Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - The Range Rover is back!

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, Honey Badger said:

Lever down the light lenses at the flat blade slots at the rear of the light cluster.

Once the lens is out there  are two hex screws to take out, then lever down the back and push towards the screen then remove it from the back facing the sunroof. I haven't removed the light cluster myself but I've seen a post about it on a forum somewhere.

Hope the bumper sensor sorts the pop up hood.

 

 

I've tried prying out the light lenses but with there being a notch but otherwise only smooth surfaces (no lip to pry on) I gave up before destroying anything.

[Schaefft]

The Range Rover is now on the ramp at Birch 4x4, I'm trying to prepare my mind and body for the bills this will produce. Who knows, if they can get it done in time I might be able to pick it up this Saturday on my way back from Bicester (although it looks like they are closed on weekends so not sure yet how that'll work).

I'm still waiting for the ZTT's springs to arrive so I've washed the Millercycle Xedos 9 instead. I hate to admit that it might have been half a year since the last proper wash, at the same time the car didn't really go anywhere either. I need to change that soon, especially with a potential donor car on the horizon.

[DirtyDaily]

The Range Rover is now on the ramp at Birch 4x4, I'm trying to prepare my mind and body for the bills this will produce. Who knows, if they can get it done in time I might be able to pick it up this Saturday on my way back from Bicester (although it looks like they are closed on weekends so not sure yet how that'll work).
I'm still waiting for the ZTT's springs to arrive so I've washed the Millercycle Xedos 9 instead. I hate to admit that it might have been half a year since the last proper wash, at the same time the car didn't really go anywhere either. I need to change that soon, especially with a potential donor car on the horizon.

My fingers are crossed for the rangie!

[IronStar]

55 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

 

What a wonderfull looking car! The design aged so well. I really really need to so something about my 626 sitting sad and rotting. 

[Schaefft]

19 minutes ago, IronStar said:

What a wonderfull looking car! The design aged so well. I really really need to so something about my 626 sitting sad and rotting. 

What year 626 is it? I've said it here before and I'll say it again, Mazda really was at their peak in the very late 80s and early 90s, they didn't design a single bad looking car after 1989 until the Xedos 9 and FD RX7 came out. Even the often forgotten fullsize '92 929 was beautiful.

[IronStar]

1 hour ago, Schaefft said:

What year 626 is it? I've said here before and I'll say it again, Mazda really was at their peak in the very late 80s and early 90s, they didn't design a single bad looking car after 1989 until the Xedos 9 and FD RX7 came out. Even the often forgotten fullsize '92 929 was beautiful.

92, first year of GE model.

[Schaefft]

32 minutes ago, IronStar said:

92, first year of GE model.

My favorite generation 626!

[IronStar]

1 minute ago, Schaefft said:

My favorite generation 626!

Molten spaceship! ❤️

Lovely thing to drive and be in.

[Schaefft]

Range Rover news: Birch 4x4 confirmed what we suspected, e-clutch/bushing failure causing a lack of pressure to properly engage 4th/5th/6th. A common gearbox failure on L322s with the 6-speed (the 5-speeds also fail, don't worry), in case of mine just above 100k miles👌

Hopefully I'll be able to get it back this Saturday, I might have to park it in Liverpool and pick it up Saturday the following week on my way down to/back from Rustival as I'll be in the Infiniti in both cases.

The other Rover product, the ZTT, finally got it's new spring today. This time one that actually seems to be the right size. Despite that I still had to deploy a few death defying tricks to get this strut reassembled...

This actually worked out without me dying:

Yes, the MG was finally back on the ground and ready for its MOT. Even the sun decided to come out again so I decided to take it for a drive.

Life can be beautiful.

 

 

 

Hold on, what's that on the ground..?

So the exhaust fell off.

[vtec-e]

One step forwards, one step sideways ?

[Brigsy]

Free silencer delete for nice v6 noises.

[Schaefft]

13 minutes ago, vtec-e said:

One step forwards, one step sideways ?

Believe it or not, I bought this original owner, 73k miles example in the hopes of it not needing all that much work when recommissioning it. Right now it needs more work than the utterly neglected E39 I bought back in 2014. I'm increasingly glad that the donation I bought this thing with will make it a free car eventually, ignoring what I'm currently putting into it mind you...

