Project "p38" Diary of a 2001 Range Rover

[Cooper1 867]

Right,  

The sunroof. 

Anyone with any experience with Land Rovers knows the sunroof will leak eventually, in my case it was leaking and squeaking!

The rubber seal around that encompasses the glass can become crispy and not seal correctly, the remedy for this is a new sunroof cassette.

Being a cheap i decided to see if i could feed the rubber and make it "swell"

 

Originally. 

 

So I spat some Rubber lubricant on the seal,   

 

Which made it less crispy

 

The squeaking was due to the rails being bone dry  

And fixed

 

it no longer leaks, and it shoots open/close real nice no longer squeaks too  

 

 

The Old D2 poking in there, i'll have to post her on here at some point. 

 

[Crackers 463]

4 hours ago, Cooper1 said:

the BECM started to blow fuses and the car went haywire

P38 mate. 

They all do that, sir.

[Microwave 442]

1800 a year, that's shockingly cheap. Must be to do with where you live, perhaps. I was paying a bit over 2 grand with a blackbox in 2017 for my 1.4 Rover 25.

Range Rover looks lovely though, a car I definitely want to own one day. Unusual colour too! Don't think I've seen many in this blue?

[Crackers 463]

Epic first car though! I'm proper jealous 😍😍😍 Takes some balls to run those even if you're loaded. If you're not... then good luck to you!

[Cooper1 867]

1 minute ago, Crackers said:

P38 mate. 

They all do that, sir.

Yep, part of the erm.

"fun"

[Cooper1 867]

2 minutes ago, Microwave said:

1800 a year, that's shockingly cheap. Must be to do with where you live, perhaps. I was paying a bit over 2 grand with a blackbox in 2017 for my 1.4 Rover 25.

Range Rover looks lovely though, a car I definitely want to own one day. Unusual colour too! Don't think I've seen many in this blue?

Aye I basically live in a field,  

She's painted in Monte Carlo Blue.  

 

They're lovely cars to drive

[Cooper1 867]

2 minutes ago, Crackers said:

Epic first car though! I'm proper jealous 😍😍😍 Takes some balls to run those even if you're loaded. If you're not... then good luck to you!

Not Loaded unfortunately 

 

[Cooper1 867]

This next update is more of a funny one. 

This is a Picture of my Dads 1974 Tuscon Blue RRC Reg VGH17M.   circa 1990

 

He owned it when he was the same age as me, which is odd

Both blue too!  

 

Funny he pulled that picture out of a drawer and showed it to me, couldn't believe it, both young lads with blue Range Rova's  

@richardthestag any chance you own VGH17M? 

She is shown as Sorn on the net with a Derv engine apparently, i've been trying to track her down, 

[Cooper1 867]

And here is why the P38 is IMO just as good as the Classic. 

It is. 

Good looking

Rover V8 powered

Comfy 

Ladder chassis 

beam axles. 

It's BLU

Leffer seats 

Loads 'orf space

AND THEY DUNT ROT!! 

19yr old chassis and sills 

 

 

 

No rust!!  

I did pressure wash the chassis off and gave it a coat of Waxoyl Black  

 

 

 

 

It is rather odd.. 

 

Try and find a Disco or RRC in the same condition at the same age  

[Cooper1 867]

Mirrors  

An eyesore on this ole' Rangie  

 

So being the professional i am, i threw some masking stuff on it to protect, the erm...... 

screen!

A few coats of paint on there already

And done with a few coats of PU lacquer

wetsanded of course! 

 

Much nicer, less crispy  

 

 

[Cooper1 867]

The slam panel is another area of peeling, the PO had painted it, and proceeded to use it as a tool stand. 

So i peeled the paint off.  

 

And then, erm  Repainted it

I need a better after pic that is for sure

 

 

The metal behind the grill was also blown over. 

Freshie!

 

H

[Noel Tidybeard 4,756]

monte carlo blu is lush

[Minimad5 643]

Top job.

For the Chassis though - Get rid of that black shit and speak to Craig (or anyone else) from Buzzweld, and they will advise you on products to protect and seal the chassis.

I find once the black stuff goes 'off' it starts to crack and get water behind it, holds the water and eats away at the metal.

