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April 17th, 2003 (Post #28)

April 17, 2003
Need a Lift?
“Your gonna need a lift.” Kurt said, when I picked up my new exhaust at Rover Cannibal. As you probably remember my current exhaust has a bad case of rust and corrosion. Maybe just rust as there is not enough of it left to notice any corrosion. I was inspired by Mr. Fat Jack in the 1984 movie Splash in which he states to Tom Hanks while waving a hammer, “I can fix it, I’m mechanical.”

Well I got it home and after a thorough investigation at a minimum I am going to have to jack up the body a bit. Maybe more like lift the body up. Okay so I call my buddy JagGuy and he says why don’t you take it over to Roger’s. I’m thinking great, I can litter Roger’s driveway with my burden and maybe if I buy enough beer he’ll do the work too.
So I say, “Why should I take it to Roger’s?”
“He has a lift.”
“Really, you don’t say?”
He is my hero truly. He doesn’t know it yet, but he is. I haven’t asked him yet but I am assured by JagGuy he will say no problem.

Head gasket update
I still haven’t acquired the funds to purchase the gasket kit and the price of having my heads at the shop yet. JagGuy assures me that I can get another 100,000 out of the motor if I do the heads when I get them off truck. I’m all about maximizing my vehicle value so I will have the
heads re-done when they are off the truck. It makes a weekend project into a multi-weekend project.

But what am I if I am not made out of money? I have time, for I am young. Now what am I gonna drive that week? Maybe JagGuy has a spare Jaguar for me, or maybe even his Rover. Yet another thing to ask of him while he is assisting me with my heads. I have already determined this job will be a 4.5 difficulty on the Difficulty Scale.

Cupholder Goodness Update
I have unboxed my new wood lathe. I have gotten out all the tools and actually turned a piece of wood. It is harder than it looks. I have gotten some tips from Ford Stepsides and the next attempt will be better. I have a friend that felled some red cedars at his ranch and I can have as much of it as I want. I think I will try turning some bowls with that this weekend maybe.

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April 8th, 2003 (Post #27)

April 8, 2003
Under Hood Light Project
I have completed the under the hood light project. I told you about this in a previous post. To refresh your memory I purchased a light that is normal equipment on a 1995 Chevy 2500 pickup truck. This is a handy lamp that has a long extension cord that you can take as far away as the rear tires. After you are finished with the illumination you simply reel it back in. I thought this was spiffy so I bought one for about $10 from a local pickup grave yard.
Read about the install here . The one where I add the light under the hood.

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April 2nd, 2003 (Post #26)

April 2, 2003
Head Gasket
Well my worst fears were confirmed at Rover Cannibal today. The head gasket is leaking. This leak is charging my cooling system causing the coolant to leak out of the expansion bottle. Not a lot of fluid but enough to cause a tri-weekly annoyance. My options:

  • Complete Head Job. Pull the heads and have them planed and replace the gaskets.
  • Head gasket replacement. Pull it apart, replace the gaskets.
  • Retorque the heads. The leak is small maybe if lucky it will fix it.
    I’m sure there are 100 schools of thought on this subject. I have gotten a lot of advise from many trusted sources. The real bottom line is how much does it cost? I will be getting prices back this week.

    What are some of the hidden problems?

    The head could be cracked. This is not so bad as the worst problems, I could get a replacement
    and use the replacement. The worst thing that could happen is the block is cracked. I know a
    replacement engine will be about $1800 plus all the labor to put it in. That would be horrible.
    I will keep you apprise you of my decision soon.

    Exhaust update. I bought a replacement exhaust today. I will pick it up tomorrow.

    • Posted on

    March 20th, 2003 (Post #25)

    March 20, 2003
    Rust and Rovers
    Rust. What else can you say? Everyone knows about rust and Rovers. When we lived on Guam there was this stuff they called “creeping crud”. It was basically rust on your car. A small rust spot would start and it would creep up your car. Rust was due to the salt air and all the tropical conditions that foster rust.

    But today I wonder about rust. Why so much of it on Rovers? What make them so special? I have owned many cars not one of them had any rust. Not one of them has had the exhaust rust out.

    My last vehicle was a 1993 Ford Ranger pickup truck. I drove it 189,000 miles in 7 years. Not one bit of rust. Exhaust was pristine. But in the 10 years my Rover has been in existance it has developed several rust issues. They are too numerous to mention but every time I climb under it I see more rust.

