My RRC Project

Hi Everyone.

Just getting started on a complete strip down and rebuild of my 1987 RRC -


The car was known by the PO as 'Walter Wange Wover', if you look closely you can see why! Cosmetically he is in poor shape and leeks like a sieve pretty much everywhere. He has had a lot of work done in the past such as a new rear boot floor and cross member, front and rear inner wings plus bits welded on to the sills and wheel arches etc. The passenger floor is rotten, right rear door shot and pretty much every panel has some corrosion and multiple dings.

As well as the skin the frame is rotten -


Tailgate isn't too bad, might just patch it -


Chassis looks to be in good order but will know more as work progresses. I drove the car home over 200 miles and he ran very well. Engine is a 3.5ltr EFI and auto box, power is pathetic compared to what I am used to so I plan to remedy this.

Here is what I am aiming for (hope my mechanical/fabrication skills are better than model building) -

I will respray in the original Alaskan blue but with a gloss black roof. At the moment I am not sure I am brave enough to spray the bumpers, grills etc gloss black or go with more traditional satin, any comments?

I will admit to falling in love with this Range Rover and kind of copying it -

So here is my plan -
Strip out interior completely including dashboard and all wiring etc (underway)
Remove doors, tailgate, wings, scuttle, bonnet and all glazing.
Repair any body panels including front passenger floor, rear wheel arches and if necessary sills (they have been repaired with patches but need tidying)
Remove body (still working on how to do this, not got access to a four post lift or any form of machinery)
Remove 3.5 engine and replace with an RPI Engineering 4.6 litre stage 4 engine developing 300 BHP (ordered)
Remove Auto box/Transfer box and have updated/strengthened by Ashcroft engineering.
Assess condition of diffs and replace if necessary
Strip to bare chassis, repair where necessary and paint.
Replace all running gear springs, shocks, brakes, bushes etc
Put everything back together.

I want this car to be as perfect as I can get it. I will be doing all the work, mechanical, welding, painting etc myself, hopefully I am up to the task!

Looking forward to posting progress and getting some helpful or critical posts

Cheers, Ken

Sounds like a read I might like.

J

Thanks Marjon glad you are along for the ride.

I made good progress today got most of the dash out -


Discovered a bold attempt to fix a leaking A/C unit, jeez (I did note there was no belt on the compressor) -


Just a sticky mess, looking at the parts book it looks like this is all part of the evaporator coil I think? Replacement is around £1300.

Not sure what I will do yet I may just delete the A/C system completely, I live in Scotland so not much call for it Does anyone have a second hand unit they fancy selling?

Next up is to remove door cards and door components then the doors themselves. I made a mistake and bought a right rear door from a later model but looking at the two I think I can do some modifications and get it to work

Sounds like a long term project, perhaps you should buy another to use in the mean time =).
I'm not sure if it's possible but I wonder if you could hold the shell of the car on the sills with 4x big Jack's, maybe big scissors Jack's, once all the body mounts and associated bits are removed and assuming you can jack it high enough, I wonder if you could roll the chassis out from underneath? Maybe it's impossible that way though. Just an idea.
Do you know what standard the previous repairs have been done to? Don't be surprised if you have to do re do a lot of what's already been done if you're not happy with the quality of the repair.
I think I'd delete the aircon it'll make engine stuff easier to access in the future. You'll then have to wind down the windows to force yourself to listen to that awful v8 =P.

Also once your chassis is out might be worth getting it shot blasted, will be worth it.
Good luck Dave

Cheers Dave, I have had quite a few mad ideas, I did see one lift off just using an engine crane which looked precarious. What I am favouring at the moment is to erect two scaffold towers either side of the car linked together across the top with a couple of scaffold boards. Then use some 5 tonne ratchet straps to raise the body off, if needed I can take off the wheels and lower the chassis on to a couple of dolly's and roll it out. I will use four straps to lower the body back on to axle stands using the second set as check straps. I will hire the scaffold from Jewsons it isnt too expensive, obviously do the same when refitting the body.

Yes there are areas on the body that look like patchwork quilts, I think I am going to replace the sills completely, rear door arches and rear wheel arches as well as the passenger floor. Luckily the A and B post pillars are in good shape.

Have'nt got much done today, I set out to remove the headlining which is in really good condition and not held in place with tape, black gunk and pop rivets (PO loves pop rivets, why bother with screws when you can just go pop!) -

And the sunroof has had a very efficient repair and doesn't leak at all!! (wonder where the PO got his tape from its brilliant stuff) -

Yes I am being sarcastic the headlining is beyond saving.

