My new Landy project

Now that I have “completed” my Defender 90 rebuild last year, and taken it trialing with the Scottish Land Rover Owners Club, as I intended. I have decided to continue the madness with a new project.

Seduced by the sound of a rover V8 and fear of further damaging the Defender I decided to by a Tomcat, this one.
It needs some fettling, replacement windscreen, radius arm bushes, some electrical issues et Al , but will hopefully see some action next weekend with SLROC.
I am going to repaint it in a different colour and make other amendments as time goes on however, just had it out on a stubble field and what a vehicle, testiment to the original builder it turns on a sixpence, feels planted, sounds awesome and shifts unlike any Land Rover I’ve driven before.

Here’s to more workshop time

Cool, interesting towbar angle

Nice!

I used to go trialling in my teens when I first got into landies. Series motors were cheap and easily available then, as were parts if you broke something. I’d like to get back into it again.

Knappster said:

Nice!

I used to go trialling in my teens when I first got into landies. Series motors were cheap and easily available then, as were parts if you broke something. I’d like to get back into it again.

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I wish they still were as cheap, still looking forward to it.

Tirran said:

I wish they still were as cheap, still looking forward to it.

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Tell me about it! You could pick up a decent series wing for a tenner in the mid 90’s!

Wipers fitted. However, the knurled “nut” that the wiper fits on to is a d shape on a defender, this one has series wheel boxes, round spindles. Schoolboy error, to change the wheel boxes means changing the gear in the motor too, old one is 35 mm newer one 45 mm.
To change the knurled nut £14 each!
Solution drill out the new ones to fit, job done, £28 freed up for beer and more parts.

Gearbox crossmember fitted. I say fitted, fabricated more like.
The td5 crossmember was too wide by 3mm, the offside mount has “kissed” a large rock and needed an oxyacetylene torch to reform it. I couldn’t widen the space so, cut the x member reduced it by the required 3mm and welded together.
It’s not structural only to try and protect the gearbox whilst competing. Tomorrow will tell if it works or smashes the gearbox

Took the Tomcat to the SLROC driving day, we were competing in the Defender yesterday however, this was a play day.
The Fox Dampers had been set by the previous owner to 50psi to help with trialing, we reset them to 150 psi and completely changed the way the car worked , for the better. Most of the clunks had gone, I still have the radius arm bushes to replace, and it was more assured revisiting some of the sections used the day before.

It was sunny too.