A tale of three Range Rovers

[NorthernMonkey]

As threatened elsewhere, it’s time to give this thing a thread of its own as there seems to be plenty of people happy to ‘enjoy’ the trials and tribulations of running an elderly supercharged V8 4x4 without having to finance it themselves.

Can’t understand why.

Anyway, having had a couple of owners on here already, this found its way to the primate house a few months ago…

The sale thread and further details of it’s idiosyncrasies can be found here…

Basically, I experienced the highs and lows of L322 ownership a couple of years ago with a 3.6 TDV8 that I absolutely loved until it ate its own turbos on the M62 just about broke my physically whilst trying to fit new ones in situ, which apparently can be done but probably by someone with thinner arms and more physical dexterity than me.

Then, when I was about to head out on the lash one Friday night, this popped up for sale locally, with the proper engine, in a proper colour and benefitting from scraping into the lower tax bracket.

A message was quickly sent, followed by an impromptu collection mission the next morning.

It swiftly rekindled my love for the things and, other than a replacement tail light (curiously specific to this engined model) being procured through eBay, much unleaded was burnt cruising the mean streets of the North West.

Spot the difference. Also, spot the crusty tailgate…(much) more about this later.

[Schaefft]

Yeah, I absolutely want to see more of it. I would have almost ended owning it myself!

[NorthernMonkey]

There’s six months of ownership to catch up with but in all honesty, not a great deal has happened other than putting fuel in it right up until a couple of weeks ago so it shouldn’t take too long.

After the tail light was replaced, the only other modification was the addition of a little DAB hands free thingy plugged into the aux port so I can get Radio X and LBC, along with a phone holder so I could use it for work purposes.

I wasn’t sure how viable this would be, given the ave MPG never getting much higher than 16-17 but work pay me 45p a mile regardless of what I drive so I figured I was still just about in front…just not as far in front as I could have been. It’s also ULEZ compliant amusingly, so that’s another saving (after having spent £90 in unleaded to get to London in the first place!)

So far, the to do list was much as described in the original advert…

Noisy prop bearing (slowly getting worse, especially on spirited take offs)

No reversing camera

EML on due to a faulty O2 sensor (possibly contributing to a lack of economy)

No heated action in the drivers seat department (it’s Summer so not too urgent)

Crusty tailgate and rear arches

Broken rear wiper (see the Summer comment above)

Wrong wheels fitted. The ones on it are very nice and all that but to me, just don’t look right. It really wants the proper 20” nine spokes (once again specific to the 4.2 SC)

Bits of the in car entertainment missing, meaning the headrest mounted DVD system doesn’t work (not massively important as the dogs prefer to look out of the window)

Then, a few weeks ago, it developed a bit of a squeak from the offside front wheel along with a disconcerting vibration when braking heavily. This meant it was time to take a closer look at the oily bits.

Up on the ramp and it was immediately apparent that the offside wheel was dragging badly. Off with the hefty 4 pot Brembo calliper and the problem was immediately apparent…one of the pads was almost down to the metal whereas the other one was about half worn. Of even more concern was the fact that one of the pistons on the worn side wouldn’t retract and the dust cover was mullered.

Onto eBay and the price of these (supercharged specific…spot the trend here?) calliiers was sobering to say the least. Even second hand ones that didn’t look in the first flush of youth were being offered up for £250 so a phone call was made and it was arranged for me to drop both callipers off at a place in Manchester.

Three days later, I got a call to say they were ready and, after relieving me off the approx cost of one second hand one, both were fully stripped, cleaned and rebuilt with eight new pistons of an improved design and all associated seals etc.

Luckily, the discs seemed absolutely fine so a new set of pads were delivered and reassembly was embarked upon. The near side was fitted first and all was well. The offside one however resulted in a locked wheel once the calliper bolts were tightened, although loosening them a couple of turns enabled the wheel to rotate freely.

A bit of head scratching ensued and it was eventually discovered that the upper mounting lug on the hub was several mm nearer to the disc than the lower one, meaning the calliper wasn’t sitting squarely on the disc.

I’m still not completely sure whether this is as a result of braking two and a half tons of LR with a seized piston…I can only assume this to be the case though as it was fine for a couple of thousand miles before the vibration and squeaking started.

