I am man! Defender! Provider! Mechanic!

Can I join the party? 🙂

here are some pics of my build, before, during and after. Been driving now for over 2 faultless years.

As collected

Mid build

Almost there

First trip tot he Alps

That is lovely Welsh.
I like how I’m not the only one to leave the galvanised bulkhead au naturel 🙂

BTW do you know much about the 30 acres for sale up the road at Capel?

I envy your barn.

Its getting cold out.

Mrs t-r says im not allowed another vehicle based project for a while……

I said thats ok ….my next project will be a double bloody garage so i can work on my vehicle projects in warmth for a change.

What do you want to know about it? I know who is selling it & I know several people who want to buy it if that helps. I also know what it is worth but know it will make silly money way above its’ agricultural value. But then they aren’t making land any more 🙂

But the one great thing about that 30 acres is that you can see my house from the top of it 🙂

🙂 a mate and I were dribblin’ over it in the pub tonight. It’s the kind of plot that is part of his future plans but it’s about 6m too early. We both love the location.

I guess your spot isn’t far away?

Edit : indeed not far then 😀

Trail rat.. believe me, it may have a roof, but that barn was not the warmest place to work in. Gotta be better than a driveway though (been there and feel your pain)

Pic just prior to making my exhaust

BTW was reading your troubles fitting the front springs. You need to get a small scissors jack in between the axle and the chassis and jack away (assuming the front wheel both removed and the car is resting on axle stands under the chassis so the front axle is hanging free). The spring will go in and out with ease

Springs went in no sweat ,i just lifted the chassis with the crane. its getting the front end of the radius arms in thats the ballocks but ive since been informed its best to do that part right at the end when you have the engine in and all weight on as everything will be in neutral and the bushes wont be stressed by the weight like thye would if i tightened them up now and dumped a heap of weight on them

Ah OK. I would just disconnect the radius arms from chassis end (elephants ears), roll axle forward 3 inches, and bolt them up to axle, then refit to chassis.

day time photo at a sensible hour.

I did try that Wf but the bushes were a tight fit into the radius arm brackets and i need something to jack against to get them up and in. hence the weight thing at the moment i just jack the axle/chassis off the floor.

next step is to roll chassis forward and tidy up the drive – sweep it andpr pressure wash it – see if its still the same colour 😀

your rear damper unit looks like a flaccid horses c**k 😉

Other than that, you have a great looking gocart!

a colleague sent me this via email this morning in response to my facebook photo last night.

Anyhoo – them boots are not designed for those shocks – came with them but are “bearmach” shocks are pro comp – so thats just howthey sit – If i clipped the bottoms in place they would sit better but gwyn said to leave them open so shit fell out – like mtb boots 😀

yeah its not looking too good there….

Throw the shock covers away. They only trap muck and moisture up inside them and rust out the piston. They are the work of the devil in UK conditions

not entirely convinced that for my usage they wont be useful provided i keep em clean and greased under the boots + leave the bottom open.

They aint the best shocks in the world – if i had OMEs or fox something with good sealing id leave em off.

having seen my mates shock without then written off by a rock flung up in a fit of throttle rage im also inclined to leave em on.

Just for you trail_rat 😉

Soooo much easier! Refitted the anti roll bar with new bushes and ball joints. While I was underneath replaced the rear damper bushes, blew out the axle breathers and topped up all the liquids. Not too much losses by the looks of it.

With the roll bar back it isnt half noticeable how much less under-steer there is with it on with new bits.

your steering guard needs a lick of paint. 😉

curiously – where do the ARBS go …. i dont have any 😀 – guess they just put em on the posh counties at that age. – not that im fitting em – they limit articulation :d

I have them on mine. Makes it handle on the road soooo much better. Really does not limit articulation that much as I still need to run dislocation cones or I lose my rear springs. But then again I also have a rear Ashcroft locker so articulation is not quite so important.

If your chassis doesn’t have the mounting points then the only option is to weld some on which would be a PITA.

i have 11 inch shocks on and Wide angle A frame ball joint with spring catcher cones welshfarmer

not sure a ARB will cope with that – unless its of an entirely different design to my fronteras old one – it struggled with a 2 inch lift.

I dont have an ARB on the front, but here’s the one on the back. Fits to two mounts on the rear of the chassis rails and then forward to two ball joints mounted on the back of the axle. If you going for massive articulation I cant see them being helpful.

A question for landy fans and this seems as good a thread as any to add to. If you had a choice between the Defenders below, which would you choose?

1.200tdi 110 van, same private owner for many years. Strong engine, Scruffy body, new rear cross member, chassis solid, bulkhead with some repairs, but is cheap enough to initially set £3k aside for tlc.

2.TD5 110 van, 10 years newer. good chassis, good bulkhead, but has been worked all it’s life. Top of budget, so if there was any major unexpected work it would have to wait.

Either would be a second van, so being off the road wouldn’t be a problem. My feeling is no 1, as at least I would know it inside out and could make it my own. I’ve also never had a 200tdi or TD5, only 300tdi in the past.

Thats the photo i wanted to see.

