Imagine tackling an entire car worth of issues on these. Easily $40-50k. But kudos to VB for getting the old girl some love. Dont get your pecker in the window Bob, as you saw, they are industrial strength power windows.
These amazing cars truly deserve a good restoration and maintenance. They are worth it, and a delight to drive when sorted out ! 1971 Silver shadow owner
One thing is for sure - whatever you spend to buy your Shadow, you need that amount twice over to get it sorted. It's a labor of love and money, but boy are they beautiful. My entire braking system was overhauled only a few months ago and already my "1 Brake Pressure" light is on haha! Back in she goes. When that is sorted (along with a few other bits and bobs), its paint correction time, if not a complete repaint. Enjoy man, they are gorgeous tho eh !!
4 months jeez , I live down the road from the factory in Crew e where it was built, would have been quicker sending it across there 🤪😅 love ya vids btw ✌️
I remember as well the road signs going up hills on I-15 from SoCal to Vegas in the 80’s… “Turn off A/C next 20 miles….” You’re absolutely correct about cars overheating in that era. Thanks for the content. Cheers.
By simply adding a relay at each window motor, the windows will go up/down as fast as a modern car. I also deleted the window brakes as well. It did not affect the motors except making the glass go almost too fast! FWIW, I would NEVER let those guys touch one of my Rolls Royces! There has to be someone in your area that knows these cars! There was the "Touring Shoppe" in Vegas, but I think they have moved.
Bob, let me share some car wisdom with you. After a period of time, coolant evolves into an acid, and it will literally rust you cooling system from the inside out. The fix, simply drain your coolant every two years and refill it with fresh coolant, "antifreeze". If you have to add water, use distilled water. Or buy the premix 50 50 coolant. Happy motoring
Enjoyed seeing you and Gary, lets say 27 years ago i owned 71 rhd shadow, i drove the hell out that car, got a ticket leaving vegas in barstow speeding 115 mph, lucky i didn't go to jail, my car did not overheat in the 100 degree plus weather. I live here in Vegas now and im dealing with 4 rolls projects when i have time. Looking up from your oil pit see if you can find pee holes on the side of your engine block, if they are leaking you need to bebuild your engine. Check your oil make sure its not muddy, when your engine is not hot flush the system with water til all the rust runs out.
your buddy from the UK found all sorts of problems..if not for him you would have picked it up and non the wiser...i would never trust this shop...good luck
Unfortunately the number of reliable mechanics that are not scammers in Vegas is.. maybe 20 in the entire urban/metro area. That also includes Henderson. Those that can also work on classic cars.. half that.
Dear Bob: It is always great to see an update on the Silver Shadow. Please flush that coolant system to within an inch of it's life. These engines can rust from the INSIDE due to their construction and the sad fact that so many of them sit for such long periods of inactivity. -Bobo in KC
I have a 66 James Young Silver Shadow, I was having the same issue with it close to overheating. First fitted a new water pump then pulled the radiator out and had it flushed, fittend a new thermosrtate that opens at a lower temp (from Flying Spares) and a new steam valve fitted to the expansion tank. Lastly flushed the block by removing the two bolts eather side of the block. It was well worth it as the raditaor was over 45% blocked with sediment. now its solid - good luck with your car mate it will be worth it !!!!!