    Well this week while crossing a busy intersection in town in five o’clock traffic my silencer falls
    off my truck. My carpool buddy said, “Did that just fall off your truck?” I replied I don’t think so
    as it was only 2 years ago that I had replaced it and there is no way it could have rusted out by now. I was wrong, it was mine. And trashed it was, by the time I got back to pick it up.

    I reported a month ago that the exhaust would need to be replaced. I thought I would be able to
    replace it at my leisure. I guess I was wrong again.

    With the need to replace it looming I have several questions that I will have to research or ask
    the good people of several Rover Message Boards for explanations.

  • What is the silencer for?
  • Do I need a silencer?
  • Do I replace my exhaust with stainless steel?
  • What is the best value for my money?
  • What are fair prices for the components of the exhaust?

    The obvious, “Hey he’s in a Land Rover, he must be rich.” look on mechanics and others faces is
    almost a bad cliche in Oklahoma. I can’t tell you the number of times I walked out of a shop or store when I was about to be fleeced. So I hope to have my homework done first and not be taken advantage of when getting my exhaust replaced.

    • Posted on

    March 12th, 2003 (Post #24)

    March 12, 2003
    The brake pedal is the one on the left
    Ah better weather is upon us. And just in the nick of time too. Brake problems are now haunting the beloved Big White Bus. The brakewear indicator began lighting up last week. I got home walked around the truck and the telltale smells of a very hot brake were eminating from the right rear wheel. I went in and change and proceeded to remove the wheel and inspect the brakes.

    Now this light tells you when the pads are worn thin. These pads have been on the Big White Bus since September. I didn’t think I had been stopping a great deal in the last 6 months. But never the less the light was on. The pad is in very good shape. But it did smell burnt. So I took the pads out and inspected them further. No excessive wear was found.

    Basically the way the indicator works is when the pad is worn down there are two wires in a channel near the metal backing plate of the pad. When the wires are exposed and you hit your brakes they “short” against the brake disc. This tells something else to illuminate the light. Anyway that’s how I understand it works. When you pull a worn brake pad you will see the channel very well and the wires too.

    I can’t see the wires or any reason other than this that the light should be alight. I noticed a black burned substance on the top of the pad where the wires enter the channel. My hypothesis (21 point Scrabble word, impressive) is that the brake pad was heated up, due to what I am not sure. But this heating has caused the filler substance to “boil” out and the wires inside now are touching.

    Is this verifiable?
    Am I insane?
    What business do I have making these types of hypothesis in the first place?
    Who invented aerosol cheese products and why?

    These are all valid questions but unless someone can tell me differently I’m gonna stick with my hypothesis. The solution is to unplug the sensor plug.

    But aren’t you disabling an important sensor?
    Yes and no. Yes it is no longer part of the diagnosis system. But the front pads will wear much faster than the back and they still have sensors on them. Besides, I’m not some Rover Noob. I check my brakes when I rotate my tires once a year or so.
    And my Dad was a television repair man, I have an awesome set of tools, I can fix it.
    (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 1982)

    Posted on

    February 24th, 2003 (Post #23)

    February 24, 2003
    Great Stuffage
    This weekend we had an Ramp Travel Index get together at Rover Cannibal. I got to meet a few members and future members I haven’t seen before and chat with some I have. I was surprised to see how many of our trucks are white. It looked like an Extreme UNSCOM Convention was going on. As we pulled our trucks up to the RTI ramp I saw a few other colors.

    As I was being measured on the ramp Alan Bates came around to my side of the Big White Bus
    and said, “You’ve got some great stuffage going on there.” Seems my right rear tire was way
    up in the wheel well. We ran the trucks on the ramp inside, because of the weather, and then
    as we were not entirely pleased with the results we ran them up outside off of the concrete. Alan
    has a very awesome 1992 Range Rover. A really great looking truck check out his pics on the Member’s Page.

    With the shifting of the transfer case I found another annoyance that had slipped from my memory since the last time it occurred. The microswitch that activates a bell that noisily informs you that you are in neutral would not go off. Finally after a few minutes it did finally go off. It has been chirping on bumps ever since. With every day that goes by I feel like it would be a worthy project to park the Rover and take it mostly apart and fix all the little problems. I do not have another vehicle to drive and no place to do this maintenance close to home. So it will have to wait for later when the average daily driveway temperature to climbs into the 60s fahrenheit.

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