Escape

Good progress! The bleed procedure on the P38 is a bit different to most cars, because of the hydraulic booster. Best to follow the manual. 😉

To add: top gear is identical, 0.732 for the R380 V8 and 0.728 for the ZF, so there shouldn't be much difference in mpg on the motorway. On slower roads where the lock-up doesn't engage or in start/stop the autobox will suffer.

Sounds like an electrical problem, specifically with a permanent feed that causes memory to be lost (radio, odometer and alarm). As you know the battery clamps aren't good, start there. Also check earth wires from the battery and BCU. I doubt you'll need parts, more likely a bad connection somewhere.

As above, the engine will fit, but need some work on wiring and piping. Even more so if you get a later 4.6, with the Bosch/Thor engine management (identifiable by the banana manifold instead of the traditional brick plenum). Those also require a different fuel pump for the injectors to work properly. The gearbox side is easier. I have driven and know of several 4.6 V8s with the (old) ZF 4HP22, as well as with the R380. That's purely down to personal preference, if you don't trash it they'll all handle the power without problems.

+1 on using a round double plug and reuse or drill a hole for it. Mine will replace the clock in the P38 center console. 🙂

I kinda like the green one! Would need more technical details, but I've been toying with the idea to do similar to Tommy the Lightweight. I really shouldn't...

You're right, I had forgot about that one... I must have blocked the memory, as it was a real disappointment. We had come over to UK mainly to do a playday at Slab Common, but never made it there. 😞 Luckily there was another P38 back home to tow the trailer to go back and recover the first one. Which proves one is indeed not enough. 😁

Don't you have a pic of your Merc coupe with that trailer as well? 😄 I can certainly confirm it's a parachute, I remember one of the first times I borrowed it I pulled over because I thought I had left the hand brake on as it was surprisingly hard to build speed even when empty. But a very useful parachute!

And the sliding pins on floating calipers (like the P38).

Curious as to what the starting issue is (sorry if I missed that post!). As long as you can enter the EKA to disable the immobiliser if needed, everything else should be pretty straightforward. And I certainly can't complain about the reliability of my Range Rovers. My P38 diesel left me stranded once when the engine oil pump failed (a couple of days before leaving for Ladoga, luckily not in that car!), but the V8s have always gotten me home. The one I've been driving since the Workshop fire in 2015 was bought 10 years ago for £1000 of £1500. Partly stripped because it had a nice interior and then run on a limited budget and still going strong. She may look rather tatty inside and out, being a workhorse, but always gets the job done. 😉

Good point about the handbrake being much less effective with the rear prop removed! Definitely a consideration for MOT. As for breaking traction in FWD, I get that every time I drive a FWD car in the rain... The P38 being a heavy car with (usually) tyres that are not optimized for road driving and a low geared autobox that puts a good amount of torque on the wheels will certainly be no better. But should not be a problem if driven gently (as is needed to save the viscous anyway).

As above, if they have that possibility. Otherwise, if it's not too far and you drive gently, you should be fine with the front prop removed. As an aside, removing a prop would be a fail over here, because it is considered a modification of the driveline without consent from the manufacturer and the vehicle no longer complies with it's certificate of conformity...

You do need to look carefully at the drawing, the concentric shafts are easy to miss. I read it the same way as you do, and that matches the description as well.

The diff in the Borg Warner is a proper one, with the drive to the carrier, and both outputs connected via bevel gears and the viscous coupling. So you can drive in either RDW or FWD by removing the other propshaft, but in both cases the viscous will have to take the full load. Fine to get you home, but don't drive like that any longer then necessary. Unless the viscous is already seized.

Make sure you follow the correct procedure to bleed the system. The P38 braking system differs from most in that the rear brakes are only supplied via the powered circuit. You need to have the ignition on so the hydraulic pump can run and provide fluid under pressure to the rear calipers. When you take the wheels off for bleeding, also check the bearings and make sure the sliding pins are all moving freely.

