Wow, it’s very blue, lol
£600 would take this, if anyone fancies a flip...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RangeRoverP38ForSale/permalink/1052732101533380/?
That blue one on the previous page caught my eye out of interest more then anything. That blue leather interior, blue leather steering wheel, blue leather door cards etc. was never standard on a P38, was it? I know the carpets weren't at that age. Looks like someone has spent a lot of money on it.
That green one is interesting too, if it's been sitting for a while and has only just been started for short trips etc then I guess a whiff of petrol from the filler cap might be normal? It looks a fairly tidy car. I notice he's updated that advert today with "SFS - reasonable offers accepted!, just pm me if interested with your offer !" Sounds like he's getting desperate to shift it now.
David.
But, but, but, it's not on gas..... Smell of petrol on the oil filler is probably because it's been started from cold and then switched off again lots of times. It isn't likely to be going anywhere with no MoT.
I talked to him in November about it:
lack of immediate funds now prevents me insuring before driving to MOT station and then taxing just for a month... I started on the pretty things rather than the some of the core elements !
Last MOT says.. Air suspension > All Suspension units - slightly deteriorated
All Brake discs - worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened
Front Brake pad(s) wearing thin (3.5.1g)
Rear Brake pad(s) wearing thin (3.5.1g)
Nearside Rear Direction indicator slightly discoloured (1.4.A.2f)
Offside Rear Direction indicator slightly discoloured (1.4.A.2f)
Nearside Rear Tyre worn close to the legal limit worn on inner edge (4.1.E.1)
Offside Rear Tyre worn close to the legal limit worn on inner edge (4.1.E.1)
Serious Oil leak Dangerous
brakes are now OK, pads re OK
needs new rear tyres for sure
oil leak is from oil filter area, took off, cleaned but cannot drive it too far to prove its fixed !
its had new alternator, new EAS, New front bearings, new window regulator, new crank speed sensor, MAF sensor, head lining re-trimmed
drives and stops !
LN02YXO is reg
air bags still work, previous owner stated that they have been teh same for the last 4 years..
Did you replace all the discs and pads?
I wonder why rear tyres are worn on inner edge? On a solid axle car that shouldn't really happen.
previous owner changed disks and pads, I would say wear on rear tyres could be from swapping over from the fronts by previous owner....if ya want photos of specific areas just let me know
Do you have any history with it? With that mileage it's likely to have had head gaskets done at least once!
sadly the preious owner was going to send me them, but never did - Previous owner was a genuine guy, his missus was a nice old lady who just loved teh car and weeped as it was being loaded onto the trailer when I picked it up (bought as a non runner- Crank sensor and battery goosed)
oil leak is from oil filter area, took off, cleaned but cannot drive it too far to prove its fixed !
Relief valve O rings, all day long.
Interestingly, I rang the VOSA and the DVLA once and questioned how far I was allowed to drive to a pre booked MOT. The woman on the phone advised me that as long as I didn't deviate from the most direct route there wasn't a maximum distance allowed.
At the time I was importing a car from Malaysia to the UK and was toying with the idea of it getting delivered to Southampton, I asked her about driving it 400 miles to an MOT and the reply was "As long as you're on the most direct route, it's not illegal".
Anyway, that story might help someone who is thinking about getting it home :)
David.
I do that all the time. Bring UK registered cars back from France that have been there for years so have no MoT or tax and take the most direct route from Dover ferry port to my tame MoT testing station. That fact that I usually come over on a Sunday when he isn't open and have to drive straight past my house to get there, means I have a stop off on the way to the test on the Monday morning. There's so few police on the roads these days that the chances of getting stopped are pretty remote anyway. As long as I've added the car to my insurance policy so it doesn't ping up as uninsured on ANPR the chances of getting stopped are even less.
It's even more fun in something that has just been imported from the US so doesn't have any plates on it at all. Done that quite a few times and never been stopped in one of those either.
That £600 Green one is a hell of lot of car for the money! Which, I suspect, is how a lot of us started with the P38 disease :)
Probably £400 to spend- O rings for PRV, airbags all round and a couple of tyres. A grand for a tidy 02 Vogue- even with those miles, wouldn't be a bad investment.
As Gilbertd says though- no gas!
I've come to the opinion that it's less hassle to buy a petrol car and convert it yourself (OK, have it converted by an expert). A modern conversion tuned for the current state of the engine beats 10 year old kit with a tank that should really be replaced. Also LPG vehicles invariably have higher mileage and the petrol only ones have been owned/maintained by someone with deep pockets.
So, yeah, add whatever Simon quotes you for LPG and enjoy smooth running :)
They're not even that hard to do. I've replaced pretty much everything apart from the ECU in my single-point system in the four years I've owned mine.
If I'd started from a completely uninstalled GEMS vehicle I reckon I could have fitted the whole thing in a long day (or split it over two, at this time of year).
