

this is the top of the passenger a-post, or what was left under the filler

all cut out and ready to start the rebuild

fucking thing! had this been for a customer then £1600 +delivery and VAT would have been a no brainer

the horses are off to pastures new this weekend. New owner will be the blind landlord up at the Exmoor pub that I might frequent from time to time

 

[richardthestag]

Here is the passenger side footwell, a-post and trans tunnel repairs all done

open fronted barn is not the best but I do acclimatise to the shit weather

brakes next, this is the off/drivers side, stripped it down ages ago, opted for a complete Britpart rebuild kit, lets see how good it is

parts look noice enough, naturally I made up all the brake lines from scratch

amused to find an m10 metric bleed nipple supplied in a sealed bag with an imperial threaded slave

and the shoe springs are more than 5mm shorter which makes fitting them a cunt, and I do not use that word lightly in this case

but it did all go together, I did not opt to fit the show adjusters supplied as mine were free moving and in great shape

passenger side next, the hub seal had failed and shat axle grease all over the place which is why it is not fitted here.

brief distraction to look at the daily, the steering has been a little heavy recently but suddenly was reluctant to self centre. This UJ on the intermediate steering shaft was seized solid on one plane

had another on the shelf and rude health was restored

[richardthestag]

New customer work showed up last monday, very tidy and very late hard dash Vogue SE but with most of the Vogue SE bits removed

None of the following was due in any way to the current owner.

It made it all the way from Cambridgeshire but conked less that 1 mile from centre of operations and had to be towed in. Merciless cranking and testing ran the battery down

distributor cap is a cheapo Chinese cheese piece of crap, see how melted the terminals are!

another test found bare wires in the loom that feeds the engine ecu

removed the air suspension loom that was all still live and in a carrier bag tie wrapped to the os chassis rail

after fiddling with loom connectors and earth points she fired up! noisily but fired up

Best lob in some antifreeze, the cooling system is just water

Blue clouds over Devonshite and dry rain # confused

arty shot

Next up brakes and steering on Sandy but dinner first

[richardthestag]

last part tonight, all on Sandy the S3 Landy 109 Van

grease soaked hub! rear seal had failed

rebuilt the hub and assembled

next up is the very stiff steering, levering and pulling the top arm off the steering relay

3 steering arm, 6 ball joints and only 3 of them are dead alas the relay is the root cause of the stiff steering. damn and blast

now that I can move the steering I can see the horrific condition of the swivel balls

arselington dangleberries

More to come next week

[richardthestag]

loads of videos on my youtube channel. please subscribe and tell your friends too

 

 

 

[Cooper1]

I watched your RRC video.. 

Amazing the little gremins that appear out of nowhere! 

Engine sounds like a bag of shit though  

 

Shame it's had alot of the VSE bits taken off, seems to be missing the lower valance panel, 'tis also a shame the EAS has been removed!! 

 

great work though!! 

loved the vid!]]

[Cooper1]

Spotted this on the bay of E. 

 

No description. 

 

Looks alright though!!

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Range-Rover-1972-2-door/283784038170?hash=item4212d8c71a:g:OAYAAOSwM0VeSDJx

 

This one too!!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1971-Land-Rover-Range-Rover-3-5-V8-3dr-SUV-Petrol-Manual/184160129115?hash=item2ae0cc905b:g:VZwAAOSwtYxeOnmh

 

Suffix A without the washout interior, seems to have the cloth trim package from exmoor trim.. 

 

Quite a few 90's harddash' too.. 

which are insane prices!!! 

 

 

 

[richardthestag]

bit of a catch up, all this is already on DW for those that have a foot in each camp.

Also my yootoob channel has loads of content on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuPaTTqVo_Tw0_4ypXxY0lQ

Have a gander 

Updatez

1994 Aegean Blue project for a customer

Found relay for supply to heater motor was removed, had another in the stash to tested it before install

Alas all it did was set up an arc on the wire connecting it to supply

removed the fan speed switch and connector for feed and terminal were heat distressed

heater needs to come out, getting good at these

the customer supplied a doner heater unit from a Disco1 but the motor in that was shagged out too. Opted to make one decent unit out of the two

The motor that came out of the RR heater unit had overloaded big time. insulation around the field windings had been on fire and the carbon brushes were melted into their holders. When this thing let go it must have filled the car with some pretty acrid smoke.

