Refreshing a Built Range Rover Classic - Thread

[RoverFan]

It's been a minute here. As an update, one of the condenser fans died and the "early" two bolt motors are NLA.

I decided to squeeze in some SPAL 11" fans. I cut the factory fan motor studs off the condenser and welded new ones in place to mount the SPALs. The winch and oil cooler crowded my workspace so I just pulled the bumper. The install wasn't terrible once that was out of the way.



These move some air. I also replaced the fan switch in the thermostat housing shortly thereafter. The switch I installed while rebuilding the top end would keep the fans running at too low of a temp.

 

[RoverFan]

After the fan replacement I had a new AC compressor, drier, and expansion valve installed. The A/C works great, and it was fixed just in time to go to the 20th Uwharrie Rover Expedition in North Carolina. The truck did really well and made it easy for a semi-novice like me to learn to rock crawl.

Rock Crawling in my Range Rover Classic at URE! 2024

youtube.com

 

[RoverFan]

I worked this beast hard again this fall. I returned to the URE! Safari for 2025 with this RRC, and made it back to Florida for the Florida Land Rover Club a week later.

URE had a few two-wheel pucker moments, mostly because this Range Rover is so capable it lulls me into being lazy with lines. In Florida, my fellow Florida Men are too enamored with mud. There were a lot of stuck trucks, and lot of water ingress. My RRC was no exception to water ingress, but was the only truck in my convoy to make it through everything without winching. That said, I will not subject this classic to water like that again. The water was up to the windows at one point.

Here are a couple short videos:

 

[RoverFan]

I had to churn so much mud at one point that the front tires pushed it up behind the turn signals, pushing the turn signals out of the core support!