Buying something that already has a kit on it, no matter how poorly installed and running, is still going to be cheaper than converting from scratch. You've already got the tank and pipework installed and even if you have to replace the whole front end it's still a lot less work. £3-400 at worst rather than over a grand. Of the 4 converted cars I've bought I've not been happy with the installation so have effectively removed and re-installed it anyway. In fact, 3 of those 4 were bought with a system installed which the seller said didn't work. All were running on gas within a couple of days.
It's better value to buy something already converted. If you take the example of that Vogue discussed above, take the £1000 on the road cost, add another £1000 for new sequential LPG (if you fit yourself- £ 1800 if not) you've then got a highish mileage 02 Vogue that you're into for £2000 to £2800. If you shop around and bide your time you can pick up equal or rarer spec with fewer miles, already converted, for less.
As an example, I came across an 01 Westminster 4.0 - all original, think mileage was around 130k, no rot, full MOT, a week or so ago, with a blown head gasket, on gas, which went on to sell privately for around £500.
All true, but it's a £2800 vehicle with a reliable LPG system and not something that's going to have you tinkering every weekend for a few months. I guess it depends on how much you like playing with that sort of thing. The quality of the original install is a factor - if the pipe runs are wrong or the tank is held on by bondo... it'll still cost to correct.
The Westminster, I grant you, would be a bargain. As long as the HG didn't go because an out of tune LPG system had it running lean for years :D
Morat has it.
Really its down to how many miles you are going to do and what a just-use-it car is worth to you. Way I see it pushing around £6,000 - £7,000 into a sound vehicle will get you a pretty much "bullet proof for the next 100,000 miles" with just ordinary servicing P38 on LPG. Or rather less if you decide not to top hat the motor. Which given the relatively inexpensive servicing of a P38 really isn't a bad deal. Assuming you have LPG in reasonable range or on a regular run. Which I don't. Rats!
So that green one would make a lot of sense as a starter vehicle.
Different if you, like moi, don't do vast miles when its actual spend not spend per mile thats important. I've been taking Car Mechanic magazine for the past few years gathering evidence for my possible next purchase, ought to be due around 2024. Troubles and costs of modern, even so called relatively economy stuff, are bloody terrifying. So mayhap doing a bullet proof P38 to last until I'm 80 odd might make sense. Say 70,000 miles worth over next 15 years. Could probably get £6,000 for the Bristol so funds are no issue.
Might be into doing one anyway. The "unofficial kid sister" is due her annual 2 or 3 week between contracts visit come April. If she doesn't stop whinging about how much her L322 TD6 is costing to run and service (£5,000 on servicing last year, Yikes!) I'll be seriously tempted to toss her the keys to the Big Red Beast to se if he can convert her to the one true faith. (Hour long "there, there, there - pat, pat, pat - it'll be OK - tears don't stain shoulders, How Much!" response phone calls are getting old.)
Clive
I wouldn't consider putting £2800 into a car, not in one lump anyway although mine stands me at around £5000 over 7 years (although that does include a V8Developments top hatted and fully refurbed block). As for mileage, I'm setting off on another 2,000 miles in 4 days trip tomorrow having only recently done my 3,700 miles trip for new year. That's about 30 tanks of LPG at between 40 and 65p per litre in 3 weeks. Doing that kind of mileage on petrol isn't something I would even contemplate. Once set up right, as long as the components aren't worn out, the gas system will just work. In 7 years I've spent no more than £200 on it and that includes replacing the vaporiser last night (£80) as the old one was starting to show signs of needing a diaphragm so rather than mucking around, I just bunged a new one on. I'll plug the computer into it if I have reason to think it isn't 100% but other than that it's probably the most reliable bit of the whole car. No tinkering needed (although I do sometimes because I think I should and have run out of other things to tinker with).
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't run a P38 on petrol (or anything but LPG). Maybe I've been unlucky with second hand LPG conversions but I'm sure there are plenty of bad conversions out there clinging on long after their installers went bust.
That's for sure Morat!
The LPG fit on the Vogue SE has done 170k miles and 12 years, with the tank in backwards, probably the wrong multivalve unit and copper feed line held to chassis with plastic straps!
I've also had to fit a new (used) ECU, Vapouriser and renew the flexible hoses and feed line. Matrix injectors are still original though!
Too right, there's an awful lot of bad conversions out there, particularly ones done by the done in a day merchants. Mostly it's underspecced systems, reducers and vaporisers that aren't man enough for the job. In a lot of cases the MIL is always on and an owner will have got into the habit of switching to petrol to overtake (if the system doesn't do it for him). He'll accept this as his installer has told him it's normal on a converted car and as the bulk of his mileage is still done on less than half price fuel he's happy. That's when the old wives tales start and everyone assumes it's normal.
But, even then, with a bit of fiddling and maybe a set of injectors and a reducer at worst, it can be sorted for not a lot if you know what you are doing (or just take it to Simon.....).