1995 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE - Cool Running

[THE_Liam]

This is always a great read. A mate of mine at work is married to a lass from the Phillipines and he's spent a lot of time over there, I've shared a few of your posts with him and he always ends up laughing and saying "It really is just like that over there"

[georgeb]

Glad some are amused!

Was looking through some older posts the other day about cleaning/treating leather (MM's Daimler sprung to mind as a starter). The seats aren't too bad but the drivers side has a cracked bolster and I wanted to get something to help it out along with catching other bits before they deteriorate as well as interiors really suffer in this heat. A simple task you may think. Poor deluded fool.

Now, as I go through the threads on here I see things like "Oh, I always use 'Godfrey Smedley-Tampon's Luxury Leather Cream' followed by a smidgen of 'Tutankhamun Leather Embalmer", brings 'em up a treat don't you know", followed by twenty replies recommending some other fantastic, easily available products.

Not here you don't. You go into a likely looking hardware shop (proper car shops are few and far between unless you want everything you own to have "Type R" written on it) and get to their motor-y bit where you'll find a bottle of "Leather Stuff". It'll be between the "Plastic Stuff" and "Oily Stuff". Of course, it'll be 11 million Pesos because werl, its for leather innit, so you much be a rich git. The instructions will be in Chinese and probably say "Take cow, cut up, drizzle on "Leather Stuff" to taste and eat. I think the caption next to the picture of a seat says, "Serving Suggestion". But hey, beggars can't be choosers.

It looks like the answer is to fill Mr Philippine-Custom's pocket yet again and go all international.

I also bought a top-shop grease gun the other day for me props and obviously, wanted some "Greasy Stuff" to go in it. Yep, can. But no cartridges and no tins like we're used to with the plastic bit on the top that you push down on to fill the gun. No, it's stand in the kitchen with a spoon and hope like hell Madam doesn't wake up and catch you at it. Being discovered receiving a happy ending from that rather fetching bar-girl from downstairs would be as naught if I was copped shoveling lithium grease with her best cutlery!

In the same shop as above and was looking at trolley jacks. They'd got a really big butch one with 500mm lift that the nice chappie recommended, "Can I have a look at it then?" and out it was brought. Quick as a flash I asked if they had one with four wheels on. "No stock" was the deadpan reply.

God, this is hard work sometimes!

[georgeb]

I may, or may not, have mentioned that I'm gently on the lookout for some 16" rims as a)they are a lot easier to get rubber for and b) anything that adds to the insulation between bum and what they call roads here is a good thing, right?

So there I am browsing on a local classifieds site when I come across an ad which tells me he wants Peso35,000 for them. at just shy of 500 quid for the set, it'll do me. Get the missus to call the number only to find out he wants 35,000 EACH! Where do they dream their prices up from? That'd feed a Tondo family for around a year, literally.

Oh well, back on the hunt

Talking of hunting, anyone any idea who supplies stainless decat pipes? Atlantic British do catted pipes, as do several UK suppliers, but as I don't need them here and the current cats rattle, lets do without. The two sites I found here for making SS exhausts have now expired (they aren't right up there on websites here). Any pointers gratefully received.

[jpsmit]

Is there not a muffler shop that coild do the pipe custom? Might be easier and cheaper than having something shipped.

[notsoswift]

Why not just knock the centres out and use them as additional expansion boxes?

[georgeb]

Jun 25, 2014 3:57:02 GMT jpsmit said:

Is there not a muffler shop that coild do the pipe custom? Might be easier and cheaper than having something shipped.

Aye, you are right. The problem is that much of this is still at "cottage industry" level so there's no website and little information. It's just pure luck if you happen to drive past somewhere that looks like it might do exhausts and even more luck if you find one that figures out what you want!

[georgeb]

Jun 25, 2014 5:05:52 GMT notsoswift said:

Why not just knock the centres out and use them as additional expansion boxes?

To be honest, the front pipes are starting to look a bit mankey anyway so replacement wouldn't go amiss.

[georgeb]

Anyway, given as I need to get suspension parts and sort out the exhaust it is obvious to me that ordering some wheels would be a good idea.

