Tag: restoration

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Upper Tailgate Repair on a Range Rover Classic, Part 1 (Post #671) 9/15/2024

Yeah, yeah, I know, “I thought you were working on the floor bed?!?”

I was, but I looked at the upper tailgate and I know it’s gonna be hard to believe, but I found RUST! Shocking! Anyway, I thought I’d investigate and my OCD took over and then I was halfway through with taking it apart.

So what’s wrong? The inner tube of the lower frame is rusting BADLY from the inside out. Lots of surface rust on the outside but also rust has eaten through the steel inside out.

Do I have any hope at all that I can save it? A little, at least I’m gonna slow it down. This is one of those parts on a Range Rover Classic that rusts. Check the message boards…everyone has rust on their tailgate.

IF you buy a new upper tailgate protect it from rust immediately, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. If you don’t you will lose it to rust.

So the plan now is to paint it, I already have two coats of primer on it. The second is a daffy plan to pour rust preventative paint down the tube. Yeah, you read that correctly. I found a place to buy steel tube brushes. Justman Brush Company. I ordered the minimum of 6 brushes.

I’m going to run the brush through the tube until it stops the rust bits stop coming out. I’ve already poured “kitty litter”, you know the stuff that you use to soak up oil spills, down it until I was sure it wasn’t doing anything.

Once that job is done, I’ll reassemble. I’ve already bought all stainless steel hardware. I’ll protect the threads with copper anti-seize. This will hopefully limit the corrosion on the hardware.

That’s about it. If the brushes arrive by next weekend I’ll be finishing the tailgate and reassembling. If no, I’ll be working on the floor again. I forgot to disconnect the battery last weekend so this weekend I was reminded I have a slow drain somewhere in the wiring OR the alternator diodes have failed again. I’ll test next week by just disconnecting the alternator.

Upper Tailgate Repair, Part Two

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/Quw0yF-6hDQ
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Rear Floor Pan Repair on a Range Rover Classic (Post #670) 9/7/2024

In this post I play a chemist and use muriatic acid to de-galvanize the zinc off my Z bar. Some time ago I sourced some Z bar to rebuild the rusted ledge of the floor panel. Welding galvanized steel can make you sick. It requires a well ventilated space and likely a respirator. There are lots of videos on the YouTubes that show guys welding galvanized steel. I’ve seen enough warnings to know I don’t want anything to do with it.

So using some of the acid for the swimming pool I decided to chemically remove the zinc. This too is very dangerous. So this is fair warning, don’t try this at home kids.

I got the zinc off in short order and got the Z bar double primed and double coated with black paint. I have no fantasy that this will never rust. I just don’t want it to rust through in the next 10 years.

I also got the sunroof drain installed. This was rewarding. Getting little jobs done is great. I bought a “step drill” and am now wondering why I didn’t buy one A LONG TIME AGO. This was pretty awesome. It was expensive at $58.00(US) for one that would cut mild steel.

My next step is to dry fit the panel to confirm the Z bar and panel will fit in the place it once was. I also reached out to my biological brother’s sister (we didn’t grow up together) to see what getting the panel stripped with her metal stripping service. I really can’t go forward without that step completed.

That’s about it for this week. Like and subscribe on YouTube. Subscribe to the blog so you get notifications. I had a hit with…

Footwell Repair Part 6: Floor Panel Repair, Seam Sealer (Post #665) 8/5/2024

As of this post it has more than 1,000 views!!! I have no idea why. Most of my videos don’t get to 100 views.

Thanks for ready and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/te_SkkmFQW4
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Changing Oil on a Range Rover Classic (Post #669) 8/31/2024

In this episode I change the oil the my Range Rover Classic. My grandson Grady came over to help so we tried to make this mundane task fun!

The good news is we got the Big White Bus running and drove it out of the shoppe! This was huge. It’s been a while and to see her running and driving was pretty awesome.

Not much to say about the oil change, I done this somewhere around 73 or 74 times. Every 3,000 miles, or in this case, after sitting for 4 years. I know, I know, but it all worked out. It’s got fresh oil for now and we’ll be starting and running the Range Rover Classic every week from here on out.

We also gave her a bath. 4 years of dust had settled on her and it was badly needed. Also helps me keep a cleaner shoppe.

That’s about it for this week. Hopefully Mrs. Okierover has won her third straight Oklahoma Senior Games Over 55 Women’s 3v3 Basketball tournament. With a win, they advance once again to Nationals. I’ll report back next week with the results.

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https://youtu.be/8GifXAydNmU
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Draining the Fuel Tank on a Range Rover Classic (Post #668) 8/25/2024

In this video, I rid the Big Broken Bus, Mrs. Okierover’s new name for the Range Rover Classic, of the crappy fuel in the gas tank. It was not a terribly difficult job, but it was annoying due to the cheap Chinese pump I bought to do the job.

