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YOU BELONG TO ME Sotry & potos by Eric Evans [Eric Evans, Naples, FL, owns an ex-MOD 109” and a Defender 90, as well as this proud Range Rover. He most recently contributed an article on his Land Rover experiences in Iceland –ed.] Ty Schmidt is an old friend and former co-worker at the Disney enterprises here in Florida. One day last year he called me with some “big news.” He and his family had decided to make a lifestyle change and move from their home of many years in Charleston, SC to the western slope region of Colorado. Ty called me for two reasons: first, because I had spent a lot of time living and playing in Colorado, he wanted recommendations on suitable places for his family to make their new home and secondly, and he wanted to know if I could take in his ailing 1988 Range Rover Classic. My buddy Ty had owned this Classic for nearly 4 years. The Range Rover had served, somewhat faithfully, as his daily around-town driver, never making lengthy trips or transporting him more than a few miles at a time. Ty clearly cared more about functionality than appearance for this Range Rover had definitely slipped into a state of decline. Present and accounted for were all they typical failings of a Range Rover of this vintage – rotted floorboards, rusted wheel wells, countless broken switches and sporadic electrics, ratty interior, strange odors and multiple mechanical issues that had rendered the vehicle un-drivable. Prior to her last trip “around the block”, she had been diagnosed with a blown head gasket and sent promptly to the neighborhood garage for repairs. My definition of “neighborhood garage” in this instance is “a local automotive repair facility that has not ever seen or worked on the likes of a Land Rover before.” Despite a successful head gasket replacement, subsequent attempts to get her running again were unsuccessful. The Range Rover was parked and left in the back corner of an equipment rental company compound, where it sat until I took her in. Six months later, I find myself knee deep in two Land Rover projects; more suspension and performance upgrades to my D90 and continued renovations on my ex-MOD 109”. All the while, I wonder what I might do with this Range Rover now that, but for the paperwork, it belongs to me. Having no space for yet another Rover, I started brainstorming. The solution? Give it to Benny, my father in law. Benny had recently retired and had caught the Land Rover bug while joining me at the 2007 Florida Land Rover Club Spring Rallye in Osceola. I must admit; this seemed like an odd time to become a Land Rover enthusiast. At the Rallye, my D90 fried her own electrical system due to a failed voltage regulator in the alternator, nearly blowing the Optima Battery out from under my seat. Despite never 26
getting to off-road at that event, Benny remained a Land Rover buff and I was certain he would be up for the challenge of bringing this Range Rover back to life. All restoration or refurbishment projects become much longer processes than originally intended, and this effort ran true to form. Benny’s first task was to clean her up. He spent the entire first weekend completely stripping the interior of all non-essential items. What remained was two front seats, a modified dash/center console and a whole lotta body rot in the floors, wheel wells, kick panel and more. This unwelcome discovery prompted several days of cutting, grinding, sanding and patching to achieve something that was acceptable, if not concours. The long list of typical Rover woes would not surprise any enthusiast who has purchased a neglected Range Rover or Discovery. In the past, someone had elected to seal the sunroof with marine adhesive instead of clearing out the clog-prone drain tubes. This had apparently been a long-standing issue, as the drive gears and motor were nearly corroded to pieces. The solution: completely remove the sunroof assembly and install a new “moon roof”. This was achieved through the use of low end Home Depot style plexiglass! Smear on a little 3M sealant, run a few self-tapping sheet metal screws through et voila - instant moon roof. At the end of the “cosmetic phase,” we turned our limited mechanical skills to getting this beast running well for its first off-road event. Our deadline was the Florida Land Rover Club’s Spring Rallye in Richloam. First on the list was to sort out what had, or more accurately had not, been done to the engine, ancillaries and tuning. Changing the oil and filter, installing new spark plugs, cap, rotor, and ignition coil got the truck running but only on starter fluid – not a good idea – and then only for a few minutes at a time. We found that multiple sensors, including critical oxygen sensors, were not connected. Part of the throttle assembly was also missing. We even found that the transmission “kick down” cable had been disconnected, which explained the weak throttle response and top speed of only about 20mph. During this rebuild, an English friend stopped by to review our efforts (it’s great to have a knowledgeable English friend when working on a Range Rover). He spurred