retropower

just for info, The bits were pretty much unavailable, so looked at a different route and ended up buying some jeep type headlamp mounts designed for LED 7" lamps. These required a few simple bits of cutting out to the front of the inner wing lamp boxes but fit a treat and allow much easier adjustment, and sit the lamps perfectly into the early type surrounds without any of the old fixings present.

Many thanks for that! Will look those bits up!

Hi folks! Will post a bit more soon! It’s still moving forwards albeit very slowly due to too much work as usual!

Hi folks it’s been a while, but back working on my Range Rover. It’s an ‘89 but I am fitting an early front end and am now very confused about how the headlamps fit! Does anybody have some decent pictures? I have the alloy bezels and what I believe is the correct front to the new inner wing. I wish to fit a pair of RDX led headlamps but I have no idea what other parts I need, since the wipac bowls and retaining rings that i bought seem to fit neither the car or the lights! The factory parts manual shows various bits but the pictures are difficult to decipher!!

Transition are schedule 10 concentric 2” to 1.5” reducers, stretched to oval over a tool in the flypress. Not perfect yet but ok. Pipes are all 1.5” nominal schedule 10 316 stainless pipe. 6-1 collector. Internal gated turbo but will put port for external just in case

Some other things I’ve been putting together. One of two Mercedes 250sl pagoda mech injection petrol engines. Delivered the w116 s class to its final home, purpose built house for it. Busy engine room and the chevette did it’s first couple of rallies

Sorry for lack of updates!! Engine and box in now, still got to make transmission mounts! Work stupidly busy no not got much done. Awaiting a pair of water to air charge cooler cores from BMR so I can fabricate a charge cooled inlet manifold. Have all the parts to make a tubular exhaust manifold now so need to crack on with that too. re. Sump to gearbox. Was going to weld up and redrill and may still do, but equally there’s no shortage of bolts in the block itself and compared to something like a Chevy LS3 for example which has no bolts at all in the lower 3rd of the mating area I would be happy running it without the sump to transmission bolts.

Less prone to cracking. I've seen a lot of seam welded shells crack from the ends of the welds. I tig braze them 1 inch every 3 inches using copper/silicone rod (sifsilcopper 968) which is very strong but crack resistant and copes well with the inevitable dirt in the seams

Thanks Steve! Gordon’s car is getting very near the end of metal fab work now. Plan is to get it “dry built” over the next week and a half in time for his next visit. I don’t think I will have time to get it seam brazed before then so will have to do that after it’s stripped back down, before we blast and zinc metal spray it. Fingers crossed I can get everything done in time!

Finally I still have my suffix L r380 box, all stripped down in a crate, with bead blasted modified rear housing machines for big bearings, painted main case, brand new tdi input shaft, full rebuild kit incl synchros and the large rear bearings, plus loads more stuff, after £500 the lot which is a bargain!! Also would include my sprinter single mass flywheel which bolts to the om606 and the sprinter pressure plate which can be uprated by clutchfix to take the power, and these then accept a dimensionally standard 300tdi friction plate with uprated linings again from clutchfix

Got a fair bit of interior back in now. Seats need a clean but are in really good nick. Would like leather but I want manual seats not electric so may address that in the future. My wife prefers cloth seats so they might just stay as they are! Im going to reinforce the rear seat mount area underneath (bit flimsy the original design lol) and add isofix points now and also will be fitting a brand new genuine alloy boot floor.

Bodywork wise progress is slow, been building doors for what seems an eternity!!!

Rear bowl om648 sump cleaned up and oil pump fitted, then sump fitted. Dieselmeken 7.5mm element pump with external Alda fitted and timed up. Waiting for cam cover gaskets in order to fit cam cover and injector pocket o rings then can fit injector lines

Hi folks! Been a while since I’ve updated! Been a lot of non Range Rover stuff going on. Work is ridiculously busy and we’ve been on a long journey towards having a baby too, which is hopefully a step closer. This has also prompted a slight change of direction in on the build! while I was being sensible power wise and going manual box and r380, I’ve now bought a whacking great holset he341ve variable nozzle turbo, fit for 450hp, and I have my 7.5mm injection pump which will fuel that without a problem. I now have an amg ml55 transmission which I will be fitting an om606 type front housing too (bolt on from the e300 722.6 auto box) and using a red winches adaptor to fit my uprated lt230 transfer with atb centre diff. I will be using an Ofgear controller to operate the auto box and the boost control via the vnt turbo. Will either use a cruise control rangey steering wheel to do the “paddle shift” or make a joystick setup near the wheel to supplement to remote electric merc shifter which will be on the tunnel top! Will post some pics soon! looking forward to broken axles lol

