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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2008 18:21:50 GMT
I have always wanted a 4x4 Eagle RV and bought this one on ebay as an unfinished Range Rover based prototype, which I was told was produced by one of the previous Eagle RV kit manufacturers. Can anyone shed any light on what I have here? Is it just a standard, unfinished 4x4 RV? It started its life with me with the early 4 speed Range Rover manual gearbox, but when I sat where the drivers seat would be it felt like the gearlever would be coming up through my left leg! My wife's old Range Rover Classic gave up its life a few years ago, and had sat in the garden until we came to move house - this provided the momentum to get it cut up for scrap, which liberated the running gear for the RV chassis. The RV now has the later manual gearbox, which seems more central. So far the axles have been rebuilt and installed with new suspension and rebuilt engine and gearbox mounted. The old Range Rover 3.9 v8 had died from a cracked block, so the engine was rebuilt with a new 4.6 v8 bottom end. Much fun was had with the cylinder heads installing bigger valves while matching the inlet and head castings. I used a gasket to match the inlet and manifold and was shocked by how badly the two castings lined up. The pictures show the before and after... this took me around 20 hours for each cylinder head - I hope they work! Next I have to make a petrol tank and see if I can get the engine running... Hope the pics show up as I am struggling with Photobucket...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2008 18:37:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2008 19:29:53 GMT
Hello and welcome back - nice to see the pics and to know yet another Rv is saved and undergoing a rebuild keep the pics coming please ;D what part of country are you?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2008 20:42:40 GMT
Hi
That looks very interesting, good luck with the tank. Have you looked at the old adverts and articles , I remember seeing something about the rangie option. It could be in the June 1986 Kitcars magazine article. the cover shot is a 4x4 RV in Blue.
Hope this helps.
I am using a 1980 Dihatsu F50 based RV for off roading, and a friend of mine has a rangie based rv. His is still on the rangie chassis I think.
Cheers.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2008 20:51:34 GMT
That headwork looks lovely! What tools did you use? Very jealous
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2008 20:33:09 GMT
Thanks for the interest in the pics. I am based near Stamford.
Thanks for the prompt to look at the old articles - I am sure I still have the first kitcar magazine article kicking around that started my interest in building a 4x4 RV. I don't think it was one of the items on the list on this site, but it was a very long time ago.
Working on the heads was great fun. For the ports I used a combination of Black & Decker 1/2" electric sander/ power file (got through loads of sanding belts) and an air powered die grinder. Matching the head and manifold castings was fun, but I also put 1.7mm oversize valves in the heads (I think from a Volvo?). Apparently, it is one of the largest oversized valves you can fit in the standard Rover valve seats. The bit I wouldn't do again was cutting the 3 angle valve seats to increase the seat diamter. I cut these using a hand cutter, which I held in place and rotated 90 degrees for each tiny cut. I almost enjoyed it for the first couple of valve seats, but there were 16... next time its off to the local machine shop!
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Post by darrenpike on Dec 27, 2008 21:11:57 GMT
Hi looks like your doing an excellent job on your rv,can you tell me if the chassis is a modified range rover,i would like to build my rv into a 4x4 with a V8 in it and need to know where to start ie chassis any info would be helpfull Daz
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2008 23:26:21 GMT
Hi Darren,
welcome to the club, I use an Eagle for offroad use, but it is an original car built on a 1981 Daihatsu jeep. I have modified the Eagle quite a bit and it is excellent offroad. One of my friends that I offroad with has a RR based Eagle, I could ask him any questions that you want.
The chassis that is on the prototype is a custom chassis to take the RR running gear. I am no authority but the only chassis that appears to fit the Eagle tub with little adjustment is the early Daihatsu jeep ie early fourtrack, I think that is why my RV is still on its original Registration number and not a Q plate.
There is a good link from a member that is using a Disco as the base vehicle, he has put lots of photos and info on his thread.
Where abouts are you based?
Cheers Allyboy.
