A tale of three Range Rovers

[Schaefft]

The dark tan (if thats what it is) feels a little bit more special. Are they changing color halfway up the backrest?

[NorthernMonkey]

13 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

The dark tan (if thats what it is) feels a little bit more special. Are they changing color halfway up the backrest?

No, it’s just the shadow.

[jonathan_dyane]

Fix it and run both?

[NorthernMonkey]

3 minutes ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Fix it and run both?

The thought did cross my mind but I don’t need to petrol SCs.

I could sell my XC70 to @ruffgeezer and replace it with a late 4.4 TDV8 though which would be slightly less ruinous to take up and down the country… 🤔😂

[dome]

I love how you're making (future me) a really well sorted supercharged L322. 

Carry on!

[loserone]

I definitely need to back to back one against my old man's na 4.4.  That extra 1/3 power is sure to be an asset 

[dome]

Just now, loserone said:

I definitely need to back to back one against my old man's na 4.4.  That extra 1/3 power is sure to be an asset 

My BMW 4.4 was surprisingly quick with 280 (I think) bhp. I'd really love to try a 5.0 supercharged but could see me slumming it in a mere 4.2 at some point. 

Problem is my last one was (yes, really) pretty much trouble free and I doubt I'd get so lucky again...

[loserone]

I'm hoping most of the problems are selfishly hogged by the tdv8 owners

[NorthernMonkey]

6 minutes ago, dome said:

My BMW 4.4 was surprisingly quick with 280 (I think) bhp. I'd really love to try a 5.0 supercharged but could see me slumming it in a mere 4.2 at some point. 

Problem is my last one was (yes, really) pretty much trouble free and I doubt I'd get so lucky again...

I really believe this generation is as reliable as they get. The AJ engines are well proven and as long as you keep on top of any corrosion underneath with vactan and lanoguard whilst avoiding cheap suspension parts, there’s nothing to be scared of.

Even the diesel ones can be kept running to silly miles with regular oil changes (and using all the drain plugs, not just the obvious one!)

Things certainly took a nosedive reliability wise with the next generations.

[J-T]

56 minutes ago, NorthernMonkey said:

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… 🤔

Proper result there!

The tan interior is the best combination but it was pretty tired in places, so I’d just go with whichever is in better knick.

Cant wait to buy this back, tell you what I’ve got a half knackered classic now, let’s switcharoo when you’ve really gone to town 😂

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, dome said:

I love how you're making (future me) a really well sorted supercharged L322. 

Carry on!

@NorthernMonkey this

 

[NorthernMonkey]

The green SC is still awaiting a lower ball joint for the replacement hub I fitted on Friday in order to get working brakes.

The black one is minus it’s front suspension so is currently sat on the back of my old recovery truck so it can be moved around easily enough (although not that easily as the truck popped a brake pipe the other day depositing DOT4 all over the workshop floor so any movement is very slow and involves the handbrake a lot)

The only thing missing on the black salvage donor was a tow bar which I’ve been meaning to fit to the green one for a while. I must own the only 2 L322s in the country that have never dragged anything.

Anyway, instead of paying £300+ for a new tow bar, I did the only sensible thing and paid the same price for another complete RR with a nearly new bar fitted. WCPGW?

[NorthernMonkey]

This one has a blown front strut (got a couple), two rear cracked lights (got them), a knackered prop bearing (guess what…) and a tatty interior (you can see where this is going) but in it’s defence, has got a good tailgate, is a TD6 and is very clean on the bodywork to say it’s covered 250k miles so having collected it at teatime and dumped it in the doorway, I’ll stick it on the ramp tomorrow before deciding on its future.

Worst case, I’ll get my money back on the boot lid and alloys, make some profit on what’s left over and end up with a free tow bar to boot!! 😂😂

[NorthernMonkey]

Apparently, it used to be very well looked after before living on a farm for the last few years…this was taken by a previous owner five years ago…

[Schaefft]

This is the line of thinking I currently have with the ZTT. They are so cheap that I could just buy a few entire cars for the few bits I need. In reality its probably going to be one at most, if at all. Unfortunately I'm lacking the trailer.

[loserone]

Just now, Schaefft said:

Unfortunately I'm lacking the trailer

That's a slippery, slippery slope.  Would you like some soap? 

[Schaefft]

2 minutes ago, loserone said:

That's a slippery, slippery slope.  Would you like some soap? 

I'm currently watch-listing the most obscure, highly capable tow vehicle you could own in the UK on ebay. Let's see how things go when the auction finishes tomorrow...

[Gaffer]

As someone who spent 6 hours swearing working under his L322 yesterday you have my condolences for this illness you appear to have developed.

Sod’s Law I’ve just imported a tailgate from Barcelona as I couldn’t find a rust free one in the UK after searching for ages. The Spanish one actually cost me less than any ‘rust free’ uk ones I could find anyway.

Just recently put a towbar on mine and couldn’t get over how well it towed with the tdv8 so the Supercharged is going to be well on top of the job!

 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Schaefft said:

I'm currently watch-listing the most obscure, highly capable tow vehicle you could own in the UK on ebay. Let's see how things go when the auction finishes tomorrow...

What's the potential towing capacity of a ZT-T? 😄

[Schaefft]

18 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

What's the potential towing capacity of a ZT-T? 😄

1600kg, so basically a trailer and an MX5. Unfortunately I usually don't go for MX5s😅

[High Jetter]

3 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

1600kg, so basically a trailer and an MX5. Unfortunately I usually don't go for MX5s😅

A frames are trailers on a serious diet 😄

[Supernaut]

13 hours ago, Schaefft said:

I'm currently watch-listing the most obscure, highly capable tow vehicle you could own in the UK on ebay. Let's see how things go when the auction finishes tomorrow...

Knowing your dedication to complicated German things... A Unimog?

[Surface Rust]

Got to be a Dodge Ram dually, with the Cummins fitted.

[loserone]

Or a suburban 

[Schaefft]

3 hours ago, Tayne said:

A V10 tdi Tuareg or a W8 Passat?

 

2 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Got to be a Dodge Ram dually, with the Cummins fitted.

 

1 hour ago, loserone said:

Or a suburban 

All of these are way too common in the UK, think more obscure!

[Schaefft]

I don't want to derail this thread any further but it was Canada import 2015 Infiniti QX80 with a dodgy past (clearly has been sideswiped before) from a dodgy seller in Bradford.

I got outbid but I'm hoping that it was just another eBay account of said seller and it will get listed again!

[jonathan_dyane]

I like that TD6 mind

[NorthernMonkey]

1 hour ago, Schaefft said:

I don't want to derail this thread any further but it was Canada import 2015 Infiniti QX80 with a dodgy past (clearly has been sideswiped before) from a dodgy seller in Bradford.

I got outbid but I'm hoping that it was just another eBay account of said seller and it will get listed again!

Don’t worry…derail away, it’s all interesting content!

There’s a part of me that thinks you may well have dodged a bullet there though. I take some risks but even I draw the line at stuff with a suspect past in Bradford.

[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! 😂