90 rebuild cost

hi i'm a Land Rover tech, my Ex MOD 90 has been off the road for two years now and im thinking about doing a nut and bolt restore inc galv chassis and bulkhead. My question is...

How much have you spend restoring your defender?
Any recommendations on parts or suppliers
How long did it take?
ex mod part supliers?

Sky's the limit..

I spent 5500 ish on parts including chassis took 6 months including doing a back to bare metal paint job

There are loads of suppliers for parts including Bearmach,johncraddock,padocks,rimmerbros,lrspares,
lr4x4,lro,firstfour,frogsisland4x4,raptor ++ many more the usual ebay & gumtree ect there are bargains
out there if you can be bothered to scan for hours on end,watch out for cheap britpart they come in blue
bags some of them are ok but cheap for a reason & most people tend to steer clear.

I done everything myself

Leonv said:

hi i'm a Land Rover tech, my Ex MOD 90 has been off the road for two years now and im thinking about doing a nut and bolt restore inc galv chassis and bulkhead. My question is...

How much have you spend restoring your defender?
Any recommendations on parts or suppliers
How long did it take?
ex mod part supliers?

Click to expand...

It's a very difficult question to answer. It depends on the lengths/standard you want to go to. How much you do yourself and how much you get and pay others to do stuff. The quality of the prep and paint job etc. Is it a rebuild or a restoration? That the debatable point - for you I mean!
Basic, ball park figures
Galv Chassis 2K
Galv bulkhead 1K
3 doors £750
Budget paint job 1.5K
So, 5.25K in the blink of an eye. Plus, a hell of a lot of other stuff I never fully totalled mine

I would recommend you shop around for suppliers. As I was working through my rebuild I would make a list of the parts I needed next. Price the list up with three or four suppliers and choose the cheapest, fastest etc depending on what I needed at the time. Usually the cheapest! There can be quite a difference and it adds up over the myriad of parts you need (also depends on the standard you are aiming for- as above)

It took me nearly two and a half years, but that was working on my drive. Wrapped everything up over the two winters involved, so dead time there.

the main issue is finding a reasonably priced unit to do the work for some reason suffolk isnt cheap for units, most the work ill do myself including painting

Leonv said:

the main issue is finding a reasonably priced unit to do the work for some reason suffolk isnt cheap for units, most the work ill do myself including painting

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I done mine under a boat canopy including the painting.

What's a Land Rover Tech?

someone whos employed to work on land rovers by a genuine dealership

Leonv said:

someone whos employed to work on land rovers by a genuine dealership

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You can't get a discount on part then?

I have a friendly partsman who sells them to me at cost, however some parts aren't produced anymore and some aftermarket parts are better quality

Also how much would a full restoration be worth in the real world?

Leonv said:

Also how much would a full restoration be worth in the real world?

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Depends on what you paid for the original vehicle! Or, how long you've had it. Should be more than you spend.

I swapped an Audi A4 avant which I paid 4K for but if I’m going to spend 7 on the referb id at least like my money back but obviously the value is in the eye of the beholder

Leonv said:

I swapped an Audi A4 avant which I paid 4K for but if I’m going to spend 7 on the referb id at least like my money back but obviously the value is in the eye of the beholder

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This is why your first question is a tricky one to answer.
I'd already had mine for over 11 years and it was always going to be a keeper. So, it also depends on your reason/motivation for doing it as to how you approach the rising costs and effort you will put in. While I was always keeping an eye on how much I was spending, it wasn't because I was wanting to see a return on my money. I think that would have been more restrictive, but obviously something you will need to manage if your plan to sell it on.

I just don’t want to waste x amount should I sell it in 5 years time

Leonv said:

I just don’t want to waste x amount should I sell it in 5 years time

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I can see that. But, that's also why there's no exact formula for how much a rebuild costs. All of these factors affect our personal choices along the way. Who knows what the value of Landys will be in 5 years time anorl? Depends on what is popular then too. I've no idea how prices compare between rebuild MOD vehicles and Civilian ones, CSW v hard tops etc. Worth doing some research before you start.

I'm currently bolting together a project someone unbolted and lost interest in when they realised it takes longer to bolt it back together than it took to take apart. If you're working on Land Rovers all day every day do you really want to spend your evenings and weekends doing the same thing, and how long is it going to sit in bits if it has sat for two years already? If you're worried about getting your money back then a project car is a really bad idea.

Genuine parts are going to cost a fortune. Pattern likely won't last the 5 years you're planning to keep it. Being from a MX background I always try to buy genuine parts on projects as it's not that bad, this Defender is an eye opener.

Leonv said:

someone whos employed to work on land rovers by a genuine dealership

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If you dont know how much it costs in time and parts...we amatures have no chance...go and ask your boss...he can show you bills for every job done...time and parts costed...

Mr Happy80 said:

I'm currently bolting together a project someone unbolted and lost interest in when they realised it takes longer to bolt it back together than it took to take apart. If you're working on Land Rovers all day every day do you really want to spend your evenings and weekends doing the same thing, and how long is it going to sit in bits if it has sat for two years already? If you're worried about getting your money back then a project car is a really bad idea.

Genuine parts are going to cost a fortune. Pattern likely won't last the 5 years you're planning to keep it. Being from a MX background I always try to buy genuine parts on projects as it's not that bad, this Defender is an eye opener.

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Most things are fixed with a update these days and I haven’t started it cause my drive isn’t the ideal place for a rebuild

There's your answer. There'll never be the right conditions to start or finish it. Sell it before it either costs you more, or you loose more money by taking it apart, as it sounds like you're now falling in to sunk cost fallacy if it 'owes' you £4000. Renting a unit will cost even more, if you get fed up and it sits for 2 months then that is possibly £1000 out for nothing.