Installing the Upper Dash on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #702) 5/5/2025

Things are starting to come together.

In this video I am finally starting to get the trim back into the Range Rover Classic. I had to do some touch up to some of the pieces. I got that all done.

I also forgot the steering column cowling. So I got that off and gave it a coat of paint and at least three coats of matte clear. This is in the sun most of the time and frankly I’m surprised it isn’t in worse condition.

The rear wiper switch on in the cowl didn’t want to come out. The tabs were badly bent. I don’t remember ever touching that so I can’t say it was me that damaged it. In any event, I had to take it apart to get it out of the cowling piece. And as you can probably follow, I had to refurbish it a bit to get it reinstalled.

I also popped one of the bullet connector ends of the wiring off and had to repair that. That too a little quick thinking as they are very small and the crip was really going to be a bitch to solder. So I used a small jewelers screwdriver end and tapped it through the connector to open up the prongs. This worked better than I thought it would. So bully for me!

I had to make a run to the hardware store for “hardware” to replace the bolts on the passenger side. I found four nuts in my stash for the instrument panel. Where I put all the hardware to take this dash apart is still a mystery. I’ve dug through all the project cups and pie plates and have not found one that had the correct parts.

So I guess I’ll just keep replacing the “hardware” with new. And then one day, I’ll find all the original hardware and think to myself, “why did you put it in that spot?”

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/qFQNVr_0WD8

Getting the Interior Trim Ready for Install on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #701) 5/4/2025

The tick invasion is on us. After the creek flooded last weekend all the ticks in this end of the county have moved to higher ground.

The result is the dogs are carrying them in and they are dropping on us from the trees. I had another tick on me during this video. I hate ticks.

My dad hated them too and once said to me, “I’d rather be bitten by a good clean snake than have a tick bite.” I agree dad. I’ve had two on me this year and I haven’t even been camping yet. One latched on and caused an infection. That resulted in me having a round of antibiotics. Damn I hate those things. As I type this I keep thinking I feel them on me. Hopefully a HOT shower will settle my nerves down.

In this video, I clean up my interior trim and put another coat of clear on them. They had gotten dusty since I painted them way back in 2022? WHAT-THE-HELL? Two and a half years ago?

I don’t know why my images are missing. I am not good at WordPress or apparently managing my website. I’ve got to take some time and sort that out.

So I applied another coat of clear for good measure. I’ve got a week off from work and I want to make some progress on the interior in that time. We all know the hot summer is coming and I want to get a bunch done before my shoppe tries to kill me with the oppressive heat we are famous for here in Oklahoma.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.

Too Cold to Paint, Planning What’s Next on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #698) 4/7/2025

Third Winter hit this weekend.

It was too cold to paint. Temps in the forties in my shop. I didn’t feel like getting bundled up to lay on my back getting paint all over me.

Call me lazy, that’s fine, but not super fun for me. So I’m going to tackle the sealing of the seams with paint, seam sealer, and truck bed liner next weekend. I’ll get it as “protected” as I can.

In this video I also talk about what is coming next. Call it a little planning. I have a lot of wiring to run. Lights for the interior and exterior and wiring for a battery management system. I need to plan for a DC to DC converter and all the magic electronics that make everything work well together.

I also allude to some fun history in the story of Tuck’s Ferry across the Red River (RedRiverHistorian.com).

I also mention some of my current storage solution in the U.S. G.I. Aluminum Medical Transport Chests. If you’ve followed for any time, you’ve seen me talk about the.

This is going to be a lot of coin to drop. So getting the wires run will require some planning. I’m certain I’ll screw this up and have to re-run some of this. But that’s part of the fun, right?

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Prepping the Floor Bed for Final Paint on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #697) 3/31/2025

In this post I started the prep for painting the floor bed. The goal here might be a surprise to you, but I need to get some paint on the unpainted parts. Why? Because RUST!

I’ve got some ideas about how I can get paint between the metal panels we just completed all the welds on. Why didn’t we use zinc weld through primer? Damn good question. Because I tried it with the welding on the front half of the Range Rover. I don’t know that it worked all that well. I should experiment with it in the future.

