TURNING THE KEY ON THE V8

he original 1983 Range Rover was driven in to my workshop many months ago with a body that was deteriorating under the skin with rust, and a tired, underpowered engine that had caused disappointment to owner Andy Webb. The plan to simply re-power this classic Range Rover and convert it to right hand drive, has been a much longer road than we ever expected – due entirely to deciding to carry out the extensive repairs and preservation work that we have now completed.

A major breakthrough in any motor vehicle project is always the point that the engine is running again for the very first time after the rebuild. This is particularly true when the engine is more complicated and unfamiliar than those previously worked on. These points very much applied with this project, as I had done little work on Range Rovers before, and the fuel injected V8 engine was something I had never really been involved with previously. Although I had made notes and taken photographs, I wondered whether I had recorded enough.

However, everything did seem to have gone back together well – given that the complete vehicle wiring system had been transplanted from another Range Rover.

TBut it would perhaps take only one unnoticed wire, to be left disconnected, to prevent the engine from starting. So there ensued a process of checking and checking again – all of the connections and systems throughout the Range Rover.

As well as the general installation checks, a few final jobs were ticked off, the brakes and clutch bled, fuel added and a battery connected up – and the moment of reckoning had arrived.