90 defender rebuild

So - I have been lurking on here for a while and thought id better post up some pictures of my 90 .

I am very new to Landrovers , however I restore old VW's for a living so am comfortable with mechanics and bodywork .

The vehicle came to me via a friend from a local farm and has been used and abused as they all are .

The plan from the start was to make it straight and a useable daily - Nothing extreme just a nice straight vehicle ( you can delete this now if you wish )

As it arrived - complete with Ifor Williams back


Not a straight panel in sight - rear hinge broken , crossmember has seen better days - inside tub is a mess



Front wing has seen some action and you can get an idea of how much mud was underneath from the amount on the foot step



It also had this enormous bull bar which was as rotten as a pear


First off was the rear cover


Followed closely by the bull bar


I got hold of a replacement bonnet and a new roof and side panels


I used it like this ( with no rear door ) for a few weeks until the MOT and tax ran out - then put it in the workshop ready for the strip down .

More to follow soon

Looks like a good project!
Keep us updated....Good luck!

The MOT ran out and before the strip down I decided it would be a good idea to see whether it needed major work before I got into it - It was cheep enough to flip if I needed to .

Best way I could think of was to get a new MOT - so off it went and failed on the rear exhaust section and a non functioning rear brake light .
I got that sorted in an afternoon and got its MOT .

So realising it didnt need a new chassis or bulkhead and was basically OK , I started the strip down

I got all the rear body off as well as the rear tub - The tub will actually be replaced with one I picked up which is much straighter and doesnt have all the hooks etc on it .



There were only 2 bits of rust in the rear chassis - The first was on the inside of the rear rail - Here I have cut it out and welded in a repair - 3 mm steel sheet used - I have butt welded in and ground fairly flat



The only other bit was where the rails join the rear cross member - This was just cleaned up ready for welding



Again 3 mm sheet used for repair



The back of the seat box was stripped and treated - later painted in Rust Stop from KBS coatings



The chassis rails were also treated and painted - Then I did the rear cross member - I cut out a bad dented section and welded it up , along with a few of the holes which I would not be using , It was then all ground back and treated and painted , finally finished in satin black - I will keep the tow bar as I want to use it to tow ( I have a 1966 Carlight caribbean caravan )



Whilst I was sorting the seat base back I also cleaned out the battery well and fitted some soundproofing .
Sorry about the photo's - Phone camera



I also sorted out the exhaust position as it was a bit high and would knock on the chassis when cold - so the mount was adjusted to get it a bit lower so it now clears the chassis rail . The Fuel tank was also changed as it has sprung a leak - It was cleaned thoroughly and protected - then given a liberal coat of truck bed rubberised paint .

More to follow

Looking good maye keep up the work!

Great - these are the best threads.

Keep us updated!

very good base for your rebuild , good luck with it
Are you giong to upgrade it? ?

piston-return-spring said:

very good base for your rebuild , good luck with it
Are you giong to upgrade it? ?

Click to expand...

Im not planning on changing the spec mechanically at the moment , I have new wheels and tyres , straighten it and paint it .
I want to do something with the interior to make it less farm truck and more " Plush " - Hopefully something a little different .

If we decide its a keeper for a bit I might get a low miles 200 TDi but that may be a while away .

As I build cars for a living I tend to get offered stuff and things move on - All except my 3 keepers !!!!

What engine is in it?

tomseries3tom said:

What engine is in it?

Click to expand...

2.5 TD - 155k
But to its credit it starts on the button and there is NO smoke , just noisy and slow , but figure the little wheels may have something to do with that as well as the motor .

and I thought old VW's were slow !!!

A little more .

Managed to fabricate an upper bulkhead repair - its pretty good around this area except for the inner section on one side - so I made a new piece up and welded it in - No before picks sorry

I also got rid of the ugly weld line on the pillar that is from the factory



I got a rear tub for a steal and set about sorting it out - stickers from the side removed



a **** thin etch over the top



High build primer over the top



Guide coat over the top



And the reason we use guide coat - nice low spot



Ready for a base coat



Painted in a metallic base coat - I had some paint left over from my T4



Not too bad out of the gun


I can now get out the final colour - VW sunburst Red

More to follow

Nice

The keen eyed amongst you will have noticed in the first picture of the tub that I have removed all the cappings and rear corner pieces - This was to get rid of oxidation , but I will also paint these and under them so I dont get it in the future.

Brill

Nice work, makes me want to go take mine apart and paint it

mark-d said:

Nice work, makes me want to go take mine apart and paint it

Click to expand...

Trust me - I am beginning to realise why so many landy's have dinks and donks on the bodywork . The metal is so soft and I spend as much time trying to shrink it as straighten it and all the body panels are so flat .

Anyway now that I have started I dont have alot of choice .

onwards and upwards

a little more

The first shot of the colour - VW sunburst red for a polo from mid 00's



The bottom of the tub was cleaned and then painted in rubber trunk bed paint - finally covered in some carpet I had in the workshop



The rear cappings were stripped and painted in kbs rust stop on the inner surfaces - I dont want bi metallic reaction happening again soon



Sound proofing added to top of wheel tubs



Finally back in place on the chassis



Cappings ready for paint - These are galvanised - then flatted and primed

Wow! You don't hang about!

Looking very nice!

Good work, and very nice choice of colour!

What is the reason behind high build primer? I'm teaching myself to spray at the moment and simply sprayed a thin layer of etch, then the nato green over the top.

with the high grade paintwork youre doing its really worth shot blasting the chassis and maybe galv just to make the rebuild work permanent instead of the chassis causing trouble forever more