D Pillar – Painting? (Post #602) 10/3/2022

D Pillar Work, Interior trim painting…allergies

I got out into the shop and was working on some peripheral projects over the weekend. Peripheral because they don’t directly get the Big White Bus back on the road for driving. These are the cosmetic fixes, plain and simple. The primary project line is getting the motor back to 100% and making it reliable. I completed the repair of the heater fan blower motor. That disabled the motor due to the coolant hoses being removed.

I did start the motor about a month ago. Surprisingly she fired right up. I was really happy about that. I have not addressed the original issue with the reliability of the motor which is the ignition system. I’m 94.67% sure I’m going to replace the distributor with a Davis Unified Ignition (DUI). Its an all in one unit built in Memphis, Tennessee. Seeing the price today makes me wish I’d have bought it a year ago. The price has gone up about 50$(US). Although waiting has allowed me to start the one year warranty when I’m actually driving her.

All other projects from the list….linked here [Okierover.com Blog] not counting the replacement alternator, which I believe is where my vampire batter drain is coming from, are not keeping me from driving her.

I’ve ordered Knightsbridge seat covers. I finally talked myself out of putting leather back in. The estimates I got from local car upholstery companies were more expensive than ordering new leather…..customized with embroidered family crests on the headrests and my face digitally embroidered on the seat backs. Just kidding, but seriously, super expensive. So I ordered seat covers I’m not afraid to get muddy and dirty.

My new radio and speakers have arrived. I’ll need to watch the install video, call tech support 16 times, and finally give up and have the Evil German Dude or JagGuy help me install it. I’ll post something about that when I get closer to installing.

Still a couple of interior trim pieces that need painting. I am not going to remove them, I’m going to paint them in place, its just not worth the effort to remove them. The door cards came out without much effort and I need to wash them down, tape them off, and paint them. Perhaps next weekend.

I know this post was about the D Pillar so let me close with that. I have the welding repair still yet to do. As mentioned in the video, I used a palm sander and 100grit sandpaper to remove the glue from the beauty cover. It formerly had vinyl wrapped on it.

I’ve cut out some closed cell neoprene foam to replace the rust inducing open cell crap they delivered the Range Rover with from the factory. I’ve decided to start with painting the beauty panels. Rattle can style…can’t get much more redneck than that. I’ll show the finished product when I get it done.

Thanks for reading, watching, and Happy Rovering.

A Long List of Repairs (Post #592) 3/30/2021

I’ve been sidelined by a knee surgery. I’ve had an issue for a while (over a year) and I decided it was finally time to get it sorted out. So while I convalesce, I thought I’d put up a post detailing what I believe to be a mostly concise list of repairs that are required on the Big White Bus. We are getting another round of stimulus money from the O’Biden administration. And why not spend it on my Land Rover? Let’s get started:

Ignition

You’ve read my mis-adventures with my ignition system (Okierover). I mostly attempted to replace the entire system with GM off the shelf parts. In the end I could not stop the ignition modules from overheating. This leads to them failing basically every two weeks. With “lifetime warranty” I only bought the part twice. And when I was completely convinced I would either have to drive in the right lane, everywhere, or doing something else, I had trained myself to change the module in less than two minutes. Standing on the side of I-35 during rush hour traffic every two weeks for 4 months is not among the smartest things I’ve ever done.

At this point I’ve decided that I will replace the entire ignition system with an after-market version. I haven’t picked that version yet, but know it will be my first repair. This means the distributor, ignition coil, modules, all of it will be replaced. I currently have a “Lucas”1 setup. I don’t believe it is reliable. I have driven her with this setup, but I’m not convinced it is safe.

Alternator

Once again I am faced with a failed alternator. I have written many times about the alternator issues (Okierover). I bought the NAPA alternator back in 2005. I have replaced it under warranty 6 times (with 7 coming). Sometimes you can’t beat a NAPA warranty, even if the part only lasts about 2-3 years before it fails. It still surprises me that an OEM alternator from the factory lasted 15 years but a replacement part would not give me 2 years of service.

The BWB has a slow battery drain, I suspect it is the diode pack as it was three times before. Once a diode fails, it’s over. The alternator will still charge, but it will also discharge the battery when the engine is off. If you still have any of your hearing left, you can hear tell-tale ultra high pitch sound coming from the back of the alternator when the engine is off.

