Escape

I do not like this topic... 😟 But I'll write down my lists anyway. Had to do it sometime! Priscilla, the Range Rover in use, is in pretty good shape, except for: - engine oil leak - occasional jolting at low throttle - driveline vibration at higher speeds - refit and fix the LPG, if I can be bothered. Haven't missed it, but it would save on running costs at around 10k miles/year. Eileen, the Lotus Excel, is perfectly usable and just needs: - tidying up the interior - tuning the carbs as she's a bit hesitant in the cold - selling her on... Suzana, the Jaguar XJ-SC, also very usable but: - the gearbox oil leak has become pretty bad - the heater is not getting very hot (not for lack of engine heat from the V12!) - she pulls to the right (though that seems to be a lot better after getting a flat this morning and having to fit the spare wheel, which is a different size) Tommy, the lightweight, doesn't really need any work, except for: - the right indicator light not always working (known bad connection). - the suspension sagging to the left Should be sold on (as soon as I get another car ready for proper off roading). Then for the real challenges, in the order I want to/should do things: Phoenix, the special Range Rover: in short fit the engine, the gearbox, the interior, the wiring, the hydraulic winch (that first needs rebuilding)... and get her running. Work in progress! Emma, the Lotus Esprit: - replace the 4-pot with the new V8 engine and modify everything to make it fit, including new gearbox lever and linkage and new radiators for engine and chargecooler. Easier said than done! No planning yet... - refit the refurbished interior - have the exterior wrapped, after fixing front and rear bumper/spoiler - find and fit a big rear wing - upgrade the brakes (probably a good idea given the potential power increase) Emily, the Lotus Elan JPS: - rebuild engine - rebuild gearbox Tatjana, the TVR 280S: - get the engine running and performing as should - tidy up the elektrickery (that's the easy part, most is done) - redo the bodywork where it was bodged after an accident. I'll probably outsource that part, I don't like bodywork. The Volvo 480 turbo: - don't buy it! And I still won't consider anything remotely sensible or modern as a daily alternative to the above! 😎 Filip

As far as I know the water pump should be interchangeable for all V8s with a V-belts. The belt arrangement is like below, with the alternator in the right corner of the picture (so engine/car LHS) and AC in the left top corner, driven by a separate belt from a double pulley on the water pump. In your photo the alternator seems to be on the other side, on the same belt as the water pump. That makes me think the V8 is from a different car (Morgan, TVR, ...) ? Or it's a 3.9 built up with (older) 3.5 bits. As above, never seen a pulley/nose like that on a Land Rover. Do you have an engine driven fan (on the water pump) or an electric one? Edited to add, looks like it could be from a Stage 1/ early 110, but with a bigger engine and added power steering. Not to familiar with those, curious to learn more!

You're moving in the wrong circles. 😉 I regularly see new Defenders around Leuven, Brussels, Antwerp... But yeah, road tax is expensive and that puts many people off. That goes for most if not all full size 4x4s, bar a few PHEVs.

In your step 3: if the pump runs as it should when wired directly, surely the problem is in the wiring? For what it's worth, I did a conversion for a client last year. He supplied most of the parts, as far as I know no changes were needed on the pedalbox or bulkhead, the vacuum booster bolts on the same way as the ABS valve block. You do need to change some of the pipes, but that didn't matter as the car needed all new brake pipes anyway.

Cause you'd only want to be seen dead in it? 😄

The Muzillas are a copy of the Mickey Thompson Baja Claw. I had those on my Defender and they worked very well on most surfaces. Unfortunately also hard to get in Europe these days, I had some shipped from the US for my Range but that was ridiculously expensive...

