Restoring a 1989 Range Rover Classic

In progress

The Car

Every so often a project lands in your lap that has nothing to do with your day job. For me, that’s this Range Rover.

The Plan

The goal is to turn it into a daily driver eventually. It’s running well right now, but I know issues are coming within the next year or two. I want to keep the originality of the car while making it modern and reliable.

Stage 1: A fresh 4.6L V8 with Haltech engine management

I’ve had plenty of people say things like “don’t change it if it’s been going well for so long” or “you’ll only introduce more issues with a new engine”.

They might be right. But I look at this car as something I want to hold onto for the next 30 years. I want to put the love and care into it rather than move on to the next thing. So the plan is to start at the front and get ahead of the issues before they arrive — beginning with the engine.

The 4.6L gives it more grunt and pulls the chassis into the torque band it always deserved. Pairing it with a Haltech ECU means modern engine management — better reliability, cleaner tuning, and better fuel economy than the original setup could ever offer.

Stay tuned for updates…