I was lucky in that the old material came off cleanly. I think that the roof had been relined previously because there were one or two black marker marks on the fibreglass, and the old material just pulled off without leaving any residue. So at least I didn't have to go scrubbing with a wire brush or whatever.

I used the roof lining from Martrim, in Oatmeal, which I believe is the lining when the leather trim is Light Stone. I also used Tensorgrip T44 high temperature adhesive, which gives you about 10 minutes to attach the material. Just bear in mind with these adhesives you can't take the material back up once you have let it touch the adhesive. It's a one time job !!!!

Pierre3.

As GilbertD rightly says, you will need two people at least. But it is fairly straight forward with two people, provided that the other person is fairly good with their hands. I did mine with my wife and it turned out pretty much perfect. We just looked at the fibreglass panel carefully and practiced laying down the new fabric a load of times until we got it right in our minds.

We only sprayed the fibreglass with a spray-on adhesive, we didn't bother doing the material as that would have meant laying the material upsidedown on the floor. The corners and edges, such as where the grab handles go, and the awkward bits at the tailgate end, and the sunroof cutout, took a while to do, and necessitated ensuring that the material didn't touch the fibreglass while working on the tricky bits. We started at the tailgate end and worked up the panel, also working the material outwards from the centreline to the sides.

There are a couple of decent videos online which will show you how to cut the holes for the grab handles, the roof lights and the front courtesy light. Make sure that you cut the holes from one corner to the opposite corner, crosswise, and don't cut right into the corner as you need to work a bit of material around the edge of the holes to ensure that you can't see any cuts where the roof fitting are located.

It took us about 4 hours to lay down the material, and make all the cutouts. I took out the sunroof cassette to do the sunroof panel. The edges on this panel are a bit awkward because there is very little of an edge to stick the material to, where you fold it over the edges of the panel. We used bulldog clips all around the edges and it has stayed stuck down since - about two years now.

Pierre3.

Leolito - I wondered whether the cam kits are different for LHD cars and RHD cars. I looked at Rimmers description and they don't specify whether LHD or RHD.

I had a look in my garage to check the part numbers with each other - I have two new ones, from Rimmers about 3 years ago, still in packets, one LH Side and one RH Side - and two that I bought about 3 months ago from British Cars Utah, in the States, again with the same part numbers as the ones from Rimmers, and they are exactly the same.

I haven't actually used the ones from Utah, but they are original Land Rover, old stock, and I can't see any difference between the two different types of kit. I think [perhaps mistakenly] that there is no difference between cam kits bought in the US, the UK, or the EU.

I have just compared the part numbers STC3063, one from Rimmers and made in the UK, and the other from the US and made in Germany, and they are both exactly the same. In the descriptions in either the States and the UK the part 3063 is for the LH side door handle. There is no difference between the fittings.

So, if one is stuck buying in the UK one can just order from abroad, and once the correct part number is ordered then it will fit, for example the drivers' door handle, whether the car is LHD or RHD.

Pierre3.

Richard, I haven't put the shedder or door panel back yet, fortunately.

When I had the latch out I did run some sewing machine oil down the wire sleeve belonging to the inner handle cable. So it is moving very freely. And the cable run looks uninterrupted, held in place by the plastic clip in the door. And the cable is almost new [compared to the car !!].

I will have to wait until the weather improves before I go outside and have another root about at it. I don't see any issue with the actual inner handle springing back, it snaps back pretty well, but it might just be something that needs replacing, perhaps the snap back isn't as good as it should be. It's the only other item that I can see that I haven't really looked at closely.

And just to add insult to injury, this evening, I pressed the "Prog" button to clear the frost on the tailgate glass and windscreen and the passenger side fan started clattering away like a mad yoke. So now I have to replace that !!!! Oh the joys.............................

Pierre3.

I posted a thread about having door latch problems a couple of weeks ago, and that I thought that I had sorted them out, but today the driver's side door latch still seems to be an issue.

The latch didn't seem to relatch after the inside door pull handle is used. So when getting out of the car I would pull the handle and open the door but when I push the door closed the door just bounces back open, and I have to pull the inner handle back as far as possible and then let it spring back. Then the door will close properly.

It appears that the latch is being held in the "open" condition after I let go of the inner pull handle. It never happens with the outside handle, only the inner one.

There isn't any adjustment on the cable between the handle and the latch, and I fitted a new cable and a new latch last year so I am a bit perplexed by this problem

I took out the existing latch and gave it a good spray with a lubricant similar to WD40 and it was working perfectly but today it was acting the bollix again. I am beginning to wonder whether I need to buy yet another new latch, which I really don't want to do considering the cost of them. it just seems that when the inner handle pulls the arm on the latch it isn't springing back but there is no adjustment anywhere in the latch.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Pierre3.

Hi, interesting reading. I had often thought about buying a drivers' side latch, for a LHD car, to fit on the passenger side door of my car, a RHD P38. But as has been mentioned, the RHD drivers' side latch can be the problem. I looked it up yesterday and, as you guys are probably well aware, the are around £250 a piece.

