Project P38 EAS With Shenanigans

[Cooper1]

Time for an update!! 

 

Over the past few weeks she adapted a nice brake pedal pulsation and the entire car would judder when slowing down from high speed, so naturally I assumed the brakes were at fault and ordered a nice set of EBC performance brake discs and pads... 

Rimmer Bros got them delivered next day.. 

When I got home from work there was a nice parcel waiting for me!

 

The new discs are vented and drilled etc etc theyre even anodized IIRC  

  

Fitting of the discs couldn't be easier on the P38, jacking her up is the first hurdle, first off the wheel nuts were loosened off, I've made the mistake too many times of jacking them up and forgetting to crack the nuts loose!!  

27mm for the wheel nuts and wheel comes off exposing the job at hand I like to slide the wheel under the chassis to prevent any issues if it dropped for any reason..  

Removal of the caliper and the carrier couldn't be easier, 12mm bolt for the caliper and a 19mm BI-Hex for the carrier, both came out easily enough!

Caliper off and put to the side.. 

The old pads removed and they were worn quite badly for the mileage they had on them, around 6k, i'd say they had 40% life remanining. 🤪

Removal of the old disc is easy as pie, just 1 pozi securing screw if you've never had this screw off its best to use an impact gun or driver, otherwise you rick stripping it..

The hub centre was greased when I last had the discs off, so everything came apart very easily, thankfully.. 

Hub cleaned and new Disc fitted.. 

The new pads have an anti squealing formula, and apparently they improve the brakes no end... 

They look like the business, just hope they work as well as they look!

At this point typically it started to piss down with rain, so I had to rush and throw the wheel on, forget doing the other side today!! FFS.. 

Anyway the wheel is thrown back on.. 

On to the old units!!  

The old disks themselves are actually almost concave, hard to pick up on the camera, however you can see the scouring and delamination starting! 

The disk itself is even twisted slightly, hard to see in this pic but there is a warp  

 

Anyone see the slight bend to the left?  

Anyway! 

Tomorrow I'll finish off the other side and then take her for a good drive!

Oh and I even went the extra and gave my air springs a coating of rubber care, to help extend their life  

 

Top/Bottom balljoints next.. 

 

Not looking forward to that to be fair!!  

 

 

 

[Broadsword]

Always very satisfying to see a good thorough brake job done well. Nice work!

[Cooper1]

Copy/Paste for the other side! 

Wheel off. 

 

 

12mm Bolts for the caliper carrier came out easily, however one of the carrier bolts wasn't playing. 

So I gave my spanner a good whack with BFH and it yielded!

 

Next little issue that appeared was one of the slider pins wasn't quite as loose as it should of been, so out it came! 

And the issue became apparent it was dry but not seized of pitted

 

All greased up and slid back in, much better!

 

Caliper pistons pushed in using my vrake tool and some grease thrown on the caliper carrier when the pads sit. 

A nice "during shot"  

 

Not too much mess

And Job done!

 

 

I'm pleased to report after a good drive the judder and pulsating has completely vanished, she now brakes really smoothly and with the EBC pads it stops on a 50p coin so i'm well happy with the result easily one of the best things i've done to the car!

The old parts were well past it, the disc was warped and covered in heat marks. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cooper1]

Got a few things delivered today  

A nice service kit for the old bus, 10litres of Comma 10w40 and my favorite brand of filter  

 

Under the old bonnet I go and loosen off the oil filler cap and dipstick, one thing I like to do is place the oil filler cap over the hole for the bonnet catch. 

That way I don't forget to either put the oil in or forget to replace the cap!

Underneath the bus is the next port of call, and that means getting down on to a very comfortable gravel drive and fight with tight filters 

and awkward sump plugs.. 

Once underneath I had an issue, the mop bucket I stole of my Grandma didn't want to play ball, however I did mangle it in to position!

15mm for the sump plug  

Whilst this was draining I turned my attention to the Oil filter, which on the P38 is in an easy to replace location. 

My other issue was I seem to have been very strong the last time I fitted it and it took some good effort and a skinned knuckle to remove it!

Once I got the litre of oil out of my armpit I cleaned up the mating surface and primed the filter with new oil, roughly 0.8 litres the new filter takes, bloody thirsty thing!!  

 

Lastly I put the clean sump plug back in and torqued it up by feel, with a new washer it shouldn't be too tight

Once fitted I threw the new liquid gold in.. 

 

The old engine seems to like the old Comma 10w40, I took her out for a good run after work just for shits and giggles and after a good long hard run through wales she sounds good. 