Reading the above makes me feel kinda good. 🙂 I manage to keep almost all car related stuff in the Workshop. Occasionally some electrical bits will make it into the adjacent office or a thermostat will be tested in the kitchen (which is no more than a cabinet with a sink, fridge and microwave on the rear wall of the office). But my living and sleeping area is free from car parts. There are some tools and stuff left over from fitting the wiring and lights, I really should tidy those as I can finally say I've done everything I had planned. Apart from that the worst is some nuts and bolts or small tools on the bedside table, found in my pockets before going to sleep. There is a wooden piece of dashboard of a Lotus Excel in the living room at my GF's. The idea was to have a fettle with that on the cold winter nights, 2 or 3 winters ago... Maybe I spend too much time on fora. 😛

The price difference you stated earlier was for the ATB center vs Ashlocker center I think. For a complete diff you need to add a considerable fixed cost, which means the (relative) price difference becomes smaller. 😉 For what it's worth, I think you've made a good choice! But if finances (and time) allow, I would renew the swivels and upgrade the shafts etc at the same time. Just because you'll be taking things apart to fit the diff anyway.

I forgot to post an update on this. We sent the ECU to Bosch to repair the connector, which they did. But they couldn't offer any warranty because of possible water damage. It took me some time to get the replacement connector with new pins wired into the car wire loom (afterwards I discovered there was an easier way, by further dismantling the old connector) but unfortunately without success. So nothing left but to take the car to the local main dealer. Ironically when dropping it of, one of the mechanics commented on the reliability of the old Range Rovers compared to the new ones with their tendency for electronic problems. I was using my P38 as a tow car, never thought I'd hear a LR mechanic (or any mechanic other than a real enthusiast) praise a P38 as reliable! The dealer tried the ECU in another car, also without success. So a new one was ordered and programmed to the car. That seems to have cured it, though there was one more instance where the car wouldn't start. If I'm asked to do maintenance, I'll make sure to check the connectors and give them a good clean. A happy end, but it didn't come cheap... And I feel rather bad, as it's the second time I gave it my best shot to help him with a more recent Range Rover and both times I failed and only added time to the repair. 😞

Just to complete, even if it is off topic: France is largely 1.5 kV DC, Belgium 3kV DC, Germany 15kV AC, all with 25kV AC for the high speed lines. Overhead lines are indeed used mainly for safety. That high a tension underneath a metal train would be quite risky! And on crossings... Overhead catenaries allow more space for the safety air gap (with different setups for the high tension AC versions compared to lower tension DC) and low voltage/current circuits are used in the rails for train detecting etc. Despite not liking train travel, I do enjoy exploring the engineering aspects. 🙂 And now back on topic, what tension will the Defender EV use?

Most European railways are electrified as well, but important missing links remain. Because of the high infrastructure costs, alternatives like batteries and hydrogen are looked at to replace the existing diesel fleet. And then there are ports etc, where it's not practical to use electrified lines because of the need for easy access to the wagons for loading and unloading.

There is a lot of interest in HFC powered trains, instead of battery powered, to replace diesel traction on non-electrified lines. Charging of battery trains seems (at the moment) to be a bigger problem than filling up with hydrogen. Mostly because of the ludicrously high current needed to charge within a somewhat reasonable amount of time. As said, production of green hydrogen remains a problem, same as green electricity but with considerable added losses.

+1 for the leak detecting dye! As an added bonus, you'll also be able to see traces of coolant being pushed out of the tank, either because pressure really is too high or the cap isn't sealing properly.

Never hurts to compare, even if it's only to confirm your initial thoughts. 😉

A Q7 sure is huge on the outside, not helped by the plump design. Some years ago I was loading up next to a Q7, first gen I think, and I was surprised there wasn't more room inside. All a bit more curved, lower roof, more plastic taking up space and to be fair I have the back seats completely removed in my Range Rover which also helps. But compared to a P38, a D3/4 is noticeably bigger on the inside, so a different league to the Q7.

I agree with @Snagger. The Defender may be a nice model, with interesting technical details, but I much prefer the more old skool Lego designs like the Mustang (10265) and DB5 (10262), despite their more brick-like look not resembling the originals as closely as is possible with all the special parts of the Technic models.