A tale of three Range Rovers

[NorthernMonkey]

39 minutes ago, jonathan_dyane said:

I like that TD6 mind

You’ll like it even more now!

I’ve often found that stuff I buy that I have massively high expectations of can often present a never ending list of issues and therefore inevitably disappoint to some degree.

This thing is totally the opposite…when I took it off the trailer yesterday, heard its clicking CV joints and looked at it in the light of day, I held very little hope for it and was fully intending to pull off the tow bar and a few other bits before dragging it off to start its new life as an Indesit washing machine.

I got to the garage this morning and, seeing the front bumper almost touching the floor whilst the arse end was several feet in the air, my decision was made.

After finally receiving the right ball joint for the SC, I rebuilt that, bled the brakes and had a swap around so I had a little more space to play with then got into the latest arrival, expecting to need the jump pack as it only just started yesterday afternoon.

To give it its due, it started pretty much instantly although reversing it onto the ramp for tow bar removal was accompanied by much knocking and banging from the rear end which was still comically high in the air.

Anyway, up in the air it went after a bit of fiddling with blocks of wood under the side bars and what I discovered next really shocked me…

Underneath, the bloody thing is immaculate!! There is no corrosion at all on the subframes, the main chassis rails are like new and even the rear sills that had an advisory for corrosion a while back are the best I’ve ever seen on a Land Rover product, even one much newer than this! There are no oil leaks, everything is clean and dry, even the air reservoir which always turns crusty is still black and relatively shiny!

[NorthernMonkey]

Having had my plans somewhat turned on their head, I decided to spend a hour swapping the front strut to see what I could do with the suspension.

Everything came apart nicely, the brake pads are like new as are the discs and the only issue I could find other than the blown airbag was a split boot on the drop link.

Anyway, the strut from the salvage car was fitted and everything bolted back up. Time to start it up and see if the suspension could figure itself out…

I’m going to call that a win of the highest magnitude. All the suspension lights have gone out and it happily goes up and down on request with no hesitation or weird noises.

An even bigger result is that moving it backwards and forwards now is devoid of the knocking from the back end. Presumably, the rear CV joints were beyond their designed angle with the suspension being so out of kilter and now it’s riding at the same height front and rear, everything is happy.

Whilst I had the bonnet open to replace the strut, I checked the levels and everything is spot on with a recent fuel filter and nice clean oil. Also, the battery is a nearly new Bosch silver thing with the Tayna label still attached so I’ve left that on a trickle charge as I’m away for work now until the weekend.

Whilst I was under the bonnet, something else caught my eye…as it’s just listed as a Vogue SE on the logbook, I assumed the Autobiography badge on the tailgate was stuck on by a previous keeper but apparently not?

I’m not sure it means a great deal but it goes some way to explain the Xenon lights which are unusual on a early car such as this.

TL:DR It’s future is looking somewhat more certain now, and in a good way! 😂

[dome]

 

18 minutes ago, NorthernMonkey said:

Having had my plans somewhat turned on their head, I decided to spend a hour swapping the front strut to see what I could do with the suspension.

Everything came apart nicely, the brake pads are like new as are the discs and the only issue I could find other than the blown airbag was a split boot on the drop link.

Anyway, the strut from the salvage car was fitted and everything bolted back up. Time to start it up and see if the suspension could figure itself out…

I’m going to call that a win of the highest magnitude. All the suspension lights have gone out and it happily goes up and down on request with no hesitation or weird noises.

An even bigger result is that moving it backwards and forwards now is devoid of the knocking from the back end. Presumably, the rear CV joints were beyond their designed angle with the suspension being so out of kilter and now it’s riding at the same height front and rear, everything is happy.

Whilst I had the bonnet open to replace the strut, I checked the levels and everything is spot on with a recent fuel filter and nice clean oil. Also, the battery is a nearly new Bosch silver thing with the Tayna label still attached so I’ve left that on a trickle charge as I’m away for work now until the weekend.

Whilst I was under the bonnet, something else caught my eye…as it’s just listed as a Vogue SE on the logbook, I assumed the Autobiography badge on the tailgate was stuck on by a previous keeper but apparently not?

