Should the Rangie go?

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Originally Posted by superquag

Matt black ? Its always a pain when changing a vehicle's colour... Never possible on a budget. Tried it twice in my mis-spent youth, even stripped the vehicle to basic frame, but still looked like a colour-change on the cheap even though it was'nt and a professional spray-painter did the job.
I'd be inclined to keep the same colour, just use better quality paint etc.
- Paint the bonnet black on top if glare is a worry...

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Yep - hard to do a full colour change on a budget unless you are doing ALLthe work yourself - I too have done this a twice, and it is a BIG PITA.

Having said that, I am contemplating doing it a 3rd time - with the Rangie, and probably a satin or matt black, but I have been told matt black shows up too much - finger prints and such, which are hard to clean off. I am about to test some samples of both an off the shelf matt black and a custom satin black - which relies more on the prep & finish rather than the paint, to see if either of them will be workable in full scale. Either way, the entire vehicle will have to be pulled apart to do this - IF and its a big if... IF I decide to do a colour change at all. The last one I did was a dunny door station wagon, and I think there was at least twice the work in doing a colour change, rather than just respraying the original colour...

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Originally Posted by RR90_Goat

mmmm. 2 for keeping it and ... 5 against (my wife's giving herself 3 votes). If i was to keep it, i would like it to look great both inside and out and the motor to be a wee-bit more powerful and run strong as well.

Can anyone give me some advice and/or better than ball-park figures therefore on the following which I PERCEIVE as being the major points:

* New or recond 4.6 litre engine (i have reviewed threads on a supercharger and discounted this as a way to get more power) to mate to existing 5spd manual.
* Engine management system - wolf or something similar (just threw this one in - i do believe they can be very good at giving you more power and economy)
* Respray to black (current colour is Trocadero red) plus some very minor panel beating - not looking for a million dollar look and in fact looking for perhaps a matt black (not gloss) finish, like some of the new harley and triumph bikes are colour schemed.
* Soft Dash ('94 Rangie) or Disco dash replacement plus labour and the quirks that go with it (cables/wiring/new guagues, etc)
* Retrim or refit of front and rear seats (currently grey cloth trim) - is it possible to retro-fit P38 seats - especially front ones?
* centre console - need a new one... existing one has seen far better days and is black taped together.

as stated previously, i would be prepared to spend $10 to $15K, knowing that i've got a vehicle that will last me a few more years. Not yet ready to spend anything like $30K plus on a later model landrover.

thanks againg in advance for any assistance.

CHeers Tim

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Make that x5 tim!

My 90RRC is much the same nic..So if the lotto comes up this would be my project in this order!

* really good quality paint job with some minor bingles sorted - $6K. Definitely not black and most definitely not matt black - shows every thumb mark and crease.
* new carpet set - between $400>$600 from Rimmer Bros in the UK
* Seats retrimmed - I'd find a good second hand set of leather perches and get them refurbished locally - $1K? Otherwise Rimmers will sell you refurb kits in Conolly leather for lots of dosh
* centre console - You can get aftermarket ones (dept of the Interior) but I thinks a bit "aftermarket" especially for $600 - find a reasonable s/h one and get it retrimmed to match the new connolly leather seats!
* Disco soft dash - ok but lots of dosh to pay someone to do it. I'd stick with the standard and maybe look at getting it trimmed. I fancy a charcoal grey alcantara dash top....
*Motor - OK already spent about 12K by now! - a good 4.6 short motor is going to be 4K so I'd stick with the 3.9 properly refreshed with new valve train/cam/head job, decent exhaust. I'd also fit Syntek ecu - the $1K one that gives you ignition curve control so you can use a locked off dizzy.

cheers
Chris

I sold my Rangie.

Was Ok for a month but then have regretted it every day since !

Compromises are uponeth...

Paint colour change... okay maybe that is going to be a wee bit difficult... for the budget. Perhaps a respray is a better mindset with maybe some DIY prep to lessen the cost.

Have my heart set on some whitish leather seats with piping the same colour as the body, but if this is to hard then black leather with piping the same colour as the body. Second hand is appealing - anyone with ideas??? - anyone with a leather set??

Wrapping the existing plastic dash with leather or some other trim would be a way of keeping the refit pain away from endeavouring to horseshoe in any Disco or later-model RRC dash and potentially coordinate with seat trim or carpets.

engine - low compression??? what are the benefits of this - more power? torque? economy??

Could do this for under $10K???