I tried initially to go through the fill tube. That didn’t produce any results worth mentioning. I then decided I could pull the damn fuel pump assembly AGAIN and that would provide the access I needed. It did.

I got nearly all the gas out. It was about 15 gallons. 15 gallons of bad fuel. I took that fuel and added it to the F-150s gas tank. The F-150 has a 30 gallon tank. So adding 12 gallons of questionable fuel to her probably won’t make any difference. I also treated it with Stabil. It won’t take long to burn it up. I go through 15 gallons a week getting to work.

I added 5 gallons of new fuel to the Range Rover and treated it with Sea Foam Fuel Treatment. The label and the interwebs say this will remove varnish. I’m skeptical. I read a bunch of sites and there were lots of proposed solutions. One even said if you use E85 fuel it would eventually break down the varnish. As a rule, I don’t use ethanol in the Range Rover. I know there are times when you must, but generally I avoid it. Ethanol also doesn’t hold up as well as 100% when stored, or so I am told.

The old girl loved the new gas and purred happily after all the bad gas was pulled through the gas lines. I’ll start her up every week and run her to temperature. Hopefully this will minimize the varnishing. Time will tell.

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Fuel Pump Failure: Part Duex (Post #667) 8/19/2024

Well here we go again. I decided this weekend I was going to get the Big White Bus started and move her out of the shoppe. I tried to get her started and nothing. I didn’t hear the fuel pump kick on. That’s…a bad sign.

So I asked my son to help me test. I had him turn the ignition on while I checked the voltage at the fuel pump. I had voltage.

That eliminated a LOT of testing of other components. I had a bad feeling the fuel pump was crapped out again. Turns out I was right. It was completely varnished.

What the hell right? I put 5 gallons of fresh gas in it back in December after I replaced the rubber filler hoses. I guess that wasn’t enough fresh gas. I called my friend JagGuy and asked some “chemistry” questions regarding gasoline.

Is it possible that the gas in the tank is so far gone that it varnishes? Its possible was his reply. We came to the same conclusion that all the gas needs to be removed and fresh gas added. We also talked about fuel stabilizer. I’ve never used fuel stabilizer. I guess I’m going to use it going forward.

Who knows how long the Big White Bus is going to be laid up until I can get her running regularly? Not me and I’m the project manager! So fuel stabilizer is going to be all the rage. And I’ll start running her on a regular basis.

What is odd are all these “This [insert vehicle type here] has been sitting in this field for 30 years!!! Will it start?!?!” videos on Youtube. JagGuy surmised, probably accurately that most of the truly ancient stuff has mechanical fuel pumps. Throw in a fresh battery, hope the rats haven’t eaten the wires, and if they drain the tank and use fresh gas…maybe that’s how they get them started.

Otherwise I’m calling bullshit on all these videos. There’s no way 30 year old gas is any good. My gas is five years, old give or take a year, and it’s crap.

Now I’m going to be tasked with trying to drain the tank. And then what do I do with it. Do I dare trying to mix it with good gas and burning it in my cars? What do you think?

If you watch the video you’ll see a demonstration on how simple it is to fix the fuel pump.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Footwell Repair Part 7: Floor Panel Repair, Final Assembly (Post #666) 8/12/2024

Post #666!!!! Not today Satan, I finally wrap this fender up. Maybe a proper Devil Dog would have made a more creative 666 post. You’ll just have to settle for one of my old tags.

Mrs. Okierover made me get a new tag…she’s religious that way.

Anyway, I got this beast reassembled. Mostly reassembled…okay I got the fender on and the wiring loom back in place. It’s significant okay!? Dang!

My grand son Grady came over (mostly because he was bored at home) to help. And help he did! A lot of what I filmed before he got there was lost. I truly hate this GoPro, if its not overheating halfway through a shot, it’s dropping files, or losing the sound track off a segment. Trash. I’ve read a bunch of complaints about this GoPro 11. Several telling everyone they’ve fixed a bunch of the overheating in the GoPro12!! Now it overheats 1/3 less! Nope. Not gonna fall for it. GoPro, if you want to redeem yourself you can send me a 12 for free and I’ll give it a review. You probably won’t like the review, but I’ll give one an honest one.

Back to the assembly, I got the wiring loom put back in place. It went surprisingly well. The fender went on pretty easy. I did make one mistake in the building of the side bulkhead. I should have made it longer. The result was I didn’t have one of the two fender mounting places. I also lost some hardware. So I went to the hardware store to get replacements. Met a fellow Marine building a Skoolie camper for his family to travel in. Sounded like a fun project.

When I got back and Grady and I had wrapped up the video I was finishing the assembly and guess what I found?? Yeah, the missing screws and bolts I stopped looking for 3 hours earlier. Isn’t that just typical.

On an annoying note… the damn Big Whit Bus wouldn’t start. So I get to deal with that issue again. YAY! /sarcasm font.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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