Thread: Re-acquainted with my Classic LSE.

Excellent ... the $$$ soon become a distant memory if your enjoying yourself

Originally Posted by Grumbles

I picked up my Rangie LSE from the Landy mechanics last week.

The result is well worth the $1500 this particular issue cost me. I also came home with a box of good tested second hand EAS parts which were handed over as a gift. Every day now I can't wait to go and drive it some more. Vrooommm........

I'm green with envy, even though I also have a 2nd EAS set from a 93 wreck.

Mine went to Rovertech last April to address a couple of electrical gremlins, and I've not been able to drive it since, and still waiting - ever hopeful it is getting to the end of this particular episode. Now almost 9 months, but who is counting!!!!!!
Short version is another person was playing with the Hybrid TD5 and LSE air/electrics and had the temerity to have a stroke and leave this mortal coil. Current sparky has had "fun" trying to reconnect a virtually dismembered electrical system in between other jobs. In hindsight I should have put a new loom in from day 1. I'm not even going to contemplate what the bill might be.

Yet it is blindingly obvious why many would seek to remove the eas and replace with coil springs.

cheaper.
quicker
easier.

I can tell you I wouldn't leave a vehicle out of my possession for 9 months or even 14 weeks with someone else I was not on VERY good terms with and then to add insult to injury hand over 1500 bucks for the pleasure. I hope there is more of a back-story to this which you haven't disclosed. The way it reads to me, is that you had an issue and left it with a mechanic, and they took 3 months to find the leak... I hope this is not how it actually happened...

Despite this "difficult to find leak" any suitable and properly thorough investigation should really have netted a correct diagnosis sooner - that is of course my opinion and others are welcome to disagree. I'm fine with that. But we are talking about an issue that can be replicated, because the leak is almost constant....

I feel there must be more to this story than just a 3 month hiatus.

Having to wait for some unobtanium part and it's related exhorbitant price? yes I can absolutely identify with that. It does cause unwanted, sometimes prolonged delays and it is out of your hands. There is always a degree of frustration in that.

Having to wait for hoist time for your 'project' while your mate who owns the workshop has paying jobs? yes, absolutely can understand that. I have been in this situation as well. I digress:

I did have a vehicle in my mates workshop for 3 years, when an automatic 5-speed 722.5 transmission he sourced failed for the second time less than a month after it was replaced.
It was left there because the decision was made after the second failure (through no fault of mine) to convert the vehicle to a factory 6 speed manual transmission from a later model vehicle, something that at the time had not been undertaken by anyone in the world - we had reached out to experts globally and got nothing. Not even the Classic Centre in Germany had an answer or could even tell us if it was possible with factory parts.
We had some answers - i.e. pieces of the puzzle, but some key ones were missing - the ones that "unlock" the picture and get you moving.

During that time, I wasn't pressured or charged for storage, the vehicle ran out of rego and it suffered 'storage syndrome' where the rubber components slowly degrade from lack of use.

The result was 3 years and 3 days after it was parked, the installation of the manual box was undertaken and completed in 4 days. This included custom fabrication of HD propeller shafts, shifter linkages, clutch lines, lockout electrics, a standalone VSS, rear crossmember etc. 90% of the conversion is factory off-the-shelf parts, albeit from about 4 different model vehicles. All of the research was pioneering, since then only a handful of conversions have been successfully completed in this way globally, but it is nice to see that it can be replicated - for a cost...

The bit that took ages was the custom length 4140 propshafts with new weldyoke and upgraded uni which needed machining on the slipyoke and weldyoke to fit with the factory centre bearing and hanger. Scary stuff to get perfect - and it was done to perfection - but it was painstaking work and required a full mock-up to ensure angles were correct etc.

So it's easy to understand why some people just cannot handle the delay, why your vehicle is stuck in a strangers workshop for more than 2 weeks or why people cannot understand why an owner chooses to wait for a specific solution, when other quicker, easier or cheaper solutions seemingly abound by comparison...

The desired outcome is what drives decisions such as this, not the cost or the delays incurred.

