Why do Land Rover use such brittle plastics on the headlamp mounts/brackets.... other than drilling a few holes and using cable ties; no other way to install these without replacing the entire unit....

Good stuff I remember looking at this car in the auction and felt it was too much for my skill set, the give away that someone had messed with the engine always puts me off. Well done you are very brave

For those interested in the back story of the car, while working on it, I started piecing together its history. Although it didn’t come with much paperwork, the stamped service book and a few loose documents helped me trace its past. The car has 121,000 miles, and its last MOT was in November 2019 at 116,742 miles, meaning it has done just over 4,000 miles in nearly five years. The last service was recorded at just under 113,000 miles, leaving me curious about where it had been.

Interestingly, Copart prohibits buyers from contacting previous owners, citing GDPR as the reason, though I’m still unclear about this. Despite that, I discovered an old email in the car from the dealer who sold it to the last private owner before it went into trade. This owner bought the car in November 2019 with 119,000 miles on the clock. The email mentioned a service, including a new water pump, timing chain, tensioners, and guides – reassuring for me.

I contacted the garage that sold the car, but they were unhelpful and refused to share any information. However, I managed to reach the previous owner, who provided a detailed account. About eight months after purchasing the car, it went into restricted driving mode. The owner took it to a specialist in London, where it remained for a long time with the engine out and in bits. The issue seemed related to the timing chain work, which had supposedly been replaced. A legal battle ensued with the selling garage over the sale, while the car sat at the London garage, accumulating unpaid invoices.

Eventually, the London garage went into receivership, and the liquidators took legal possession of the car, leading to its disposal around 2021. I genuinely felt sorry for the previous owner, as it seemed an unfortunate situation - but again it was all very one sided.

After this, the car sat idle for a while somewhere and had one more change of ownership before landing at Copart for auction in September 2024. By then, someone had reassembled it snd it was running and driving - And so, the car's next chapter began with me![/quote]

The car had clearly been sitting for years, and the windows and paintwork suffered badly from contamination—almost as if the entire vehicle had been covered in clear coat overspray. I used my orbital polisher with various compounds to try and restore it, but the glass panels proved especially difficult.

I reached out to a few local glass polishers to get quotes for bringing the glass back to its original condition. Once I had a sense of the costs, I had to weigh up whether to repair or replace the glass. The front windscreen was particularly bad, scratched from someone using the wipers without blades, leaving it beyond repair. This led me to look for a replacement.

While considering my options, I realised that although polishing would cost around £400 plus VAT—considerably cheaper than replacing the glass with new panels—it still wouldn’t guarantee perfection. I wanted the windows to be flawless, so I started exploring the possibility of replacing each glass panel. During my research, I discovered just how many different glass options the L322 has. Having replaced doors and glass on my 4.4 TDV8 L322 before, I had always assumed all the glass was the same. But no....more to follow on this !

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I cannot bear to part with my L322 it's 3.6 and I need to do the rear arches, a well known issue.
I was looking on Copart as I fancied the 5,0L or a 4.4L Westminster a new venture for me as a L405 4.4L SDV8 came up and I had a punt. GDPR twaddle does put in an extra fence but the last owner kindly left his 'Take me Home' address

Here's the rub for me 15w after application to DVLA I eventually get a V5 that's four times as long as it should take, the car was locked away and I fixed the obvious stuff whilst waiting, I do not care to ask the previous owner unless I get really stuck with the knocking issue FL. after New bearing, drive shaft, hub and it is much better but think there may be transfer box issues. Advice from my Indie is change the transfer box fluids and update software ......it may solve the slight rumble

Just an illustration of issues post Copart

Front Screen ordered direct from Land Rover - although I am replacing a LR39062 which is a climate screen it was over £300 more that the laminated one LR39064......while I don't mind replacing the side glass with pre-owned glass I did not want to cut corners on the front one so went new.... also order a new scuttle panel and various seals....

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Gosh that did take a long time, I got my V5 within a week - used the gov.uk site for traders notifying DVLA they have transferred a car.... https://www.gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle/y

maxbasscat wrote:

I cannot bear to part with my L322 it's 3.6 and I need to do the rear arches, a well known issue.
I was looking on Copart as I fancied the 5,0L or a 4.4L Westminster a new venture for me as a L405 4.4L SDV8 came up and I had a punt. GDPR twaddle does put in an extra fence but the last owner kindly left his 'Take me Home' address

Here's the rub for me 15w after application to DVLA I eventually get a V5 that's four times as long as it should take, the car was locked away and I fixed the obvious stuff whilst waiting, I do not care to ask the previous owner unless I get really stuck with the knocking issue FL. after New bearing, drive shaft, hub and it is much better but think there may be transfer box issues. Advice from my Indie is change the transfer box fluids and update software ......it may solve the slight rumble

Just an illustration of issues post Copart

I was looking at some options to replace the front side windows and found a couple of great priced new and un-used replacements on eBay....

Ordered CUB500320 (old part number for LR040918) LHS side Climate/Laminated - Arrived damaged.......

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Wonder where it’s been parked to be that bad? Next to a railway?

Very interesting.

Some photos show you dismantling the car outside (!) (even braver) Do yo have somewhere inside to work on the car.? 405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

Sending items by courier seems to be, if it can be broken it will be, if it can't we'll have a good go at it.

I actually don' mind working outside, the only time I think how nice it would be to have a workshop is when it gets dark and I have to stop....

ajac8 wrote:

Very interesting.

Some photos show you dismantling the car outside (!) (even braver) Do yo have somewhere inside to work on the car.?

Annoyingly could not find the passenger door lock cap - £66 to replace (you can see it in the photo's carelessly dropped n the floor next to the car at Copart.....

For those who ever have a Crash Sensor b1194 code error along with an airbag light warning on the dash, this was due to a faulty sensor connection behind the headlight - there are two one on each side..

I forgot to mention earlier in the project timeline that I replaced the 22-inch alloys. While they’re certainly attractive, I felt they weren’t right for the L322. I wanted to restore the car to its original look with a genuine set of 20-inch alloys, which I managed to find at a great price on eBay. I had 22-inch Overfinch alloys on my previous L322, and the difference in ride quality was remarkable. The 20-inch alloys provide a much smoother and more comfortable ride—it was like night and day. So, one of the first things I did was swap them out, and I think the car looks so much better now but I am sure that is subjective as I appreciate the L£22 does actually look pretty good when slammed on 22's - last picture is my previous L322 on 22 Overfinch alloys looking pretty good dropped