Heater Fan Blower Motor

This repair is in progress, you’ve seen the posts (Okierover). All that is left is to source the new hoses and the foam gasket sets and such. I broke a couple of plastic bits and found a great source for spares in Matt Gaum (Roadside Werx) Some of these plastic bits are starting to become unobtainium. 

This leads me to contemplate 3D printing of these parts. I’ll look for a 3d printer and do some research into the types of plastics that might work best. I’m a little surprised I haven’t seen someone doing this already. If you have, leave us a link in the comments.

Clunky Steering

At some point the bushing on the steering shaft has slipped. I need to pull it all out and get it corrected. It is not dangerous, it’s just annoying.

Rear Compartment Tie-Downs

I can’t believe I’ve driven around with a hundred plus pounds of tools and spares NOT tied down in the back of my rig. I have only avoided an epic stupid mistake because I’m a hell-of-a-driver and have avoided serious accidents.

Nice to Have

Now let me talk about what we in the Project Management game call, “Nice to Have’s”. 

Radio

I have researched a replacement system that I think will be great. When I buy it I’ll do a full write up. Bluetooth…backup camera… Van Halen “Eruption” or Wagner’s “Die Walküre” at 120dB depends on your situation.

Air Conditioning

This probably shouldn’t be a nice to have. I live in the southern plains and I promise it gets hot here. This is more than likely going to be a must have/critical. This system is a total loss. I will have to replace EVERYTHING including hoses. The testing for leaks will need to be epic if this is going to be a long term solution.

Power Steering Leak

I STILL have a power steering leak. After all my issues with leaking steering boxes you’d think this wouldn’t plague me. You’ve seen where I bought a rebuilt steering box (Facebook) from Carsteeringwholesale.com (NOT RECOMMENDED, DO NOT TRUST). I received the steering box from them and it was leaking out of the box. I fussed and yelled at them to no avail and they sent me a replacement (that I had to pay shipping on) that leaked EVEN WORSE than the shitty one they sent me to start with. Buyer beware.

I have another slow leak and will at some point need to replace this pump too.

Mystery Leak

My left front hub assembly is leaking. I’m not sure which part has the leak. I’ll have to find it eventually and replace the seal or brake caliper, or whatever it is.

Gas Gauge Uncertainty

When I replaced my last fuel pump (Okierover) I managed to get the float out of sorts and its basically a mystery as to how much fuel I have in the tank at any time except when I fill it. I need to get in there and futz with the level and see if I can fix that.

Cosmetics

Rugs

I would LOVE to have new rugs. Maybe a proper steam cleaning would do the job, I don’t know.

Seat Covers

I have looked at a lot of seat covers. I think I’m leaning toward a NON-Leather cover. Leather covers are readily available and modestly priced. I just think I can get a more durable, no maintenance option sourced that wouldn’t make me cry a little bit inside each time I slide into the BWB with mud all over me or soaking wet. Oklahoma summers are not kind to old leather.

Tint

I don’t need gangster dark tint. I think a tint one these plethora of windows would go a long way toward keeping me cool in the summer.

Paint

The BWB is losing her clearcoat. And the vinyl D pillars are quite knackered. In a perfect world with everything else repaired, I’d probably throw some paint on her.

Eviction

I have a mouse somewhere in the truck. I noticed some evidence of a mouse making its home inside. I couldn’t blame them with -14F this winter. Car spiders (Okierover) are one thing, I can’t have mice.

1: The name Lucas can be licensed by just about anyone wanting to use their name. The last set of “Lucas” parts I got were made in China….CHINA. You should not associate quality replacement parts to anything made in China.

Never fear… I have not let my wrenching skills go to waste. I helped my dear friend Eric and his son Vallie change the plugs and coils on their 2000 Jaguar S-type. We had a great afternoon. And it was a fine example of no matter what you think a job will entail…something will go wrong and will require a part no one has in stock.

Pro Tip: Jaguar (Ford) coolant hose “T”s are made out of some form of plastic-mache and hope.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering

More Trouble with the Coil/Ignition Module/Whatever (Post #586) 9/14/2019

DontLeaveTheHouseToday

Ever jumped in your Land Rover and gotten this prediction?

Such a classic picture from  Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985).  Before Pee-wee took his bike out for a ride, he checked his fortune. You know the rest of the story….there’s no basement in the Alamo, Pee-wee’s prophetic words (YouTube), “There are things you wouldn’t understand, things you couldn’t understand, things…you shouldn’t understand.”