She sometimes has a cam follower tap when hot however it has been getting better and better since i've been doing frequent oil changes..  

I even managed to average above 20mpg on the trip too, through hilly welsh roads

And I wasn't being particularly sparing with the right foot. 

I filled her up in Aberyswyth and according to my calculations that trip computer is pretty accurate..  

I tend to be hanging around wales quite a lot just to get away from Hereford roads, which are horrible at the best of times, I keep my eyes peeled for Hubnut being that from his videos he tends to pass through and around aberyswyth @dollywobbler lol 🤪

 

Fantastic views too!

 

 

 

[Cooper1]

More spannering!!

I've been topping up the coolant for nearly 4yrs now, it doesn't consume too much however its getting annoying and fixing the cause couldn't be easier! 

 

This thing is the throttle body heater and its job in a nutshell is to prevent ice buildup in the ally intake when driving in extreme cold, or through a blizzard and you're intake is sucking in icy cold/damp air   

A really simple bit of kit, not really needed in the UK more for the NAS cars however if my car has a feature I like to make sure it works!   
 

Getting to it couldn't be easier, it lives under the throttle body and requires the removal of the throttle body and intake boots, plus a throttle position sensor and a crankcase breather pipe 

Here you can see the leak  

4x 8mm bolts for the throttle body and 3x 5.5mm sees the throttle body and heater removed!
 

 

And after some careful pulling and twisting the old heater is in the bin!
 

The throttle body itself needed minimal prep just a quick clean up of the gasket surface was required, for this I used a mild cutting compound and some emery cloth..

And lastly refitment of the new unit which couldn't of been easier, just the reversal of the removal with the benefit that the new unit isn't going to leak everywhere! http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/car.gif http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/laughing.gif

I started her up and pressurized the cooling system and we have no leaks!!

The simple things eh! 

 

 

[Cooper1]

Been some time since the last update so I shall fill in some blanks on the old bus!  

 

P38 has been a good old barge for the most part so I gave her a full'ish service recently..

Engine Oil
Gearbox oil
Transfer box oil

were all done..

I'll start with the engine. http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

New fluids to pour in/out 

 

Once I got my girth underneath the torrential downpour can commence   

Plug with a new washer ensures it doesn't leak, but to be fair another leak is neither here nor there with this thing!   

Plug put back in, tighten until is begins to loosen off then back off 1/4 turn  

New filter thrown on too! 

Primed up of course! 

New fluid poured in and that is one job done!!  

----------------------------------------------------------- 

Gearbox next...

Fill plug is 8mm Allen and the drain in 5mm 

 

nother downpour, this time of an unpleasant red/brown fluid... http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/laughing.gif

This oil only had 5k on it which really shows that a single service on an old Auto isn't really enough..

New Oil is a very debatable subject..

I chose mannol

 

Old/new can you guess which is which!!

Inital fill with the engine off was 2 litres and an extra 3 litres with the engine running. 

Test drive showed a slight improvement, she shifts very well anyway so a slight improvement is actually a big deal! 

Transfer Box....

The old fluid was still very clean..

Cracked off the filler plug first.  

And then the drain plug

Of course I lost my grip on the plug when removing, and created all kinds of dust control, good thing it isn't toxic................................... Ahem. 

Anyway new fluid pumped in and all is good. 

To finish off I gave the engine bay a quick going over because after I was messing around in there, oily hand prints stood out like a sore thumb..  

 

Well happy with that!  

 

 

 

 

[Cooper1]

Must of jinxed the old girl!

Never say everything is fine within earshot of any Land Rover... 


Yesterday she developed a very audible squeal from the front of the motor..

Turns out the tensioner for the aux belt decided it didn't want to do its job anymore. 

Luckily I have a spare OEM Dayco unit sitting on the shelf, so thats gonna go in! 

Old unit is easy to get at.

The Fan has to come off to allow access, however due to the slippy belt it was a damn sight harder to whack it loose, but I got there in the end with my big hammer!! 

I just rest the fan down the bottom of the rad.

Belt release on the V8 is easy as pie, luckily I have just the right tools for the job, 15mm socket and a long'ish bar!
 

Once off the removal process is just 1x 13mm bolt which in my case came out without fuss!

Old unit out!

The tensioner has a little stud/nipple/lump/whatever to hold it in the block and prevent it spinning..

New unit, an OEM dayco unit this time. 

New unit fitted!

 

Far quieter and less likely to throw the belt, which is an added bonus!! 

Shroud back on.

Done. 

 

H

[stuboy]

its a great beasty

[Cooper1]

And lastly.. 

