Range Rover Classic - OKIEROVER.COM

August 25, 2009May 15, 2023

Marketing is everything (Post #153) 8/25/2009

I present two examples of marketing.

First the 1985 Renault Alliance Convertible. Western themed, Footloose video with mimes and break dancers. The video is a tease for the poor young man. It symbolizes possibly the elusiveness of “having it all”. How all that relates to a French car…I’m not sure. This video is creepy.

The second is the 1993 Range Rover LWB. They weren’t called Classics back then. It’s a video demonstrating the ride height feature of the Range Rover, sped up and set to music. I think the music they should have chosen was Low Rider by War. In any event, companies do some of the strangest things to sell cars.

Secretly I liked the Renault convertible. Throughout the 1980s and 90s BMW would make the 325i into a convertible that I think looks very similar to the Renault. Who copied who? Who knows. I thought the Alliance convertible looked cool. The hard top version was hideous.

August 25, 2009May 15, 2023

Things slow down a lot (Post #153) 8/25/2009

I recently put my mother in the hospital for a broken hip. She has been recovering for quite sometime. Yesterday we put her in a rehab hospital. Needless to say with all this going on I barely have time to cut the grass at the house, let alone work on the Range Rover. I did use the Range Rover to pull a trailer full of mom’s belongings in the vain hope she would be moving into an assisted living center. I have not pulled anything that large before. Other than slowing down 15 to 20 miles per hour going up the rolling hills of Northern McClain county the BWB did fine.

I still have the viscous coupling to do and I absolutely need to fix the central locking system. College football is upon us so I’m sure I’ll have to pick my projects carefully in order to get them done.

Thanks for reading, sorry for no posts in a while, and Happy Rovering.

May 31, 2009May 15, 2023

Garage clean up, moving spare parts, adjusting the door (Post #149) 5/31/2009

The garage is in an awful state. The Spring’s projects are over and it was time to get the garage in a sorted state. I went through the shelves and with 20$ worth of bins I got the nails, screws, and bolts all put right and organized. I moved the chairs to the space I just cleared and now they are nearer the door for loading.

I gathered up all the parts I had on the shelves of the former Discovery 2. I found all kinds of things on the shelves. There was…

a full set of tires on Hurricane wheels
a package cover (black)
a front drive shaft
a set of head lamps
an owner’s manual
a set of interior carpets
a spare CD disc cassette

I pretty sure I have the tires and wheels and the carpets sold. Some friends of mine are joining the Land Rover community in a big way. They recently bought TWO Land Rover Discovery’s. They made great deals on them and are getting in very cheaply. When the price of Land Rovers drops to below 4000$(US) for 10 year old models, it makes it easy to get in to the hobby.

I also got the door sorted out on the Range Rover. The classic problem of the door handles not working the latch had raised it’s ugly head on driver’s side door. With the help of 57loboy of the LandRoversOnly forums, I was able to adjust the pull and get it door working perfectly. I wrote a Tech Tip for my website if any one is interested.

It may not look like I did much to sort out the garage. But I can now work on my autos by moving just a few work benches and boxes. before I couldn’t find anything on the shelves and I had to creep around things just to walk from one side to the next.

I am getting closer to driving my Rangie. When I get some money in for the spare parts I will get the viscous coupling fixed (and a write up for that) and the air conditioning fixed. The AC will be a swap on the expansion valve and a recharge. Hopefully that will bring me cold air and summer time comfort. I’m hoping there will be enough money left to tint the windows.

May 6, 2009May 15, 2023

Not much going on (Post #143) 5/6/2009

Just a post to let my readers know,

I’m not dead
Not much is going on
Still have stuff to sell from my Discovery
My beloved Big White Bus is nearly mine again

We have one more payment on the now wrecked-totalled-dead Discovery 2 and it’s off to the auto lots to buy my wife and possibly my son cars. I also have the rims and some other bits I need to sell from the Discovery. And, I get to begin driving my beloved Range Rover Classic again.

A few projects wait for me.

The sunroof is malfunctioning.
Rust on the lower tail gate.
Headliner will need to be replaced again.
Viscous coupler needs to be replaced/rebuilt.
The fluid in the passenger side floor board needs to be sorted.
New radio.
Tint the windows.
Air condition needs to be repaired/recharged.

The sunroof will be a chore I’m afraid. It drops down to slide and then slides about an inch and then stops. I’m sure it is fixable, I’m not sure what it is causing the problem. This will be easily accessible when I pull the headliner for a replacement.

The rust on the tailgate is another of the normal problems with Range Rover Classics. I have all the stickers to repair and repaint and rebadge the lower gate. I’ve watched Edd China do this type of job on Wheeler Dealers so many times I’m sure with a little guidance from JagGuy I should be able to sort this out in a single Saturday in his shop. I need to protect my upper lift gate while I’m back there and will learn what he did to prevent his from rusting out. I will post the procedure when I have it done.

The viscous coupler failure is a very annoying problem. And could be the most difficult of this list to fix. I’m thinking the repair will be a used replacement. I will then have one on the shelf to rebuild in case the used replacement fails me.

