I'm religious with tyre pressures in the P38's we've got. I always make them 28 front, 38 rear.
David.
This car came on a set of Continental tyres that were almost illegal. I had a set of Comets in the back of the workshop with Full Run tyres on them that I'd won on eBay for not a lot of money so I swapped them over.
It drove the same with the Conti's and the FullRuns.
I forgot I'd changed them until you mentioned tyres. I've done that much to it I forget what's been done and what hasn't!
Strange you had that experience with Michelins, our original P38 is on a set of Michelin Latitude tyres and I rated them very highly.
David.
Should've said I've already tried nipping the adjuster on the box but it's not made much difference at all. The steering is slightly heavier since I did it but that's it unfortunately.
David.
I replaced mine last weekend. Have a look at my post on this thread:
https://rangerovers.pub/topic/503?page=7
I used these speakers in mine and can't fault them:
David.
Right, with all of the work that's being done to the original Vogue SE (Not the one that's getting the engine) I'm fed up having to constantly correct the steering.
Last year I replaced the following:
Anti-roll bar drop links
Anti-roll bar D bushes
Front Panhard Rod bushes
Front Radius Arm bushes (front and rear ones)
Rear Panhard Rod bushes
Steering Damper
This tightened the car up massively but the car still feels like it is wandering on the road and you're correcting the steering. It's amplified when towing the trailer and it's driving me nuts now.
On the last P38 we had that was like this we replaced everything in one go. The upper steering link, steering box, drag link, track rod and both axle ball joints. We were lucky with that one as we found someone selling a New Old Stock steering box for sensible money. Doing all of this work tightened this car up massively, it was really tight, there was no play in anything and you could thread it confidently through the eye of a needle - the opposite of this car!
So... I'm trying to decide where to go next with my car. There haven't been any advisories on the last MOT for any play in any of the balljoints underneath and it's not done 1000 miles since it's last MOT 10 months ago.
With the engine off and wiggling my steering wheel I can't feel any play in the upper link and there is slack between the steering wheel and the output shaft on the bottom of the steering box so I'm thinking it's likely that the box is stuffed.
Looking on eBay there are boxes for a couple of hundred quid, boxes for 600 quid, or second hand ones for around 50 quid. I've found someone locally who is breaking a 2001 Vogue and says the steering on it was tight but at 180k miles it's done 70k more then mine so am almost reluctant to fit it and find out it's as bad as mine. I've also read people saying these boxes on eBay don't last and start leaking fluid within 18 - 24 months so I really don't know where to go.
Also, if I was going to do the steering box I'd probably do the upper link as well. Island 4x4 do a Eurospares shaft for £49.99 and a Britpart one for £98.33. Normally I'd avoid Britpart like the plague but when Britpart is double the price of the Eurospares one it makes me wonder why and if the Eurospares one is to cheap to be true.
Any advice or suggestions welcome as the wander in this steering is really hampering my enjoyment of the car at the moment. In comparison, when we drove the other VSE home the steering on it was night and day.
Thanks,
David.
The balance bar was being a pain in the neck yesterday as the chain on the rear lifting eye hits the bulkhead before you get the engine back far enough which caused no end of pain!
Yea, there's a couple of perished air springs on it. Once I've got it running and everything bolted back together I'll start replacing the bits that look perished.
Has anybody ever changed the seal on the bottom of the steering box?
David.
I've just seen this thread. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to oil filters and always try and stick to genuine.
If I'm ordering parts I usually try and chuck a couple in the basket, especially if it's Island 4x4 and I need to get to £50 for the free next day delivery.
David.
More progress this weekend. Unfortunately it just feels like we're taking baby steps as I can't get a full day at it, more like a couple of hours a day.
I found a pool of oil on the workshop floor on Saturday morning. Unfortunately it looks like the shaft seal on the steering box has failed and is letting ATF out.
Anyway, I've done as much to the engine as I'm going to do whilst it's on the bench including some more spray painting and general tidying up :)
I've now lifted the engine off the workbench and have it under the bonnet of the car.
When you see it swinging in mid air like that, it looks like a fairly small engine!
David.
Here’s the guide I created in 2011 for an earlier P38.
https://www.rangerovers.net/threads/rear-view-mirrors.36686/
They shared a windscreen mount with the P38 but the plug was different. It seems on the later P38 the plug is the same but the mount is different unfortunately.
David.
Did you ever get around the mounting issues with your mirror?
I fitted a compass mirror to my old P38 and went to do the same to my last VSE. When I noticed the mirror didn't fit I didn't pursue it and ended up selling the car complete with the mirror.
I wondered about trying to source the mount that is glued to the windscreen from a Discovery II but I can't find a part number for it and the dealer I called suggested that it only comes with the windscreen.
David.
It'll definitely be driven :D There's just no point in half doing a job.
David.
If it's been balanced off the crank, would spraying it affect the balance of the pulley?
I'm reluctant to spray the crank pulley as it's got the rubber damper in the middle of it and it's also been balanced.
I'll have a look next time I'm in front of it though.