1 minute ago, Brigsy said:

Free silencer delete for nice v6 noises.

The KV6 isn't a good sounding engine without exhaust😂

[Split_Pin]

ZT looking splendid.

Your ownership is going better than my ownership:

 

[Schaefft]

30 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

ZT looking splendid.

Your ownership is going better than my ownership:

 

Seen it on FB, sucks but at least its in the right hands to get it all sorted.

[Schaefft]

Another busy weekend. Friday night was finally time to get one of the last cars over to to our new place, the black Lincoln Mark VIII LSC. Similar to the Mazda it's been way too long since the last time this car got a wash, I honestly can't remember when I parked it (ignoring a couple of drives to keep things moving) as it came back from Germany after it's last inspection and was immediately parked up...

A couple of hours with the pressure washer and a bucket earier today and it's looking much better again:

Unfortunately it's doing what most Mark VIII's are doing now, the clearcoat starts failing on the rear quarters (you can see it in the first photo) which would quickly escalate into the whole car needing a respray. If anyone has a good way of getting peeling clearcoat sorted to a somewhat sensible level of quality at home, let me know...

I've also had a quick go at the ZT-T's exhaust. The silencer seemed salvageable so I split it from the remains of the mid-pipe which went better than expected:

No holes whatsoever, in fact it all felt fairly solid so I attacked it with a drill mounted wirebrush and coated it liberally (hence the runs) in RustAnode:

This should slow the rust down considerably. These backbox aren't cheap so it's worth preserving this one while it still makes sense. I'll order the mid-section later so it's hopefully ready for a test sometime next week.

Yesterday however was crazy. My journey to Radwood UK 2025 started at 7:15am, I arrived there 4 hours later (which isn't bad for the 275 mile drive). Once again the Infiniti did well, no issues whatsoever.

The turnout for the show was noticably less than in the previous years, I'm not sure if Hagerty didn't advertise the event as much as previously or whether the close proximity to Fotu and particularly Rustival is to blame. It was great having a look around with @Skcat and his mate though, and see the Crown in person:

It's way larger than I expected it to be, what looks like a compact in photos is anything but in real life. The relativelty tall greenhouse really is deceiving you.

We left the show around 2:30ish but for me Radwood was just he beginning. I recently bought a complete E38 extended leather interior (leather dash, center console and door cards) for relatively little money and planned to pick it up on my way back from Bicester.

Through some kind of magic we managed to fit all of it into the Q45 with room to spare, who needs an estate or fold down rear seat? On a side note, if you need any BMW parts, especially for 80s and earlier cars, I can only highly recommend Tim Pollock Bmw Classic Spares, he's a great guy who's clearly got a passion for old cars.

Anyway, the next stop was Birch 4x4 in Liverpool as the Range Rover was finally ready to be collected!

And what can I say, it's driving like its a new car now! Shifts are imperceptible under any throttle load, exactly as it should be. Another highly recommended garage, if you can call it that. Turns out the company is more or less Stuart operating out of an old warehouse in the middle of Liverpool that he and/or his family have owned long before the area was gentrified (the whole block in fact apparently). They used to do a lot of RR gearboxes and have more or less specialized in rebuilding them. However, the reality is he is slowly starting to wind things down and just wrench on his own cars instead, the warehouse was filled with some pretty interesting stuff including a Maserati 3200GT and a GranSport, which was a great conversion starter with me owning the 4200. Ultimately he is just a car guy buying and fixing cool cars who happens to be great at fixing Range Rovers.

I moved the BMW stuff from the Q45 into the RR and left the Q45 in Liverpool (we'll stop there next Friday night before taking it to Rustival). I got back quarter past 11, doing a total of 600 miles. Naturally the L322 was an excellent long-distance cruiser (so is the Infiniti) but I didn't expect it to be frugal, too!

Excuse me for the continental fuel consumption units there but 10.1l/100km translates to 28mpg (UK). At a constant 75mph in a biturbo V8-powered 2.5t brick that's pretty insane. It's probably lying straight in my face as I haven't done my own napkin maths yet but that's pretty unreal to my petrol-V8 calibrated mind.