If you're going to operate this car in the southwest desert, you'll want to find an OEM (3-piece) fan shroud/cowl to assist in cooling. It wasn't always 'standard' as the cars where engineered for a different (less extreme) climate. That pusher fan by itself is not going to be enough in the Vegas summer climate to compensate. Also, beware the OEM thermostat! They are prone to fail (in a closed position). They are engineered with solder pellets that melt away (to allow some coolant flow in the event of an overheat issue), But once they melt away, your thermostat is toast. If that happens in a (hot) desert climate, your motor is toast. RR recommends that the thermostat is replaced as a part of routine maintainenance. I ditched my OEM thermostat in favor of a Napa #280 heavy-duty (BRASS BODY) old-skool thermostat (if you can find one). Without going into paragraphs of detail, this will solve a host of 6.75L engine cooling system issues. As @timw8228 previously inquired, if you have converted the A/C system to an R-134a charge, that is a whole new myriad of engine cooling issues that have to be compensated for. Suffice to say, if that is the case, it's infintely easier (and cheaper) just to revert back to a R-12 charge. Not only will it eliminate the high head pressures (which equate to higher operating temperatures), the R-12 will cool the interior infinitely better. The A/C system has to have about an 80% charge in a system designed for R-12 to compensate for the head pressures, but that equates to less efficient cooling for the interior...it's a trade-off! I can attest that every (old-skool) Rolls-Royce with factory A/C R-12 will cool the interior to the point where you can hang meat in the car without spoilage.
Friends vette fell off a lift, those repairs don’t get reported, they had it for a month, she got it back minus her racing cams, sounded like a stock corvette. She basically said, how can you prove it when it didn’t get reported.
Well let me first say that is a beautiful example of a Rolls-Royce. And when you get done with it you will be in heaven a white older Rolls-Royce man I'm jealous
I would definite do a coolant flush to get some of the rust out. Also, change the thermostat once you're in there. I think that should get the cooling system to work better.
Your other efforts with this car will be futile if you do not take care of your cooling system. You should at least add water. The system needs to be flushed. If not, you do not want to replace the head gaskets.
hey Bob, great video, I love what you do. Don't let people get to you about painting that dash! It's your dash, you do what YOU want! If people don't like it then they can go buy THEMSELVES a Rolls Royce and do what THEY want! Keep on Keeping on Bob!
I've been doing the car thing for around 40-years now and the amount of shops that actually know what they're doing other than trying to fleece you every time they can for their home mortgage payment from you is few and far between, thats why i stopped buying cars that needed anything i couldn't do myself, like any kind of paint or body work, those shops are the biggest thieves!!!! Plan on being married to this shop because its gonna keep breaking over and over. Ive looked at these old Rolls for years and wanted one but even if younspend 20k on a nice one you're still gonna have repairs to do, yeah they're nice but a nice big pita, especially their hydrolic system thats a nightmare. 4 months for me would have me never going back there, ive been there done that and thats a sign of the people you're dealing with, they dont really care about you😢
I suspect the original refrigerant was R12. Did they charge it with R134A? 134 never cools as good as R12 in older cars. EPA made eBay remove R12 listings. Rumor has it FB marketplace is the go to place for R12 now.
I suspect the engine has serious sludge in it ( solution is BG EPR ) ; the radiator needs to be "rodded out" ... ( there are two real radiator shops in San Fernando, CA ) ... the method I use to flush an engine block takes about 20 hours to perform with special custom tools ... got some serious neglect here with that much rust, but should make for some really good video content. ( I hope your head gaskets are still ok )
What I do before I take anything in for repairs I take pictures, my question is, was the coolant like that before or was your car a donor car for someone else
At the end of the day its a car thats half a century old now but was originally bought by people to whom money was no object and who could afford its pricey maintenance fees. Now its old and has almost certainly fallen into the hands of someone who couldn't afford to maintain at some point in its life, consequently it got neglected, but its still going to cost the same to maintain as when it was new and sold to those people to whom money was no object and could afford to maintain it. Its one of those rules of life I'm afraid. This guy is a millionaire. Watch his story restoring an almost identical Rolls - Royce ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AKHRA0JN87w.html
So I have a question where is the mechanic for that particular car because aren't they all handmade and a mechanic comes with it from Rolls-Royce or change that
rrrrrrrr my name is bob, i buy expensive cars and complain when they are expensive to fix because I am broke man.... rrrrr I throw rocks at foreigners bring to raise money for funerals..... rrrrrr I have a red pool because the paint was less expensive than blue...... rrrrrrrr ....... yes im joking
