Recently Rebuilt Defender 90

[Hobbs92]

First post on here, so will start off by saying hi! Been meaning to get a thread up on here for a while...

For a few years now my 1996 300TDi Defender 90 has been looking a bit sorry for itself. Paint chipping off, chassis slowing rotting. So the norm basically! Decided it was time for a Galvanised chassis last July.
Here she is just before I started striping the bodywork


Stripped out the interior, all that's left is the dash. Wiring all over the place till I get the dash out. Pictures say more than words really...


Who sunk the Defender?


All the doors off now too. Need to get the wings and rear tub off, and sort the wiring at the back.

Finally, here's the new chassis. Rubbish picture because I popped home on my lunch break from work to have a look.

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Only a few hours after dinner and spent them trying to get wings off. Left hand one is off, most of the right hand one has been unbolted too. Quite an annoying job, especially when trying to find bolts under layers and layers of mud! Car now looks like this



Want to try get the other wing off and the tub off by the weekend. Looking at the bulkhead more and more of it is looking shot! Worst job still have to be the wiring, no plugs just bullet connectors!

Tub came off without too much difficultly, with a bit of help from my new favourite tool the angle grinder :thumbsup: Unfortunately, the tub isn't in great condition, galvanic corrosion around almost every mounting point, and the seat base is beyond economical repair in my eyes.
Rear tub mounts


Corrosion around fuel filler

And the other side, behind drivers seat


Seat base mount


Seat belt and chassis mount


Using aluminium plate, sealant, glue and rivets we carried out some repairs.
Rear tub mount


Seat base mount, seat belt mount and chassis mount

Edited by Hobbs92 on Wednesday 30th January 14:36

[Hobbs92]

Once the tub off, it was time to get the bulkhead off. Ground through the mounting bolts, and hammered it backwards off the bolts it eventually came free. As this is steel, and poorly painted it was in very poor condition, can fix it with weld but to save time we bought another one that needs slight modification instead of major welding. Next out was the prop shafts and gearbox...



Back off the engine with clutch in place


Removed the clutch and you can see a little damage to flywheel bolts from where the clutch plate was put in the wrong way round (not me I will just add)


Took the started motor off, inspected and there is slight damage to the gear. It would appear that the motor isn't disengaging properly. Could possibly need a new ring gear on the flywheel


Took the bell housing off the gearbox, going to clean it and the gearbox ready for reassemble.


Rear hub was removed earlier this week, replaced the bearing to find that that are slightly too small for the stub axle, so shall be on the hunt for some bearings as soon as possible


My main job today was to remove the inlet and exhaust manifold and clean the head and block.


WD-40 on the head and it comes up beautifully.


Using Gunk degreaser on the block and then some WD just to finish it off.


Also got the A-frame off today, bit of persuasion with the breaker bar and it came off relatively easy.


Ball joint mount on the axle also off reasonably easily too

[Hobbs92]

Removed the axle from the old chassis. Taken both the hubs off too


Wire brushed and painted


Hub rebuilding




And finished :biggrin:


Axle now sat back on the old chassis, so I can move it back in the chassis.

Also got the new chassis painted, not to make it look good but, to stop people stealing the car! Galvo chassis is a big attraction when it comes to a defender, and don't want mine to be a target!

First used a mordant solution on the chassis, washed down and let that dry. Then on with the acid etch, two coats (with some help from Fletty)!




After the primer was dry, couple of coats of Jotun Conceal (marine grade paint) and looking good if I do say so myself!


Also cleaned up a few brackets and painted them too




Now waiting for a chance to clear up the garage, roll the chassis in and get ready for engine removal :thumbsup:

[Hobbs92]

Guess what's missing!


One engine!


Very happy with that!


Got both the axles off, cleaned and painted. Along with Radius Arms, Panhard Rod and so on.
One clean axle


Chassis ready for rear axle




And on...


And front axle on too


Hell of a days work


Shall hopefully have engine and fuel tank in tomorrow and get the oil seal sorted. Then onto gearbox and prop shafts! :smile:

[Hobbs92]

As a bonus...


Engines in!




Flywheel off and cleaning up waiting for a new oil seal

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Flywheel on and assembling the clutch


Heavy duty clutch fork (common failure) and release bearing onto gearbox


Gearbox in next


Quick check on the handbrake shoes, which are fine


Drive shafts on then lift the new bulkhead in place


Plumbing in the rear fuel tank (off a TD5) with pipework to attach to a transfer pump.