[DirtyDaily]

Another busy weekend. Friday night was finally time to get one of the last cars over to to our new place, the black Lincoln Mark VIII LSC. Similar to the Mazda it's been way too long since the last time this car got a wash, I honestly can't remember when I parked it (ignoring a couple of drives to keep things moving) as it came back from Germany after it's last inspection and was immediately parked up...


A couple of hours with the pressure washer and a bucket earier today and it's looking much better again:


Unfortunately it's doing what most Mark VIII's are doing now, the clearcoat starts failing on the rear quarters (you can see it in the first photo) which would quickly escalate into the whole car needing a respray. If anyone has a good way of getting peeling clearcoat sorted to a somewhat sensible level of quality at home, let me know...
I've also had a quick go at the ZT-T's exhaust. The silencer seemed salvageable so I split it from the remains of the mid-pipe which went better than expected:

No holes whatsoever, in fact it all felt fairly solid so I attacked it with a drill mounted wirebrush and coated it liberally (hence the runs) in RustAnode:


This should slow the rust down considerably. These backbox aren't cheap so it's worth preserving this one while it still makes sense. I'll order the mid-section later so it's hopefully ready for a test sometime next week.
Yesterday however was crazy. My journey to Radwood UK 2025 started at 7:15am, I arrived there 4 hours later (which isn't bad for the 275 mile drive). Once again the Infiniti did well, no issues whatsoever.

The turnout for the show was noticably less than in the previous years, I'm not sure if Hagerty didn't advertise the event as much as previously or whether the close proximity to Fotu and particularly Rustival is to blame. It was great having a look around with [mention=29118]Skcat[/mention] and his mate though, and see the Crown in person:

It's way larger than I expected it to be, what looks like a compact in photos is anything but in real life. The relativelty tall greenhouse really is deceiving you.
We left the show around 2:30ish but for me Radwood was just he beginning. I recently bought a complete E38 extended leather interior (leather dash, center console and door cards) for relatively little money and planned to pick it up on my way back from Bicester.

Through some kind of magic we managed to fit all of it into the Q45 with room to spare, who needs an estate or fold down rear seat? On a side note, if you need any BMW parts, especially for 80s and earlier cars, I can only highly recommend Tim Pollock Bmw Classic Spares, he's a great guy who's clearly got a passion for old cars.
Anyway, the next stop was Birch 4x4 in Liverpool as the Range Rover was finally ready to be collected!

And what can I say, it's driving like its a new car now! Shifts are imperceptible under any throttle load, exactly as it should be. Another highly recommended garage, if you can call it that. Turns out the company is more or less Stuart operating out of an old warehouse in the middle of Liverpool that he and/or his family have owned long before the area was gentrified (the whole block in fact apparently). They used to do a lot of RR gearboxes and have more or less specialized in rebuilding them. However, the reality is he is slowly starting to wind things down and just wrench on his own cars instead, the warehouse was filled with some pretty interesting stuff including a Maserati 3200GT and a GranSport, which was a great conversion starter with me owning the 4200. Ultimately he is just a car guy buying and fixing cool cars who happens to be great at fixing Range Rovers.

I moved the BMW stuff from the Q45 into the RR and left the Q45 in Liverpool (we'll stop there next Friday night before taking it to Rustival). I got back quarter past 11, doing a total of 600 miles. Naturally the L322 was an excellent long-distance cruiser (so is the Infiniti) but I didn't expect it to be frugal, too!

Excuse me for the continental fuel consumption units there but 10.1l/100km translates to 28mpg (UK). At a constant 75mph in a biturbo V8-powered 2.5t brick that's pretty insane. It's probably lying straight in my face as I haven't done my own napkin maths yet but that's pretty unreal to my petrol-V8 calibrated mind.

Wahey. Glad he turned out to be a decent garage. 28mpg if true is very good and glad the drive went different to the first trip. RR envy intensifies.