 

Aircon which is needed in this weather, epecially in a car which is 90% glass! 

Anyway I convinced myself it was a load of different electrical gremlins, however just to humor myself I hooked up my A/C gauges! 

Hmm that'll be why.. 

 

With the tiny can of refrigerant I had sitting around some was added in to the system, which yielded goof results. 

She took the charge and there were no audible leaks.. 

So... 

Interior vent temp 45f which ain't bad, however she has a dead blower motor so blowage is mediocre at best!!  

Time will tell if it holds the charge!  

[Cooper1]

HVAC time!

Having got the A/C working recently the only thing that let it down was the abysmal performance of the blower motors.

Only one worked, due to a failure of the Transistor on the inside of the Valeo motors used on the P38, the Pax side blower would light up full blast on ignition position 1, by design 12v goes to the blowers when the ignition came on, however the transistor is meant to prevent the 12v going to the motor unless told by the HVAC, in my case the Transistor went short to ground and let 12v to the motor no matter what the HVAC said! 

So to the removal.

Luckily on the P38 removal is really a 10 minute job, 4 pozi screws to remove the fan. 

Old unit out.

  

New/used unit in.

And the net result Is fantastic everything works and the book of doom on the HVAC has gone, so now I have A/C and some good blowage from the vents! 

I do plan on replacing the transistor on my old fan, or I'll just pull it apart for the fun of it!!

Some may disagree but I find the P38 incredibly easy to work on, I recall someone online mentioning the HVAC on the P38 being a nightmare, however every major HVAC component can be got at in 5mins, no dash out required!!  

[Minimad5]

P38 is still on the want list, but the prices of them are on the rise - So keep updating this thread and I'll enjoy the P38 pleasures from your point of view 😅

[Cooper1]

24 minutes ago, Minimad5 said:

P38 is still on the want list, but the prices of them are on the rise - So keep updating this thread and I'll enjoy the P38 pleasures from your point of view 😅

When I bought it she was just a bucket list motor Never expected the P38 to rise in value to be honest  being that it is the last RR with roots in the original Classic it's now easy to see why its creeping up in value. 

An unassuming motor compared to the glitter balls that the modern examples have turned in to!

I do plan on keeping this motor for a good long while   

 

 

[Cooper1]

Some slight cosmetic improvements. 

A glaring issue some p38's "mine included" have is the wealth of plastic trim on them going a nice shade of grey..  

Which as you can imagine makes the whole car look a tad shit, some don't really care but I do so something had to be done.. 

So armed with £3 worth of spray and some gusto the work commenced. 

Here are the parts prior to the coating,, 

The pimp juice i'm using seems to last a good while, in my particular case.. 

Just spray on and leave for 5mins then buff off..   

You can also use it on interior trim pieces, very handy on the dashboard in the middle of summer, makes for a nice blinding effect on the windscreen and who doesn't like that!!  

Anyway. 

 

After!

Quite satisfying to look at! 

Anyway my next job on the old bus is to fit a 2nd hand set of condenser fans to her, as mine are completely fubar'd! 

They should be here in the next few days.. 

Oh and coz i'm a sad git I got out late from work and put some shine on the old bus..  

Ahh. 

 

Gotta love the Peeeeeeee38..  

[Cooper1]

Right..

where was I!

Oh yes A/C condenser fans! 


Luckily on evilbay there are several recourses for P38 parts, mainly because most people get sick of them and part them out! 

£20 later and a week of waiting!

 

we have a box of tricks. 

Removal of the old fans couldn't of been easier, upper rad cover off first.

And then spent 2hrs "no joke" pulling and hammering on the bumper, because it has to come forward, anyway I got there in the end luckily all the bolts relented. 

Fitting of the other unit was again very easy, however a little upgrade was to replace all the securing bolts with some nice T40s I had left over from a transmission service, far nicer fastener than the crusty old bolts   

Only issue is cosmetically the "new" fans look shyte!

So with just right right amount of product I gave them a going over 

First up some scrapy scrapy and brushy brushy was in order to knock off the rust chunks. 

The some "Kurust" which as we all know does fook all, apart from turning black.

Which it does if you knock it on plastic/fiberglass or indeed anything! 

Lets face it anything that says "enviromentally friendly" is going to be useless 

Where was I?

Oh yes,

 

And after that Kurust set I gave them a coat of silver paint, from 66.3ft it looks 1/2 decent, so long as you have your back to it and eyes closed. 
And here are some complete pics after a quick body wipe over. 

 

After all this she decided to idle at 7300rpm 

A quick removal and clean of the IACV got everything right.

