Practically Classics Forum

And where I am now, anothrer couple of hours and it will be finished.

Looking good
I will admit to being a tad jealous of your level of workmanship and the speed you have put yours back together.

it's been a bit of a marathon but hopefully it should be ready to take a for an MOT next week, I have checked over the obvious things and the only thing that worry me are the emissions but hopefully these will be OK on LPG, a couple of the dampers begining to weep (but still seem to work fine) and quite a few of the bushes are a bit perished but have no free play, so the plan is to submit it and fix whatever comes up, the rest will then be part of this years on -going work which at the moment is:

Repalce RH wing mounting rail and any rust on front inner wing
Remove radiator grille and clean / paint / weld any rust behind lamps etc
sort out slightly eratic idle on gas and LPG, idle speed drops as engine gets hot in traffic (suspect fault with the mechanical bi-metal strip controlled idle valve)
Remove non functioining alarm, tidy up birds nest of wiring
Paint and fit new rear doors
paint the rest of the vehicle.

Good news today, the range rover passed the mot at the first attempt.

Still plenty to do but at least it is safe and drives nicely.

Congratulations
I'm definitely jealous now.

great news mate! mot's are worse or as bad as childbirth, although wifey disagrees with me

It wasn't without drama,

Firstly despite me wearing it there the drivers seat belt would not unwind, I pulled off the B pillar trim and the belt was twisted which caused the reel to lock, with a bit of fiddling around it was possible to free it off and untwist it all worked fine afterwards.

Secondly it showed its old age by developing incontinence, after he had tested the washers we noticed a puddle forming on the floor, there were two small fountains coming out the headlamp washers! the pump was not running it seemed to be just under gravity, fortunately I had a mole grip which I used to clamp the hose to stop the flow. (they will be taking a one way trip to the dustbin)

He was impressed that the welding had been done properly and how few oil leaks it has though.

Otherwise it seems fine, I have used it all week with no problems and I am amazed how well it drives, it must have been a revelation when launched in the 1970's. It is doing about 13 mpg on LPG at the moment so that will be the first thing to look at improving, I have a blos mixer to fit and also intend to advance the timing a little which usually helps.

The T piece for the headlamp washers has a valve in it that seems to be a common failure. it will break in to at least 3 pieces when you try and replace it leaving you to swear at the hoses or try and disconnect the hoses from the washer jets in turn breaking those which will lead to even more swearing.
Can you tell it's one of my least favourite things to do :S

Thanks, I assumed it would all be in the pump the tTs are not to expensive, if the pump works I may fix them.

After so much time on the rangie I spent this weekend on the mx5. Firstly the water pump/alternator belt had started squarking, not too bad a job to replace, but you do have to take off the air duct and pas /ac belt first, turned out something had got in the belt and damaged a few of the ribs.
Next up was checking the fluids and cleaning a blocked washer jet. This was follwed by fulfilling my wife's request for cup holders, I came up with a bracket which bolts under the two existing gearshift gaiter bolts.and then mounts 2 folding cup holders against the trans tunnel.