Just bought a 1989 RR, first one.

[highoctane]

Just picked up a Red '89 Range Rover today with 86k miles on it. I got it for $1800. It's a south florida vehicle so it has no rust on the body or floors or seatbelt mounts that I can find, not even the tail gate. Had a bunch of parts recently replcaed to include the water pump, ac compressor, and alternator all done by the dealer. Even had a new engine installed at 39k miles due to a head gasket failing and the engine over heated and cracked the block. The only issues it has is the wheel bearings squeel and the central locking does not work with the switch. If I lock the door with the actual lock on the drivers door they all lock. Minor detail really. Needs a tune up. Oh and it also has a old man emu suspension installed! I'm looking to do some light to medium off roading. I used to have a '04 Jeep Rubicon with a 5.5" long arm lift on it and sold it and kinda got away from off roading for my horsepower addiction. It's my first rover so hopefully all goes well. The only mods I plan are a new xfer case. I still have the atlas case I had in my rubicon, someone has to make an adapter for it. I'll post up pics when I get off work.

[hermanpj]

that sounds like a great truck! really - very low mileage. espscially if 86K on the clock and you know it got a new one at 39K. Thats fantastic.

check under all the carpeting for rust though... despite being Florida car.

Enjoy it!

[highoctane]

Yep, just rolled over 87k yesterday. Yeah I did some looking around when I got it home. Puled the carpet out. It's got just a bit of surface rust on the passenger side front floor, nothing major. Looks like it's leaking water through the sunroof. I'm gonna replace the sunroof seals since they are dry rotted. It ha sa driver side manifold exhaust leak too. Looking into a set of hedman headers and a custom 2 1/4" exhaust with magnaflow cats, a h-crossover, and flomaster or magnaflow mufflers. I contacted car cannibal and they have a entire center console in very good condition for $125 which seems like a good deal. Console, window switch plate, shifter plate, etc. The leaky sunroof warped the console that's in there now.

[hermanpj]

if you take the headliner out, you can remove the suroof assembly. this is easiset way to get a good look at the sunroof panel all the way around. I replaced the seal on mine and found the metal part of the sunroof which surrounds the glass was very badly rusted... you might as well get all that over one time and be done w it.

on center consoles, spend some time jb-welding the plastic before you put it in - the center consoles are always cracked especially at the corners/perimeter around the window switch plate. I made a reinforcing frame for mine out of sheet metal and have found it has made a huge difference.

[highoctane]

Sounds like I might give that a try on the sunroof. Mine is a all metal sunroof since it's a pre '91. Wish it was a glass. I was looking at the center console trying to figure out a way to reinforce it. Around the window switch plate is where mine is way messed up. the switch plate is bowed and falling apart. The switches don't stay in place either. You happen to have any pics of how you reinforced yours?

[hermanpj]

I think in my thread re re-doing interior of my classic I talk about reinforcing the centerconsole. I just looked at it though and not a real good pic there. Note I added Discovery II cupholders. they rock. Not original equipment, but they are in the family and way better than nothing.

here's the thread

Update on Re-do of my 1991 Classic interior

I dont have good photeditng software on my PC right now and the pics are large. So PM me an email address I can send you a zip file to.


basically what i did to reinforce the center-console and cuby box is in four areas.

1. along the long arms of the console that extend to dash: use JB weld to mend cracks in the plastic structure underlying the vynil. a friend taught me that you can use the metal sticks left over from pop-riveting as structural staples if you lay them over a plastic crack and then fill in all around and over them with JB Weld. This works well.

2. Along the opening for the switch plate - especially the corners. Taking the cubby box out (clearing the e-brake), removing the switch plate, and just general age causes the corners of the cheap plastic framework to crack. I JB Welded the heck out of these. I also put in metal bars - basically 1 inch wide, 1/8 inch thick, and cut to length which run along the top and bottom of the switch plate opening. THey are JB welded into place. If you do this you have to relocate the mounting tabs on the back of the switch plate to line up with these new framework pieces. Paint the metal flat black or color match to the vynil of the cubby box.

3. the back of the cubby box - where the piano hinge for cubby box lid mounts: this area gets screwed up, plastic breaks bc the weight of the lid hanging open. I reinforeced this with a ton of JB Weld and then a plate of aluminum I made out of a piece of aluminum shower door molding. Any metal would work as long as its not pliable.

4. finally the cubby box liner. Mine was completely jacked up, and the old one no longer fit bc i wasnt careful in selecting the size of the metal i used to reinforce the cubby box so that it would not interfere. So i made a new one out of MDF which I modeled to basically match the oveall shape of the old liner. i put it together w brackets and pop rivets, sealed the seams with silicon, and spraypainted it with flat black rubberized paint. then I made a little piece of trim for the top out of tin which just fills the gaps and finishes it up.

you'll see this in the photos.

Pat

[highoctane]

Thanks man. Sent ya a PM.

[CaptainRuss]

Originally Posted by highoctane

Sounds like I might give that a try on the sunroof. Mine is a all metal sunroof since it's a pre '91. Wish it was a glass. I was looking at the center console trying to figure out a way to reinforce it. Around the window switch plate is where mine is way messed up. the switch plate is bowed and falling apart. The switches don't stay in place either. You happen to have any pics of how you reinforced yours?

If I'm not mistaken, since the roof of the RRC is just bolted in you can remove it and replace it with a later model that has the glass sunroof. I am not entirely sure about that though, but I seem to recall a discussion about this somewhere recently.

Congrats on your new truck, sounds like a sweet deal.

[gordo]

even better get a roof off a non sunroof and lose that POS forever. The 89 is a great Rover. My second rover was an 89 RRC I bought about 9 yrs ago. Still running, although I finally toasted the trans 2 wks ago. The engine has over 300k on it and its never even had the heads off. Tough as nails just dont overheat it. Oh yeah it doesnt look much like the Red 89 RRC I started with, but the frame/engine/axles/etc are all under the series truck pictured below. Gordo

[57loboy]

If you keep the sunroof, check that the drain lines (all of them) are clear...that also explains a lot of leaking.