 

DONE!

 

[Minimad5]

I applaud the way you just crack on.

Glad the 'P38s are complicated' stigma is slowly being watered down, threads like this show it's just another car that requires logic & time for fault finding.

I R P38 Jealous

[Cooper1]

5 minutes ago, Minimad5 said:

I applaud the way you just crack on.

Glad the 'P38s are complicated' stigma is slowly being watered down, threads like this show it's just another car that requires logic & time for fault finding.

I R P38 Jealous

Thanks!  

The P38 is a very simple beast it was first conceived in the late 80s and came out in 1994 so not exactly a modern unit!  However they gained a bad rep due to improper maintenance and a lack of understanding, yes they do suffer from electrical faults, but all issues can be fixed with ease.  

Almost everything on her works now, just the Radio left to fix.. 

 

Which aint bad considering when I bought her almost nowt worked!!!

 

 

[Cooper1]

Bloody p38 threw a curveball at me earlier this week in the shape of some crispy bits! 😷

before anyone jumps to conclusions, the 2nd owner owned a Yacht, subsequently dipping her arse in the sea hasn't done the chassis too much good. 

 

However all is not lost!  

 

The chassis being twice the thickness of my D2 chassis "I measured" the crust hasn't weakened it in any way!

Rear shock mounts are the prime area for mine, just a light treatment for now as my product is stuck in the fangled delivery system. 

 

I've thrown some jenolite on there, which i'm sure will do nothing.. 

However eventually I plan on having the body lifted off the chassis and the chassis blasted. 

More to come tomorra!

Hopefully the hammerite turns up!

[Cooper1]

Some intermittant chassis work. 

 

Kind of hard work trying to strip and paint a car you use daily!!  

Chassis is being stripped of any rust and old paint in preparation for a coating of underseal.. 

 

Upon scraping the front half of the chassis it looks brand new. #

  

The old underseal is coming off quite easily.. 

Only issue I can see immediatly is the rear shock absorber mounting areas, they're no where near being terminal but having rust I can see but not treat is a pain in the rear, especially the drivers side mount which is abstructed by the massive fuel tank  

Anyway I'll get around to wire wheeling the rust and giving it a coat of Jenolite, the above has already been coated doesn't seem to have done much however.  

The rear quarter has also got some surface appearing from a previous repair, a quick dose of rust converter applied should keep it at bay for a while. 

I should note at this point she was a pembroke/swansea car her whole life so some light rust is not too bad..  

And to finish off I gave myself and the old bus a wipe over, both inside and out.

At this point a body off clean up of the chassis is on the cards, only a 3hr job to do believe it or not so that is a possibility..  

 

[bezzabsa]

Do love an old RR......Front chassis will never rust...the famous LR self lubricating chassis system will take care of that LOL.

Good colour combo on yours,interior is no good with kids and animals though!!

[Cooper1]

More crust busting having first washed half of Pembroke beach off of the bottom of it!  

 

 

Luckily it isn't bad at all, just some surface rust from years of being caked in sand and moisture, a quick blast off and going at it with a wire brush and file.  

 

 

That stuff it's coated in is Jenolite which I have mixed feelings about, it has good reviews, however still suspicious!!

My next step will be some hammerite underseal which will hopefully cover the jenolite and prevent any crust, the converter is also a primer apparently so eh!! 

And finally here she is before all the rust busting took place, after a 436mi round trip to cornwall and back! 

More progress to come!

Good ole P38!

 

[Cooper1]

Undersealing work completed it was spread over two days, mainly because I couldn't be arsed to do both sides at once!!  

 

Not the prettiest job in the world, but it is functional this coming winter will be brutal to the cars undersides, so hopefully this will prevent the steel being eaten away by the salt.. 

Did manage to get some fuel for the old bus today, by that I mean she rumbled past all the petrol pumps and lobbed £40 of LPG in her which is around 230mi, the looks I got off of some was priceless.  Nice having a duel fuel car sometimes. 

[Cooper1]

A few P38 related issues/fixes. 

 

#1 the passenger side leather seat had some kind of filth on it, from godknows what do out with the cleaner... 

 

While I was there the entire interior got a wipedown and condition with some leather cream....   

 

After doing the carpet on the doors it promptly fell off...  

contact adhesive later and it is all back where it should be..  

 

Now an electrical fault, but wait it isn't the cars fault "for once"  it this case the 1yr old Hancock battery decided to suddenly die, it still read 12.7v but seemed to have lost all its cranking amps. 