 

Once again - Well done for persistence and winning at P38 ownership.

[Dan_ZTT 2,043]

8 hours ago, Cooper1 said:

Try and find a Disco or RRC in the same condition at the same age  

Forget those, soon I'll grab some pictures from underneath my 2003 range rover (L322), it's rust central... 

[jon.k 587]

If only the car new how lucky it was to end up with you!

[Stevebrookman 2,132]

What a first car!!

 

I had to wait until I was 42 to get mine. Mines also a 4.6HSE bought off ebay Boxing day 2006.

They are much maligned but mine has only had routine maintenance over the last 13 years. It's had a new set of air springs due to age and also a new compressor a few years back as the old one was getting weak-along with  tyres and a couple of exhausts. It's broken down twice in 13 years all due to a dodgy door lock. Spares are very cheap for these.

Mine is currently having a "mini restoration" at a very good local specialist-new door lock, sunroof repaired, headlining renewed, most of the security-immobiliser etc removed, air con fixed , gearbox flush and a full oils change and service. Been there about a year-he' had a heart attack so things were put back a while!

Fantastic cars to drive-here's mine.

Steve

 

[Cooper1 867]

12 hours ago, Minimad5 said:

Top job.

For the Chassis though - Get rid of that black shit and speak to Craig (or anyone else) from Buzzweld, and they will advise you on products to protect and seal the chassis.

I find once the black stuff goes 'off' it starts to crack and get water behind it, holds the water and eats away at the metal.

 

Once again - Well done for persistence and winning at P38 ownership.

I agree there.

 

it was splodged on in a moment of madness

[Cooper1 867]

15 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

monte carlo blu is lush

Thanks.

It is a nice Blue. 

Not the miserabel grey and silver that seem to plague cars nowadays

[Cooper1 867]

Today was spent under the beast, doing pressure washing  

Being that she offroads and gets covered is shyte i'd like to preserve the condition of the chassis and sills so with that in mind!

 

This is the shit under the arch.. 

This was treated to a APC and snowfoam bath to dissolve the crap. 

Lastly the pressure washed off and dressed with a plastic rejuvenate gel, the Airbags were treated to some Autoglym Rubber care too

   

 

The other side was treated the same way,

Afters

 

I think she'll be treated to some buzzweld in the future 

 

H

 

 

[N Dentressangle 1,029]

7 hours ago, jon.k said:

If only the car new how lucky it was to end up with you!

Indeed. Fancy 'looking after' my RRC for a few months? It's blue... 😁

[Cooper1 867]

6 hours ago, Stevebrookman said:

What a first car!!

 

I had to wait until I was 42 to get mine. Mines also a 4.6HSE bought off ebay Boxing day 2006.

They are much maligned but mine has only had routine maintenance over the last 13 years. It's had a new set of air springs due to age and also a new compressor a few years back as the old one was getting weak-along with  tyres and a couple of exhausts. It's broken down twice in 13 years all due to a dodgy door lock. Spares are very cheap for these.

Mine is currently having a "mini restoration" at a very good local specialist-new door lock, sunroof repaired, headlining renewed, most of the security-immobiliser etc removed, air con fixed , gearbox flush and a full oils change and service. Been there about a year-he' had a heart attack so things were put back a while!

Fantastic cars to drive-here's mine.

Steve

 

That looks like a corker of a P38

Lovely colour, Rioja red  

whats her interior like?  

[Cooper1 867]

4 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

Indeed. Fancy 'looking after' my RRC for a few months? It's blue... 😁

Blue eh?  

Any pictures

[N Dentressangle 1,029]

2 minutes ago, Cooper1 said:

Blue eh?  

Any pictures

👍 Oh yes

Full dirty tale here:

 

[Cooper1 867]

3 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

👍 Oh yes

Full dirty tale here:

Grabbed myself a Coffee and i'm gonna read through it, 'tis a nice colour

 

[Cooper1 867]

The next Job "in a long line" was to change the Oil in the transfer box, i did this in 2017 just after buying her, and it was rank, the fluid I used at the time was ECP own brand Triple QX, which isn't the best/

The Old P38 has the 2spd Borg Warner unit you find on August 1989+ RRC's, it like them requires Dextron III fluid instead of EP oil 

With that in mind the potion of choice was mannol Dex III and the must have syringe,

Draining and refilling is relatively simple, the fill and drain are both 1/2 square. 