Next up was to sort the passenger side exhaust manifold. Those who have seen the vids on youtube will know it was blowing badly. None of the bolts were tight, the locking tabs were missing and one bolt had gone altogether.

And theres more

[richardthestag]

Next up for Aegean Blue, that damned ABS light, luckily you can easily diagnose the root cause using blink codes

Turned out in this case to be front drivers side sensor. Removed it, cleaned it and reset it and all works fine now

getting Aegean Blue ready for MoT, replaced a few bulbs and fixed the screen washers

It failed but only on a steering ball joint and one rubber cap. However the driving experience was somewhat marred by the fiendishly heavy throttle pedal and the lack of any performance over 3k rpm.

The throttle pedal should be a straightforward fix, pedal, cable or throttle housing. Or as it turns out all three.

The lack of performance will most likely be down to bunged up catalytic converters.

[richardthestag]

Onto Sandy now which occupied a couple of days last week.

6 ball joints on the steering 4 are fucked. all four came off in my hands with just a little effort

Bottom of the passenger door has seen better days but the fix may well be left for the next owner

Drivers door lock plate has split. I will dob a little weld in here just to prevent it flexing

Dash lower section being stripped down for repairs

bulkhead fitted to the car and doors rehung so I can check alignment.

I haven't yet fixed the top rail around the vent panels. Inner and outer panels are terminal on this example.

top hinge screw is too long and clashes against the inner frame. Need to shorten each of the top bolts by 4mm ffs

to get the bulkhead aligned better than it was when I first got it, I had to pull the chassis bracket forwards

worked a treat. Then I cut off the dead inner section

more to come

[richardthestag]

next

lined everything up and pop riveted into place

cleaned up the screen hinge supports and bonnet mounts which I had to salvage from the old bulkhead

checking screen fit before welding everything in place

minor calamity with the trusty dirt cheap welding cart. soon fixed with a hammer

screen mounts welded in, rechecked again and then tacked the outer top sections into place.

refitted bonnet to align the bonnet hinges before welding them.

then removed the bulkhead again to tidy welds and finish all the little odds and sods

more to come

[richardthestag]

weather in Devon, much like the rest of the country has been shit

Here is L95 waiting for the next fuck off great storm

welding in all the little catches and other sods

Trial fitted upper and lower dash sections again. This time mainly to check that areas that will be seen once everything is bolted up will be tidy enough

prepped and ready for primer

Nice 2k filler primer

and on the inside

decent seam seal all over the place. next steps will be body filler and a top coat

Later this week. I will try to be more up to date with these posts

[Jenson Velcro]

I’m glad you’re still posting your updates on this site. I enjoy following your work on the various LR products. 
 

from a fellow Devon LR botherer 

[Cooper1]

I watched the utooob videas. 

 

And was amazed to the little fuck off gremlin had returned!!  

Hats off to you i'd of torched the fucker!!  

 

Atleast i know where to go if i ever get my hands on a rusty chunk of classic LR  

 

 

 

[timolloyd]

Yes as above - you have the patience of a saint. That Aegean Blue has fought you!

Keep up the great work with the videos.

[richardthestag]

Right the last couple of weeks have been a bit of an arse really!