Test fitting the tub


Filler for rear fuel tank on back right of tub


Then the wiring headache....

[Hobbs92]

Pictures are little sparse, as I was working long nights to get it finished in time (which it wasn't). Heavy duty track rods and track rod ends where fitted, as the originals where rust and looked slightly flimsy


Engine ancillaries where fitted, including a new radiator as the original found its way into my Disco...
Fitted the tub properly, and secured floor and took it for a test drive.




Then started to build up the sides, windscreen frame and roof, and onto the wings



Then went to build up the doors, can you spot the difference? Ignore the rust...



These have now been fixed and arrived earlier this afternoon. Will take at least a week to build them up and get them ready.
Surfing Gumtree I found some red doors 6 miles from my house going cheap, so snapped them up to get the car back on the road.

Took the wheels off the Disco, have wanted these on the Defender since I've owned it. Power coated gloss black


And some nice new tyres to finish it off


And here's how she's currently sitting


And the interior

[Hobbs92]

Got the new doors on, need a little bit of fettling to get them to fit perfectly. They've totally improved the look of the car, and I must say I'm very pleased! Also fitted the steering guard, a-bar, spot and roof lights and lots and lots of wires!






Still much to do, need to replace one of the steering joints (rubber split not long after it went back on the road) amd UJ's in the prop shafts as dirt seems to have got in them whilst the grease nipples where off.



Decided its time to tidy up the interior a bit. Had the headlining out for ages, been waiting on me to get some more black carpet to trim it. Finally ordered some at the beginning of the week! then decided that the rubbish looking grey trim panels where awful too, so grabbed a tin of satin black and got to work!



Got my headlining done!

Ready to cover


Fitted! (Rubbishpicture, but will get a better one once all the trims in)

[P4T]

There is something about seeing a land Rover with no clothes on that gets me all excited!..

Must get another project!

[300bhp/ton]

Nice

Refreshing to see someone painting the galv chassis too

[Hobbs92]

The funny thing was I wasn't going to, but then I was thinking about how to deter people from stealing it. That, and galvo looks horrible after a few years!

[BLUETHUNDER]

Fantastic work there fella.

[camel_landy]

Good work & I'm glad you painted the chassis (can't stand the galvanised finish).

Also the anorak in me is wanting to point out that the rear crossmember is TD5, not TDi...

M

[heightswitch]

Great thread.
Was your old chassis saveable??
Interested to see where the bulk of the rot was found??


This is mine, which I want to do a re-chassis on next year



N

[lost in espace]

Brilliant write up and pics, thanks very much.

[Hobbs92]

@camel_landy you are correct. Also has a TD5 tank and a transfer pump I'm going to fit behind my seat

@heightswitch old chassis was savalgeable (1996 with 197k), and is going to be used by a mate to built up his landy. Bad bits are outriggers, front of the chassis to outriggers and where the gearbox xmember sits. As well as the resr xmember but that had been replace about 5 years prior. I love the idea of having a series style windscreen!

Thanks all for the comments

[MGZRod]

C'mon Ben, I still think you should have painted the chassis green or pink!

Edit, rear seats on Friday too?

[Hobbs92]

Was saying to Dave I should of painted the springs pink for a laugh.

I keep forgetting that I can put the rear seats in till the trims all painted, and I've strengthened the mounts for side bars in the tub

[justtourin1]

Great work

[skene]

Rather alarmingly I noticed in one photo...


...you're wearing crocs!

[heightswitch]

Hobbs92 said:

@camel_landy you are correct. Also has a TD5 tank and a transfer pump I'm going to fit behind my seat

@heightswitch old chassis was savalgeable (1996 with 197k), and is going to be used by a mate to built up his landy. Bad bits are outriggers, front of the chassis to outriggers and where the gearbox xmember sits. As well as the resr xmember but that had been replace about 5 years prior. I love the idea of having a series style windscreen!

Thanks all for the comments

Don't bother with the series windscreen. I find I am forever getting a bad back with slouching down to look ahead out of the front, Its terrible when going downhill!!
Dilemma with mine will be whether to re-use original chassis or replace whole thing??