Take some measurements if you can: voltage across battery and directly at the alternator, with engine running and no load as well as with lights, heater etc turned on. A difference in voltge (higher at the alternator) points to a bad connection to the battery (either 12V or earth). If you have a current clamp, even better to see exactly how much is going into the battery and how much is being used. Filip

There are some pictures of the engine build on page 2 (that was started back in 2019...). I know the guys took some more on Thursday, but I haven't seen those myself yet. Yesterday we fitted the front cover, sump and flywheel. We would have fitted the clutch as well, only I forgot to order a spigot bush... Today I plan to continue wiring and reassembly of the interior, before the Range gets pushed back onto the 2 poster to remove the body again. That will make it easy to redo the brake pipes and fit the engine + gearbox. Big thanks to @elbekko for designing the intake spacer as well as finding options to have it produced. Price isn't bad at all and it's easy enough to fit with the engine already in the car. So I can't use that as an excuse not to push on... Filip

Progress was slow over the past few months. I did get most of the wiring sorted, though not tested yet. And started putting the dash back together, so definitely on the right track! This week I spent cleaning and porting the intake parts from the donor P38. Today Ben and Quentin came over to help me bolt on some parts. And have some drinks and fries. 🍻 Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned. At some point I decided that instead of standard rocker assemblies I want fancy YellaTerra Rolling Rockers. They look very nice and are adjustable so easy to get tappet preload right. But they don't fit under the standard rocker covers! So I need spacers for the covers, but that means the Bosch intake manifold will no longer fit... Cue the search for spacers for both the rocker covers and intake plenum. We know they exist but only found the intake spacer in the US (for the Buick 215). Either bite the bullet and get it shipped or see if it can be manufactured locally. After all it's just a slab of aluminum with 8 big holes (and six smaller bolt holes). Some more progress to be expected tomorrow, hopefully no more surprises!

I did the math a while ago, and didn't see much problems. Assuming the container is empty of course! I was quoted an empty weight of 2200kg, which is well within the limits of a 3-axle trailer. The length of 20ft does exceed the typical length of the load bed, but you can clearly see a rear bumper with license plate and lights right at the back. Width is not much worse than a big caravan, so perfectly doable. Clip-on mirrors might be a good idea and probably a legal requirement. A load like that will have serious drag, but I'm sure my Range would easily manage a perfectly legal 50-55mph in case it's necessary to use a motorway. The article doesn't give much details, so it might have been grossly overloaded, explaining the low speed. I think it was the poor weather conditions and defective lights that triggered the police.

Sounds logical and I was thinking something similar, but as far as I know my Defender didn't have a steering angle sensor...

That should work, except it didn't on my 90TD5... After fitting lockers I would always end up with an ABS error when using them for some time. As it was my daily at the time, I fitted a relay in parallel to the ARB compressor to disconnect the power supply to the ABS ECU. For Ladoga, I would just take out the fuse. Most other points have been well covered in previous replies: preparation and reliability is key to survival, make sure you know your vehicle and having a good (support) crew is vital. Filip

This is one thread you (or anyone else) can revive anytime! 🙂 As Mike says, it's a great event! But you'll not find much mild or sensible about TR1 routes. I want to go back some day, possibly also Adventure class. Just the small matter of getting my Range Rover finished... At least I've resumed work on her this year. Do keep us posted and ask away if you have any questions. Filip

Yeah, I'm surprised how well everything works. The car is ex-NATO (so LHD) and had been restored over several years by a previous owner, but never driven. Other projects (and marital pressure) saw it come up for sale and a friend of mine bought it. We needed to do a bit of work on the mechanicals to allow for reliable use and she chose the name Tommy. Unfortunately after just a few trips, Tommy was put into damp storage for over a year, to end up in the Workshop again. Not without a fight, I planned to just drive it home (not even 10 miles), but found both the clutch and the brakes were stuck. Cue a run with the trailer. The engine did fire easily enough and runs smoothly, so I could drive him out of the shed and onto the trailer by starting in gear (low range). Not much more needed to free the brakes and with nothing else to do over christmas (the unfinished Range Rover shall not be mentioned...) I took out the box, cleaned up the clutch plate that was properly stuck on and put everything together again. He was running again before the heavy metal top 100 playlist was finished. 🙂 Just a bit more work on the steering was needed: properly tightening all the bolts has reduced the play to acceptable levels. And yesterday morning some final tweeks to the carburetor before we were off. He didn't miss a beat! The idea is to sell him on, but I'll make sure the asking price is high enough so I'll get some more driving time first. 🙂 Filip

Actually, both are cable operated to shift between PRND, with electronics controlling further shifts (in the P38, earlier ones having hydraulic controls). And both the ZF22 and ZF24 come either without (P38 before 99) or with CANbus (P38 from 99 on). The ZF24 is of course stronger, but I have run a ZF22 with a 4.6 for many years/miles without problems. As have many others.