I got all the welds ground down. Not to flush, but not sticking up either. They were pretty porous so grinding them flat would not be great. Or at least, I don’t think it would have been great.

I had camera issues so most of that didn’t tape. I got the vacuum out and cleaned up all the debris from so many grinding sessions. So much dust in there.

I now need to get paint between those pieces of steel. I’ve got some ideas and bought new tips for my cans of paint. Hopefully I can spray the paint into the split between the two panels. Then seal it up with bedliner. I’ll then fill everything remaining with seam sealer.

That’s going to be a crappy day on my back under the Big White Bus, but I only have to do it one more time. I’ve got a bunch of seam sealer to buy still. I also am out of primer so that will be sourced too.

That’s all for this week. After this is complete, I start planning the electrics in the back of the overland rig. Also, I’ve noticed the poly bushes as failing in CHUNKS now. I’ll have to fix those pretty soon. The shocks are also toast and will need to be replaced. Adding two more projects to the still growing list of tasks.

Both Mrs. Okierover and I had another bout of Covid. Her’s was likely a sinus infection too. She is also recovering from a much needed foot surgery. Hopefully I can get back in the groove and hit repairs hard in the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Patching and Painting the Floor Pan on my Range Rover Classic (Post #687) 1/12/2025

In this week’s post I continue my work on the floor pan. This time it’s patching the panel wear rust munched it’s way through. I patched a roughly 4″ x 5″ piece and three holes. One was about the size of a quarter the other about the size of a nickel.

I made up a template cut it out for the 4×5 hole. For the smaller holes I drilled them out to make them uniformly round. This helped greatly with making the patches. The third hole I just welded shut by building up the weld to bridge the hole.

I had a bit of trouble getting the welder dialed in. I haven’t changed the setting but for some reason it the welder was being difficult. Once dialed in (set back to the original settings) I managed to get good penetrating welds.

Once it was all patched up I got some paint on every thing. I was also able to get some rattle-can rhino-liner/stone chip sealer on the Z bar. I still believe this is crucial to keeping the rust at bay for a few more years. I will likely put a bunch of seal sealer in there as well. Belt and suspenders if you know what I mean.

My next episode will be getting the cross beams installed. This will be a challenge I can assure you.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/uoWbYqQfFh0

Diagnosing a non-starting Range Rover Classic and Painting the Floor Pan (Post #686) 1/4/2025

Happy New Year!

In this episode I diagnose a non-starting Range Rover. Turns out it was actually pretty simple. I do some mostly-questionable things in this video. When working with gasoline (petrol for those of you in the “other English” speaking countries) you need to be VERY careful. More careful than I am in this video.

First, I try to catch fuel from the return line, which would not have come out of that line, it would come out of the rail on top the engine. In itself not terribly dangerous on a cold engine. The second is opening the fuel lines from the fuel pump. Again not terribly dangerous in itself, but not smart either. A little static electricity and this may have been my last video. So don’t be stupid.

SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read the next paragraph if you haven’t watched the video and still want to be surprised by the cause of my non-starting Range Rover Classic.

Ever run out of gas? Well, I have now for my second time in 44 years of driving. I ran out once when I was 18 years old. I was 2 miles from the gas station and just forgot to fill up the FIRST time I passed the station. My dad was cool, and came and got me, chastised me the 2 miles to the gas station and was kind enough to drive me back to my 1973 Ford Maverick.

The second time I ran out of gas…was apparently last week after I parked the Big White Bus. I guess I had just enough gas to get her back into the garage.

Yeah, my non-starting was due to an empty fuel tank. I put 8 gallons in and she started right up. LOL.

I took the rest of the day and finished welding the Z bar on to the rear floor pan. Then I painted it. I spend a little extra time spraying paint into the gap between the Z bar and the floor pan. The idea here was the liquid paint would go between the metals and hopefully coat between the two pieces. I will also file the space with rattle-can rhino-liner, chip sealer, or whatever you want to call it. Then I will fill the gap with seam sealer.

I got to some length about perhaps melting some wax and making it run in there. Sounds like a great idea, but probably not a great idea. I’ll stick to seam sealer.

That’s about it, Like and subscribe.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.