I did notice that the starter motor has been slowly getting "erm" slower for the past few weeks.

 

 

New Yuasa battery incoming hopefully it'll last longer, it was ordered from tayna and is already winging its way here, est time of delivery is tomorrow!

 

Meanwhile she hasn't had a wash off for a few weeks, so 2hrs spent washing the crap off it yielded some good results. 

 

One thing worth noting if you have a P38 is to not discount a bad battery as the cause of the sometimes mysterious battery drain these can get, 

Also worth doing a quick parasitic draw test which literally takes 5mins to do, this will discount any drain issues it might have..

 

[Cooper1]

Another Oil/Filter change for the old girl today, plus the new battery which has been promptly fitted and works a treat!

Oil for the Rover V8 is a point of contention some say use 20w50 while others recommend 10w40 and others 10w60 etc etc 

According to the owners manual it recommends a good 10 or 5w40 which is theory sounds about right for the british climate.. 

I also have an owners manual for a 1987 RRC and even in there is recommends 10w40 or 5w40, so I guess the people who built them know what they're doing.  

So oil of choice, again personal taste! 

 

Sump plug out and promptly dropped in the can, so I had to go elbow deep to dig it back out...

Old Filter spun off, luckily only hand tight! 

New filter primed up and spun on.. 

  

 

Filled the old bus up and took her for a good hard drive...

 

Verdict is good, it sounds good and hasn't blown up so that's a bonus!!! 

 

;)

 

 

 

 

[Cooper1]

Not been on in a while no real issues over the past few months! 

shock horror it is an old P38 so it does have some little niggles, nothing a good re'do in the near future won't fix.  

I'm planning a little mechanical overhaul, that being reconditioned Diffs, transfer box and engine.

And a cosmetic tidy up, mainly dent pulling and the rear quarters resprayed. 

I have taken some "out and about pics" just for fun.. 

 

 

So all in all she's doing ok well as a daily runner. 

MPG aside the average is around 18.4 which ain't too bad for the way she's driven!  

Amazing to see LR evolution the Evoque really is an acquired taste! 

[Cooper1]

Bastard petrol prices on the up, bloody painful I tell ya for a big old V8... 

Recently she's had 2 new Lambda sensors and a new LPG reducer solenoid thingy, which has allowed the LPG to work correctly a far bigger relief on the wallet than paying £1.55ppl for pez. 

Last big fillup on pez for a while 

 

I pegged it at £100 the tank is 100 litres so you can imagine the cost near enough £150 for a tank.. 

Whereas on LPG it's £47 for 75litres and I get around 220mi from that.. 

 

Some pics. 

 

Still doing me proud the old bus, mot on friday too hopefully I get a clean bill of health.. 

Otherwise it's just doing daily duties, not bad for an old 21yr old P38.  

 

And in the the above pics she's in access mode, the EAS still works

 

[N Dentressangle]

Good to see this still going, and thanks for all the detailed fixes.

Having said I'd never own one, I now appear to have changed my mind! Check out my thread for gory details:

I'm interested in the LPG, obvs 🤔

[Broadsword]

I've been struggling to get LPG for my P38 round my neck of the woods recently. One station has been out of gas for two weeks. Some stations are selling LPG at nearly £1 per litre. I'm sure it will settle down with time, but at the moment it isn't great. A few months ago it was 52.7p a litre..

[N Dentressangle]

Yep, that's what makes me hesitate, given the cost to convert.

There are one or two local stations, but if they decide to stop selling lpg then I'm buggered.

[Cooper1]

2 hours ago, Broadsword said:

I've been struggling to get LPG for my P38 round my neck of the woods recently. One station has been out of gas for two weeks. Some stations are selling LPG at nearly £1 per litre. I'm sure it will settle down with time, but at the moment it isn't great. A few months ago it was 52.7p a litre..

Yep from what I understand its been due to home heating customers having their home heating bulk storage tanks filled early before price rises, the delivery drivers have been busy filling home heating tanks, suppliers prioritise filling home heating tanks over filling forecourt tanks. But if so many home heating customers filled early then since we are heading into summer when people won't be using as much gas for home heating then home heating customers won't need to refill their tanks again anytime soon so there should be plenty of LPG for forecourts... hopefully! 

 

maybe!!

[Broadsword]

1 hour ago, N Dentressangle said:

Yep, that's what makes me hesitate, given the cost to convert.

There are one or two local stations, but if they decide to stop selling lpg then I'm buggered.

Don’t convert, there are plenty of P38s already out there with LPG if you really want one. You would never get back the cost of doing a conversion yourself at this stage.