1989 Diesel Classic. buying??

Morning all, been without a Rangie for a few weeks now, clean hands, no sleepless nights, bank-balance growng.... Wish I hadn`t seen an ad...
Questions: 1989 diesel manual, 4door: what engine should it have? VM? If so I`ve heard they slow but pretty tough, any comments? Any over-heating or any other weak points? LT77 & LT230 boxes? Any particular problems with these? Will be looking at usual rust points guess, tail-gate chassis esp. rear cross member? Ad says elec windows and central locking, wouldn`t expect more, and actually I don`t want more! Any comments welcome.

If it is a VM,which is most likely - DONT EVEN THINK OF IT!

200tdi far better bet

I go to a Landy Specialist. What he don't know about landrover/range rover you could write on the back of a matchbox. I once asked him about a VM diesel and he said f****ng Italian F*****ng rubbish. I don't think he was over impressed with them. Better with a 200/300 TDi The rest of the car will be the same as other classic rangies, rotten tailgate etc. Later Classic diesels (200/300 TDi) may have air suspension so something else to consider. Nice cars though.

Ta for replies. May go have a look see tho` with a view to replacing the VM with a later engine, if all else is good... But there are registration issues here with all of that.. Or ake the advce of a friend and look at my bank-balance rise rather than look at a Classic slowly dissolving into a pile of ferric-oxide flakes..

That year will most certainly be a VM. Noisy and slow and with 4 heads and poor casting you will have trouble. Look round for a later 92 onwards or budjet for replacing the engine.

gtland said:

Ta for replies. May go have a look see tho` with a view to replacing the VM with a later engine, if all else is good... But there are registration issues here with all of that.. Or ake the advce of a friend and look at my bank-balance rise rather than look at a Classic slowly dissolving into a pile of ferric-oxide flakes..

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You could look at the Simtec TDV6 conversion, that would be interesting. It is possible to get an engine change approved. Hope that truck is going well

Hi, Data, and thanks for the brew the other day!
I am going to sit on it for a week and ruminate. Should be no probs getting a 300tdi on the "Carte Gris" because it`s a L-R fitment, but don`t know how a TDV6 would look come MoT time! Anyway I`m after avoiding electrikery under the bonnet, 300tdi looks good from here.
How about a 300tdi with R380 & transfer box all from a rusty Disco? Lots out there, for not much money? Engine mounts etc shouldn`t be a major problem... Good grief I`m rebuilding this thing and not even seen it !

The VM is like any engine if looked after it should be ok.
A few manufactuers used it and they didnt do very well with it.
The only one who got good performance was Jeep as fitted to the Cherokee and such.
I dont know what they did differant but they really fly and **** over most other 2.5TDi.
still had head and gasket problems if not looked after though.

ruffday said:

The VM is like any engine if looked after it should be ok.
A few manufactuers used it and they didnt do very well with it.
The only one who got good performance was Jeep as fitted to the Cherokee and such.
I dont know what they did differant but they really fly and **** over most other 2.5TDi.
still had head and gasket problems if not looked after though.

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It was still crap in the Jeep - even the later 5cyl variants cause trouble.They have a few diehard fans,but in reality they are more complex to work on and far,far less hardy than a TDI.
Even converting one to aTDI is a pain,a fellow indy has done a couple and has vowed never again,he said its just hard work with very little being a straight swop for TDI fittings.
The last point I would make is that there are loads of conversions to fit TDI's into other things,cars they are fitted to get broken for the engine etc.You dont see to many VM's getting searched for and fitted into other vehicles.