The net result of this is that it was decided to take it off the road for a bit and do as many of the jobs as possible whilst I sourced a second hand hub, no doubt probably specific to the 4.2 SC….. 🤨

[NorthernMonkey]

It’s at this point that things take an interesting turn.

All I’m going to say tonight is that Copart is involved 😳

You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the next installment.

[chaseracer]

Thank you for doing this, so I don't have to! 

😀

[High Jetter]

Disappoint. Thought Green Goddess  thread.

[Schaefft]

16 minutes ago, NorthernMonkey said:

It’s at this point that things take an interesting turn.

All I’m going to say tonight is that Copart is involved 😳

You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the next installment.

Just wait when it turns out that the parts car is in better shape than this one!

[hairnet]

didnt someone else on here do similar?

cant remember what the car was tho

[Peter C]

Definitely looking forward to further updates.

[NorthernMonkey]

So. I still had a search saved on the BCA portal for 4.2 L322s and a week or two ago, one popped up going through Bedford. CAP clean was around £1200 and this one was definitely more of an average at best so, having engaged man maths mode, I reckoned if I could get it for under a grand all in, it was worth a look, especially as it had a fairly clean tailgate and the right alloys. By the time I’d weighed the cats in and sold a few other sought after bits, weighing the remains in should mean a set of the right wheels, tailgate and a few other bits could end up costing me a couple of hundred quid and then, if the engine was any good, I could be well in front.

Sale day dawned and I sat there watching everything in the sale achieve 50% of CAP clean at best. That is, until the aforementioned RR went through.

£1750, plus fees.

Fuck me…someone really wanted that!!

Only slightly deterred, I decided to have a nosy around Copart.

Despite setting my search parameters to Range Rover Vogues up to 2008 only, every bloody one on their site was a sport, apart from one, a 2006 cat S in Chester that had very little details in the heading. Looking a bit closer at the photos, the wheels looked remarkably like SC ones so I downloaded the report which revealed it to be a 4.2 Supercharged Vogue SE, going though two days later and currently on no bids. Damage was confined to the offside front wheel and was listed as ‘undercarriage damage’…more importantly, it was also shown as ‘runs and drives’ and the suffix on the windscreen lot number was an X indicating it was straight from the insurance company so, buoyed with enthusiasm once more, I placed a max bid of £275 on it, primarily to save it in my dashboard, and put a reminder in my calendar for Thursday morning to log in and watch the sale…

[NorthernMonkey]

Thursday dawned bright and sunny to match my mood. The sale was due to start at lunchtime but in the meantime, I had a notification mid morning that I’d been outbid and it was currently at £300.

The sale started and soon got round to the RR. No one else was showing any interest so I bid live to £325, was immediately outbid to £350 then, before I got the chance, someone else jumped in at £375. I hit £400, with an intention of stopping around £800 but the clock ran down, did two more bouts of fucking ‘value time’ which will mean nothing unless you partake in the shit show that is Copart salvage auctions then, kerching, sold outright for £400!! Get in! 😂

[NorthernMonkey]

Delivery was booked as my little 3.5t truck would have been taking the piss a bit carrying that home. This, along with the various fees the fuckers add on meant the invoice was approx double the winning bid but it was still a cheap enough thing in my eyes, so it was paid and I sat back awaiting the email to say it was on its way.

I was up in Peterlee on Monday with work so left Claire with the garage keys in case they turned up at the unit with it but then an email came mid afternoon to say it was out for delivery tomorrow, between 07.00 and 18.00 😂

I was sat at home catching up on some paperwork Tuesday morning when I got a text to say the driver was on his way. Jumping in the car, I got to the garage ten minutes later to find this awaiting me…

The keys were half in the letterbox and that was that!

Stay tuned to see what the salvage fairy left on my doorstep!! 😂

 

[Matty]

I've said it before but if I had the bollocks I'd have some form of L322 outside the house now. Definatly the last class Range Rover.  

[NorthernMonkey]

3 minutes ago, Matty said:

I've said it before but if I had the bollocks I'd have some form of L322 outside the house now. Definatly the last class Range Rover.  