Anyway I started getting side tracked about the sunroof, the PO mentioned that 'something keeps blowing a fuse up there' Now assuming he wasnt silly enough to try to operate it whilst it was all taped up there is obviously something wrong, there appears to be some form of aftermarket relay involved -

As far as I know the motor works one way or the other just by reversing polarity at the switch and there is a micro switch to tell it when to stop. Maybe he thought he had a power issue and ran a separate line switched by the relay. Anyway I am going to strip it out and take a look.

Here is the thing though and this sounds stupid, I cant for the life of me find the switch that operates the sunroof. The door window switch panel has five buttons one of which is marked with an X which I am assuming is the rear window override. Anyone know where the switch is? this is a glass sunroof not the metal one. My owners manual doesn't mention anything about a sunroof at all.

I am assuming looking at the design of the roof that the leaks the PO was suffering is due to blockages in the overflow tubes.

Going to get the doors stripped tomorrow. I have a secret weapon on this build, my wife! she even lets me store parts in one of the bedrooms -

The rest of the interior is actually in very good condition with the exception of the vent panel which was badly split where the PO had pop riveted it to the upper dash panel. Luckily I have been able to find a replacement on Ebay.

Ahh right should I have one of these -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/35458372...55-0&campid=5338722076&customid=&toolid=10050

Not on the car at the moment

Hi Ken, following your project . Lots of work but one bite at a time and its soon making progress. Delete the air con.. no point adding power to rob power , and one less thing to go wrong . I think I would also delete the sun roof another problem area eliminated

As for the body off , the access tower idea is good but don't use ratchet straps , they wont give you enough lift before they are bound up , depending on how you sling it, a single one ton block and tackle will get you where you need to be with ease. The body shell wont weigh a ton so you will be good . It would be easier to balance with 2 but one will do ..

Where abouts in Scotland are you ? if your near by I can lend you a B&T.

cheers for now ..

Thats very kind of you I am in South West Scotland a small village called Port William. I had in my mind that I would use two sets of straps like a relay as one binds up I can bring the other in to play and vice versa. I try not to think about the amount of work I have to do as it does get overwhelming, as you say one bit at a time. I am retired now so have lots of time to spend on the car thankfully.

Spent the day cleaning the seats and carpets as they stunk of mildew, obviously from the leaks. Leaks are through the sunroof which I am certain will be blocked overflows. The car also leaks through the rear upper tailgate, through the doors and also through the rotten floor whilst on the move.

A long way off yet but are there any tricks to stopping the tailgate/door leaks, the seals themselves dont actually look that bad.

Im in the north east , near Forfar , opposite ends unfortunately ..

I mentioned the strap thing as I tried to do it that way before, but the straps really dont give you much leverage or lift before they are bound up and it was a palaver to support the weight to release the tension then do it all again with the second strap ..

The Block and Tackle made life really easy , one ton would be more than enough ..

Definitely agree it will be overflows, as you probably know the sunroof has that gulley all the way around so really it should never leak as there's no seal as such it just flows down those tubes, I'm sure you've already thought of this but it'll be worth renewing the sunroof tubing that goes down the A pillars.
The Scaffold way sounds a bit scary and to be honest the block and tackle method sounds a bit dubious aswell, wouldn't you need like four of them or something? I'm probably not picturing it in my mind properly. I think I'd be inclined to lift it more conventionally with a jack in each corner, with wooden planks on the spread load, probably scissor Jack's and put a nice 6x6 or something block underneath that to make sure you can get the height. If you're using straps and stuff I'd worry about bending the shell or something like that, these old ranges are all a bit creaky and crusty =P

In regards to the hatch and tailgate, I think it's a bit of a naff design. Mine doesn't really close properly, I think they'll probably always leak, it might be worth having a fiddle and adjusting the upper and lower tailgate to fit and close better when you put it back together down the road. You've also got an exposed hinge one I've noticed so you shouldn't have anywhere near as much rust as the 90 plus models!

Thanks RRDave, I think it will be a matter of adjusting to get a better result but plan for the car to leak anyway.

I think the problem with getting the body off is the height to which it has to be lifted, I dont really fancy taking the engine out in-situ so the body has to be lifted high enough to clear it. Perhaps I should consider taking the engine out? am I barking up the wrong tree on this one?

I plan for the straps to go underneath the sills. The straps are the type used on HGV's and can be bought pretty much any length so they will wrap right underneath the body. I may also use a check strap to make sure the rear of the body is supported also as the body looks rear heavy. I will make sure the sills are top notch before I do any lifting.

