letters to the editor

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!
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