A little advice please

Im after some advice on whether its worth buying a Defender 110 I went to look at today. I was wanting a project and after seeing this advertised locally I thought it would be perfect.

The advert read as follows: Land Rover Defender 110 diesel pick up, 1984, 119865 miles, for off road use, good starter/runner £650

I was a little put off by the "for off road use" bit but after talking to the seller who said it was advertised as that because the clutch slave cylinder was shot so I decided it would be worth going to look at. I went with my brother as he has a good knowledge of mechanics. The chassis looked in generally good condition with just surface rust but some of the out riggers were badly rusted, there was also a rust hole about two inches in front of one of the rear spring mounts and most of the body mounting brackets would need replacing. The engine ran a little lumpy, but my plan would be to replace it with a turbo diesel lump so I wasn't too bothered about that, at least it ran!

These are some pictures that were with the advert:





The picture above shows two other problems my brother and I noticed. The drivers door has dropped and wont sit correctly and more worryingly the bulkhead has a rust hole, which you can see to the right of the top door hinge.



From this picture you can see that the landy drops to right, is this likely to be something worse than shot shocks?

Generally I thought it looked in pretty good for £650 but I haven't really undertaken anything like this before so would very much appreciate some advice on whether its worth going any further with.

EDIT: Sorry I should have said that my plan is to get the landy back on the road for under £2000 and after doing that I will look at getting other things sorted that didn't need doing for the MOT.

:welcome2:did you get a v5 with her,if you did and yer brothers handy at mending stuff then i'd be happy enough at that,dont worry too much about the rust hole as long as it aint too far gone it's an easy repair to weld up. If it all seems too rusty on the bulkhead the check out dr evils sereis 3 which he's doing up and your rot may not seem so bad.

You've essentially picked up a 10 year younger, diesel version of what I just got as a project.

As to the door, it could be as simple as a bent hinge (just pray it isn't a bent chassis)

A drop in body height could be down to springs too not just shocks, one of the coils could be past its sell by (just again pray it isn't a warp)

Your bulkhead repair panels can be found from YRM metal solutions on google, I bought a set of their panels, they're good quality and exact dimensions

Outriggers from Brookwells are good, I got mine from there

Shocks I've got Pro-Comp + 40mm's on the way for £120 (full set of 4) good gas shock, the 110 versions might be a little more than the series ones but not hugely I'd imagine


As I've found so far, repairs are **** easy and if you've got someone helpful (I have a professional welder) you'll be in good hands and a fast rebuilt should be on the table, I'd have finished by now if the weather was good



Good luck with it, projects are a great way to waste time and money but for the sense of satisfaction you get back out if it they're priceless (almost)




DAMN YOU SI…

Thats a low blow In all honesty mate your rust is nothing, my bulkhead buckled like tin foil yesterday as I ripped it apart with my hands. I'll upload a pic later in the week when it stops raining or if I get 5 minutes of dry tomorrow. It's an absolute joke but a simple fix if you have a metal fabricator nearby that can make you some 1.2mm folded and flat sheet

Dr_evil said:

You've essentially picked up a 10 year younger, diesel version of what I just got as a project.

As to the door, it could be as simple as a bent hinge (just pray it isn't a bent chassis)

A drop in body height could be down to springs too not just shocks, one of the coils could be past its sell by (just again pray it isn't a warp)

Your bulkhead repair panels can be found from YRM metal solutions on google, I bought a set of their panels, they're good quality and exact dimensions

Outriggers from Brookwells are good, I got mine from there

Shocks I've got Pro-Comp + 40mm's on the way for £120 (full set of 4) good gas shock, the 110 versions might be a little more than the series ones but not hugely I'd imagine


As I've found so far, repairs are **** easy and if you've got someone helpful (I have a professional welder) you'll be in good hands and a fast rebuilt should be on the table, I'd have finished by now if the weather was good



Good luck with it, projects are a great way to waste time and money but for the sense of satisfaction you get back out if it they're priceless (almost)




DAMN YOU SI…

Thats a low blow In all honesty mate your rust is nothing, my bulkhead buckled like tin foil yesterday as I ripped it apart with my hands. I'll upload a pic later in the week when it stops raining or if I get 5 minutes of dry tomorrow. It's an absolute joke but a simple fix if you have a metal fabricator nearby that can make you some 1.2mm folded and flat sheet

Click to expand...

i'm looking forward to seeing it done mate cos when i saw the first pictures before you started work on her she looked great in a strange battered way (as it should be),I thought your bulhead repair would be a good example of how bad things can be and still be perfectly repairable in the right hands.NOW GET WELDING AND SOD THE RAIN!!!

Thank you both for your replies. The V5 is there bigsi13... well the seller said it is but I didnt actually ask to see it, though I have done a history check on her and it has come back clean.

Dr_evil Im guessing I wont be able to really tell how straight the chassis is until I get the body off or is there any tell tale things I can look out for?

I have already looked at the price on some of the parts I will need but do you think £2000 would be enough to get it ready for a MOT?

Dont see why not mate ,mine was in very similar condition when i got her and didn't cost £300 to get to mot (suprisingly easy to pass) as long as you don't have any real horrors like a knackered chassis.good luck.

A coupla photies to show a pretty bad bulkhead.

90 project - Land Rover Photos

bigsi13 said:

i'm looking forward to seeing it done mate cos when i saw the first pictures before you started work on her she looked great in a strange battered way (as it should be),I thought your bulhead repair would be a good example of how bad things can be and still be perfectly repairable in the right hands.NOW GET WELDING AND SOD THE RAIN!!!

Click to expand...

hahaha me too it's been over a month since I started and I'm getting impatient


I like the battered look too, gives it more character and makes it look better, I can't stand shiny new defenders they just don't look worked like they should be

I saw a blinged up disco 4 pulling a sheep box full of sheep the other day it looked so out of place in java black with shiny wheels and slicks :doh:


I've done all my welding on the chassis it's just the bulkhead now and my mates going to do it this tuesday as I don't want my huge industrial looking welds on the front

GRATCH said:

A coupla photies to show a pretty bad bulkhead.

90 project - Land Rover Photos

Click to expand...

OK I see what you all mean, if you can come back from that then I would have nothing to worry about with what Im looking at!

Right I took the plunge and bought the green beasty! I only got £50 off the asking price but the seller was good enough to deliver it on the back of a flat bed to my dads farm so I was happy!

My brother and I have had a closer look over her and the chassis is in a worse state than we first thought but not beyond repair... hopefully. The first job is to get her moving so I have a clutch slave cylinder and haynes manual (couldn't do anything without one) on order.

I will try not to pester you lot to much but Im sure I will be asking for more advice now and again

Seriously Gratch's bulkhead is nothing compared to the rot I'm about to battle with, check my rebuild thread in about 15 mins once I've gotten photobucket to work and you'll see the start of a miracle

If I can rebuild it anyone can


(you don't need a haynes just landyzone and use busters tour)

All done, pics are uploaded