I’m not sure it means a great deal but it goes some way to explain the Xenon lights which are unusual on a early car such as this.

TL:DR It’s future is looking somewhat more certain now, and in a good way! 😂

Great to see @320tourings next purchase coming together nicely 👌

[sporty-shite]

Reading this is giving me some temptation to move to the dark side, but part of me is getting lazy, and demotivated to be meddling with faults. 

Help me out, please 🙄

[Schaefft]

Great news on the TD6 indeed, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. With plenty of free* parts available from the donor this could really turn out to be quite profitable for you!

And yes, the Infiniti has all the red flags there could be. Yet I'm still very much tempted by owning a 85 grand luxury SUV thats hardly 10 years old for what is basically pocket change. Especially when its one you'd never find here otherwise.

[NorthernMonkey]

21 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Great news on the TD6 indeed, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. With plenty of free* parts available from the donor this could really turn out to be quite profitable for you!

And yes, the Infiniti has all the red flags there could be. Yet I'm still very much tempted by owning a 85 grand luxury SUV thats hardly 10 years old for what is basically pocket change. Especially when its one you'd never find here otherwise.

The donor does indeed have the majority of bits to sort this one out to a decent standard…if I’m honest, a part of the reason for buying this was the hope that this could be the case.

As to being quite profitable though, I’m not sure how that would work considering I’ll almost certainly keep it as a towing/dog/tip car. I’ve wanted a reliable old diesel RR for a while to pull a 3.5t trailer…this could fit the bill nicely. Although I was going to put a tow bar on the SC, I’d rather have something like this that can be abused a bit and keep the green one for best! 😂

[NorthernMonkey]

Having been away all week with work, it was with some trepidation that I opened up the workshop this morning, fully expecting the scrap TD6 to be sat on its bump stops with a flat battery…

My fears were completely unfounded, though. Having sat for seven days, it was exactly as I left it last Monday afternoon. The engine fired into life quickly enough, although a new fuel filter and/or glow plugs may be of value as it took a couple of turns.

It was then outside for a quick wash…

…which has resulted in pretty presentable paint work, considering it’s lived on a farm for the last few years!

The next job is a quick road test to make sure the gearbox is doing as it should, then it’s going to have to be parked up for a week or two whilst I get a few more pressing jobs completed.

Going forwards, it can go to be tested for the first time in a couple of years then, assuming everything is ok, it’s going to get all the tatty bits replaced with the less tatty bits on the salvage SC and then it can be the winter runaround and towing bitch!

[NorthernMonkey]

I’ve been out in it a few times with the plates in it for road testing purposes and apart from heavyish steering with an occasional clunk as you go from lock to lock, it seems ok.

Christ though, it’s slow and noisy compared to my 4.2 SC!! 😂

[S2000]

I’d just sell it 🙃 I’ll give you 300 and a copy of razzle M9 😂

[Lord Sterling]

10 hours ago, NorthernMonkey said:

VX54 Indicates that it was registered in Worcestershire. Likely this place:

Which is about 5 mins from my place of work.

[NorthernMonkey]

22 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

VX54 Indicates that it was registered in Worcestershire. Likely this place:

Which is about 5 mins from my place of work.

It’s still got the dealer plates on it…I’ll have a look on Wednesday when I’m back in the garage!

Scratch that, I’ve just zoomed into the number plate picture…it was Droitwich Land Rover which I presume was an earlier name of that very place 👍

[bangernomics]

What an absolute hero, reading your thread makes me want to buy another 322, when they work they are just such a nice place to be.

[dome]

17 hours ago, NorthernMonkey said:

I’ve been out in it a few times with the plates in it for road testing purposes and apart from heavyish steering with an occasional clunk as you go from lock to lock, it seems ok.

Christ though, it’s slow and noisy compared to my 4.2 SC!! 😂

I had to replace the servotronic valve on my early one, symptoms were variable levels of assistance. Sometimes in the same corner 🫣

[NorthernMonkey]

4 hours ago, dome said:

I had to replace the servotronic valve on my early one, symptoms were variable levels of assistance. Sometimes in the same corner 🫣

I’ll investigate this tomorrow. The steering on the salvage one is (was) fine so there should be a replacement valve there if needed!