Consequently, at 04:00 Central Manila Time, whilst Madam is safely tucked up, I frightened the credit card and ordered 5 of these, as you do.



Zu rims from the UK in 16x8 flavor, via First Four in Devon. Not too bad as without VAT and plus shipping, it works out only marginally dearer than the UK cost with VAT. Mind you, Mr. Philippine-Customs has yet to get his dirty little hands on them. Still a sight cheaper than my little mate's 2 grand for 4 the other day.

I keep seeing on UK LR forums how these and Mach 5s are "done to death" and "so last year", well not here they're not, they'll be bleedin' unique and put me right at the cutting edge! Gone for the anthracite as silver (as currently fitted) is a bit bright against the dark green and the black is, well, black.

Excited already

[notsoswift]

They look good and unique to my Antipodean eyes as well.

Too right about VAT, I was getting a seat for my race car and a friend was going to chuck it in his container as he is moving to AU. Well, 17.5% meant that freight (even calculated on volumetric) was cheaper than paying VAT... and fright is still a rip off

[georgeb]

Obviously, having got new wheels on the way then tyres are the next step, so off down the local depot I go. Now, for some reason, I’d assumed my current wheels were 18”, the standard alternative to 16” on the P38. However, when I read the nice informative writing on the side of the tyre it tells me they are 19” . This means they are off the later model and more to the point, that the wheel nuts aren’t interchangeable with the new wheels. Aaaargh .

So a quick trip to that internet buyers haven that is Sulit.ph (I really don’t know why I bother – but hope springs eternal and all that) to see if there were any locally. And yes, yes there were. A set of 5, “last set left” so obviously have much rarity value, enough to be asking 1,600 each anyway. That’s 21GBP to you – or to me in this case . Very reasonable, but maybe not! A quick trip to Rimmer Bros found me a full set of gen LR nuts at a slightly more sensible 8 quid apiece, including shipping, so were duly ordered. Hopefully they won’t be too far behind the wheels next week.

Current tyres (now I’ve actually looked) are 255/55X19 so I’ve gone for 265/70x16 as being the closest size in an A/T I can get here and the “Will they fit” site tells me I’ll sit 7.someting mm higher, so not much. I wanted BFG but they aren’t available in the Phils, of course, so I’ve gone for Yokohama Geolander which are new to me, so let’s see how they fare.

The only upside to all this is if the looneys here are actually paying what’s being asked for wheels, etc, I should become the first “wheel millionaire” in Manila up when I sell the 19s!

[georgeb]

So the first results in are UPS-1, TNT-0.

The wheel nuts I ordered from Rimmers on Sunday, dispatched Monday, have just arrived (16:00 Manila time on Wednesday afternoon) and beaten the wheels I ordered last Thursday and dispatched Friday. The wheels should be here tomorrow and if so, they will both have beaten the tyres I ordered last week from a Yokohama dealer that I can see from my apartment window!

Shop local? Oh no.

Should I read something into the fact that the wheels are coming via Heathrow and the nuts came from darkest Lincoln, via Germany and China? Always hated that scabby airport!

As an aside, I've tried ordering stuff from a US company but they seem to think that the Philippines is part of America, which it hasn't been since 4th July 1946, and the website insists on a State and Zip Code, that for some reason that they can't understand, I don't have. They don't respond to my queries so as of now, everything will now come via the UK.

Oh, and Mr Philippine-Customs wanted 53 quid on an order worth 112, so God knows what I'll be paying for the wheels

[pauls0]

Excellent thread, I am enjoying this. Mind you, that's partly because I've trying to keep a Discovery 3 going in Peru, and all the stories regarding Customs and local shops etc are so familiar to my experiences here in Peru too..! Locals wanted around 500 GBP for one front Wheel bearing, in the UK the same part is around 70GBP..

Good stuff, look forward to more updates!

[THE_Liam]

Surprisingly, I have a cousin who has similar issues in the US, although that is a 405 Mi16...