Two post every time. I run a fairly decent size automotive business and work with ramps every day pretty much. Re. The load nut failure, these are legally required to be tested in the uk by a third party, as “notifiable equipment” a vehicle lift must be inspected etc and it’s criminal law involved not civil. Ours is a used screw type lift from the late nineties and the original load nuts are to quote the inspector “still like new” so they do last pretty well

Not quite like that, but sort of! They do “dip” shells but that process isn’t just dipping and is more to remove weight by removing all sealants etc. They bake them in an oven then jetwash then phosphoric acid dip to remove any rust. No acid process removes sealer etc, some places use a hot caustic dip to do this but most use a pyrolysis oven. The “dip” you used to see on American hot rod tv show was actually caustic not acid as said on the program. The big thing with rally car shells etc is that after cleaning, they are regularly dismantled, many pressings removed from hollow areas and then put back together before the cage fabrication work. This way a chunk of the weight of the cage can be off set

I took the front off very early on (it was all pretty rotten as they usually are!) and just haven’t properly pit the new one on, it has been changed to bolt-on. I’m fitting the engine etc before it goes back on. No issues with warping (we do a lot of blasting on delicate classic cars etc). We don’t like acid dipping for several reasons, mainly that it doesnt really dig into serious rot and can leave very thin steel that looks ok but is seriously weakened. A good number of the uk top restoration companies agree with us on that one (jaguar Land Rover heritage for one) the coating sequence is blast to SA2.5, zinc flame spray, zinc phosphate etch prime, raptor coat (2k urethane truck bed liner thinned and sprayed with primer gun)

Got the front floor and tunnel dynamatted, then fitted the front wiring loom loosely as it goes behind the heater (for once, this is almost completely intact and in perfect condition!!) and the heater. Then dug out the pedal box, replaced the clutch pedal return spring with a disco one robbed from spare disco pedal box and disco servo and master cyl which are in perfect nick. Fitted the column/dash support then got the loom all roughly routed and relays all clipped up etc. Chucked the dash top on ready to start on that and column there ready to fit. Felt like a good progress day after a slow start with the strip and rebuild of the heater! Ah yes just remembered I fitted the “new” replacement wiper motor and linkage too!

Few more bits done today! Not the most photogenic, and in my usual style, none of the best bits have pictures!! First job, one of the first bits of interior to go in is the heater unit. Had a peek at it and sure enough it needed work! All the foam on all the various flaps etc had turned very brittle and would turn to dust when touched, so I completely dismantled the unit, refaced all the moving parts with 3mm or 6mm neoprene foam and then cleaned and pressure tested then painted the matrix, then re-assembled it all. Found that the fan rotor was loose on the motor shaft which made me very glad to have stripped it down as finding a friction drive fan after putting the full interior in would have been a major kick in the nuts!!!

Ps I did keep the kit for odd bolts etc when we needed them but these days we send a batch most weeks anyway so it’s not worth having. The chemical disposal is also an issue to do “correctly”

I bought a plating kit a few years back and got on well for a few parts but it quickly went downhill and keeping the conditions correct particularly for the passivating is a major pain. The plating company we use now are so cheap that it’s not worth messing about. I normally send batches of around 750 parts and they charge £50 to do the lot

Tailgate painted, great to have a completely rust free one, less great that it doesn’t fit properly, but not too much to sort it. Also zincy hinges as I didn’t like the stock painted finish!

Starting to refit a few panels!!! Finally!

Well, a few more bits done! I never want to build up another Range Rover door from scratch that much I do know! Doors, quarters, rear corners, lower tailgate, fuel flap, roof and sunroof panel all now painted. Roof fitted but not sunroof yet. Tailgate fitted but discovered that my lovely new one isn’t a straightforward fit as they changed in ‘89 when they went to steel boot floor! Mine is ally floor ‘89 and tailgate is ‘91. Nothing too serious just a bit more work as usual!! first off a load of bits bead blasted ready for zinc plating. Had to laugh at the letters on the panhard rod bracket steady forging!!! I had two and the other was a different code so picked this one!!!

You're more than welcome any time! Always open to visitors as long as we are there, which is most of the time lol