[Schaefft]

2 hours ago, DirtyDaily said:

2 hours ago, Schaefft said:

Another busy weekend. Friday night was finally time to get one of the last cars over to to our new place, the black Lincoln Mark VIII LSC. Similar to the Mazda it's been way too long since the last time this car got a wash, I honestly can't remember when I parked it (ignoring a couple of drives to keep things moving) as it came back from Germany after it's last inspection and was immediately parked up...


A couple of hours with the pressure washer and a bucket earier today and it's looking much better again:


Unfortunately it's doing what most Mark VIII's are doing now, the clearcoat starts failing on the rear quarters (you can see it in the first photo) which would quickly escalate into the whole car needing a respray. If anyone has a good way of getting peeling clearcoat sorted to a somewhat sensible level of quality at home, let me know...
I've also had a quick go at the ZT-T's exhaust. The silencer seemed salvageable so I split it from the remains of the mid-pipe which went better than expected:

No holes whatsoever, in fact it all felt fairly solid so I attacked it with a drill mounted wirebrush and coated it liberally (hence the runs) in RustAnode:


This should slow the rust down considerably. These backbox aren't cheap so it's worth preserving this one while it still makes sense. I'll order the mid-section later so it's hopefully ready for a test sometime next week.
Yesterday however was crazy. My journey to Radwood UK 2025 started at 7:15am, I arrived there 4 hours later (which isn't bad for the 275 mile drive). Once again the Infiniti did well, no issues whatsoever.

The turnout for the show was noticably less than in the previous years, I'm not sure if Hagerty didn't advertise the event as much as previously or whether the close proximity to Fotu and particularly Rustival is to blame. It was great having a look around with [mention=29118]Skcat[/mention] and his mate though, and see the Crown in person:

It's way larger than I expected it to be, what looks like a compact in photos is anything but in real life. The relativelty tall greenhouse really is deceiving you.
We left the show around 2:30ish but for me Radwood was just he beginning. I recently bought a complete E38 extended leather interior (leather dash, center console and door cards) for relatively little money and planned to pick it up on my way back from Bicester.

Through some kind of magic we managed to fit all of it into the Q45 with room to spare, who needs an estate or fold down rear seat? On a side note, if you need any BMW parts, especially for 80s and earlier cars, I can only highly recommend Tim Pollock Bmw Classic Spares, he's a great guy who's clearly got a passion for old cars.
Anyway, the next stop was Birch 4x4 in Liverpool as the Range Rover was finally ready to be collected!

And what can I say, it's driving like its a new car now! Shifts are imperceptible under any throttle load, exactly as it should be. Another highly recommended garage, if you can call it that. Turns out the company is more or less Stuart operating out of an old warehouse in the middle of Liverpool that he and/or his family have owned long before the area was gentrified (the whole block in fact apparently). They used to do a lot of RR gearboxes and have more or less specialized in rebuilding them. However, the reality is he is slowly starting to wind things down and just wrench on his own cars instead, the warehouse was filled with some pretty interesting stuff including a Maserati 3200GT and a GranSport, which was a great conversion starter with me owning the 4200. Ultimately he is just a car guy buying and fixing cool cars who happens to be great at fixing Range Rovers.

I moved the BMW stuff from the Q45 into the RR and left the Q45 in Liverpool (we'll stop there next Friday night before taking it to Rustival). I got back quarter past 11, doing a total of 600 miles. Naturally the L322 was an excellent long-distance cruiser (so is the Infiniti) but I didn't expect it to be frugal, too!

Excuse me for the continental fuel consumption units there but 10.1l/100km translates to 28mpg (UK). At a constant 75mph in a biturbo V8-powered 2.5t brick that's pretty insane. It's probably lying straight in my face as I haven't done my own napkin maths yet but that's pretty unreal to my petrol-V8 calibrated mind.

Wahey. Glad he turned out to be a decent garage. 28mpg if true is very good and glad the drive went different to the first trip. RR envy intensifies.

I'm not sure how well known they are in the Range Rover community but I couldn't think of a better place to take mine to. Super approachable, helpful and price wise hard to beat. He turned that job around in 3 days without any waiting times, that unheard of for anything remotely as complex as this job. Time will tell but I'm very happy with how things went, I wish there was a guy like him for any car I own!