Classic looking for technical advices as new in "Classic world"

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berg450

berg450

Well-Known Member
Posts
665
Location
Hungary
Hi All
This my first post here even I member of Landyzone for long time as being Discovery 2 owner for almost 10 years. I plan to buy a Classic 3.5 MY1986. It is located in Hungary and has OT certificate (Old Timer which normally requires quite good condition and not easy to get).
I got several photos about the original condition and after full painting. The chassis seemed OK when it was purchased but now it is undercoated (Dinitrol) so hard to see if it gets rust. Also I could see some rust on the edges of the doors. As the car originally comes from Austria I have some worries about corrosion. What are the most critical places to check?
Regarding on engine and transmission (automatic), what do you recommend to check?

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the RRC Body can rust everywhere, floors front/back bulkhead rear crossmember even the windscreen frame under the roof can rot away, check every inch the doors are basically a steel shell with an aluminium skin, they too can rot usually from the inside out, the front edge of the door where the hinges mount is usually the first place to go as moisture gets inbetween the skins..
Sills rot usually from the inside out :)

chassis tend to survive well the rear most section can suffer.

Mechanically the hp22 is pretty robust make sure it shifts smoothly, check the fluid colour Red/Brown is Ok Black is a sign of a tranny that has led a hard life fnarr never over rev it in Park or Neutral ;)

Engine the venerable V8 totally gutless in 3.5 injection form, again clean oil is a must.

Oil/coolant leaks are common, check for both
water pump and front cover gaskets can fail which dribble a bead of coolant down the front of the engine.
Headgaskets can fail in a few ways the most common is from a cylinder to outside which makes a very unusual chuffing noise, or from a cylinder in to a coolant gallery which is what over pressures the cooling system and the old girl spews her guts out in a cloud of steam..

Or the slightly less common water gallery to outside, which allows coolant to leak out down the side of the block.... :)


Coolant colour level and condition, very important as you have probably gathered ;)

Axles are quite strong, the swivels can leak, usually down to the chrome corroding off and damaging the seals, relatively simple to rectify.

Transfer box LT230, again robust can leak from the input/output shafts and the lower cover plate, listen out for any excessive drivetrain whine, and/or backlash.

Boge strut on the rear which does sweet FA even when its in good condition, nowt worth talking about other than the A frame balljoint it is a part of, give the rear of the body a push side to side and listen for any knocking from the rear, quite common on the RRC and D1 especially as they age, this fails..
 
Henry_b said:
the RRC Body can rust everywhere, floors front/back bulkhead rear crossmember even the windscreen frame under the roof can rot away, check every inch the doors are basically a steel shell with an aluminium skin, they too can rot usually from the inside out, the front edge of the door where the hinges mount is usually the first place to go as moisture gets inbetween the skins..
Sills rot usually from the inside out :)

chassis tend to survive well the rear most section can suffer.

Mechanically the hp22 is pretty robust make sure it shifts smoothly, check the fluid colour Red/Brown is Ok Black is a sign of a tranny that has led a hard life fnarr never over rev it in Park or Neutral ;)

Engine the venerable V8 totally gutless in 3.5 injection form, again clean oil is a must.

Oil/coolant leaks are common, check for both
water pump and front cover gaskets can fail which dribble a bead of coolant down the front of the engine.
Headgaskets can fail in a few ways the most common is from a cylinder to outside which makes a very unusual chuffing noise, or from a cylinder in to a coolant gallery which is what over pressures the cooling system and the old girl spews her guts out in a cloud of steam..

Or the slightly less common water gallery to outside, which allows coolant to leak out down the side of the block.... :)


Coolant colour level and condition, very important as you have probably gathered ;)

Axles are quite strong, the swivels can leak, usually down to the chrome corroding off and damaging the seals, relatively simple to rectify.

Transfer box LT230, again robust can leak from the input/output shafts and the lower cover plate, listen out for any excessive drivetrain whine, and/or backlash.

Boge strut on the rear which does sweet FA even when its in good condition, nowt worth talking about other than the A frame balljoint it is a part of, give the rear of the body a push side to side and listen for any knocking from the rear, quite common on the RRC and D1 especially as they age, this fails..
Click to expand...
"Mechanically the hp22 is pretty robust make sure it shifts smoothly, check the fluid colour Red/Brown is Ok Black is a sign of a tranny that has led a hard life fnarr never over rev it in Park or Neutral" Tell that to the MOT testers over here, they rev the nuts off cars during the emissions checks. :eek:
 
Datatek said:
"Mechanically the hp22 is pretty robust make sure it shifts smoothly, check the fluid colour Red/Brown is Ok Black is a sign of a tranny that has led a hard life fnarr never over rev it in Park or Neutral" Tell that to the MOT testers over here, they rev the nuts off cars during the emissions checks. :eek:
Click to expand...
The problem is that after starting the engine, and selecting any gear, , the front clutch drum in the transmission is pressurized, and that pressure is not fully bled off when in park this issue is exasibated with an old/worn transmssion,

You can also invert sprag clutches if you rev the balls off it, which is what causes the infamous lack of Drive which is usually "fixed" by manually shifting down in to 1 :)

Emssion testing is the N01 killer funnily enough, the HP22 had quite the reputation in the USA because of the fact they revved the arse off their motors when doing the emissions and this subsequently wrecked the box. ;)
 
Henry_b said:
The problem is that after starting the engine, and selecting any gear, , the front clutch drum in the transmission is pressurized, and that pressure is not fully bled off when in park this issue is exasibated with an old/worn transmssion,

You can also invert sprag clutches if you rev the balls off it, which is what causes the infamous lack of Drive which is usually "fixed" by manually shifting down in to 1 :)

Emssion testing is the N01 killer funnily enough, the HP22 had quite the reputation in the USA because of the fact they revved the arse off their motors when doing the emissions and this subsequently wrecked the box. ;)
Click to expand...
That does not fill me with confidence:(
 
Good advice to the OP Henry, but I must take issue with your assertion that the 3.5 efi is gutless. With a lineage dating back to the 1960's the unit is not in the league of modern LR products, but with only 170 bhp (when new) you can't expect anything else .. however a good one is a torquey little beast & excellent for urban/rural driving. My '87 (62k) will shift into 4th at 40 mph on anything other that a heavy right foot & pulls well although it doesn't take to hills in the same way as modern turbo diesels.

If I were spending money on improving performance I would be more likely to add a larger torque converter (there are 3 versions .. the smallest was fitted by the factory) to an 'box overhaul. The fluid in mine has never been changed (still brown with a trace of red) so that is probably not enabling it's factory performance, though there's been nothing wrong with it's operation during the 15 years I've had the car.

In my defence Ashcroft advised against changing the fluid as it was so old, rather put the money towards a rebuilt 'box when the time comes ;)
 
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