So thought I start my newbie post by sharing about my Freelander1, Wattson.
I got this off a friend who'd left it to stand(and grow grass and weeds) because it had a gearbox issue which caused it to "kick" hard when it shifted gears from cold (still haven't figured out what the issue is but once it's warm and you restart the car, the gears shift good with the occasional soft kick from 3 to 2 or under hard braking from 3rd).
These are what I have fixed so far:
1. The gearbox fluid was mixing with the coolant - Replaced the gearbox oil heat exchanger to resolve this.
2. The engine misfired like hell - Replaced Coil packs and plugs.
3. The stock radio and fog lights weren't working - Installed new fuses/replaced fried fuses.
4. The exterior window trims were shot - Replaced with used ones from the scrappy.
5. The rear tailgate door wouldn't open consistently - Replaced the motor and lift mechanism.
6. The rear window lift mechanisms were not working - Replaced with new ones.
7. The engine vibrated like nuts - Replaced the lower engine mount (funny just that fixed it)
8. Replaced a number of broken engine hoses and lines that leaked.
9. Aircon Compressor was making a grinding noise - Replaced the pulley bearing and the accessory belt.[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]
9. The interior roof ceiling was saggy - Had this redone by an interior specialist.
10. Interior lights weren't working - Replaced the bulbs with LED ones.
Things I haven't fixed
1. I have not fixed the gearbox "kick" issue and it annoys me every time it happens. Easily the one thing I hate about the car.
2. Leaking oil from the cam area. Tried to trace it and it seems to come from the black covers at the camshaft cover ends. Not gotten round to replacing them.
3. Cruise control doesn't work.
The spec is a Sports pack (I think) with all leather interior with 18" rims. Sadly no seat warmer. Car drives well when not having the gearbox issues.
I bought this "hippo" because I plan to do the following to it, in order:
1. Swap out the front brake system for Brembo 4 piston calipers and 300mm drilled/slotted rotor kit.
2. Swap out the rear brake drums for calipers and drilled/slotted disks with integrated hand-brake.
3. Swap out the hydraulic steering for electric steering.
4. Delete the rear wheel drive (basically make it a 2 wheel drive).
5. Swap out the engine brake vacuum lines for an electric ibooster brake kit.
5. Convert it to fully electric with custom 32KWh battery pack and Tesla drivetrain for a targeted initial range of 100km. This includes the necessary changers, DC-DC converters, BMSs and CAN controllers for the cooling fans etc. I am not retaining any of the LR drivetrain, gearbox or ICE bits.
6. Swap out the analog gauges for dual 3.5 custom digital displays.
Hope to share these projects with the community here.