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Range Rover Classic Restoration

Thanks RaggedJoe, hopefully it will turn out how I want it to

So after a wait of nearly nine months the 'beast' finally arrived -
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I have blown most of my budget on the engine. It is a 4.6ltr fitted with F85 Merlin cylinder heads which have much larger valves than standard. Piper 270i camshaft, Hotwire EFI, ported intake manifold and trumpet base, Bosch airflow meter, carbon fibre triple throttle body plenum and collector. Hopefully this will get me down the road ok, not making a racing car just want something that can keep up with modern cars.

To go with the engine I obviously need an uprated Transmission. Ashcroft transmissions built a gearbox with 4HP24 internals fitted into the 4HP22 body and a large torque converter. Also purchased an uprated LT230 transfer box -
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The gearbox is 15mm longer than standard so I had to make some modifications to the gearbox mounts. I used a spacer for the front propshaft and had the rear shortened by a company in Falkirk -
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The original fuel tank was shot so I bought a new one together with a uprated fuel pump. Gave the tank a coat of paint for protection before fitting -
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This next task was 'fun' to say the least. I wanted a stainless exhaust system with a bore big enough to suit the new engine. I couldn't afford anything custom made so I bought a complete system from Double S originally made for the 4.2 engine and expected to do some modifications to make it fit.

What I didnt expect though was for the manifolds not to fit at all, They fouled the chassis badly, all Rover V8's have the same external dimensions so this was nothing to do with my engine. I contacted the supplier and the basic advice was to 'bend them to shape', no way was I going to be able to do this. I didnt get anywhere with the supplier so I was stuck and there arent any other suppliers of stainless systems.

So in the end I decided to cut them up -
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And used some 308 stainless welding wire in my MIG together with a Mapp torch to control heat up and cool down to weld the flanges back on at the correct angle -
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The 4.2 uses a different cross member and the exhaust passes underneath it. I could not find a second hand cross member for sale so I cut off the downward curving pipe and welded on a straight section. I could then 'notch' the cross member to get clearance. I wrapped the manifold to control temperature -
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I had to make some changes to the 4.2 mounts to match the original 3.5 but eventually I had a complete exhaust with a nice big tailpipe -
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The body went back on to the chassis just after Christmas. Used the same system again with two engine cranes but we did find it easier to push the body over the chassis this time -
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The two pipes hanging out at the front are P38 transmission cooler lines which have the correct union for the uprated gearbox. I will need to fit a matching oil cooler and route the lines somehow which are a good deal longer than the 3.5 oil lines.

With the body back on I can get back to flatting the body panels. First off all the wings needed a lot of work to get them straight -
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Next was the bonnet which looked like somebody had done tap dancing on it. I needed to do some welding here and there but overall it was in good shape -
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Likewise the deck panel was badly dented, fortunately as you know Birmabright is easy to dress out then just a thin skim of filler here and there.

I stripped off the D post covering of Vinyl, these will be painted gloss black to match the roof -
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Two of the door frames where in a terrible shape -
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I couldn't find matching replacements in good condition but did find a couple of other handed frames (sods law in play) from which I was able to piece together the awkward double curvature sections -
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I bought a complete front end inner wings kit from Froggatts. Everything I have bought from Froggatts has been top quality and these are well made and easy to fit -
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I found a Suffix metal grill and headlamp surrounds on Ebay and thought that I would fit them to my car. I like the style of the earlier grill I think it looks more aggressive. Also trial fitted my new side lights -
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So having got everything in primer (this is only the first stage of primer I have a lot of spotting guide coating and priming yet to do) I could get the doors and bonnet on so I could do the shimming and aligning now to avoid damaging finished paintwork. Also made up brackets to get the front grill fitted -
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Reasonably happy with fitment, well its just as good as it came from the factory I think and certainly better than some of the very expensive cars Kingsley sell :)

So this is basically where I am up to, last few days I fitted new uprated brakes and new brake lines all round mostly so I could mount the hose brackets to the inner wings. Calipers are painted just for rust protection -
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Everything is now back off the car. Over the coming weeks I will be painting the inner wings and final priming doors and body panels ready for colour.
 
Cheers everyone thank you for the support

SWBFreeLoader said:
Gotta say I am jelly of your F85 heads.
I would have loved one of those full 6L turbo blocks when Merlin were casting all that stuff. Oh well!
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Its why the engine took 9 months to arrive, cant wait to get it started up but it will be some time yet.

One thing I am struggling with is what colour to paint the rocker covers. At the moment they are in black transit paint which looks boring so I want to do something else. Nothing outlandish more tasteful but with the car being blue I dont think there are many options. Anyone got suggestions?
 
SWBFreeLoader said:
Hydro-dip them to look like carbon fibre. I know...I know...it's fake and that's lame. But it will match the very real other carbon bits.
Click to expand...
That is a very good idea, nearest place to me is in Greenock which is a fair drive but I might give that a go, I assume it is heat proof.

Everyone else thank you so much for the kind comments and support it really does help.

Christ though this project better turn out ok otherwise I will look a right fool, no pressure then :)
 
It is difficult to see in this photograph but the covers are completely different on the F85 heads, they are much lower profile and quite plain. They do have 'F Eighty Five' and 'Merlin' insignia on them but they would look good in carbon I think.

Thanks again SWBFreeLoader, given me lots to think about -
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helimadken said:
It is difficult to see in this photograph but the covers are completely different on the F85 heads, they are much lower profile and quite plain. They do have 'F Eighty Five' and 'Merlin' insignia on them but they would look good in carbon I think.

Thanks again SWBFreeLoader, given me lots to think about -
View attachment 524756
Click to expand...
I see what you mean. Maybe a carbonfibre finish on the cover and pick out the 'Merlin' name in silver or chrome. OR, as I have just seen on wheeler Dealers, there's a guy who is able to chome plate items with a spray on/water technique. You could get both covers fully chrome plated. It was mentioned in the resto of an 850 mini with Elvis.
 
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Thanks for the help, in the past I have used a felt buffing wheel to remove paint from raised lettering back to the aluminium, not sure if I would be brave enough to do it having had them hydrodipped.

Chrome is a good idea, it hasn't occured to me that depending on how good the casting is I could just polish the aluminium.
 
Hi Everyone,

Spent the last week prepping and painting the inner wings. Also did a lot of work blocking and final sanding the bonnet which is now ready for colour.

After scuffing the bare metal I gave everything a coat of etch primer then 2K. These are quite awkward things to paint with lots of hard to reach areas with a spray gun -
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Once done I seam sealed all the joints to keep out water then gave the underside faces a coat of black Upol Gravitex. I like this stuff with just a tiny amount of cellulose thinners its sprays nicely out of a gravity fed gun with a 1.7mm nozzle. It also sprays without a huge amount of texture which is what I want. Dries rock hard very quickly -
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I then overcaoted this with 2K gloss black. Most of this is for rust prevention I will get hold of the plastic mudguards from the later models to cover the paint. Apologies for the quality of the photo my phone cant focus on black -
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Then after extensive masking some Alaskan Blue metallic. Paint is Polyester basecoat followed by 2k clear -
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I am going to finish off today by painting the inside of the headlight enclosure with some brush on enamel just to make sure I have every surface covered with paint. These can than then be put to one side safe.

Next up is to get all the panels blocked, primed and ready for paint.
 
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