Aegean Blue has been faffing me off big time to get the bottom of the "why wont you start? you bastard!" more of that later

First up, getting MoT fail points fixed, also fitting a new front exhaust and cat system and sorting the fiendishly heavy throttle peddle

After lubing the pedal pivot and the cable, I had to remove the plenum to lube the throttle body

Found that the Red signal wire from the Throttle Position sensor was broken! This will not help urgency of acceleration as the ECU which is used by both LPG and Petrol for some reason relies on it and AFM to dictate fuel load

Nifty zero cost fix was to file back the plastic moulding until I uncovered the three posts inside the unit. Then simply resoldered the wires. Result was now more urgent acceleration and dead light throttle but still have bunged up Cats

Before I got onto that I had to replace one dead steering balljoint and one cap, which ended up also needing a ball joint because it was so close to being fucked it didn't make sense not to. Took the opportunity to relub all the threaded sections which have a good habit of seizing up solid.

then off came the front exhaust section. Easy enough to do once the front anti rollbar is dropped out of the way. However on this car almost every fixing was bodged in one way or another. 30 minute job takes near 2 hours

Here for instance is drivers side manifold which had bolts and a nut and bolt holding it together. Naturally the stud you see here is the remains of a broken bolt, It did shift after getting it to glow and then attacking it with a stud extractor and breaker bar!

The rear steering drag link was also a pain, this is the nearside balljoint that needed a new dustcap. alas the joint was so loose that I couldn't remove the nylock, so ended up cutting it off!

New mild steel front section of exhaust arrived from FamousFour, alas the Lambdas from the old exhaust do NOT fit this boss, they both fit the other boss on this system. FamousFour ordered another set and had them shipped to me, but a 2 day delay.

This joint is always seized, it is one of two parts on the main steering drag link and is reverse threaded. I broke one of my grips by abusing it with a 4ft scaffold tube. Pair of stilsons did get it moving but it was mighty tight. Still at least the tracking can be set now.

more to come

[richardthestag]

Part 2

Brand new Old Stock Land Rover branded (Made in GB) track rod end, with no grease on one side.... ffs. This is the main reason I always remove the dust cap and check em before install

Sorting out the headlight and rear wash wipe found the back of the washer bottle coated in crap. The closing edge on the nearside inner wing to bulkhead is missing. Advised owner and he will sort it

One more day to MoT and customer is collecting in 3 days

New set of exhausts arrived from FamousFour and neither old lamdba fits either boss! Checked everything again and established that old exhaust system cannot be Land Rover, neither Lambda is correct thread for land rover and the old Lambda boss is nearly 1mm smaller. Alas a complete fluke that both lambdas fit onto one boss on the first new system. Fucking hate egg on my face, grovelling apology to FamousFour and an order to Devon4x4 who can get me a pair of new Lambdas for later that day

where I papped this beauty with checkaplate floors and idiotic wheels and lift. That and the high gloss paint, pretty sure all series should be satin finished were all that were wrong with it

Sensible rules and regs on new cats which are tinsy compared to old, fitted them and lolloped down to Mr MoT happy that the car is behaving. MoT was passed and then the bastard would not restart. It did eventually and I drove it 7 miles back to base where it died again

Diagnosis fully underway, mush of which was me rechecking stuff I had already done. LPG emulators sit between the injectors and the 14CUX ECU. These were removed and it started, oh oh oh

This chap is the LPG brain, how many grinder sparks can you see?

This is one of the 4 cylinder LPG emulators, something I concluded is wrong with the LPG setup and I couldn't get hold of my friendly LPG supplier because Saturday afternoon

theres more

[richardthestag]

Part 3

Reintsalled all LPG and it wouldn't start, removed all LPG and it wouldnt start! haunted car. Cancelled customer collection

Fuel tank is a slave unit that fits besides drivers chassis rail. not the safest thing out there and it leaks too. Initial tests concluded that the pressure regulator on the fuel injector rail was doing nothing so I ordered one.

In the meantime I got back onto Sandy the Landy bulkhead, filled, sanded and primed the outside. This is now ready for a top coat this week

This thing is going to look a lot better by the end of next week

New regulator arrived in a box of blue joy and wonderment. Fitted and the car fired right up. purring away. Restarted a few times and concluded that the issue was fixed. Then it wouldn't fucking start again!

Dropped the tank to check on connections. Tried to run the tank dry using the pump and it was sucking air so assumed it was.

