Found a 1995 SD in white with an R380 near Prescott, flew down and drove back to San Francisco. 800-900ish mile trip



Tons of electrics not working, may be fuses, have not checked yet.

Some notes:

>almost Zero rust. Not kidding its stupid clean
>long standing oil leak from somewhere, must be really slow, we didn't need to add any at all during trip home.
>Tranny leaks (I think)
>Transfer case leaks (I think)
>5th gear whines, fluid was low when we bought it...
>transfer case was almost empty
>heat works great
>AC works (cold here so not definitive yet)
>headlamps work
>indicators/hazards work
>wipers/wiper fluid works
>motor runs, no temp issues
>no radio unit, was removed at some point, plugs intact

Honestly could have passed on this one but it actually runs and drives pretty darn good, always wanted a white SD with the 5 speed... may end up selling since I found a second white SD (basically its clone), near my home, owner willing to sell. Its almost perfect for a CT homage project (would stay white though in good tastes).

We filled the gearbox with ATF since we couldn't find the correct stuff while driving but my local napa had redline MTL in stock so that will be changed, hopefully makes it happier.

So much nicer coming from an LR3 you can literally fix pretty much anything with wrenches and some truck stop fluids in a pinch. Access underneath is great. Manual is fun. Terrifying driving it home but she did fine.

Questions now:

>the front drivers side fender indicator (the tiny amber rectangle in the middle of the panel, has the bulb dangling inside the fender itself, had fallen out of the lamp housing, whats the easiest way to put it back?
>What's the best way to clean up the bottom of the motor, front axle, tranny, t-case to start identifying leaks?
>what is the best sort of oil to run in these things with higher mileage? 200k on odo...
>How hard is it to pull motor and trans? (want to address leaks)
>Want to get the LR steel wheels, have seen a few defender guys run them tubeless, but others say tubes only. As far as I know nobody sells the newer nato style wheels that LR offered with a bead specifically for tubeless...

Always liked this section of the forum, have read a few threads over the years here.

 

that vehicle is going to be a gawd- awfull nightmare for you......you should drop it off at my house and I will dispose of it properly......

 

Ha... you want it come get it... make me an offer

 

Too funny! I just got back from Bozeman, MT after rescuing this '97 SD r380 from an uncertain future. Like yours, the underside is completely clean. I also have some no-op stuff to address after I dig into some fairly obnoxious oil leaks. I also had a fairly white knuckle trip home., 700 miles back to Seattle.

I run shell rotella 15w40 diesel oil in mine. (Also 200k miles) I'm on day 4 of degreasing the engine. Every day it's getting a little cleaner on mine, the pcv valve was clogged, literally every seal on the engine was puking oil. I may pull the engine to reseal it if replacing the pcv valve doesn't massively reduce the leaking.

 

Rob,

That paint job is crazy cool!

Good luck with yours, I was pleasantly surprised by how well these things run... for now haha. Does your 5th gear make noise?

 

Paging Ted Nugent you left your Disco double parked in Bozeman again.

I will say I prefer the dizzy delete manual version notwithstanding the Wild Kingdom black crayon gone wild scheme. Robert, I'm a little surprised, somebody dropped a ruffy in you're morning coffee?

 

Dave, coat hanger and OKoffroad.com Stuff - Xtreme Duty Land Rover Wheels

 

I got a kick out of this!
5th gear: I don't get any gear whine. The gear box is surprisingly smooth and quiet.

I'm still degreasing the darned thing. PCV kit should be here tomorrow. So far, it looks like the Oil pressure switch is also leaking so i'll change that today.

Quick question for you. Does your Headliner have the cutout for the sunroofs in place? Mine does, i'm assuming that someone must have swapped out a different headliner board?

ok so the story of "Zebra" and the whacky exterior. "Zebra" was the last '97 SD r380 brought into the US and was a special order by a salesman at Land Rover Seattle (back when the dealership was actually in Seattle). He had the Zebra Stripe put on when the truck was brand new and 0 miles and somehow it's lasted all these years. I almost took ownership of it 3 years ago, original owner wanted to swap me it for a 1975 Moto Guzzi I am hoarding. I had a family bereavement and by the time I got back from the UK, Zebra had moved on. I found her again in MT and this time around it was time to pull the trigger.

The plan for the truck is that i'm going to mechanically refurbish it, expedition prep it, and then our German AU Pair and her friend are going to drive it around the West Coast on an adventure for 2 months next Summer. They're going to blog about the whole thing and send photos and story back to Germany to a Land Rover magazine there. From that perspective, I think that the stripe might actually help them out by making them immediately recognizable to the Land Rover community as they venture around the beautiful places on the West Coast.

 

This thread has potential. Rotella for the win.

 

Yes, my headliner board has the cutouts in place where the sunroofs would've existed, one board for all sans the holes.

I've looked within my State for a manual 97, it's a rare bird and the most refined manual D1. The 96's are a crossover year as I know of some parts carried over from the 14CUX models like window cranks and such. The 97 aside from non-AEL was the rubber stamp for the rest of the D1 run. I have the early 97. I've driven 94/95's but never a GEMS manual.

Great story on the stripes (provenance) and I'll have to say that they're the closest to real that I've seen although it really reminds me of some kind of faux safari zoo at Niagara Falls...... Good luck to the young'ns, they're gonna get raz'd.