My Range Rover is the Mk2 (aka P38) which is the most universally despised of all Land Rover products. Which is possibly why I I like it They're excellent off road, within the limits of being heavy and quite big compared to an XJ. They're the last of the live axle Range Rovers and they are old school body on frame with plenty of beef. Air Springs make it a bit difficult to do lifts, but they cope with UK conditions just fine. Stock for Stock they're definitely up with an XJ but I the XJ has a lot more potential once you start modifying. They're not as reliable as the Jeep but they're really not bad with some TLC. When all's said I don't think you can really compare an iron block, iron head inline six with 7 mains to an all alloy V8 of the same vintage. The jeep just lasts longer.

It's also a bit of an odd situation for engines where the British car has a V8 and the American one has a straight six. Luckily I love both - and the six is definitely smoother.

Parts? Yeah it's getting quite tough to get Jeep bits over here. There aren't many around in the breakers any more and you can see the prices of nice ones are starting to rise. Jeepey.com have a decent range of Crown parts but import duty and shipping definitely take their toll. I can get all I want for the P38 over here and there are at least 3 engine rebuilders who'll give you what you want on an exchange basis. Ashcroft do diffs, gearboxes, TCs etc next day. I can only dream of being able to drop into a parts store in the US and do the same for my XJ.

I'm enjoying both cars. I usually sum it up that if I was taking my wife to a restaurant I'd probably take the Range Rover. If I was taking her to hospital I'd take the Jeep

 

Wow. I paid $30 for mine shipped to me on the east coast from CO. And I thought I did good.

 

Quote of the week right there! Thanks for the response. I live near a machine shop who apparently does a lot of jeep-specific business (they sell compiled stroker kits even), and I guess being near* Moab, that's not terribly surprising. I did a comparison and their kits just aren't worth it… I'll take my block and head to them though. There are maybe 2 classic Range Rovers here and a few Defenders. Maybe one Unimog. Lots of jeeps though… again, friggin moab.

As far as what I'm doing next— it all depends on too many factors :/ trying to rid myself of an extra vehicle and that should free up some funds. Probably an Eaton TrueTrac, but that's labor I've never done. Maybe a local gear sensei is in order.

Yeah, I paid about $40 for than bland tan one. I wasn't surprised, just disappointed that it didn't match. Was shocked how long the black one was on my local classifieds. It was a drive, but meh. In hindsight, I should have just drove all the way up and gotten that matching gold snowflake/teardrop/"Luxury" alloy when I had the chance. He said he wouldn't meet halfway and I wrote it off. Oh well, another will show up eventually.

*some people think a 3hr drive is "close"

 

When those 5.9 '98 GC tire covers show up on Ebay they are $75 to $100. In so so shape. Mine was pristine. Like taken off the spare on day one. I could not believe my luck. Also that tire cover is the one thing that will stop me from putting the '96 rear tire carrier on my '00 that I picked up awhile back for $100. I like that tire cover that much. LOL.

 

You guys think my factory grey tire covers are worth anything? I got 2 in nearly perfect condition. I was just going to throw them away.

 

Depends on what they are. If they are 1998 Grand Cherokee 5.9 ones I say try. I don't think I would pay $75 to $100 for one but that is what the asking price is on Ebay when they do pop up. Other ones I am thinking $25 when they do show up.

 

They are just stock newer style XJ tire covers (99 and 01). $25 each is better then nothing. Guess I can list them and see if they sell.

 

That's about what I had assumed. I liked those MK2s since I was a kid, but was always deterred from owning one because of cost of parts and maintenance here in the states. Same goes for Mercedes, BMW, and Jag really (my parents had an XJS v12 and it was NOT cheap to maintain).

I think the question was more about if it was the full-size spare cover or the donut spare cover (which is, IMO, worthless).

 

It's odd to me that 225s were ever standard size SUV tires... that cover is going to be a snug fit... actually let me go find out.

 

I don't think Early 2000s and older BMWs are that bad to maintain. There's a few in the yards around here and can be had on Craigslist for like $2500 or less. I've contemplated buying one a few times.

Edit: they would be costly if you are paying someone to do the work, but if you work on it yourself it's not too bad.

 

Damn that's snug. Good thing it's hot out...

 

I completely missed the full size part. Ya mine are the donut version. Trash it is.

 

Bonus!

 

I was more talking about the cost of parts. I think the majority of us long-timers are DIYers anyway. There's very little that I'll pay someone else to do on my vehicle.... I don't even like transmission shops, but I don't know enough about transmissions to rebuild one myself.

I mean... there might be SOMEONE out there that would want one.... but I'd imagine you'd probably be hanging onto them for a while to find said someone.

 

Pretty sure the '98 5.9 GC ran the same tire as what the Icons that came on some XJ's ran. 225 70 16. My XJ came with 225 75 15 on the Eccos. Tire cover fits fine.
225 70 16 225 75 15Diameter inches (mm)28.4 (721.4)28.29 (718.5)-0.11 (-2.9) -0.4%Width inches (mm)8.86 (225)8.86 (225)0 (0) 0%Circum. inches (mm)89.23 (2266.34)88.87 (2257.23)-0.36 (-9.11) -0.4%Sidewall Height inches (mm)6.2 (157.5)6.64 (168.75)0.44 (11.25) 7.1%Revolutions per mile (km)710.11 (441.24)712.97 (443.02)2.87 (1.78) 0.4%



These are mine.




I don't even think about the donut versions. I hate them things. Those are worthless. Should have specified full size ones.

Few examples on pricing on Ebay. I don't think that any of these are worth this much but......

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1993-98-Jee...4383.l4275.c10