Need help and some words of wisdom 90 MOT Fail

Well today was the dreaded day! My 1991 Defender 90 went for its MOT

I knew it would need welding and some other bits but wanted to know how bad it was so I figured stick it through the MOT and see what comes up.

Once up on the ramp we noticed the Battery box which I knew needed replacing and a hole in one of the front suspension arms which again I knew about.

Also found one of the front suspension mounts is rotten, and a couple of more patches would be needed both at the front and rear.
So all in all not a great day! I reckon just to get it all patched up to pass a MOT its probably going to cost £1500/2000 in welding at retail rates.

So my dilemma is simple what do I do?

It owes me £4000 as it is after I purchased a year ago and had all the brakes etc.. Worked on last year.

Do I get a replacement chassis (£1500 plus fitting)
Do I sell as is what's it worth £2000? (Or am I being hopeful!!)
Or do I try and have it repaired which is probably not going to be too far short of the replacement chassis (again please correct me if I'm miles off not sure what the fitting is on a chassis)

Normally I would be able to answer the question I would cut my losses and get rid of it however I love it and really don't want to sell!! However on the other hand I do not have the cash to chuck at it now so it would require me storing it for a while and me probably buying a cheap disco in the mean time.

So wise people of Landy zone what should I do?

Store it and get a new chassis.

I know I should Ian my dream would be to get the new chassis delivered then gradually build up the car around it taking my time.
However it's space and money I need!
Anyone know what kind of cost having a new chassis fitted is?

Tonym3 said:

I know I should Ian my dream would be to get the new chassis delivered then gradually build up the car around it taking my time.
However it's space and money I need!
Anyone know what kind of cost having a new chassis fitted is?

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Lots of peeps advertise this service on Ebay usually round the £5k range..

Buy a welder and do it ya self. or find someone who won't charge 6 times what the job is worth. It's not even a full days welding. FFS

Pikey said:

Lots of peeps advertise this service on Ebay usually round the £5k range..

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Don't love it that much!!!!

I will get it looked at by a proper welder I have a number for a local metal fabricator who is very reasonable but looking under it looks like a lot of work whoever does it.

I bought a welder this year but with two other projects already taking up my time and garage space I have not had time to master the art.

I've seen people offer re-chassis for £1000 ish labour.
Lifting body off in one piece makes it a much quicker job.

So as it is what's it worth?
90 van with the 200 engine
Body work engine and box are all good as is the interior.
In a nutshell don't look underneath and its lovely!!!!

aaronmorris said:

I've seen people offer re-chassis for £1000 ish labour.
Lifting body off in one piece makes it a much quicker job.

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That more like what I had in mind if I had the cash I would be optimistically thinking for £2500ish I can have it back on the road with a new chassis rather than chucking close to 2000 at having it repaired

Tonym3 said:

That more like what I had in mind if I had the cash I would be optimistically thinking for £2500ish I can have it back on the road with a new chassis rather than chucking close to 2000 at having it repaired

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Would be what I would do if I had to spend that kind of money to get it welded up.
Or it's not a hard job to do yourself if you don't have the money.

I still fancy striping it down the re-building on a new chassis it's just the space and time, I am part way through a MGB rebuild and have just got a spitfire back from the painters so that also needs rebuilding!! I was hoping for a cheap bit of welding to keep the Defender on the road not another complete re-build!!

A Complete chassis rebuild is not that big of a job to be honest
its the time and money to do it
as you will find other stuff to do once it is stripped down

That's my worry if I thought the chassis was the one and only problem then it would be a much easier decision but alas I know old cars to well!!

I think I will take some pictures tomorrow and test the water with a couple of adverts see what kind of money it would fetch. I don't want to give it away but the sensible part of my head says if I can get a decent amount back it's probably the best way. Annoying thing is once I have finished the other projects I will be buying another!! If only I had more space.

End of the day, you'll lose far too much selling as a rotten 90...

Keep it and if you re chassis the money wont be lost or spent. The 2500 or so you put into it will just add onto the value of the 90 itself.

of course you could sell it me for £1000

what exactly got flagged up by the mot guy? i'd make a list and see what it would take to patch it up, then sort it out bit by bit later.

Patch up is going to be severl hundred at least for someone to do

New chassis with new suspension and bushes £4k ish to get done

I appreciate that they may have gone up in price but a year ago I bought a new galvanised chassis for my 90 300 TDi from Marslands in Derbyshire for £1040 - a local N.Devon haulier picked it up for me and delivered it for a £100.

ianc2051 said:

I appreciate that they may have gone up in price but a year ago I bought a new galvanised chassis for my 90 300 TDi from Marslands in Derbyshire for £1040 - a local N.Devon haulier picked it up for me and delivered it for a £100.

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Mine was £1500 from them.

I think if you were doing a rebuild on a budget it would probably be around £3.5-4k to do it yourself. I have spent more than that, but I have gone a bit over the top.

ianc2051 said:

I appreciate that they may have gone up in price but a year ago I bought a new galvanised chassis for my 90 300 TDi from Marslands in Derbyshire for £1040 - a local N.Devon haulier picked it up for me and delivered it for a £100.

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Thats bloody cheap must have been without VAT

Well sorry to dig up an old thread but after all of the above I ended up sticking the truck in storage as I had other cars to use and didn't have the funds to chuck at it.
This week I took it down to a proper 4x4 specialist MOT centre to check what it actually needed to pass the MOT.
Got the results back today and I don't think its too bad. However would appreciate some input as to a couple of the jobs that need doing.

So the list of failures is as follows:
N/S/F chassis rail has a hole, they have a good welder so should be a patch as rest of the rail looks fine.
OSF coil spring is not properly located, (refit?)
Centre exhaust has major leak of gases
NSR and OSR suspension spring mounting corroded (I have found the replacement parts is this a big job to replace?)
OSF shock mount excessively corroded (turret I'm guessing this explains the coil spring mount)
Battery box corroded.

So the front turret doesn't look to hard but what about the rear mounts are they an easy job for an experienced welder?

Must admit I was quiet happy with that list I was affraid it could have been much worse. I have a few other service jobs to do but I can do those myself.