Matt B

Yes it's a GEMS unit. The engine turns over freely but pumps water out of the expansion tank. It took a good few litres of water before the AA chap tried starting it. Matt

Thanks for the reply I'm looking at simply replacing the engine now for speeds sake and fiddling with the old one out of the car; could anybody advise me whether any 4.0 RV8 will slot in or are there different varients? For example is the 3.9 Disco motor the same thing? Matt

Hi Recently, last week in fact, I took leave of my senses and bought a 4.0 V8 P38 running LPG on an 'R' plate (150k miles - I paid a pittance...). The beast ran fine apart from a tapping on idle which I intended to fix with a couple of cams etc. We used the car to tow from Cornwalll to Devon, did a bit of greenlaning and had a blast wondering what all the fuss was about with regards to P38's. On the way home my girlfriend and I smelt hot water so I checked the temperature, which was fine, pulled over and sure enough the pipe from the top of the radiator to the expansion tank had split. Fortunately we stopped on a garage forecourt so I was able to buy some pipe and clips and replace the defective part, top up the coolant and drive off. All the way back I kept an eye on the temperature gauge which sat at halfway only once rising up to three quarters up the white on a long incline. All of a sudden she started missing, then lost power and died. Fortunately I was at a service station so was able to turn in and call the aa. The car wouldn't turn over at all and I was afraid that I had seised (sp?) the engine. I let the car cool down and waited for the AA. When the chap turned up he tried the motor and it turned freely, too freely. The cooling system was pressurised and so he came to the conclusion that the head gasket had blown. Thanks for reading this far, there is a point: 1: I will have to do the work myself, I am competent and have been playing with rover V8's for a while but not attempted a stripdown and rebuild like this. I intend to get the heads checked and skimmed if necassary, replace the gaskets, replace the cams and followers (guessing they are hydraulic?). Question - Is it likely that the bores have suffered damage? If so how do I check? is there anywhing else I should know/consider before continuing? 2: Breaing in mind all that will cost me about £500 I can get a replacement motor for the same money with a 30day warranty. Qyestion - Would that be a better course of action? Thanks in advance for any input. Matt

My way of looking at it is that if I have a prang with the tyres fitted to maunufacturers recommendation then I can come back on Greenway - if I put them on with the arrow pointing the wrong way...

Thanks guys - I think a harshly worded letter to Greenway is in order, the rotation arrow definitely points against the grain.

That's the problem - the direction of rotation marked on the tyre runs it in the opposite direction to that. I don't know whether to run them as specified on the tyre or listen to the hearsay of fellow enthusiasts.

We are having a debate on the local club forum because I posted some pictures of my testing of "the turd" and people think that the tyres are fitted the wrong way round - I am not totally stupid and have followed the direction arrows on the tyre. Has anybody else noticed that the tread goes in the opposite direction to most other brands or do I just have defective tyres? M

Thanks for the ideas guys, I'll need to check it out in daylight tomorrow. M

Just a quickie, I have swapped the BW for an LT230, all bolted up but the car won't start - it just clicks. Is there any lockout on the BW that I have to deal with? The gearbox is in Park and I haven't disconnected any wires on it that I am aware of... Matt

Thanks for the input chaps. M

The bits are HEAVY which is why I am taking them off my truck. The best solution would be a forum relay if that were possible..

I am about to strip the (working) aircon out of my truck. I was going to offer to let you have the bits but I'm guessing the postage would be restrictive... Matt

Thanks for all the replies, value wise I was rekoning on about £1800 - it appears that there might be good cars going for not much more but then I expect there are worse ones too. What about the pitch tho - tart it up or sell it as a greenlaner? M

Unfortunately she has done 120k and has no history... DOH

Hi all Unfortunately I have to let my Disco go but I am not quite sure how to pitch it... She is a 300TDi on and R plate and is generally in very solid condition, the problem is that when I was feeling a little fatter in the wallet I used her for lots of greenlaning and some light offroading, not without consequence. The body is scratched from good old Cornish gorse and other flora and fauna and unfortunately due to my affinity with trees there is a dent in the passenger door and the drivers side rear quarter. The main damage was done to the lower quarters under articulation where the mud terrains caught the wheel arch and have ripped the alloy. Now for the question - I was intending to put her back on road springs, replace the front splitter etc and polish out sctratches etc and hope to get a reasonable price as a tatty road car but it occours to me that the patina she has acquired makes her look quite rugged and I was wondering whether I will get as much for her if I leave her as is and sell her for greenlaning? Also any idea of a ball park figure I should hope to get? Thanks in advance Matt

Cool! So has anybody got the linkage off an old 4 speed RRC? Matt

The one on my Disco behaved in a similar manner - I found that the fixing bolts had come loose on one side - just a suggestion. Matt

Thanks I'll bear that in mind! I had a look there but wasn't sure what it meant... that there are two for the rrc one for the 3.5 and one for the 3.9 or that there are two one for the auto and one for the manual?

Right last question re: this... I have sourced a well priced replacement box but it is from a manual classic rather than an auto - is there any difference? Matt

Wow - thanks for all the replies chaps. There's plenty to be contacting there!

Thanks Dave - you lost me at the bit about the linkage , so could I fit the LT230 and use a linkage off an old RRC auto (assuming I can find one ?

I am tight as a camel in a sandstorm I think I might have sourced a replacement it is a bit of a drive but it'll be worth it. Is the manual conversion difficult? Matt

Having discovered a knackered BW on my classic I am left with a few options: Replace the BW like for like - Expensive, my local breaker wants £150 for the unit. Replace the BW with a transfer box off a manual gearbox I have kicking around - no immediate cost but I believe that the props are different lengths and the hi/low change linkage is in the wrong place... Replace the Auto box and BW with manual - I need to source clutch, master cylinder, pipe, clutch pedal etc Does anybody have experience of doing any of these changes and could you advise me which is simplest and cheapest please? Matt

Thanks guys - I'll have a shufty. Matt

As it says on the tin really, I have a buggy forum that I did for fun but it had grown quite popular until the current host became unreliable.