1994 Range Rover Classic
Lenny
Lenny was pretty rotten the day I collected him! I don't think there was that much left of him by the time I drove him the 3 hours back. It was also a pretty scary drive! I couldn't tell the difference between 1st and reverse (the pin had shattered!), I had no lights, indictors didn't work at all. The tailgate kept popping open and my reverse light was on permanently. I wondered if I had made a mistake selling my van and buying this rotten box. By the time I had gotten him home I was totally in love with him, I loved his shape and all his quirks. I saw it as he is 26 years and there is some work to do! That was all. I was excited for the project to start.
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The saving grace from the project going any further south was that a previous owner had red oxided all the panels so behind them there was absolutely no rust at all! It was a shame really they didn't do the wheel arches, the floor and everything else that Land Rover touched. But it was fine, it was a start.
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The first thing that NEEDED doing more than anything was the cross member. There was nothing left of it at all, a few straggly bits of metal hanging on for dear life. That came out with a good smack! The reciprocating saw came in pretty handy too!
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Before removing the cross member, welding the bar along the top stopped the panels pinging out and never being able to go back into place again!
After all the floor pans and wheel arches had all been replaced the next step was to replace the belts, radiator, thermostat and all oils! There was a lot of metal filings in the gearbox oil, worrying! But whoever had changed the oils before had put the wrong oil into the gearbox. After a good flush through everything run smoothly, including the gearbox, there is no more grinding or struggling with the gears. In the future I will refurbish the gearbox totally just so I know it is all new, clean and fresh. I will do this before I go on a long trip!
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At the same time I also replaced the pin for the top of the gearbox which means you can tell which gear you are in also!
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While up in Halifax we had the use of a ramp so up Lenny went! Lenny was never meant to be welded on this trip away but as I was 12 hours out of MOT and the lovely out of area policeman decided to stop me I had no choice but to weld Lenny up and get him back down South and MOT'd in the next 14 days! Did you know that when your MOT runs out it is at 00.01 on the day of expiry not 23.59 like I thought it was. Nevermind. We managed to get his footwells replaced, the light carrier welded in and the sills patched up for now.
Lost in Europe
Dogs in a Pickle
Project Amber
Lenny was also treated to some HID's. The original headlights were just shockingly bad! I hated driving in the evening because of his lights, I could never see more than about a metre infront of me!
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For now he has HID's, potentially next LED's. But who knows, these haven't packed up on me. Yet!
Up next...
Sills
Chris Dyer. Donks Customs. Welding Rear Wheel Arch.