Been far too distracted with this sunroof today but it had to be freed in order to remove it anyway. It took me an eternity to scrape out the bathroom silicone that had been used in addition to the tape but at last I could wind the sunroof back manually. I was nervous about what i was going to find but in actual fact all looks really well, just dirty -

Blew out all the debris and used some silicon grease spray. Tested the motor put it back in and yippee, runs fine. So all I need to do is restore the original wiring and switch and I should be good to go. No idea what the relay was for or how the sunroof was actually operated.

The PO has put a mixture of aluminium bar and wooden dowels in the roof in an effort to hold up the roof lining (didnt work). This one for example had only a few pop rivets and a full tube of black goo fixing it to the roof -

This one went right across then I spotted it -

The cable tie had almost completely closed the rear drain tubes on both sides, fronts are probably blocked so there is the reason for the leak.

Get back on track tomorrow hopefully.

Ahh makes sense now with that zip tied tube haha.
Me thinks lifting the body above the engine is a bit mental to be honest! Unless you had a four post lift.
The only thing I can think is.. Are you replacing the front inner wings? If you are doing this, you could could leave the engine in situ. And remove your entire front panel. Then your engine can roll out the front on the chassis =)

Oh yes just seen first post the wings are already.done, still think itd be easier to lift the engine then

Yeah the body has lift around 700mm to clear the engine, be really scary and as you say mental. Getting the engine out is probably a better option. I could take the wheels off and lower the chassis onto a couple of dolly's to reduce this height. I would have to think about the big lump of a gearbox as well, perhaps that would roll out on a trolley jack with the chassis.

I tell you I have to get me some of this tape its fantastic stuff -


Sorry for being so sarcastic, In my view if you are going to own any form of classic car you have to be prepared to at least spend some money maintaining it. I havent looked but are the door top seals expensive or difficult to get hold of? Why would you not just get some new seals.

Christ I hope the PO isnt a member here, anyway if he is he will never find me here and I am bigger than him anyway

I know, when you start taking stuff off it can be a bit scary. Even when it looks alright! I think you kind of have to weigh whether to repair or replace certain bits. I've just been doing a bit of welding in a footwell and just got into a bit of a complicated mess of metalwork I needed to replace, it would have much easier had I removed the entire front wing! and replaced the whole section. I think your front door, is it worth repairing or maybe buy another which might be better or you could chop bits out of it, if it hasn't rusted in the same place.
Tis up to you =D

Cheers Dave, Took a couple of doors off today the front passenger side is by far the worst, as you say scary. I mistakenly bought some doors from a later model off ebay. The frames are in excellent condition so I intend cutting the sections I need out of them and transferring them over. The other bad door, the driver side rear, I can replace with some adaptation using the later door completely so thats good.

I guess I know now why the PO covered the waist door seal with tape, its completely perished -

Perhaps I should not be too critical of the PO, I laughed last night watching F1 testing as the Mercedes mechanics patched up Lewis Hamilton's car with gaffer tape. If its good enough for Lewis it should be good enough for me!

Anyway I spoke too soon about the seals they arent that easy to get hold of by the looks of it. There are a few second hand ones on ebay but not great, are there any alternatives or anyone found a solution?

I will get the other two doors out tomorrow and the remaining bits of trim. I am being very careful to photograph, bag or mark everything, wow those rear door lock mechanisms are complicated be fun putting them back together.

I am not doing too well on ebay, the dashboard vent panel I bought turned up today, in great condition except its brown! I wrote to the seller to confirm it was grey and they replied immediately saying it was, just great.

Made some progress today, this is where I am at -

Most of the interior is out so gave everything a clean to step back and assess what I going to need.

Front passenger foot well needs replacing -

Both sills look like patchwork quilts, the weld are solid enough but I think the folded bits of metal have just been welded over the top of the rotten sills so they have to go -

I had to laugh, of the four sill body mounts only one had a nut on, good job I didnt go round any corners fast bringing the car home. Still I guess it saves me a job getting them off.

The inner and outer wheel arches also look like patchwork quilts so they will go as well -

Next up is to concentrate on removing the rear wings and the few bits of interior left.

Looks good, sounds like you've got some spares ready to work with then, with those doors.
Are you planning to take off the front wings? Just in case you weren't, I'd recommend you do it will help access to your footwells a lot better. That passenger floor looks crusty like mine was, I think it rots up to the transmission tunnel then it'll be fine. Its fascinating where the rust stops/starts on these cars!