I had to buy and fit a new one last year, myself. It has been in for about 12-15 months, but for some reason known only to itself it started the cill button locking trick. I stopped outside someones house, about a month ago and found that the doors were locked, and, as happens in these cases, when I pulled up the cill buttin it just popped straight back down.

I stripped the latch out and soaked it in Starrett light oil and it seems to be perfect again. What I have noticed is that it locks much quicker than before, and operates more quietly. It had been running for a couple of seconds previously, before it locked, so I had an idea that something was not quite right, but then it is a pretty new latch mechanism so I didn't pay that much attention to it ! Sort of a slow-motion lock.

Anyway, it is working fine now, so hopefully it stays that way.

Pierre3.

They were available in the US for sure, three weeks ago, I know because I bought one for each side. If they are not available from a EU supplier that may be the only option open to you.

Pierre3.

I was reading through a few threads about problems with latches going faulty and I noticed that Richard [GilbertD] mentioned that the door latches fitted to the MG F are the same as fitted to a 2001 P38.

RH https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-FQJ102281PMA and LH https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-FQJ102292PMA

I wonder, are these a straight swap ? But having asked the question here I see that they don't appear to be available any more. I'd be interested to find out whether they can still be bought. I will look elsewhere on the wobbly wonder web and see what comes up. I wouldn't be surprised if they are available, in LHD form, in the US.

UPDATE: I looked up the part numbers and, indeed, they are LHD car part numbers. So I think that probably answers the question - that they are NLA.

Pierre3.

Thanks for the good suggestions. I think that I am agreed with not trying to use solvents to get the gloop [butyl] sealant off the door. I will probably end up with a big, dirty job.

I have noticed that the advice not to scrape the sealant off with your fingernail happens to be very well advised !!! It's pretty hard to get off later.

The scraper shown on amazon.uk looks like a useful item, but I do happen to have a couple of different glue spreaders [ex-Bostick back in the day] which should do the job.

Lastly, I am guessing that the Canadian Tuck Tape is probably the same as Duck Tape, in fact, I have a feeling that I have seen it over here in Europe.

Pierre3.

Thanks for the suggestions. Romanrob, I bought new water shedders, one for each front door as I have some stuff to do in the passenger side door as well as the drivers side door. They are around £45 each from Landrover. I just prefer to use original stuff where possible, if only to ensure a proper fit.

I had thought of making one up, out of plastic sheet, but there are some many lumps and bumps in the door itself that I decided not to bother.

The chisel bit was a bit of a desperate suggestion !!! I do actually have a set of nylon/plastic trim tools, one of which will do as a perfect scraper. The comment that you made about using a thinning agent had also occurred to me - that even with most of the butyl sealer removed I could end up with a gloopy mess. I will just have to try to remove as much as possible without resorting to thinners.

By the way, here are the part numbers, just in case you need them:
SHEDDER-FRONT DOOR WATER RIGHT HAND - EJD500600
SHEDDER-FRONT DOOR WATER LEFT HAND - EJD500610

I bought them in euros - €59.00 each.

Mad-as, there are an awful lot of lumpy bits when you look at the door after the original water shedder is removed. I think that to get the new membrane to stick on, without sticking up too much, I will have to remove as much of the old sealer as possible to try to prevent lumps under the new water shedder.

Pierre3.

Hi, I had to strip the driver's door to fit a new window regulator, refit the inside door window seal, and "service" the door latch. This meant pulling off the original inner door water shedder, or membrane. I have a new one to refit, but I need to remove the black gloop that held on the original one.

I am interested to know if there is a quick and easy way to break down the gloop to get it off. Would white spirit work, or maybe rubbing alcohol ? I have to lift off the largest part of it with a chisel or a scraper, but I would like to get a clean panel before I fit the new membrane.

Any suggestions welcomed :)

Pierre3.

I had a problem with the door locks automatically re-locking themselves, despite the inside lock release being pulled. The locks all re-locked themselves immediately they were unlocked.

According to advice given here, the latch was probably acting the bollix so I decided to strip it and give the whole latch unit a good dousing with Starrett M1 lubricant. I stripped down the door, removing the speakers and the water shedder [membrane], because there was an issue with the window, in that it had starting getting a bit jerky in the last 1/3 of travel going down.

I stripped the door internal a couple of weeks ago, when the weather was quite mild, but while getting the latch out the little pointy ended door handle arm broke the end off ! There was some corrosion around the narrow neck just by the pointy end, and I think that the piece had been removed before, damaging it. But either way, I didn't have a spare so I had to leave the door taped closed until a new one arrived from Classic Land Rover.

As it happened, this issue cropping up was useful because while I was rummaging about in the bottom of the door I found that the window seal that runs down a frame inside the door had completely dropped off. Again, with advice given here I was able to figure out where it went !!!