I wondered what the mounts on my new crossmember with extensions were for…. They will be getting cut off shortly.

Id buy the 200tdi out of those 2 sounds like its had the major work covered to keep it going pending quality of the repairs……bulk heads are very easy to bodge up. where as the expensive bills are only just beginning with the td5 its well known that their chassis’s just dont last as long.

While looking for something else in my photo bucket account I came across some of my old LR photos.

Rebuild on the 90…

Full drive…

Mark90 – Don’t suppose there are a few more pictures of that SII hybrid on your photobucket, are there?

Here’s a few pics…

These two are from the article when ‘ALF’ featured in Total off Road magazine.

ALF had a galvanised coil sprung chassis, 90 axles, 3.5 V8, series gearbox. Has since changed hands a couple of times and now has a tdi. Was a great truck to drive off road, really very capable.

Ah, The Lane from Hell. Remember it well. I am sat here wondering how many Mark90s there are in the world and whether or not you might remember a trip to Morrocco a few years back. Would there be a chance that you might be in this film I shot out there? 🙂

Hi Pikey, there is only one Mark90 🙂

🙂

slow progress this week……

dragged the chassis down the garden to have a tidy up…..

rear brakes siezed solid – burst them open to find out what was the issue.

The wheel cylinders were jammed out , the lower pivot was gummed up and the escargots wouldnt move.

new wheel cylinders fitted – every other car ive done wheel cylinders on come with the nuts – not these :s so waiting on some 5/16″ UNF nuts to arrive so i can finish up.

meanwhile i cut the snails off , wire wheeled and painted the back plates so they look reet good – ordered up fittings and T’s for the brake lines – hopefully get them run this week and look at sorting out my flywheel housing/clutch cover to made teh 2.5TD LT77 to the 200tdi – properly.

soon be time for the engine and box to go on :O

on the flip side road tripped to lockarbie to pick up a low profile tubular winch bumper and A frame

one of my jobs next year is to replace all the hydraulic pipes and hoses before they explode 🙂

Found out why my alternator has been making odd noises and random voltages lately:

The rear mounting bolt had gone walkabout so I was worried that it might have sheared and left the shank stuck in the back of the power steering pump. But it was one of those days where everything is charmed for a change 😀 A quick knock with a file and I could run the tap in and out no problem.

The replacement alternator arrived last night, and joy of joys, was a direct replacement so the connectors just swapped over. Then, just as I was offering it up, I realised I had ordered a new belt…and it hadn’t yet arrived. I bet on it coming today, so was just finger tightening the alternator mounting bolts when….my lovely postie, Wes, hove into view…with my belt! All back together again and squooshing out 14v by 11 o’clock coffee break. Ace!

whats wrong with that…….

im still waiting.

my drums and shit got sent to goods inwards instead of reception – it got passed around there for a few hours from another department to our stores guys before i got an email.

of course i got the email just as i had escaped dyce’ traffic gravity and id be damned if i was going back.

had discovered that because i splashed out on the 11j i dont need to modify the flywheelhousing to fit the lt77 i off the 19j – unlike if i bought a disco engine.

My only issue now is ill need to custom fab an airbox bracket – it seems to be missing – bugger , no longer made – ill need to have a good look on that side of the garage – im sure it was in the box when i bought it – also the pipe work for the fuel lines comes in at a cool 112 quid for the feed fromtank to the pump. I have both ends so its getting some generic 8mm fuel hose and hose clips between – for 9 quid.

custom fab an airbox bracket

zipties 🙂

http://www.beal.org.uk

Stoner, these guys are really good for copper brake pipe and unions. If you can find a Sykes Pickavant pipe flaring tool the job is a real pleasure. You might be able to find a used on on ebay.

A pipe bending tool is useful too.

cheers P. My neighbour has a Clarke flaring kit somewhere, but Im not sure he has a bending tool. I will look out for one.

+1 for the sykes pickavent.

mines just a draper. does it but you really have to be on the ball with it as oppose i borrowed an SP tool and youcould really hammer through the connections with little care – twas alot less fussy.,

i have a bender but i find it much easier just to put long radius curves in by hand. with the exception of the caliper – swivel housings to the caliper needs some precise bending with the bender.

stoner im going for a little more elegance in a pair of the large rubber multi bands – like what the USE lights come with- will screw them to the wing and secure the airbox to that- airbox needs to be easily removable to change the filter – i think you have still the discovery airbox in your landy.

Looking to be making good progress on the Landy Mark, not seen it about for a while.

Didn’t know you had a lift!?

cheers james – the lift is my neighbours. He kindly let me tinker in luxury the other day, instead of scrabbling around underneath the landy on the common. You guys well? Havent seen you in the plume for a bit.

t_r – it’s a pity I cant use my 15/22mm plumbing pipe bender 😉
Oh those look sweet, Pete!

I think mines a stock 200tdi defender air box.

it is too ya lucky bam – forgot yours was a pukka fender swap out – just saw the other bits that aint fender and for some reason thought it was a disco swap in.

those benders aint spendy btw. the ones like petes picture can be sourced in screw fix for about 10 quid.