Category: repairs

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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
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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?

Painting My Dash (Post #600) 9/19/2022

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.

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I Installed the Seats on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #700) 4/27/2025

POST SEVEN HUNDRED??????!!!!!!!!!

How is that possible? I’d like to thank you for reading. If I didn’t think this page helped anyone, I wouldn’t do it….for free….well it actually costs me to provide it. But its giving back, and if it helps you, it’s worth it.

Well the seats are back in! I don’t know how to describe how awesome it was sitting in the the Range Rover Classic, on my seats. In the video I say, these are the seats I was meant to sit in. I really mean that. I LOVE SITTING IN MY RANGE ROVER.

I also did some cleanup under the seats. There was a lot of…dirtiness? Not sure how to describe it. A lot of it was metal dust from grinding. Some of it was just years of french fries slipping between the seat and transmission tunnel. Just kidding there were no french fries under the seats (this time).

I got some Dawn dish soap, a little bleach, and hot water. It did a fair job getting the muck off. I feel better about it, so that’ll have to do.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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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.

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Welding Completed on the Floor Panel on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #696) 3/23/2025

In this episode, I manage to get some good welds. Together with some bolts, I think the floor bed is installed!!!!!

Now I need to clean up the welds and cover the steel in some primer and paint. You know, to prevent rust, wink, wink.

I know this will rust again, I’m just hoping by the time it does, I’m on to another vehicle.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/uMbmCFAEUi8
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Hotter Welds for the Floor Panel on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #695) 3/16/2025

Yeah, these welds go to SEVEN. As Nigel Tufnel of the legendary band, Spinal Tap, says, “…but these go to eleven.” I turned up the voltage on my welder to get better welds.

I started with setting 4 wire speed and C voltage on my Lincoln Pro Mig 180 welder. Those welds did not hold. Drilling them out ate two drill bits and caused me to sharpen one of them twice during this ordeal.

So I turned it up to 7 D. Why the wire speed needed to be so much faster at this level of voltage is till a mystery to me, but hey, whatever works.

Hopefully these work. I am going to reinforce the welding with some bolts just to make sure any “flexing” of the body doesn’t sound like I just cracked the Big White Bus in half, when those weld break free. It will give me some piece of mind too that the floor bed will not go anywhere with all my gear strapped to it.

I also sorted out that I had my braces on wrong. This was why the bed was bulging in the middle. I don’t know how many times I went through how those needed to be installed and I still got them wrong. They are on correctly now and the bed panel fits SO much better.

That’s about all. I really appreciate two of my viewers who pointed out that the welds were not penetrating.

Wallace, who just recently acquired a Range Rover Classic and will be starting on his restoration at some point in 2025. And…

Trevor from Tumbleweed Garage [YouTube channel] who is restoring a Willys Pickup. He is doing a great job and I love watching how his mind works. He does a lot without any fancy tools, proving once again you don’t need to spend a king’s ransom to play with cars in your garage.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/17mumd38By8
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