So the car has remained with no door handle for the last month, until the weather was good enough today to have a go at it. So, today I drilled out the window regulator rivets and pulled out the regulator. This gave me free access to refit the lower front window guide seal first. Then I was able to refit the door latch and test the operation of the various locking mechanisms, particular the inner cill locking knob jobby. I was pleased to find that everything seems to be working perfectly now. I was slightly worried that, having refitted the door handle and the latch etc. that the door might not open when I closed it, but I had tested it using a piece of metal bar to close the latch and then opening it again with the handle. But everything did work perfectly when refitted.

As it was getting a bit late, and the light was going , I decided just to refit the window regulator. Fortunately, refitting the regulator and the glass was pretty straight forward. I replaced the rivets with 6mm x 16mm stainless domed socket bolts with stainless steel nyloc nuts. Everything has been greased up and new plastic guides have been fitted. So, again, I am very happy that the window now rolls up and down perfectly, and the limits are now set again.

I need to clean up the inner door frame, to remove the remains of the old water shedder [membrane], and stick a new membrane on, I bought a new one a couple of months ago, and the job should be OXO. [For people who haven't come across the saying "the job will be OXO" it means the job is good !!! Just in case someone asks what it means.]

Pierre3.

Richard, I thought that you might recognise the P38 - I did wonder whether it was yours !

Pierre3.

I found this picture on another website. As it seems that there are a couple of ex-police cars on here then maybe someone here now owns these two cars.

Pierre3.

Very many thanks for all your information. I am waiting for some new bits and pieces from Jaguar Landrover Clessics, I need a couple of door card fasteners/clips so I have bought a bag of ten, and a couple of the door handle link bars. I have to do a job on both front handles so I am going to fit two new link bars, and also keep two in stock, just in case of ................ !!!!

Pierre3.

Richard, thank you very much for your information. I had the door panel in the house around teatime and when I compared the seal to the one that I thought it was [nr. 10 in your diagram] I soon realised that it was not that one, at all.

I went out to the car to look at the different seals but could not find one the same, but, of course, I was not looking in the right place. I had wondered whether the seal had come from somewhere in the front of the door but I couldn't see where it would fit, and the fact that there isn't a seal in the rear metal guide threw me off the scent for the seals location.

I wonder how awkward this will be to refit ? I have to take out the window regulator so will this give me access to the front guide ?

Very many thanks again, for your invaluable information, I would probably just left the seal in the back of my garage, and wondered why the glass in the door didn't seem to be firmly held !

Pierre3.

Richard, it sounds as if your explanation is the correct one. When I found it sitting in the front corner space inside the door I just assumed that the garage guy had somehow pushed it down from the top of the door edge, so that he could unlock the car when it was trailored to his workshop.

I had been inside the door about 18 months ago, and I don't remember it being there then. As it was, I had to look for the metal block that holds the door handle on, via the door screw, and I looked all along the bottom of the door for the block, and I am pretty sure that I would have found the seal lying in the space. But, considering it was kind of bent up at an angle right in the corner then perhaps not !

But allowing for all that, I have no idea who would have fitted a new seal, and when. All a bit odd, but at least I know what the seal was for, which is more reassuring.

Pierre3.

Richard, thanks for that. It looks like the guy that fitted the new latch, last year must have dropped it down the inside of the door. I couldn't figure it out because it is only two thirds of the length of the original, so he must have cut a piece of it to get into the inside of the door.

Anyway, now I don't need to worry about it because it looks like a new one has been fitted, from its condition.

Thanks again, Pierre3.

Hi guys, I wonder if someone can recognise the seal in the following pictures, please. I found it in the bottom of the drivers' side door space when I took the door card off.

Pierre3.

I decided to have a look at both the window regulator and the dodgy door handle, this afternoon. I have found that the regulator quadrant is able to move slightly on the rivets, and now it is slightly twisted. I am going to fit a new regulator quadrant which I bought about two months ago, so that should solve one issue.

The other issue, with the errant behaviour of the door locks, convinced me to take out the door latch. Looking at the unit I think that it is a new one that was fitted last year when I got locked out of the car. It is a bit odd that the latch seems to be a bit dodgy in regards to the locking, in that the plastic arm, which activates the locking, is in very good condition and operates to its full movement. But occassionally it will suddenly drop into a locked condition and all the doors lock.

I have sprayed the latch unit with an industrial very light penetrating, lubricating oil [not WD40] and all the parts move freely so I think that I need to refit it and see if the issue has cleared up.

As with any RR P38 repair I have run into a problem that I can't fix until the parts peoples, Rimmers, Jaguar Land Rover etc, are back at work. There is a link bar from the door handle to the latch mechanism, and as a lot of people have previously noted, this bar has a funny little pointy end which pushes into a kind of spring steel clip. This end has broken off so I can't refit the door handle.

I got the handle disconnected from this link bar without any huge drama but I noticed that it was slightly twisted when I had it out, I suspect from when the latch was replaced, and, of course, Murphys' Law demanded that it break off while I was "persuading" the latch unit back into the door !!! Bleeding typical !!

The only thing is that they are in stock in JaguarLandRoverClassic, at around £7.00 a piece. I just have to wait until they re-open for business, maybe next Tuesday.

Oh well, I don't need "Eddie" for the moment.

Pierre3.