Luckily they werent too much of a ballache to remove, being as i've done this job B4  

The old fluid didn't look too bad, 

 

The new fluid is much Redder  

She glulped in 2 and a bit litres for a fill, 

 

Once it trickles out, bung the plug in and Job is done. 

 

[Cooper1 867]

The Dreaded Auto Gearbox!!  

I did mention earlier that she had trouble initially with selecting gears, the main culpret is the oil IMo.  

Upon further inspection this was pulled out of the sump. 

 

What you want with an auto is RED fluid not Black, that would explain the slack in the gears and her holding high gear at ridiculous speed IE she'd be in 4th at 20mph unless manually told to change down

After smearing it on some white paper we can deduce it isn't TOO bad  

Not great though. 

 

The service will be a cheap one as i have no inclination to drop the sump this side of winter, and tbh i have a ZF4hp24 in the shed that i've just rebuilt, this one will go on when the current one craps the bed. 

In the spirit of longevity though I've opted for Millers Millermatic Fully Synthetic for the Box's libation. 

 

The drain and refil plugs can be seen here  

Being that she is a "thor" P38 there is no level dipstick..  

 

The oil drained was mank, and stank to high heaven, i got around 4.2 litres out which is about right, atleast it wasn't low! 

 

The fill procedure is as follows. 

#1 Fill until the fluid drips out of the filler bung 

#2 start the engine and cycle the gears, holding in each for 3 seconds

#3 climb back underneath and refil until it flows out, put the bung in. 

#4 cycle the gears again 

#5 and the recheck if it dribbles out, job is done.! 

#6 torque spec 2 grunts  

Oh and you should get a little over 4 litres in, that is around 45% of the fluid. 

 

After the fluid change I took her around the lanes, and after a few gear shifts she is pulling and changing much better than before.

No more hesitation and she kicks down now, whereas before it would labour in high gear when the loud pedal was depressed!

Gear selection is immediate too, no more waiting.  

Well happy, maybe get a few more years out this gearbox yet!

good excuse for more  pics. 

H

 

 

 

[Cooper1 867]

COSMETICS.

 

A good few weeks ago i think i lost some of my mind, seriously. 

She was sat out there in the sun looking OK but not great, so i vowed then and there to make her PERFECT!

Crack out the compound and Polish. 

She was literally polished to an inch of her life,

Meguires and Autoglym treatment. 

I wanted every scratch gone. 

The fruits of my labour.    

  

 

 

 

 

 

I honestly thought at one point i wuz gonna go through the paint, but it never happened. 

  

 

I should note also, that she was "claybarred" prior to any polishing to lift out any contaminated material. 

 

 

That was hard work on this old bus.

 

Worth it though

 

I think

 

 

 

 

 

[Cooper1 867]

"up and Atom" 

The roof on any tall 4x4 is often forgotten and tends to fade, and with this being 19yrs old it was starting to. 

 

like the post above it was a do or die approach in regards to treatment, I went Balls out with the machine and heavy compound.

Much crisper  

Most don't really see it unless your are 6"2 + ahem LIKE ME! 

smooth as.... 

GLASS! AHAA!! 

 

 

[N Dentressangle 1,029]

My autobox fluid looked like that, except changing it made things worse rather than better. Sounds like yours is a lot less shagged!

I now have bearing whine in the BW transfer box though, so pondering snake oil additives.

[Cooper1 867]

3 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

My autobox fluid looked like that, except changing it made things worse rather than better. Sounds like yours is a lot less shagged!

I now have bearing whine in the BW transfer box though, so pondering snake oil additives.

Thankfully it is running better! Not too shagged, 

It is common for the VCU to seize and start to whine, mine is seized and whines like a MOFO. 

Wheels skip too on full lock. 

The One wheel up test is a good way to erm TEST the vcu. 

NSF wheel off the ground, centre cap out of the wheel, and with the gearbox in the Neutral try and turn the wheel with a torque wrench on one of the lugs or HUBNUT, a constant 100nm should see the wheel move, 

I can't turn mine with me jumping on a 4ft bar!