[georgeb]

Jul 2, 2014 14:50:04 GMT pauls0 said:

Excellent thread, I am enjoying this. Mind you, that's partly because I've trying to keep a Discovery 3 going in Peru, and all the stories regarding Customs and local shops etc are so familiar to my experiences here in Peru too..! Locals wanted around 500 GBP for one front Wheel bearing, in the UK the same part is around 70GBP..

Good stuff, look forward to more updates!

Jul 2, 2014 15:17:21 GMT THE_Liam said:

Surprisingly, I have a cousin who has similar issues in the US, although that is a 405 Mi16...

I think it's a case of we own the right vehicles, just in the wrong countries!

[notsoswift]

I get US deliveries through a mail service. Mine is MyUS.com, but I am sure there are heaps of others, I just get this free on my credit card.
A Lot of US stuff is free delivery so I get it sent there, they can consolidate the shipment then send it on. may be worth checking, obviously it takes a little longer, but not a lot compared to the savings, just planning.
As for the Wheels vs Nuts, well nuts can be thrown on any plane, wheels are big so they can wait their turn

[georgeb]

Jul 2, 2014 23:08:33 GMT notsoswift said:

I get US deliveries through a mail service. Mine is MyUS.com, but I am sure there are heaps of others, I just get this free on my credit card.
A Lot of US stuff is free delivery so I get it sent there, they can consolidate the shipment then send it on. may be worth checking, obviously it takes a little longer, but not a lot compared to the savings, just planning.
As for the Wheels vs Nuts, well nuts can be thrown on any plane, wheels are big so they can wait their turn

I can live with the speed of delivery from the UK, I can even live with the shipping costs (as we said before, no VAT offsets this to an extent) what I really find annoying is what seems to be an unfathomable amount of customs duty as soon as the plane touches down. Prior to being told, there's no accurate way of telling what you're going to get charged!

I've been avoiding consolidation as I've been trying to keep each shipment below the "mythical" US$1,500 mark to avoid full duty, but this doesn't seem to be working given what I paid for the nuts! So may be worth considering.

Just checked and the wheels are now in Hong Kong (they do get around, don't they?) awaiting customs clearance which seems strange for goods just in transit. Oh well, won't get them today then. An on-line duty calculator tells me to expect around 400 quid in customs charges. We'll see how close it was on arrival.

[jackherer]

Jul 2, 2014 15:17:21 GMT THE_Liam said:

Surprisingly, I have a cousin who has similar issues in the US, although that is a 405 Mi16...

It's hard enough to find Mi16 parts here (UK/Europe) now.

Funnily enough a few years ago I was buying quite a lot of new Mi16 engine parts from ebay US as nobody there seemed to be interested and sellers would take ludicrous offers more often than not.

If your cousin isn't signed up to forum.205gtidrivers.com already you should suggest it.

Back on topic... What size brakes does your Range Rover have? have you checked that 16" rims fit over them? 19" to 16" is a big jump!

[georgeb]

Jul 2, 2014 15:17:21 GMT jackherer said:

Back on topic... What size brakes does your Range Rover have? have you checked that 16" rims fit over them? 19" to 16" is a big jump!

16 and 18 inch were standard fitment on the P38 depending on model. Very generally, the 4.0L had the 16s and the 4.6L the 18s, but the brakes, etc. were the same on both so the wheels are interchangeable. 19's were for the later model so going down to 16s again shouldn't be an issue. If they ever bloody get here that is!

[georgeb]

Jul 2, 2014 14:50:04 GMT pauls0 said:

Excellent thread, I am enjoying this. Mind you, that's partly because I've trying to keep a Discovery 3 going in Peru, and all the stories regarding Customs and local shops etc are so familiar to my experiences here in Peru too..! Locals wanted around 500 GBP for one front Wheel bearing, in the UK the same part is around 70GBP..

Good stuff, look forward to more updates!

Funnily enough, I've just had an e-mail asking if I'd be interested in going to Lima and play with a new railway there. Unfortunately, I'm too busy here so had to turn it down. Damn shame as i loved Chile and would like to see some more of S. America. Oh well, maybe next time.

[georgeb]

And back on the wheel saga, they left Hong Kong at 02:00 this morning so, with a two hour flight, if the queue at immigration's not too bad and they get a good taxi driver, they should be here any minute...