It can certainly be arranged, especially if you’re not overly concerned about minor details like wheels or a tailgate… 🤔😉

[Matty]

8 minutes ago, NorthernMonkey said:

It can certainly be arranged, especially if you’re not overly concerned about minor details like wheels or a tailgate… 🤔😉

Reckon wheels would be a bare minimum tbh bud 😁

[loserone]

Set of £300 18" new defender steels from marketplace...

 

 

[Matty]

4 minutes ago, loserone said:

Set of £300 18" new defender steels from marketplace...

 

 

Stop it now!

[loserone]

1 minute ago, Matty said:

Stop it now!

Give me the 18s and you can have my 19s off my AJV8 

[loserone]

That Mercedes is fit btw, bet the guy you bought that off has good taste 

[Matty]

19 minutes ago, loserone said:

Give me the 18s and you can have my 19s off my AJV8 

How you getting on with yours so far? No bother?

[loserone]

It's sweet as a peach*

 

Jimbob McGregor may disagree.  I ate through a new tyre in my first 1000 miles, then cutting through the camber adjustment bolts resulted in needing some new brake pipes.  Hopefully it'll have a fresh test on next week and I'll not be in the Duster for Twixfest.

[NorthernMonkey]

1 hour ago, loserone said:

That Mercedes is fit btw, bet the guy you bought that off has good taste 

That Mercedes is lovely but I’m afraid the interior just looks worse every time I open the door. The boot is lined with bloody bathroom carpet, stuck on with adhesive.

There’s a full grey soft leather interior including carpets, trim and everythjng in the van awaiting fitment if I ever get a spare few days!

[loserone]

2 minutes ago, NorthernMonkey said:

hat Mercedes is lovely but I’m afraid the interior just looks worse every time I open the door.

@HMC did a fine job of finding more, matching stuff to go in I thought!

[NorthernMonkey]

There were a few bits but unfortunately, none of it really matched and although it looked eye catching from a distance, when close up it just annoyed my ocd so it’s going back to probably better than standard as I think it started life with grey cloth.

[Bren]

2 hours ago, Matty said:

I've said it before but if I had the bollocks I'd have some form of L322 outside the house now. Definatly the last class Range Rover.  

Unfortunately you need several outside the house to keep one good one running.

[NorthernMonkey]

Anyway, back to the RR…

What does it take to write one off? How about hitting something pretty solid with enough force to take a lump out of the alloy and tear off a lower ball joint, moving the wheel into the A post and taking out all the wiring and air lines in the process…

The majority of the damage is confined to the wing but there is slight damage to the A post itself, hence the Cat S marker.

The driveshaft pops apart under full lock but if the wheels are kept fairly straight, it will move backwards and forwards, luckily enough to get it in the door and on the ramp.

Time to see what goodies it has…

Remember I mentioned I paid £260 last week to have my callipers refurbished?

 

You couldn’t make it up…new ones along with pads and flexis both sides! 😂

How about an all singing and dancing Pioneer head unit with Apple CarPlay and the associated wiring to make it work with the steering wheel controls?!

Whilst we’re on the subject, the eagle eyed among you may have just about spotted the badge on the tailgate…

A zoom in…

Sureiy not? Mind you, that exhaust note sounds interesting…

Shit the bed!! This just keeps getting better!!

Oh, it’s also got over half a tank of fuel in it as well 😂

 

[ruffgeezer]

Noice! I like it when one of us gets an unexpected win!

[Asimo]

Dat's a big friend for the li'll Geep!

[Schaefft]

Winning all around, what a deal! Granted it still takes time to turn it all into money but you couldn't have scored bigger for 800 quid, well done!

[NorthernMonkey]

Other bonuses discovered so far are an absolutely mint upper tailgate which is worth not far from the price paid for the entire car, three good alloys with decent rubber along with an as new spare in the boot and an almost brand new prop shaft which is handy as mine has a collapsed centre bearing.

The other massive dilemma that’s going to be facing me is the interior.

Mine is lovely, don’t get me wrong…

 

But this one is really eye catching, to me at least. It’s also got dark carpets, door cards and centre armrest which would be a lot more practical...

What’s everyone’s thoughts?

Would it go along with the Tonga green or would it clash? I need feedback… 🤔