Not just today, but last Thursday (28th July), I took this......
Then by late last night, 8 days later, I took this.....
Last Friday I set off for southern Spain towing a car transporter trailer. Having got there, I spent a couple of days working on the reason for my visit, then set off on Wednesday, getting home in the early hours of this morning, towing this
1,587 miles at 50-55mph takes an awfully long time.
Getting it onto the trailer required a bit of what the Aussies call 'bush engineering' as it was at the top of a mountain with about 3kms of very steep track to get down to somewhere flat enough to load it. The fuel pump died on it 8 years ago so it has sat there in the sun doing nothing (not even going rusty) since then. It's a 1990 model so doesn't have the fuel pump access hatch so dropping the tank was one option but the wasps nest under the rear bumper made that a hazardous exercise (I could cope with the 34 degree heat and the humidity but not being attacked by the wasps I was disturbing), so it was on to plan B.
Plan B involved the fuel pump from an XJ12 dangled next to the chassis where the fuel filter sits and held in place with a couple of tie wraps. Other problem was the 1/4 tank of 8 year old stale fuel so it needed fresh. Then discovered that the Jag pump would normally be fitted below the fuel level as it isn't self priming. A quick trip to a Jet Ski place supplied a priming bulb and with that fitted to prime the pump, she's a runner. Fresh fuel was fed from the temporary fuel tank.......
Gear lever (3.9 V8 with an auto box) wouldn't move and found a sliding thingy below the lever had dried out and seized but a dribble of ATF on that freed it off. Then it didn't want to move so slackened off the adjuster on the parking brake and it tried to move a bit. Stuck it in Low, reverse gear, gave it some welly and the brakes freed off too and it moved under its own power for the first time in 8 years. Ran it back and forth stomping on the brake pedal every so often and it was ready for the journey down the mountain. Had a bit of an air lock in the fuel hose so it didn't syphon down to the pump so every couple of hundred yards had to stop and give the bulb a few squeezes to get the fuel flowing again. Managed it though.......
Just got to drain the tank, find a way of disposing of the stale fuel and fitting a new pump.
Cool! RRC’s are worth some money these days.
Why do you think I drove 3,300 miles to collect it? It was an offer I couldn't refuse. Compared with what you usually find over here which is either rotten through and through or fully restored and going for ridiculous sums of money, it's amazing. It was taken to Spain in 1998 so was only 8 years old and has been there ever since. Chassis and underside is solid with just surface rust from standing but the sill are rusty and there is a small hole in one inner wing (compared to a small piece of remaining inner wing that you usually see) but even the rear lower tailgate only has a bit of surface rust. All the usual places you expect to see rust on a Classic are fine. I expected the interior to have been destroyed by the heat but that is in amazing condition, it needs a headlining (don't they all) and the carpets could do with a good vacuum but the seats look barely used. Only got 154,000 on the clock and now it has been run a bit it fires up and runs perfectly too.
Are you going to keep hold of it after some titivation or is it a fix it and sell for profit?
Gilbertd wrote:
nigelbb wrote:
Yesterday I drove my 2001 Vogue up to Lincolnshire so that V8 Developments can totally recondition the engine
I bet you overshot the entrance. I have every time I've been there......
Amazingly I didn't miss the entrance. My satnav informed me I had arrived at my destination in the flat featureless Lincolnshire countryside with no sign of 'Cobweb Farm' but I drove slowly another fifty yards & saw the sign on my left.
StrangeRover wrote:
Are you going to keep hold of it after some titivation or is it a fix it and sell for profit?
I'm going to drop the tank, fit the replacement fuel pump (which came with it) and advertise it for sale. My ex-LR workshop manager neighbour suggested not even washing it so people can see exactly what is there. He also looked under the bonnet and said he'd never seen one more than 5 years old that still had inner wings! If it doesn't sell, I'll put an MoT on it (so will probably need to get the sills done) and try again.
Amazingly I didn't miss the entrance. My satnav informed me I had arrived at my destination in the flat featureless Lincolnshire countryside with no sign of 'Cobweb Farm' but I drove slowly another fifty yards & saw the sign on my left.
You obviously drove slower than I do, I always see the sign just as I drive past it.
Tailgate lock stopped working. No problems I thought. I have an emergency pull cord fitted to open the lock. I climbed through the rear door and reached in to pull the cord and it worked a treat. First time in anger, the original actuator is 22 years old.
Took off the lower card. I have a spare actuator and I thought I would just plug it in and verify it is the actuator or else a problem further back in the car. So far so good.
I then discover the spare actuator I have has a different plug. There is an early and a late version apparently and the early spare I have will not fit. I rig up a small 12v battery and with a bit of wire, I test the original actuator in the car. It works OK.
Using a multimeter, I find there is no signal to it from the car. I try the fuel filler flap which is on the same circuit. It does not work either.
I then check fuse 14 under the seat. Not blown. I push it back in and suddenly everything starts working.
There must be a moral in this story. About 2 hours wasted flapping around.
Drained over 5 gallons of foul smelling stale petrol then dropped the fuel tank on the Classic. Did battle with hose clips and hoses that haven't moved in 32 years and finally gained access to the pump. 4 out of the 5 screws holding the old pump came out but, as usual, one put up a fight. Pump out, new one in and put it all back together. Went to the local garage, took out a mortgage and bought 2 gallons of petrol. Put that in the tank, tried starting it and nothing. Confirmed the pump was running, disconnected the fuel line at the filter and put my bit of hose with the priming bulb on it. Seems that 2 gallons isn't enough to cover the fuel pickup on the pump. This is going to get expensive......