As Dottie (played by 80s icon Elizabeth Daily) replies “I don’t understand.” I know EXACTLY what you mean Dottie, I don’t understand. I don’t understand what’s going on with my ignition system. I’ve tried many…many solutions to solve this problem.

The problem, when the engine gets warmed up the ignition module does something that causes the coil to overheat. And when the coil overheats, the engine stops getting spark and the engine dies, leaves you stranded, and frustrates you to no end.

At the time of this video I jumped on RangeRovers.net forum and saw several posts of guys dealing with very similar issues. Some of them have gone to replacing the distributor and dealing with all those issues. I’m not afraid to swap to a new replacement distributor.

Atlantic British lists the Pertronix Flame Thrower for 459.95$(US). Summit offers a Davis Unified Ignition 96920 in four colors. I’ve never even heard of this company, or anyone ever using their distributor. At 575.99$(US) I’m not sure about that.

I installed the relocation kit about 15 years ago when these issues raised their ugly heads the first time. I ran that setup until about 3 years ago when we tried the GM replacement experiment and the Lucas Ignition module Part Duex experiment (both failed). Three years before that, I replaced the stock coils with PerTronix Flame-Thrower Ignition Coils. I got good service out of those but ultimately they failed. I damaged the distributor so much sorting this out I had to have it replaced. A used distributor was installed. Mostly due to cost right at the same time I was trying to close a house and move back to my hometown.

I was chastised in some forum posts when I posted I’d just chuck the whole thing and replace it with a motor from a LR3 (Discovery 3, elsewhere in the world). There are thousands of Range Rover Classics motoring about on original ignition systems. So why am I getting these failures?

I’ve consulted people WAY, WAY smarter than me and we can’t come up with a reason for the failures. The frustration of not being able to take my Range Rover more than 2 miles from Okierover Base Camp is super frustrating.

I’m going to try a coil with high resistance next. I understand the coil for a 1971 Ford Mustang 351 Boss. 25$(US) at O’Reilly’s Auto has a high resistance. The 351 is a points ignition. And it’s a cheap test. If that fails…I’m looking at a Pertronix swap, or perhaps a diesel engine swap…I’m pretty sure either of them will be equally frustrating to get in place.

Ford-Mustang-Boss
Maybe one of the sexiest cars I’ve ever seen

As always your comments are very much appreciated.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.

Lucas Elimination Part Duex (Post #572) 4/6/2017

If you’ve been following along with my plan to eliminate my Lucas ignition system you know we’ve had some struggles. Remember the goal, to replace the expensive and moderately reliable Lucas parts with easy to source, available in nearly any auto parts store, inexpensive (sometimes with a lifetime warranty) ignition parts.

No one wants to pay 200$(US)+ for an ignition module that takes 5 days to arrive from one of the coasts or 100$(US)+ for an ignition coil when you damn well know that a similar coil and ignition module for a 1977 Chevy Nova costs 75$(US) and both have a lifetime warranty. Before I owned this Land Rover I had never experienced an ignition module or coil failure….NEVER, on a dozen cars across the entire spectrum of vehicles I have driven.

Our current issue, while we have managed to source an ignition module for 25$(US) and a coil for just under 50$(US) the ignition modules are failing at a rate a great deal worse than the Lucas setup. Think, every 2 weeks I’m replacing an ignition module. I carry TWO spares just in case.

This is in all actuality worse than the Lucas setup. A great deal of science has gone into the conditioning of the voltage and current going into the module and coil. A lot of thought by people a great deal smarter than me has gone into figuring out what is causing the failure of the GM modules we are using to replace Lucas. We’ve come down to this, we need a coil that has higher resistance than the coil we originally sourced. So to that end we now have an ignition module AND coil from a 1977 Chevy Nova with the L6 engine. Matter of fact this is the coil used on 965 different models of cars look at the list here. There’s even 32 models of Jeep on that list! Even with all the models using this coil, this is not a coil commonly stocked at your neighborhood O’Reilly’s. That is a bit disappointing but it is to be expected. The ignition module which is the more common of failure points, is a very common GM part and available in most auto parts stores.

So if you are trying to do the same to your beloved Land Rover.