Since the Brooklands Classic Car gathering was canceled, I was looking for some other excuse to be in and around cars. Talked to a couple of mates and they didn't need much convincing to take the Land Rovers out. I gave the new-to-me Lightweight ('Tommy') a proper shakedown, after getting him in to shape again over christmas. There was also a RRC VM in good shape and with an experienced driver, on muds and with a rear locker (our dedicated tow car) and a newbie owner eager to take her Classic V8 off road. She was so motivated she showed up early at the Workshop to replace the failing alternator before venturing out. I'm hoping the others will send me some more pics and videos, at the moment I only have my passage of the hardest part. The Lightweight made it look deceptively easy! Very impressed with the performance, even if it takes some getting used to (jumped out of 4x4 once and I couldn't understand why I was struggling on a gentle grass slope...). Tommy1.mp4 Tommy2.mp4

The main difference is the torque converter. Bigger is of course better, but there is no indication the smaller one on later vehicles is not up to the job. Either reuse your old one, or fit the bigger one from the replacement box. In the latter case you have to make sure you use the correct (thinner) spacer on the flexplate so the total distance between flywheel and gearbox remains the same. The later gearboxes also have a different controller, with a CANbus link to the BeCM. As far as I know the boxes themselves are interchangeable, just controlled in a different way. I'm usually not a fan of modern technology but have to admit the updated gearbox control combined with the increased low down torque of the Bosch injected V8 makes for a nicer drive (especially at low throttle) than the pre 99 ones. Filip

Cut 2 trenches in the floor so the tyres sit lower?

The LED bulbs I'm using are designed to be fitted in a standard headlight, with the LEDs arranged so as to mimic the output of a traditional bulb as closely as possible. I certainly don't get flashed running them. After installing I did check (and adjust) with the machine, which showed a clean pattern with a good cut off. Much in contrast to a mate that had replacement LED headlights fitted to his RRC. Admittedly, they were cheap ones, but he quickly took them out because the pattern was horrendous and would blind anyone. As for the MOT comment, I was referring specifically to the belgian technical control. Over here pretty much any modification is illegal, complete LED headlamps certainly so. You'd probably even get a big argument if you replaced the standard candles on some older vehicles with a modern CiBie H4 or something. With better bulbs (either LED or the likes of Nightbreakers) you at least have a chance of passing the test as it still looks standard. I also have to agree with Jeremy, most modern cars have pretty blinding headlights. BMW, Merc, VAG immediately come to mind, as do modern Range Rovers. But it's not just the high end ones, Renaults can be terrible as well. These systems that automatically adjust the main beams but supposedly in a non-dazzling way are also often a problem IMHO. Especially when coming from behind and I'm in a Lotus. Filip

Have you considered just replacing the H4 bulbs with LEDs? That's what I have done on my P38, I got them from https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/ I'm considering doing the same on my Esprit, lots of light for sensible money and easy to undo if needed (MOT or such).

Best to check all connections to the battery: the big 12V cable, the earth to chassis and engine etc.

If you have the means to lift it and a place to store it, the easiest and fastest way would be to take the body off the chassis, complete with interior etc. That gives you easy access to the mechanlcals you need and keeps the other, saleable parts dry without the need for a serious amount of racking to store everything.

Here you go: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/26pdm1ax9fv9wcf/AABIm0PwVtjOh0dExAn97F9Pa?dl=0 The separate files are for MY08 on, the big file for MY06.

I've received ours last week, now distributing amongst the Belgian Collective. 🙂 Thanks! Filip

I have the RRS manuals, both for 2006 and 2008 on. I think both include the wiring diagrams. Happy to send you the link if you don't have them yet. Filip