Range rover classic - scout project

Hi I posted a while ago looking for a range rover classic as a project for my scouts. Tonight we have more or less bought a G reg diesel for 250 comes with new sills as the old ones along with the rear tailgate/bumper is knackered.
Looking for some adivce on what we should we with it,on a budget, want to restore/maybe maybe into big off road vehicle.
Also heard the 2.5 vm diesel are a bit gutless and advice and what cen bedone to get a little more out of them again without spending what precious litle cash we dont have!

cheers
mike

not much can be done to the vm apart form throw it away and fit a proper v8

its the rust you will need to sort before anything else if its to be used on the road. I hope you are good with a welder.

check the rear crossmember if the other bits of the back end are rotten as they normally rot well. good luck

Yes.strip it to a bare shell.remove wings and doors floors etc seats carpet and seee what the body and chassis is like.THEN you can start with running gear.But yes unless you fit a nice 200 tdi it would be best a 3.9 V8 ....

Cheers for the replys sorting out the rust was going to be the first priority and was also going to look into getting a cheap v8. We wanted a v8 in the first place but nothing came anywhere near our initial budget. Also does any one know if the manual box mated to vm diesel is a landy box ie can it be fitted to a v8 if we were to find one

In case anyone is interested here are a few pics its pretty rotten in places like the sills and floor but we got replacement sills with it starting on sunday with the scouts to strip it so we can get off as much rust as poss genolite or similar it then paint it well the chassis first then ohter things

scotsnumpty said:

Hi I posted a while ago looking for a range rover classic as a project for my scouts. Tonight we have more or less bought a G reg diesel for 250 comes with new sills as the old ones along with the rear tailgate/bumper is knackered.
Looking for some adivce on what we should we with it,on a budget, want to restore/maybe maybe into big off road vehicle.
mike

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I'm sorry to p..s on your bonfire (no pun intended) Mike but the words Range Rover & budget (like government & efficiency/politician & truth) never form a phrase. I've owned four classics & the worse of them was far better than yours. Cut & run before there are tears at bedtime!

Cheers for the advice but most of the issues appear to be metal work and I can get sheet metal either v v cheap or free and plenty of good friends that are good at welding it doesnt have to look that pretty or mega original we dont mind on that front. Was thinking about renewing the bushes for polybushes we we get down to the chassis are they worth it and if so what's the difference between the blue and red?

that is a minger for 250.Still the vm unit should run on veggie oil if ya get it running....

scotsnumpty said:

Cheers for the advice but most of the issues appear to be metal work and I can get sheet metal either v v cheap or free and plenty of good friends that are good at welding it doesnt have to look that pretty or mega original we dont mind on that front. Was thinking about renewing the bushes for polybushes we we get down to the chassis are they worth it and if so what's the difference between the blue and red?

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dont get poly bushes, get rubber.

Lol cheers that for do you anywhere good that I can get a full set of rubber bushes. Oh and the vm runs sweet comes up to temp sits there no bother and pulls well. Is there any mods required to run on veg oil like a prw heater mods to tank etc cheers

paddocks or craddocks for spares.

it will be alot of work , but always nice to see a classic.

I found dingo croft very good for spares as they actually know about the parts when you ring up and dont just have girls taking the orders. there website is ****e but it it does have there phone number on it.

if the vm runs run it untill it blows one of its headgaskets then throw it in the bin and fit a v8

cheers for that i know everyone says a lot of bad things about the vm but it has only done 101k miles and had a lot of money spent on it not long before it was taken off the road. I want it to be a lot of work after all it is a project for the scouts so they need something to do and the more they hav to do themselves the more they will hopefully learn

Get it MoT'd as soon as you can and sell that number plate to some fool who values that sort of thing ASAP.

That should fund some of the work needed..!

Malcolm

that number plate is proberley worth more than the car lol really good to see a classic being restored but im afraid that bushes will be the least of your worrys after looking at those pics

the free labour you have makes more possible

Good luck with the project. I have an original LR workshop manual for the 86-89 classic from before my disco if it would be of use to you I would be happy to donate it. PM me if interested.

Hi, and best of luck with your project from me too! I see you`re calling yourself a "Scotsnumpty" but haven`t put your location up yet. If you do you may find some members coming round to offer help and advice..... and some others cadging cuppas... `tis a two edged sword.
My non`expert advice is to get it up and runing with existing runing gear, that way you get a quicker result. Then buy and refurb a V8. This will give some time to get more funds, will get a balance between play and work for your scouts. Body work is time/labour intensive, but engines are costly in parts.
Good luck again and keep us all informed as to how it`s going.

I was a member of the local Scout group when I were a nipper!! We never had anything this much fun to do, just 'badge work' indoors and the odd Church parade lol.
I say roll up your sleeves and get working on it Good luck!

Your thread reminded me; I still have 2 Haynes Manuals the usual workshop one and Restoration.......PM me if they're any use to you