Rallymantony
Active Member
- Posts
- 164
- Location
- Camberley
P38a.......... Hence the title.
A little history. Back in 2002 I bought a 3 year old P38a, up to that point I had owned 8 or 9 RRClassics from very early 2 doors to 2 x LSE's and various ones in-between, most were petrols but 2 of them had the 6.2 GMC conversion which I loved, should never have sold them, ANY of them....... So anyway, along comes 2002 and a friend of mine said that his boss was selling his 4.6 38a and would I be interested, of course, why wouldn't I be? It was the next great Range Rover and Land Rover/BMW would have surly sorted out all the niggling small issues that the later classics started to have........... How wrong I was. I can't remember what I paid for the car but I can tell you what it cost me in the 13 months of my ownership, £11000!!!!! Gearbox failure, electrical failure, air suspension failure, more electrical failure.... and eventually, engine failure... I got sucked in to thinking "everything has been replaced, what else can go wrong"?......... I ended up chopping it in for a new Grand Voyager as the kids were young and we needed something reliable. As I watched a Chrysler employee drive the 38 off to the lot parking area I actually said "I will NEVER buy another Range Rover ever again", especially a P30 bloody 8A (that wasn't a classic that is)..... ............... Anyway, I've just bought a P38a, apparently, I'm a man of my word!! Between then and now, I've had a couple of Defenders, a series 2 and a 2a, then back in 2019 I bought a L322 which I have to say I love. I was actually looking for RRC again to take to Italy with me, I did actually buy one on the dealers description.... I affectionally called it bollocks, because that's what I said when it arrived, normally I would go and look at the car but obviously that wasn't possible with current restrictions, it turned out to be a complete rust bucket (And I mean RUST BUCKET!), oh well, my fault for believing an unknown I guess, I then looked around the car and found that the chassis numbers were missing...... It's now back with the dealer after a lot of back and forth....
Anyway, this 38.
She looks tidy enough, been sat for a few years so the interior has it's own biodiversity but nothing to bad, bodywork is ok, tyres are shot etc etc etc... But someone has done a 6.2 GMC conversion, which as mentioned before, I love. I really only bought it for the engine and conversion plate but thinking I may just finish the conversion and give the car a chance. There is plenty still to do, she starts, drives and stops, it's a manual and it seems to be a fairly decent conversion to be truthful, but I have only had it a few days. They've fitted a larger rad but this is still way to small, the engine loom is just chucked to one side, the wires to make the GMC run have literally been laid over the motor and not routed, there are blocks of wood between the rear axel and body and someone has welded box section on the from axel which the bump stops rest on. The EAS lights are all on which I assume is due to the afore mentioned blocks of wood and box section. Now I've never really worked on a P38 so I'm hoping that you knowledgable people may be able to help me make sense of what's needed.. With this in mind, I have a few questions below if anyone can help:
1. Considering the above, where would you start with the air ride? I removed the relay and jumped the pins, the compressor does work but it's not giving a huge amount of pressure (I've yet to check pressure). I'm thinking of removing the blocks and box section to let it drop, would this rule out/confirm the height sensors are or are not working? Would prefer to not go the coil route.
2. The engine loom is just chucked to the side and floating in the wind, would this have any bearing on any other component? I should mention that it was originally a disease-el car.
3. There is an orange light on the dash (actually, there are many orange lights on the dash) which looks like a 2 pronged fork sticking up, never seen this before, any ideas?
4. Should I delete my account and stop asking stupid questions?
Thanks so much in advance peoples, there will be many more questions I'm sure.
Stay safe
Tony
A little history. Back in 2002 I bought a 3 year old P38a, up to that point I had owned 8 or 9 RRClassics from very early 2 doors to 2 x LSE's and various ones in-between, most were petrols but 2 of them had the 6.2 GMC conversion which I loved, should never have sold them, ANY of them....... So anyway, along comes 2002 and a friend of mine said that his boss was selling his 4.6 38a and would I be interested, of course, why wouldn't I be? It was the next great Range Rover and Land Rover/BMW would have surly sorted out all the niggling small issues that the later classics started to have........... How wrong I was. I can't remember what I paid for the car but I can tell you what it cost me in the 13 months of my ownership, £11000!!!!! Gearbox failure, electrical failure, air suspension failure, more electrical failure.... and eventually, engine failure... I got sucked in to thinking "everything has been replaced, what else can go wrong"?......... I ended up chopping it in for a new Grand Voyager as the kids were young and we needed something reliable. As I watched a Chrysler employee drive the 38 off to the lot parking area I actually said "I will NEVER buy another Range Rover ever again", especially a P30 bloody 8A (that wasn't a classic that is)..... ............... Anyway, I've just bought a P38a, apparently, I'm a man of my word!! Between then and now, I've had a couple of Defenders, a series 2 and a 2a, then back in 2019 I bought a L322 which I have to say I love. I was actually looking for RRC again to take to Italy with me, I did actually buy one on the dealers description.... I affectionally called it bollocks, because that's what I said when it arrived, normally I would go and look at the car but obviously that wasn't possible with current restrictions, it turned out to be a complete rust bucket (And I mean RUST BUCKET!), oh well, my fault for believing an unknown I guess, I then looked around the car and found that the chassis numbers were missing...... It's now back with the dealer after a lot of back and forth....
Anyway, this 38.
She looks tidy enough, been sat for a few years so the interior has it's own biodiversity but nothing to bad, bodywork is ok, tyres are shot etc etc etc... But someone has done a 6.2 GMC conversion, which as mentioned before, I love. I really only bought it for the engine and conversion plate but thinking I may just finish the conversion and give the car a chance. There is plenty still to do, she starts, drives and stops, it's a manual and it seems to be a fairly decent conversion to be truthful, but I have only had it a few days. They've fitted a larger rad but this is still way to small, the engine loom is just chucked to one side, the wires to make the GMC run have literally been laid over the motor and not routed, there are blocks of wood between the rear axel and body and someone has welded box section on the from axel which the bump stops rest on. The EAS lights are all on which I assume is due to the afore mentioned blocks of wood and box section. Now I've never really worked on a P38 so I'm hoping that you knowledgable people may be able to help me make sense of what's needed.. With this in mind, I have a few questions below if anyone can help:
1. Considering the above, where would you start with the air ride? I removed the relay and jumped the pins, the compressor does work but it's not giving a huge amount of pressure (I've yet to check pressure). I'm thinking of removing the blocks and box section to let it drop, would this rule out/confirm the height sensors are or are not working? Would prefer to not go the coil route.
2. The engine loom is just chucked to the side and floating in the wind, would this have any bearing on any other component? I should mention that it was originally a disease-el car.
3. There is an orange light on the dash (actually, there are many orange lights on the dash) which looks like a 2 pronged fork sticking up, never seen this before, any ideas?
4. Should I delete my account and stop asking stupid questions?
Thanks so much in advance peoples, there will be many more questions I'm sure.
Stay safe
Tony