Gilbertd wrote:
Drained over 5 gallons of foul smelling stale petrol then dropped the fuel tank on the Classic. Did battle with hose clips and hoses that haven't moved in 32 years and finally gained access to the pump. 4 out of the 5 screws holding the old pump came out but, as usual, one put up a fight. Pump out, new one in and put it all back together. Went to the local garage, took out a mortgage and bought 2 gallons of petrol. Put that in the tank, tried starting it and nothing. Confirmed the pump was running, disconnected the fuel line at the filter and put my bit of hose with the priming bulb on it. Seems that 2 gallons isn't enough to cover the fuel pickup on the pump. This is going to get expensive......
In 1990 a litre of petrol cost about 40p which adjusting for inflation is about 80p in today's money so fuel cost was not the same issue it would be today.
and the answer is, it needs at least 3 gallons in the tank before the pickup is submerged. Reminded me of something I read once. I think it was on an MGB where someone advocated dropping gravel into the tank when you ran out of fuel as that then filled up the vacant space at the bottom of the tank and caused the fuel level to rise. I bet the noise of a load of gravel inside a metal fuel tank when going over bumps would get really annoying.......
Drove The Duchess home from the Midlands for about 3 hours. After 2 weeks on a narrowboat in this heat I was VERY pleased I'd got the re-gas before we set off. 32C showing as outside temp, 18C inside - and my passenger asked for it to be backed off to 20 because she was shivering.
It was a Halfords special On-The-Driveway £59 job. Let's see how long it lasts. In the meantime, I'm very pleased!
Got the AC checked, system is tight as a submarine, minimal loss.
Found a like new/unused parcel shelf, a travelling Kit/boot tray and a NOS set of carpet mats, feels a bit like Christmas.
nice finds! I've also got to look for such tray and kit, although not the most functional is a sign of a bygone era :-)
Mostly yesterday but changed the rear air springs for a pair of new Dunlops. While not leaking the ones on there have been there for 12 years and 250k miles and were starting to look a bit perished, so figured I might as well. Also fitted a pair of new wiper blades and gave it a good going over in preparation of the MoT booked for 8:30 this morning. Was aiming for a pass with no advisories but got one anyway. What is the one thing you don't bother checking on a P38? That's right, the lights. It tells you if there's a bulb out doesn't it? It does, all except for number plate lights and I only had one working. Not bad that all he could find wrong was one blown number plate light though.
Not today but it was on Friday. I finally got my car moved from my old house to my new house and gave it its first wash in almost 4 years. Still looks a little sorry for itself and has a long way to go but the journey has at least begun!
Hard wired my dash cam in so I haven't got a cable spoiling the look of the dash. It meant junking the fag plug and cable for a 12vdc to 5vdc with a micro usb adaptor thing off ebay.
£7 iirc.
Cursed Britpart and realised I have a magic screwdriver. Nothing to do with Range Rovers but had to visit an AC system I installed a couple of weeks ago this morning. 2 indoor units from a single outdoor unit but one of the indoor units had stopped working. A bit of an odd fault as it appeared to work, the fan came on, no fault indicators but no cold air, just ambient. Did a bit of checking and found pressures were all over the place on the faulty one but fine on the working one. Called technical support who suggested that maybe the actuator on the top of the expansion valve had popped off. So, 18 self tappers later to get the covers off found it hadn't. Checked all the connections, which appeared fine and switched the unit back on while watching the pressures. They changed as they should but kept on going and a strange whistling started coming from the expansion valve, so I tapped it with the screwdriver handle. The whistling stopped, the pressures stabilised and the unit started to work properly.
So that was the morning but in the afternoon had to repeat a job on the Classic. Having previously replaced the petrol pump with a brand new Britpart one, I'd tried to start it yesterday and found the pump wasn't working. Checked for power, all OK but the pump itself measured open circuit when I put my meter on it. Duff pump then. Checked and found that while I could get another Britpart one for around £30, a genuine LR one would have been £544. Another Britpart it is then.
Postman had delivered it by the time I got in so I set about dropping the tank again. Having done it a few days ago this time it was easy, no seized bolts and I knew exactly what needed to come off and in what order. New pump fitted and the Classic fired up immediately so turned my attention to the one I'd just taken off. It looked perfect but the meter still showed it to be open circuit until I tapped it with the screwdriver handle when the reading went to normal. Put power on it and it worked! So, 2 jobs in one day, both of which could have been cured with a tap from my magic screwdriver......
I don't suppose your screwdriver is for sale is it?
Opened the bonnet and checked the coolant and oil levels (neither of which had moved). However, that was today but prior to that it all started on Sunday afternoon. Hitched up a fully loaded Erde 122 trailer, Dina and two dogs and headed for Dover. Across on the ferry to Calais then drove to a place called Lelystad in the north of the Netherlands to pick up Dina's daughter. After an hour then set off in an easterly direction arriving at our hotel in Warsaw around teatime. So that was Sunday and Monday. Tuesday morning we left Warsaw and travelled north to Dina's parents on the coast in Latvia arriving here about 9 last night. So, that's around 1,600 miles and the trip computer is showing an average speed of 60mph even though I'd only been cruising at 70-75 all the way, although did stop to fill up with LPG 8 times......