Former "Wheeler Dealers" host Edd China is back with a new YouTube show called "Edd China's Workshop Diaries," and already has a few projects underway. For the show's fifth episode, China continues working to revive a Land Rover Range Rover, and circles back to the story of building the world's fastest electric ice cream van.
We last saw the Range Rover in episode three, where China installed a new fuel pump, but was still unable to fire up the SUV due to a fuel leak. After putting the Range Rover aside for one episode to start work on a 1962 Alvis, China is now ready to tackle the fuel line problem.
When China first tries to start the Range Rover, fuel spills onto the garage floor, indicating a leak but not providing much information as to where. So China places a large plastic bin under the Range Rover and turns on the fuel pump, this time actively looking for a leak. He soon finds it when fuel starts gushing out of a spot in the fuel line near the rear axle.
China then connects compressed air to the fuel line to get a more precise location without spraying more fuel all over his garage. With that figured out, he sets out to remove the fuel lines, which requires a bit of cutting and cajoling.
Edd China works on his electric ice cream van
That's as far as China gets with the Range Rover in this episode, after which he pivots to a segment answering viewers' questions, including a quick experiment comparing how stale and fresh gasoline burn, before returning to his electric ice cream van.
As a refresher, China set the Guinness World Record for fastest electric ice cream van in March 2020, with a top speed of 73.921 mph. He's been recounting the build over the past few episodes.
China started the project in 2018, taking a new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and removing its diesel engine. In the previous episode, he discussed how he 3D scanned an electric motor and the stock Mercedes transmission so he could create an adapter that would allow the two parts to couple together.
Picking up the story in this episode, China explains one modification he made to the transmission. He removed the stock dual-mass flywheel to save weight, replacing it with a flywheel from an older model of Sprinter. The next step of the build will be discussed in a future episode.
