squaretaper
New Member
- Posts
- 1
- Location
- Providence RI USA
I'm afraid I have a penchant for LR punishment.
First taste was my 1996 NAS D1, bought from a fella who assured me that puff puff sound was just a pinhole exhaust leak, and as a welder I'd have no trouble fixing it. I did in the end fix the puff puff, after replacing the headgaskets. Something else (admittedly more minor so far) tends to break every week or so, and I try and keep up. Most of the electrical and mechanical gremlins are tame now, and I'm soooo ready to pass it on to another LR masochist.... though I do love it so:
Which leads me to about this time last year, when I decided to purchase a rust-free 50K mile RRC 2 Door from a dealer in Spain to replace the D1. You may have heard of him... he sells LRs with new paint and new interiors to suit, and all of his vehicles are "mechanically perfect, and need nothing."
I even went to Spain last Dec/Jan to drive it and check it out before the truck was shipped to me here in the US, and we went over all the ways the truck was not up to the description he gave me when I bought it. The odometer was broken and the last recorded reading was some decades ago, so my 50K mile truck was actually a ???K mile truck. She ran OK but there were a ton of problems, from small things like the busted binnacle and Suzuki side mirrors, to larger issues like a grinding transmission and blown out suspension. No service had been done to the engine, the oil was filthy and belts and hoses crap. He promised to sort it all out and over the next several months told me that things were getting fixed and everything would be perfect, without being specific about any of it.
Well the beautiful RRC has finally arrived in the US but not the title, bill of sale, or customs paperwork, which he sent last-minute and was lost by UPS... he has some sort of a plan to replace some of the documents but I can't say I'm very hopeful. The interior is now somewhat smashed up and still no service done on the engine other than fresh oil (but, for some reason, old filter). It sure looks good on his website, though:
I wish I could tag it and drive it. No doubt, with a bunch of time and money, she'll be on the road and sorted out as much as I can afford to sort her out, having spent my savings on a truck that was supposed to be perfect. I suppose that's part and parcel of the LR experience- the ideal you hold in your head is never gonna quite line up with reality, and you're gonna have to sweat and spend and bust some knuckles to get close.
I am quite fond of the truck, though
Looking forward to hanging out on this forum and learning from all the brilliant old hats, and sharing whatever I can. I'm a welder and fabricator, and like to repair things with shop-built solutions that are better than the OEM parts, if possible... cheers to all here.
First taste was my 1996 NAS D1, bought from a fella who assured me that puff puff sound was just a pinhole exhaust leak, and as a welder I'd have no trouble fixing it. I did in the end fix the puff puff, after replacing the headgaskets. Something else (admittedly more minor so far) tends to break every week or so, and I try and keep up. Most of the electrical and mechanical gremlins are tame now, and I'm soooo ready to pass it on to another LR masochist.... though I do love it so:
Which leads me to about this time last year, when I decided to purchase a rust-free 50K mile RRC 2 Door from a dealer in Spain to replace the D1. You may have heard of him... he sells LRs with new paint and new interiors to suit, and all of his vehicles are "mechanically perfect, and need nothing."
I even went to Spain last Dec/Jan to drive it and check it out before the truck was shipped to me here in the US, and we went over all the ways the truck was not up to the description he gave me when I bought it. The odometer was broken and the last recorded reading was some decades ago, so my 50K mile truck was actually a ???K mile truck. She ran OK but there were a ton of problems, from small things like the busted binnacle and Suzuki side mirrors, to larger issues like a grinding transmission and blown out suspension. No service had been done to the engine, the oil was filthy and belts and hoses crap. He promised to sort it all out and over the next several months told me that things were getting fixed and everything would be perfect, without being specific about any of it.
Well the beautiful RRC has finally arrived in the US but not the title, bill of sale, or customs paperwork, which he sent last-minute and was lost by UPS... he has some sort of a plan to replace some of the documents but I can't say I'm very hopeful. The interior is now somewhat smashed up and still no service done on the engine other than fresh oil (but, for some reason, old filter). It sure looks good on his website, though:
I wish I could tag it and drive it. No doubt, with a bunch of time and money, she'll be on the road and sorted out as much as I can afford to sort her out, having spent my savings on a truck that was supposed to be perfect. I suppose that's part and parcel of the LR experience- the ideal you hold in your head is never gonna quite line up with reality, and you're gonna have to sweat and spend and bust some knuckles to get close.
I am quite fond of the truck, though
Looking forward to hanging out on this forum and learning from all the brilliant old hats, and sharing whatever I can. I'm a welder and fabricator, and like to repair things with shop-built solutions that are better than the OEM parts, if possible... cheers to all here.