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Post by darrenpike on Dec 28, 2008 22:34:45 GMT
Hi Allyboy thanks for your response im from kent have not started on my rv yet been to busy with work ect,
i thought the eagle was built on a rangerover chassis but wanted to cofirm this.
mine is running a 2 litre pinto with 5 speed gearbox on cortina running gear.
can your friend confirm if his chassis is a rangerover or purpose built for the rv
many thanks Daz
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Post by terryrob on Dec 29, 2008 0:25:20 GMT
I'm pretty sure the range rover model was a genuine eagle option around 1988.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2008 12:19:55 GMT
I'm pretty sure the range rover model was a genuine eagle option around 1988. It was but the chassis was designed to have RR parts bolted to it rather than the Eagle bodyshell bolting to a RR chassis. I believe that the pics shown are of the Eagle RR chassis which has a shorter wheelbase than the RR. Later on the company ditched this option in favour of planting the body on the unmodified Diahatsu 4x4 chassis.......a lot less hassle and therefore more of a saleable option. Allyboy on here has the Diahatsu version whilst there is a chap modifying a Discovery chassis for his RV shell.
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Post by terryrob on Dec 29, 2008 17:42:45 GMT
Yes Pelland your right, the chassis pics here must be the eagle rr chassis you can see the family resemblance, also its miles different to the disco chassis shown on 2ndgeer4x4 thread on page 2 of this section which must be similar to the rr chassis as the running gear is the same. (I think as that is what the DAKAR is based on). It looks much better made than my old cortina based chassis
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2008 19:48:18 GMT
Yeah.......more purposeful than my Sierra based chassis as well. The only cause for concern would be the spring and shock rates because, although most of the weight is in the chassis and drivetrain, the RV will still be a good bit lighter than a RR so you don't want to over-rate the springs especially if you are venturing off-road.........
I guess Allyboy knows more about this than I do but over-rated springs and shocks are one of the common pitfalls when building a kit car of any type. One of my Pellands had Spax adjustable shocks with 200lb springs all round....the thing only weighs in at 9cwt. I'm now running with AVO coilovers with 90 and 100 lbs springs front and rear respectively
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2008 22:48:04 GMT
Hi
Pells dead right about the springs, that chassis is probably half the weight of a rangie chassis, and without the body/interior/seats/electrics, the finished RV will be half the weight. The land rover mags have plenty of shocks and springs designed for spaceframe based specials that are as light i would imagine.
Personally i would go for stiffer rather than soft, it helps you get a wee bounce out of deep holes that could suck you in!! Especially if you are carrying some momentum into it. Cheers.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2008 18:33:23 GMT
From the comments it looks like I may have an actual Eagle chassis, rather than a one-off. Thanks for the info. When I had the RR stripped down to the bare chassis to remove the running gear it looked like it would need cutting/ shortening, both to reduce the wheel base and also to remove some of the rear end overhang in order to fit the Eagle body shell. If this doesn't put you off, it did look like with these modifications the only other major work would be to weld some 40mm box section supports for the body shell (just like the seating area on the pics above) plus fitting a suitable bumper each end. Comments on the springs are spot on - I fitted standard springs as a starter, just so I could build a rolling chassis. Even with the engine and both gearboxes in place I still struggle to get the corners to move when I stand on the chassis. I am sure it will need much softer springs...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2008 19:03:51 GMT
Looks like you have a front bumper and winch mount but if you want something over and above that can be fitted with simple bracketry then take a look at the LandRover seriesIII bumpers. I have them front and rear and in my opinion suit the car down to the ground.
Good luck........keep the pics and build notes coming.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2008 22:40:28 GMT
Hi Good to see work getting done, you are a brave man taking an angle grinder to a petrol tank! Unless of course it has never been filled? I know you have a long way to go still, but I would start looking for second hand jeep bumpers that have a winch tray fitted, off road types are always upgrading stuff and the jeep type winch bumpers are the best looking and are very well made. The land rover bumpers are ok but, ( pelland) to my eyes and as a Defender 110 owner they just dont look as good on the jeep styled RV. I know the series 1 LR was based on the willis jeep so the original bumpers were similar but the modern off road jeep bumpers look better suited. You may get away with modifying whats there, thats all I did. I looked and looked at the CJ7 jeeps on www.j33p.org for ideas before I took an angle grinder to the monster bumper that was on my RV. BEFORE AFTER A GENUINE JEEP ITEM ANOTHER JEEP BUMPER If you are going to offroad you will want a winch. Even if you dont it still looks the part even if you buy a cheap one! Good luck with the build. Allyboy
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2008 1:22:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2008 19:28:07 GMT
Sweet!! Look at those smooth tyres, they wont even bruise the grass. All that chrome to polish!!
Seriously, yuch! ( just my opinion though).
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