Hi guys!

I am a member of another RR forum, well I have just joined, and was pointed this way... ;)

So to keep things easy... I'll copy my post over to here, and bin off that one!!

I have been the proud owner of a 1996 Gems 4.6HSE for a year now... and it runs PERFECT!!!!!

There, I said it!!

Okay granted I purchased her as a MOT failure which had been stood in a field for a year, which failed on brake lines, with an advisory on ball joints and a tyre, which turned into having to replace:

Pads and discs all around
4 new AT tyres
Full set of brake lines
Panhard/track rod/drag link
Shocks front and rear
Upper/lower ball joints... umm...
Braided brake pipes
ABS pump
Retrimmed head lining
Stainless Exhaust from cat back
Condenser
Receiver/dryer
Compresser
Air Con regass

Slight over heating was found when I first collected her so I had to replace the following:
Water Pump
Thermostat
Viscous Fan
Also flushed the system and checked the rad

Changed the oil in the front/rear diff and gear box

I then finished with a full service, refit the head lining, and a good clean.

I took her for an MOT and got the following:

Vehicle makeLAND ROVER
Vehicle modelRANGE ROVER
Date first used28 March 1996
Fuel typePetrol
ColourGreen

MOT history of this vehicle

Test date18 February 2017
Expiry date17 February 2018
Test ResultPass
Odometer reading87,036 miles
MOT test number6082 3367 9866
Advisory notice item(s)
Offside Front seat belt deteriorating
Oil leak ()
steering free play at maximum limits

The advisories really annoyed me.

The front seat belt deteriorating advisory was due to 1 tiny thread in the belt, that I have cut off now, and you would never know.

Oil leak... that really made me mad.. I even told the guy off.
There is no leak at all, the engine is bone dry.
Yes there was a wet patch, but that was where I had been working, and it clearly isn't a leak.
I washed it off just to be sure, and all these months later it's still bone dry.

Steering... yes that was a valid point, but I adjusted the steering box, and that is fine now to.

The point of this thread is to encourage more people to take on a project like I did.

I have never really done anything mechanical in my life, and only knew the basics with car mechanics, but after watching YouTube clips, and talking to friends, I built up the courage to take it on myself.

I had help from a friend at some points, I also watched YouTube clips over and over... I also began with no tools... I now have a shed full!!

I started at the rear of the motor, and slowly worked my way forward, repairing everything that looked dodgy.
My mate looked over my work to make sure I hadn't ballsed it up, and advised me of other jobs to do whilst I had certain parts off the motor.

It took 5 months... lots of bad words, especially with those bloody ball joints... and injured knuckles.. but I got there.

And now, I feel immensely proud of myself.

I originally got the motor for Offroading/Green Laning which it is fantastic at, but it drives so brilliantly on road to that I often use it as my daily run around.

This motor is fantastic, it runs beautifully, and I reckon the moral of the story is, a reliable P38 is a well maintained P38.

Oh, and it is still on EAS.

LOL- I'm not going to copy my replies from the other one :)
The Java Black is a great colour, but shows every speck of dust and panel ripple...

Was going to reply on the dark side but figured OB would point you over here anyway. Like you, I run my P38 every day and have done for the last 7 years. For the first 2 I didn't trust it as far as I could throw it but once you get stuff sorted, as long as you do it right, it stays sorted. Use it, enjoy it and sooner or later you'll buy another because they are very additive........

T'wasnt me
The one in the braces- he done it...

Good on you Mr Devon :)
That's a really nice looking wagon, congrats!
I wish I could find some green lanes to play on, but it seems they've come under a lot of pressure in Yorkshire recently. Also, people seem to be quite secretive about them.
Still, there's nothing wrong with a P38 running on the road. Most of them see nothing else!

There are 1 or 2 nice websites that the location of about 70% or so or all the green lanes in the South of England, starting in Devon, and working across to Norfolk.. I've not looked for up North yet, mind you the Ordnance Survey map App is brilliant for finding tracks.

DevonP38 wrote:

And now, I feel immensely proud of myself

And so you should!

GeorgeB wrote:

DevonP38 wrote:

And now, I feel immensely proud of myself

And so you should!
Thank you George.

Well Photobucket have suddenly decided I need to pay 30 quid a month to share my pictures... I don't think so!

DevonP38 wrote:

Well Photobucket have suddenly decided I need to pay 30 quid a month to share my pictures... I don't think so!

---

Many of us have switched to Imgur since Photobucket went commercial- it's still free :)

If you've got stuff you want kind of permanently on the site, email me the links to them and I'll copy them to the server.

I'm working on something for hosting images locally, which will also solve the padlock-and-orange-triangle warning because not everything is sent over HTTPS.

Nice work! :)

A few random pictures of my baby.

Believe it or not the scratches you can see have all polished out.. not that it really matters as I will be painting her at some point.

Our green lanes are pretty overgrown down here in sunny Devon at the moment. Probably not too much point in repainting your until the lanes have had a damn good flailing :)

That's an excellent average MPG - well done :)

I prefer the lanes nicely over grown.. especially when you can't see the sides let alone the floor.. I've had a few hairy moments turning right when I should have turned left.... even scarier still is when you simply can't see anything... until a Landy headlight appears about a foot from the bonnet!

Yes Morat I'm pretty impressed with my MPG.. that's after hammering it through the lanes.. in the town I get around 11.

I just went to change the diff oils... but it started raining, so I gave up.. I did however take a pic of my headlining... I'm still proud of the job I done recovering it considering it's my first attempt!

Also, a little question.. the bit of rubber on the bottom of the windscreen seem's to go walkies whenever it feels like it for some reason, and I noticed a little bit of wet in the passenger foot well just now, could it be the cause?
It's defo not O rings or the Aircon. so it has to be rain water.

I have never noticed the back of the rear headrest being dirty before!! I'll be getting on to that asap!!

That bit of plastic is just for pretty. Doesn't contribute to waterproofing.
Likely water leak sources down here in order of popularity:

Plenum filter cover seals
Plenum filter cover screws
Plenum drains blocked
Plenum liner retaining screws corroded

Enthusiastic application of silicon will fix all but the blocked drain

Yes I thought it was just a bit of lippy!

I've not had any wet inside before,,, so it's not to bad... I'll investigate it next weekend... maybe!