Practically Classics Forum

I pay a whopping £280 pa, 10k miles.
Insurance notified about:
LPG kit
larger capacity engine
dealer fitted bodykit
uprated stereo
Stainless (in name only) tubular exhaust and manifolds
Body coloured wheels (factory option)

The only stipulation they had was that i removed the dealer fitted conlog alarm and had a new thatcham one installed. I fitted a skytag at the same time but i have not told them about the tracker (with the view that if it doesn't work i would still like to be paid out).

That makes the quote I have look pretty good, 1988 3.5 litre range rover, 5000 miles, parked on drive, no- mods (didn't know about LPG at time), no extra alarms / immobolisers £185 fully comp.

Darren was told the LPG did not affect the premium but was a condition of insurance, so it should not change the above just whatever it cost to get it on this database.

It all smells of a Corgi like closed shop that existed in the domestic market a few years ago, set up a company convince the insurers (or in the case of Corgi a naive government) that installations are deadly unless they are accredited by you and only you , then charge installers a hefty premium to be accredited, sit back and watch the cash roll in. - just wish I had thought of it !!!!!

That's Gas Safe now - or something like that - and is typical of government's ideas of safety-related issues: more interested in the paperwork than the actual safety of the system. Having seen some interesting (ie frightening) installations, I do wonder how many people pass themselves off as Gas-Safe Registered - or "con" people who don't realise that they have to have qualified installers etc.

My friend was inspected by Oftec (oil fired boilers etc) the other week and they were more interested in his ability to get on their website to order their stuff than his ability to work on boilers!

Don't set me off - OFSTED and Part P (and PATS) drove me mad when I worked in schools!!

The best system I have seen is the Belgian one where every inspection has to be inspected by a goverment inspector even if installed by a "Professional" you obviously pay a fee which covers the cost but everyone knows you have to have the inspection and it means rogue trades can't operate.

Good news, the landie sailed through the lpg test, only one advisory of light surface rust on tank.

Great stuff - if nothing else, it gives you peace of mind that the system is safe.

As an aside, the Moggy looks good too! Considering it was a basket case when you took it on, and is not meant to be a concours machine, it does you proud and I'm following its progress with more than a little interest!

I have given it some more coats today that is 4 litres of whitecso far, and it is looking good just a couple of areas which need a bit of touching up now, then I can put the green on the roof, fortunately white is forgiving as welll because it is certainly not perfect.

We are going to re use most of the old chrome etc so that will soon blow any concours pretensions!

I'm currently being tempted by a fairly cheap '73 range rover that has popped up in a pretty poor (ie rusty) but running condition. My '94 might get a friend and if you get the '88 there may be a green oval related forum takeover!

I would have loved an early range rover but I need something driveable now and driveable early ones are a long way outside my budget, with one project on the go free time is a premium already.

One of the things which appeals to me about the 88 one is it is a fairly low spec, manual seats, no sun roof, a/c already removed, non cat and a simple single point lpg set up, lets just hope its held together with more than rust!

I will be very jealous if you get one that you can drive about in. Mine hasn't been on the road in 18 months and i really miss cruising about in the tank.
There is a lot of misinformation about maintaining RRCs. I have never owned a flapper EFi model but I have got friends that do and the weak point is the MAF so if you see a cheap working one then it would be worth grabbing a spare.
The electric seats on pre '92 models are no bother. People make a fuss about them but cleaning the switches is easy, takes 10 minutes per side and i would assume it's a once every 20 year job as my first rr was 20 when I got it and the drivers forward / backward switch was iffy until i cleaned it properly.
Post '92 with memory seats the ECUs can be a bugger to fix. I have done 4 (i broke one welding very close to it without disconnecting the ECU first) and it can be done but when working ECUs sell for £800 often you'll find they have been pinched from cheaper cars.
The only issue with cat cars is the cost of replacing cats. They run a different fuel map and have lambda sensors. Otherwise they match the pre-cat version. I pulled my cats before the change in the law so unless someone notices i won't put any back but if it is a failure item it's not a big deal to swap the Y pipe.
I can't remember the changeover year from a metal to glass sunroof but my 90 was metal and leaked badly until I blew out the drain tubes which were full of black crud. My '94 with it's glass version is a nice feature to have.
If you decide you do want one then changing the roof panel is pretty easy so you could make the only '88 with a glass sunroof
You can't get the correct gas for the earlier A/C systems so someone having removed it is probably a good thing.
From memory anti-roll bars were introduced in 1990 and they can be fitted to earlier cars so if someone hasn't done it to that one yet it would be a worthwhile upgrade to improve it's on-road handling. Likewise the '88 had solid front brake discs but the callipers and discs from 1990 on cars fit so they would also be something to think about bunging on.