The coil is a BWD – Ignition Coil Part # E41 available for 23.99$(US) Lifetime Warranty

The ignition module is a BWD – Ignition Control Module Part # CBE4P available for 29.99$(US) Lifetime Warranty

I’ll be installing these this weekend and will keep you apprised of any additional failures and what we are doing to eliminate them. During a fit of frustration recently I purchased a new Lucas ignition module and official coil and I am prepared to put them back in and scrub this experiment. I was able to find them on Amazon.com below the cost of some Land Rover parts sites you have seen online and with my Prime membership they came to the house in TWO DAYS! That will work. It won’t work if I’m stuck in the middle of the Comanche National Grasslands 30 miles or more from the nearest parts store, so I guess I’ll be carrying a spare from here on out, perhaps even two spares.

I’m hoping to have a reliable rig for an Oklahoma Overland Group run to the western part of the state at the end of this month. If you think you’d like to go check out the Oklahoma Overland Group on the Facebook.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Goodbye Lucas Ignition (Post #566) 1/22/2017

Lucas ignition module, coil, and relocation kit.

This week was the last week I will use Lucas Ignition parts. If you are a regular reader of my blog you will remember that I recently updated all my ignition parts to correct some poor performance and rough running. I’ve had a few run-ins with Lucas the Prince of Darkness…

Ignition Coil Strikes Again
Bad Fuel? Nope…

I’d forgotten how many times my ignition either through a bad coil or ignition module or both had left me stranded. Last week it did it again. The symptoms are all to obvious now.

  • The engine seems to misfire at speed.
  • The idle is rough. Frequent misfires.
  • Engine cranks but does not fire.

As I was lamenting this with JagGuy he said, “Why don’t you swap it for a basic General Motors (GM) EMI ignition. That’s what’s in all the Jaguars. It would be simple.” Simple for him for sure. And in the end not terrible at all.

JagGuy said it would be easy and it was. I called him on Wednesday night when Mr. Fisher and I were swapping ignition bits to try and find the issue. On Thursday afternoon he told me to come by after work and there it was a new module.

The fun part was how he sourced the parts. The ignition module is from a 1978 Chevy Silverado, the coil comes from a 1988 Chevy, and the bracket comes from a 1998 Chevy Caprice.

The actual part numbers from O’Reilly’s

  • BWD – CBE4P – 26.99$(US)
  • MPI – 2-5198 – 22.99$(US)

For that price…a lifetime warranty. Where is Lucas’s lifetime warranty? LIFETIME WARRANTY. And even better they are available at any O’Reilly’s or AutoZone in America. Probably in-stock, in the store.

The wiring is pretty simple.

Here it is mounted in the engine bay.

You can find a diagram pretty much anywhere on line. The only tricky part was getting the two wires that go to the distributor correct. Initially we had them switched. If you happen to do this you may notice the idle RPM to be somewhere around 1200.

I need to zip tie the leads down a bit more. I don’t like them wiggling around. We shortened the pink wire that goes to the wire coming off the clear-ish octopus like plug just below the air filter.
When we had it installed initially the idle was terrible and it caused several Code 44’s. I got those cleared by disconnecting the battery for a minute or so. They say you can disconnect the serial cable to the display, but I’ve never had any luck with that.

After I drove her to Edmond for the new tires and up to JagGuy’s shoppe for him to go over her to find the issue with the idling. When I pulled up she was running like a top. Apparently the computer starts learning after you clear the codes and run a fun cycle without any codes. By the time I drove her home she was running like a top.

On the Difficulty Scale this is a two. The assembly is easy, getting the wires hooked up is a bit of fun but not ridiculous.

Thanks goes out to JagGuy. I really appreciate your expertise and your amazing abilities.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

The Millennium Falcon made by Land Rover (Post #458) 3/5/2014

Millennium FalconI was grounded this weekend with what is probably bronchial pneumonia. Lots of coughing, a very high heart rate from the medications, and an overall very tired feeling. Being relegated to the couch and bed all weekend, I watched a lot of television. I watched an entire afternoon of Star Wars movies. Episode 4 and Episode 5 mostly. I’m not a fan of The Muppet Show Episode 6 due to the ridiculous effort to cutesy-fy the franchise and merchandise the crap out of it. Okay back to the main point I came here to write.

The Millennium Falcon is obviously a Land Rover.

By now you must be saying “What.the.hell?” So hear me out…. Continue reading “The Millennium Falcon made by Land Rover (Post #458) 3/5/2014”