us on to deeper investigation. Use of a timing light helped us uncover that the distributor had been installed nearly 180 degrees out of position (“Hello, friendly neighborhood garage?”). A few turns of the wrenches and suddenly she ran like a top! Thank you Darren Oakes – long live England! Absolutely jubilant, we could not wait to get to the fun bits, like a snorkel and CB radio! Our hopes were crushed at the sound of running water – coolant, to be more precise. A seemingly unending stream of it was running off the top of the transmission all over the driveway. My first thought, after “what the F@$&,” was “how is this possible?” Straight to the phone I went; I sought advice from Darren, then a friend who is a Land Rover tech on the East Coast and finally, Art Limacher at Rovers North. The consensus was that a blown valley pan gasket was allowing coolant to literally pump out of the back of the top half of the engine. If you follow the repair rate manual, it’s a four hour-job. For Benny and I, it may have well have been 4+ days – time we did not have if we were to make the Florida Land Rover Club Rallye. Time for a helpful bodge, in this case, a product called Blue Devil. This unbelievably expensive ($60 per bottle) goop looks like nothing more than window cleaner. Its label claims it will repair anything from a radiator pin-hole leak to a cracked block. Never having been one to buy such miracle products, I reluctantly suggested to Benny that we give it a try. The directions read as follows: drain the system, remove the thermostat (presumably to keep it from gumming up), refill with water and Blue Devil and run for 1 hour or until the leak stops. It was a good thing that we had resolved the distributor issue so that the truck would even idle for an hour. To our amazement, after only 20 minutes our former Geyser was gone! That’s worth every penny of $60 in my book. With this behind us, we focused on finishing some more of the fun stuff. We scoured Home Depot for vacuum hoses, drain clamps and PVC pipe fittings to create a do-it-yourself snorkel for about $30. It looks more like a periscope than a snorkel, but hey, it works (at least we hope it does). We also installed an old pair of 2” lift Old Man Emu heavy duty springs that had been on my Defender 90 until a recent upgrade. The lift provided not only a taller stance, but more room for 235/85/R16 Kenda Klever All-Terrain Tires ($105 each). For the final touch, I purchased lots of earth tone spray paint for a cool camouflage look modeled after the pattern on a shirt from Bass Pro Shops. Not only did this make the new beast look cool, but it covered up an aftermarket paint job that we had come to refer to as “Pimp My Ride Apple Green Metallic.” We christened the Range Rover, The Cammo Evolution, and it made a very successful showing at the Club Rallye. She ran flawlessly, despite the discovery of nearly 4 quarts of water in the engine oil after being stuck in a particularly deep water crossing (maybe a DIY snorkel is not the way to go). She even conquered several obstacles that stopped my Defender 90! Fellow Florida Land Rover Club member Ed Poelsma was so taken by the Range Rover that he donated an awesome brush guard to us. At the end of the day, today’s Range Rover Classics are a real off-road bargain. Granted, ours was free. After freight, repairs, tires and miscellaneous parts, this trail-proven Land Rover only set us back about $2,000. The true cost of the entertainment it provided in refurbishment and driving – priceless! _______ ________ 27
Page 2 and 3: OFF-ROAD / 12 MECHANICAL / 38 EXTER
Page 4 and 5: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Rovers N
Page 6 and 7: EXTERIOR / ROOF RACKS A RNA1196 A R
Page 8 and 9: OFF-ROAD EXTERIOR A / / TAILGATE PR
Page 10 and 11: Stayin’ Cool: Making the Most of
Page 12 and 13: OFF-ROAD / TRACTION MATS, FUEL CANS
Page 14 and 15: OFF-ROAD / RECOVERY A B C D E F G H
Page 16 and 17: OFF-ROAD / PROTECTION A RNA7402 B R
Page 18 and 19: Born Free Redux Story & Photos by L
Page 20 and 21: We’re stuck again, buried up to t
Page 22 and 23: inside each large box. For extra st
Page 24 and 25: ELECTRICAL / HELLA, BATTERY DISCONN
Page 28 and 29: SUSPENSION / PERFORMANCE SUSPENSION
Page 30 and 31: SUSPENSION / COMPETITION ACCESSORIE
Page 32 and 33: SUSPENSION / COIL CONVERSION KITS A
Page 34 and 35: Memories of Winter Past Story & pho
Page 36 and 37: Operation Swamp Cooler Story & Phot
Page 38 and 39: MECHANICAL / BRAKE DRUMS, SHOES, RO
Page 40 and 41: MECHANICAL / CLUTCH MASTER CYLINDER
Page 42 and 43: MECHANICAL / CV JOINTS, OIL FILTERS
Page 44 and 45: MECHANICAL / EXHAUST SYSTEMS NRP PE
Page 46: Land Rover Corporate Info LAND ROVE
Page 49 and 50: attle through a rigorous national a
Page 51 and 52: • Nuts! Nothing is more frustrati
Page 53 and 54: does look and sound quite used up.
Page 55 and 56: V8 ENGINE / SENSORS, IGNITION, HEAD
Page 57 and 58: V8 ENGINE LOWER END / 3.5, 3.9, 4.2
Page 59 and 60: V8 ENGINE TOP END / 3.5, 3.9, 4.2,
Page 61 and 62: DISC BRAKE KITS / SERIES II, IIA, I
Page 63 and 64: stretch to call the embroidering a

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