Thread: Just Bought an '89 Rangie

Welcome .

You should find the April date is the Compliance date, not build.
H4s are standard so it's strange that someone would have retrofitted something else.

It has some sealed beam Lucas things in it that I've never seen and they aren't real good! I replaced the lights in my Triton with some aftermarket ones as well and it made a world of difference.

Hi Rich

Welcome to the joys of rangies.

I'm sure you will love your new toy. Had mine for nearly 5 years and will never sell it.

Great bunch of people with info on this site.

Camo

Thanks for the welcome guys I appreciate it. I have been scanning the site for a few days and you're right there appears to be a wealth if knowledge regarding Rangies on here so I'm sure when I have some issues then the members here will be able to solve it.
I've only driven mine around the block because it's not registered as yet however, I'm finding the 3.5 pretty uninspiring and it appears from what I've read they are not that reliable either given the age. There's no such thing as cheap power with these either is there, I'm used to giving my sedan a bit of extra turbo boost to have it the way I like it, but na engines like this are different. To be honest I've driven it once and I'm already considering an engine conversion to say a 1UZ Toyota V8! I take it a decent 4.6L motor and loom + ecu isn't easy to come by?

Originally Posted by richzx

There's no such thing as cheap power with these either is there, I'm used to giving my sedan a bit of extra turbo boost to have it the way I like it, but na engines like this are different.

Easy - whack it in low range & it'll give the rice burners a run for their money.







Until you hit 50-60 kph .

Originally Posted by richzx

I just bought an '89 Range Rover off my brother so I can get up to the snow with our baby in the back so my old diesel Triton ute has been sold. I'm getting a roadworthy tomorrow as it came from NSW. Its Caspian Blue and a 3.5 Auto with 2(!) build dates on it one says Feb 89 and the other April '89! Anyway I am a noob in the 4WD scene and I'm from a performance car background so I find it pretty damn slow! It seems to have been fairly well looked after but has a little bit of rust in the firewall of all places.
First job is going to be replacing the factory headlights with some aftermarket H4 ones so I can see where I'm going.

Any tips, advice or comments are welcome.

Cheers

Rich

Gday Rich, Same year and same colour as mine.
The 89 is a good choice in a RRC. Nice interior and not to many electronics. The 3.5, viscous, smaller cv's and 10 spline axles are the worst part of them especialy if your putting 33s of 35s on(You can change all that in time)

The 3.5 and ZF auto in mine has proven to be very durable and reliable.
Ive done some long trips in mine on 31" tyres and has been quite manageable and will cruise at 120 kmh if you want to. Just have to drop it out of overdrive on the hills a bit. The 3.5 will run a 4000 rpm all day if it has to.

On head lights I'm thinking about magnified inserts and HID conversion for mine as low beam is not real flash when a car come towards me at night.

Enjoy your Rangie They win you over in time.

Tony

Originally Posted by Scouse

Easy - whack it in low range & it'll give the rice burners a run for their money.







Until you hit 50-60 kph .

Ha Ha. I do that in mine often Its bloody funny as most can't work out how you get the jump on them off the mark.
Problem is the ZF won't hold top gear in low range and kicks back to 3rd as you hit red line

Originally Posted by richzx

Thanks for the welcome guys I appreciate it. I have been scanning the site for a few days and you're right there appears to be a wealth if knowledge regarding Rangies on here so I'm sure when I have some issues then the members here will be able to solve it.
I've only driven mine around the block because it's not registered as yet however, I'm finding the 3.5 pretty uninspiring and it appears from what I've read they are not that reliable either given the age. There's no such thing as cheap power with these either is there, I'm used to giving my sedan a bit of extra turbo boost to have it the way I like it, but na engines like this are different. To be honest I've driven it once and I'm already considering an engine conversion to say a 1UZ Toyota V8! I take it a decent 4.6L motor and loom + ecu isn't easy to come by?

HSV