The wet floor boards is most likely a leaking wind screen seal. There are some small holes in the floor pan that need filling as well. I will pay a auto glass company to replace the seal and refit the window. It’s not worth it to mess with this when doing it wrong could cost me a wind screen and more wet floor boards. I will pull the carpets and seal the holes most likely with welding.

Tinting the windows is a necessity of driving in Oklahoma. The afternoon sun can bake you like a cake. The air conditioning since it was converted to R134a does not cool like the R12 did before. I will replace the expansion valve and get the system recharged. Hopefully it won’t be a continuing problem.

A new radio will be a nice addition. The stock unit has a famously failed display. A used replacement unit is a couple of hundred dollars. There is a fellow in Arkansas, Roverville Radio that refurbishes your unit for less than 200$(US).

If I can’t find a good unit on eBay, I think I’ll just buy a new “modern unit”. That way I can get Sirius OR an iPod OR a memory stick OR Bluetooth my phone OR whatever is available right now to get tunes in my Classic. I’m sure what ever I buy the next technology will be release a week after I have it installed. So get your money together this summer for your own sound system upgrade.

April 30, 2009May 15, 2023

Undercoating? We don’t need no stinking undercoating (Post #142) 4/30/2009

Some Toyota Tundra owners are reportedly experiencing inordinately heavy amounts of premature rust, and they want the Japanese automaker to take action to address the problem. WCVB TV in Boston has been investigating the Toyota rust situation for about a year, and they’re reporting that at least two dozen 2000-2001 Tundra owners have complained to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Owners of 1995-2001 Toyota pickups say their vehicles had inadequate corrosion protection, and many feel that the automaker should recall the vehicles.

Wow! I thought Land Rovers were rust buckets. I’ve never seen any Land Rover that badly rusted. I will say though, that I live in a nearly perfect climate for Land Rovers.

Click the pic for the story.

And of course the original…

I’ve discussed on a number of occasions a couple of place you should check your Land Rovers for rust. Namely everywhere…wait, no, mostly the floor pans and rear gates of the Range Rover Classics and the cross support on the Land Rover Discovery.

I’ve had floor pans rust out on a Dodge Ram pickup. And I used to ride around in a JagGuy’s Ford Falcon that had liberated speed limit signs for floor boards due to the rust on that body.

Rust is not any fun on a classic automobile, let alone on a new model. So if you haven’t made a point of taking up the carpets in your Land Rover I highly recommend it. You need to nip that rust in the bud as soon as you find it. Otherwise you will be doing the difficult and unpleasant work of replacing panels and other parts lost to this silent killer. (almost sounds like an infomercial doesn’t it)

There are lots of solutions for your rust problems. I urge you to research them before you are buying a complete frame or worse, scraping a beloved Land Rover.

Happy Rovering and thanks for reading.

December 20, 2008May 15, 2023

Observations at 181818 miles (Post #121) 12/20/2008

I managed to wrest the Range Rover from my dear daughter’s hands for some much needed care. I took the Classic down and got her a new exhaust. As you have read in previous posts, the catalytic converters were gone. They needed replacing in the worst sort of way. Also recently the right side exhaust gasket was also gone. So the sounds of the 4.2 had become a horrible caucaphony of sounds. I couldn’t stand it any longer.

So I swapped Rovers with her and when I got in I found that no less than three homeless people have been living in the spacious rear of my Classic. Okay, maybe not, but one nearly 18 year old was living out of the backseat. As you can see in the following picture an amazing collection of items have found their home in the floor of the spacious Range Rover LWB.

I don’t remember much about being 18, but I’m sure I didn’t live out of the back of my 1973 Ford Maverick Grabber. People actually sat in the backseat of my car on occasions. Yeah I know it’s hard to believe but I did have friends AND they liked me driving them around. I’m not sure any one can sit in the back seat of the Rover in it’s present condition.

So if you don’t have kids yet remember this picture. That way when you pass one of your beloved Land Rovers to your spawn you know what to expect.

While you are expecting the inside of your beloved British import to be trashed never fear, the outside will also be assaulted. As I remember marking on my friends cars with “shoe polish” I don’t remember it ever damaging anything. The kids have decorated my daughter’s Rover with many coats of shoe polish over the last two years.

The collection of stickers I have placed on the Rover have taken a beating. As you know stickers increase the off-road capability proportionately to the number you adhere to the outside of the vehicle. As you can see in the picture the stickers have been bleached clean by the application of shoe polish and the associated washings to remove the caustic stuff.

So each time you apply your own particular flavor of magic to keep your Land Rover motoring about the familiar landscape of your home town and the trails to your favorite fishing spots or camping sites remember no amount of maintenance and parts replacement can protect your Land Rover from an 18 year old. Eighteen year old’s and their affect on Land Rovers cannot be protected by applications of Waxoyl or installation of brush guards or applications of Lexol to keep your leather seats intact. No products have been invented that can protect your Land Rover from the day to day use by an eighteen year old. Only luck and the magical event of your dear little rug rat getting their first career job and their desire to “drive something else” will protect your Land Rover from the unanticipated affects of an eighteen year old.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.