Having said all that, I wouldn't be waxing lyrical about the results of prolonged undertakings. Happy? yes, certainly. Just not overly-exuberant about it, because people don't understand the logic in 'waiting for the desired outcome' these days. (hint: gen-Y / millennial jibe)

I am sure there is satisfaction in knowing it's fixed, PROPERLY - and driving around is enough to elicit a wry smile and a feeling of relief and a sense of accomplishment. That's how I feel when I get into the 300 coupe and row through 6 gears.

Originally Posted by Mercguy

Yet it is blindingly obvious why many would seek to remove the eas and replace with coil springs.

cheaper.
quicker
easier.

I can tell you I wouldn't leave a vehicle out of my possession for 9 months or even 14 weeks with someone else I was not on VERY good terms with and then to add insult to injury hand over 1500 bucks for the pleasure. I hope there is more of a back-story to this which you haven't disclosed. The way it reads to me, is that you had an issue and left it with a mechanic, and they took 3 months to find the leak... I hope this is not how it actually happened...

Despite this "difficult to find leak" any suitable and properly thorough investigation should really have netted a correct diagnosis sooner - that is of course my opinion and others are welcome to disagree. I'm fine with that. But we are talking about an issue that can be replicated, because the leak is almost constant....

I feel there must be more to this story than just a 3 month hiatus.

Having to wait for some unobtanium part and it's related exhorbitant price? yes I can absolutely identify with that. It does cause unwanted, sometimes prolonged delays and it is out of your hands. There is always a degree of frustration in that.

Having to wait for hoist time for your 'project' while your mate who owns the workshop has paying jobs? yes, absolutely can understand that. I have been in this situation as well. I digress:

I did have a vehicle in my mates workshop for 3 years, when an automatic 5-speed 722.5 transmission he sourced failed for the second time less than a month after it was replaced.
It was left there because the decision was made after the second failure (through no fault of mine) to convert the vehicle to a factory 6 speed manual transmission from a later model vehicle, something that at the time had not been undertaken by anyone in the world - we had reached out to experts globally and got nothing. Not even the Classic Centre in Germany had an answer or could even tell us if it was possible with factory parts.
We had some answers - i.e. pieces of the puzzle, but some key ones were missing - the ones that "unlock" the picture and get you moving.

During that time, I wasn't pressured or charged for storage, the vehicle ran out of rego and it suffered 'storage syndrome' where the rubber components slowly degrade from lack of use.

The result was 3 years and 3 days after it was parked, the installation of the manual box was undertaken and completed in 4 days. This included custom fabrication of HD propeller shafts, shifter linkages, clutch lines, lockout electrics, a standalone VSS, rear crossmember etc. 90% of the conversion is factory off-the-shelf parts, albeit from about 4 different model vehicles. All of the research was pioneering, since then only a handful of conversions have been successfully completed in this way globally, but it is nice to see that it can be replicated - for a cost...

The bit that took ages was the custom length 4140 propshafts with new weldyoke and upgraded uni which needed machining on the slipyoke and weldyoke to fit with the factory centre bearing and hanger. Scary stuff to get perfect - and it was done to perfection - but it was painstaking work and required a full mock-up to ensure angles were correct etc.

So it's easy to understand why some people just cannot handle the delay, why your vehicle is stuck in a strangers workshop for more than 2 weeks or why people cannot understand why an owner chooses to wait for a specific solution, when other quicker, easier or cheaper solutions seemingly abound by comparison...

The desired outcome is what drives decisions such as this, not the cost or the delays incurred.

Having said all that, I wouldn't be waxing lyrical about the results of prolonged undertakings. Happy? yes, certainly. Just not overly-exuberant about it, because people don't understand the logic in 'waiting for the desired outcome' these days. (hint: gen-Y / millennial jibe)

I am sure there is satisfaction in knowing it's fixed, PROPERLY - and driving around is enough to elicit a wry smile and a feeling of relief and a sense of accomplishment. That's how I feel when I get into the 300 coupe and row through 6 gea

It depends.... I have had peoples cars here for an extended period of time while they wanted me to ( try ) to fix them. In a lot of towns you probably won't find anyone that wants to work on an old range rover. In my case. Can you find anyone in Ballarat that wants to work on a 30+ year old Citroen ..... Not likely, so sometimes they end up at my place...