I'm another for keeping it - classic rangies are great:D.

pm sent re leather seats

If you attack the seats, it might be an idea to have a professional eye look over things like 'stiching'. - My barely-used front passenger seat has an inch of unravelling stiching right in the middle !!! Check also underneath and at the back of your back seat, where the leather is held under the baseboard.- Mine is ripping out even though virtually NO-ONE has ever sat in them...

Anyone know how difficult / easy it is to pull the squab apart to access the underside?

Another comment re painting, is that an old(er) or mature paintwork that's been lovingly cut & polished & waxed, has a better overall appearance than a less than 110% re-spray. At least in my experience. - Falcon colour change mid-ownership and colour change on an old Corolla.

Sadly, metallic paints don't seem to ever come up as well as the old-fashioned 'solid' colours, and some colours respond to the above better than others. - A good example was my old EJ Holden in 'Lodden Green" When waxed etc it looked inches deep. :-) Creams come up well but Whites rarely do, and my funny darkish greenish-blue (metallic) RR is a bit average...

Never thought of wrapping the dash in leather... would certainly quieten the cheap & nasty plasticky sound of cheap & nasty plastic when you touch it!
- Padded and done well it should look way better than a softdash. - But think about putting a handful of extra (LED? ) lamps into the instruments, so you can read the buggers at night !

At least my Vogue has better lighting,,, if only I could get rid of the glare of the yellow ABS lap and the red SRS lights...- The T/C lamp took itself out, dunno if its blown or gone out . Not worried either way.

I'm also still tossing up to keep it (and spending good money after bad) or just quit it now. - Its the horrendous thirst that bothers me ...

James in Gosnells.

Four cars for 2 1/2 drivers....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by superquag

If you attack the seats, it might be an idea to have a professional eye look over things like 'stiching'. - My barely-used front passenger seat has an inch of unravelling stiching right in the middle !!! Check also underneath and at the back of your back seat, where the leather is held under the baseboard.- Mine is ripping out even though virtually NO-ONE has ever sat in them...

Anyone know how difficult / easy it is to pull the squab apart to access the underside?

Another comment re painting, is that an old(er) or mature paintwork that's been lovingly cut & polished & waxed, has a better overall appearance than a less than 110% re-spray. At least in my experience. - Falcon colour change mid-ownership and colour change on an old Corolla.

Sadly, metallic paints don't seem to ever come up as well as the old-fashioned 'solid' colours, and some colours respond to the above better than others. - A good example was my old EJ Holden in 'Lodden Green" When waxed etc it looked inches deep. :-) Creams come up well but Whites rarely do, and my funny darkish greenish-blue (metallic) RR is a bit average...

Never thought of wrapping the dash in leather... would certainly quieten the cheap & nasty plasticky sound of cheap & nasty plastic when you touch it!
- Padded and done well it should look way better than a softdash. - But think about putting a handful of extra (LED? ) lamps into the instruments, so you can read the buggers at night !

At least my Vogue has better lighting,,, if only I could get rid of the glare of the yellow ABS lap and the red SRS lights...- The T/C lamp took itself out, dunno if its blown or gone out . Not worried either way.

I'm also still tossing up to keep it (and spending good money after bad) or just quit it now. - Its the horrendous thirst that bothers me ...

James in Gosnells.

Four cars for 2 1/2 drivers....

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Gas it you will love it!
if u ever want to see my setup..pm me
Brad

Gas conversion facts from my rangie's perspective - still cost $3,500 to get the conversion done. mine was $4,200 during the rebate period (cost me $1K after rebate) - it should have dropped by now. i get 28L per 100km on gas which is not all that flash - approx 240km per 66L tank. working on a 50% price ratio difference to petrol, that would work out to 14L per 100km. i think the 3.9L v8 stock in the rangie does about 19L, so Gas is a better option in the end, but perhaps difficult to get back the huge cost without a rebate.

My Gas tanks are underneath and are 78 ltres useable I get on average 400kms per gas fill less with aircon going but neverless its still cheaper on gas than petrol.
I also have 80ltres of petrol 2 sill taks 40 ltres each. so gas+ petrol around 900kms
I have the flapper injection and a moddified 3.5 motor that has 3.9 liners and gen pistons , tin headgaskets and stage 2 pc216 cam.
Having only done 20k since rebuild and getting better all the time.
Gas conversion cost me 900 bucks as I did most of the hardwork while gas fitter did all the connections and wiring and I still got the rebate
The 2 apa tanks came from my other Rangie but did cost 1k when new
Brad:)

"Where?" underneath ? does'nt seem to be any free space .....

Looks like I gotta see your setup ! ;-)

Cheers,
James in Gosnells