D
Well, this P38 has been a pretty reliable car. It's never let me down or left me stranded. Came close a few months ago but it redeemed itself before the big yellow lorry arrived so I'm not counting that one :D
Since I've had this car, the remote central locking has never functioned, I've always had to use the key. I checked all of the usual suspects and tried with both keys, etc. but nothing made any difference. 12 months ago I chatted with Marty about sending the BECM to him but I never got around to it. Seeing as we're in lockdown, now seemed the perfect time to remove the BECM and stick it and the keys in the post to Marty.
For some reason, the code that the key transmits was ever so slightly different (1 digit different) to the code that the BECM was expecting so it wouldn't acknowledge the remotes. Marty sorted this out for me, posted it back and it's now got fully working remote locking on both remotes!
A few weeks ago my audio amplifier died completely. Since I've had the car it's only ever worked on the rear speakers but it then started to get a bit crackly and a few days later died completely. I started stripping the boot out to reveal the amplifier and found that both subwoofers had totally perished too.
I ordered 2 new subwoofers off t'internet and they arrived. Once I've removed the rubber surround from them they slotted straight into the existing enclosure.
The next obstacle was the subwoofer amplifier. In the existing setup, it is screwed to the bottom of both speakers. With the new speakers, this wasn't possible as there were no threaded holes or even material to thread. I ended up cutting a piece of square aluminium tube and glued it to the bottom of the enclosure and then used a blob of glue on each end of the amplifier and mounted it to the aluminium tube.
This then created another problem in that the wiring loom in the enclosure wasn't long enough to reach the speakers! I dig out some cable, some heat shrink, and some pliers to extend the loom and then realised I'd leant my soldering iron to a friend so I ended up having to crimp it. It looks a mess and I'm not happy with it but it'll have to do for now. The positive terminal on the original loom was to big for the new speakers too so I cut them off and crimped a new spade terminal onto the end of that.
I then found someone selling a DSP amp from a Vogue. It was a XQK100340 so not the correct one for my car. However, a deal was done and it turned up on Saturday. I fitted that before fitting the enclosure back and testing everything.
The subwoofers are working perfectly, the audio in the car works perfectly too. I thought there might be a bit more bass from the door speakers but I've now looked to see if the speakers are even any good. Once the other VSE is powered up again I'll compare the sound and see how it compares.
When trying to find out the routing of something for the other VSE I took the fan off this one and notice that there is some play in my water pump pulley so I've ordered a new water pump for this one this morning.
Other then that, this car just keeps charging on and doing what she needs to be doing!
David.
Progress isn't as quick as I'd like due to other things needing done such as grass cutting, etc. However, I managed to get a bit more done this weekend. To both VSE's actually.
On the new engine I had to remove the manifolds again, mostly my own fault as I realised I'd put one of the gaskets on upside down meaning I wouldn't have been able to get the spark plug in. Also, the metal brackets that the engine mounts bolt to need to go on before the manifolds.
I rebuilt the manifold heat shields with new rivnuts so assembled the engine mounts onto the block, then refitted the manifolds, gaskets and exhaust heat shields. The inlet manifold is now fitted and torqued down as well.
The plenum gaskets that I've been waiting over a week for to arrive from Rimmer Bros. finally arrived this morning despite being shipped 1st class on Tuesday.
Before putting the car back on the ramp I've wire brushed some of the surface rust off the chassis in the engine bay and have spray painted that matt black and I removed all the gubbins from the NS inner wing and gave that a good clean up as well. I've fitted a set of bypass valves to the EAS lines as well so that I could get it up off it's arse to move around.
The car is now back in the workshop and on the ramp as well so it's ready to get the engine fitted. Hopefully next weekend if all goes to plan as once it's done I need to absolutely gut the workshop as you can barely move in there just now!
They are a little. The flanges are mild steel but the pipework is stainless so the flanges aways look scruffy.
I can't work out if it's worth trying to clean them up and paint them or not. I've resurrected the manifold heat shields so you won't see much of them when it's all built up anyway.
David.
It's not had any treatment other then the vapour blasting. That's just the unfinished aluminium on it.
David.
Well, I'm a bit slow to reply to this thread. I picked up the parts for this last Friday when I went shopping. I was hoping there would be a package in the post from Rimmers this morning with the replacement gaskets for the plenum but no such luck. Hopefully tomorrow! Anyway, I'm more then pleased with how the bits came back from vapour blasting.
To tidy up the rest of the pieces I've been spraying them too. First time I've ever used a rattle can for painting too so I'm quite pleased with the results, I just wish I'd done a bit more prep work whilst tidying up the coolant pipe that goes to the front of the inlet manifold.
I'm particularly pleased how this came out after painting. I wasn't going to paint it but it was blasted with the manifold and I didn't want it going rusty as it's steel so it got rattled with the rest of it. Just shows the importance of prep work before painting I guess!
Nice bit of luck there, Gilbert.
I wish mine was that simple. My grumble is right in front of the bulkhead so can only assume it's the box. Always nice with an easy fix though.
David.
The first red VSE I bought does this too.
When I got it there was a leak from one of the power steering pipe that runs under the radiator. I just assumed that it has been run low on fluid by the previous owner before I got it. You can hear the noise is in front of the driver so it must be the steering box.
The steering on mine is vague as well, it's been totally re-bushed but still isn't as tight as the others so am assuming it needs a steering box at some point.
I'm not sure if I want to take the risk on a refurbished box and certainly don't want to spend the money on a new one either.
David.