11 litres later and it was empty,

Pondlife are operating nearby so I took precaution of further securing dad's IIa with this little bastard. More of a visual deterrent than a determined thief but still

tested pump on the bench using water and it had a serious prostrate problem. Found the bowl full of rust lumps and the filter on the bottom of the pump solid with rust. Here it is after cleaning and removing the filter

ended up with a fully functional pump that works well under pressure. Have ordered a new pump filter and some Slosh to seal both the bare steel faces inside the tank and the hole. These pumps were never fitted to steel tanks to my knowledge

 

More next week, filter and tank seal arrive tomorrow, I am headed back to Devon this afternoon and may end up in lock down with Fatha Thestag who is over 70 gaaaah

 

Still it isn't like I have a field of projects to deal with is it

[richardthestag]

lock down update #1/5

I had some odd symptoms which are long gone, had to self isolate and then all non essential travel was blocked. Me in Devon and Mrs and lads in Bucks

Fuck it, I mean that slightly tongue in cheek as I can work and the Mrs cannot moan but not great etc

Anyway you don't want to know about that shit so here is the last load of updates!

fuel pump filter was bought from these chaps, https://www.fuelpumpsonline.co.uk/in-ta ... 1972-p.asp worked perfectly

while the tank was out I went for the full slosh treatment. also found the leak. on this flange and under about 25kg of bathroom fucking sealant

waiting on bits and fed up to be honest with non startingf Aegean Blue I started to strip down the 109 front axle to replace the swivel balls and seals. Check out the fucking bathroom sealer on the bolts! like this shit has known thread lock properties

I was fully expecting it but always nice to see when the brake back plate and shoes can be removed from the hub intact.

top swivel pin removed and the hub carrier drops out. This was topped up with onestop lube which is not normally an issue if you choose not to wade but there was water in here too.

pushing the new swivel stuff into the new swivel bowl is always satisfying

new swivel ball fitted and swivel pins need shimming out for preload. for some reason folks ignore this crap but it is easier to do than falling down the stairs

this is the drivers side hiub, full of alien debris!

Aegean Blue still not starting and passing every fucking test. disti out again so I can observe testing from inside the engine bay. 97% of this shit was on my clock and not the customers because? well just fucking because

here are LUCAS examples of points verses electronic ignition distributor. Same casing but different rotors, and they are important

LOCKDOWN #2 to follow

[tapir]

Thanks for the video's really enjoying them,

Paint on the bulkhead looked cracking

[richardthestag]

Lock, fucking down ( I am coping) #2/5

Aegean Blue still not behaving and everytime the engine flood I need to pull all plugs and protect the catalytic converters

bored with nor start fuck shit I pulled the engine out of the 109 project

bastard rear engine seal failure

as evidenced from the back face of the flywheel

starter is in good shape and responded beautifully to a clean and graphite lube

irritated by the lack of maintenance or Aegean blue I looked at the drive belts which were all fucked

then transferred my anger to the tight steering relay on the 109. These cunts are a CUNT to shift when rusted in place so I had been avoiding that....

I was incredulous with belief when I lifted it out of the front chassis rail with barely any effort

once upside down the shit drained out and I was able to rotate 360degrees it loosened up massively, refilled with engine oil and it is like new! zero cost. love it

now back to the Aegean Blue car, I hooked up my recently relocated (thanks wifeykins) fuel pressure gauge and found all to be well

#3 coming soon - there are 5 parts in total so rest your sphincters

[richardthestag]

#3/5 

out of brown beer so hitting the Hophouse 13 which is very nice indeed

bought a cheapo Lucarse 35 DLM8 distributor on ebay. Mechanical advance seized but good enough

of course! Haunted car started up first click

then diagnosing why OE distributor is stopping engine from starting.. ungrateful spiteful bastard thing

lockdown shenanigans, fucking huge bonfire is the only way to go

rear oil seal needs sump and rear main bearing removal. so lets just get on with it.

3 main bearings, 2.25litres, long throw, and very very very clean inside

and the bearings and journal faces are like brand new

I could have a shave in that reflection

chassis rails are strong and solid but could do with a light tidy up

the sump had some gung in it....

Part 4 is on it's way