advice on defender 90

Hello

Can anybody give me some advice, I have taken early retirement, and I’m thinking of buying a land rover defender for £5000 I have always wanted one

I have had a 90s ranger rover 3.9 v8 but lot of trouble with it cylinder heads, petrol tank, wheel bearings etc.

I have been told the defender is hard to drive stiff clutch. What should I look for when buying a defender, any advice would be a help

Michael

Chassis look for rust and number ! Number is on the bit between drivers front wheel and bumper. Rear cross member is an easy repair.
Bulkhead look for rust below the windscreen above the wings and under the wings between the foot well and the wheels
Doors will more than likely have bubbles
Inside should be Clean
Most have oil leak's

Try to find one without checker plate and snorkel's/winches as might have been used hard .

Age is NOT a reason not to Buy Condition is everything !! Look at loads buy the best, If in doubt walk away

£5000 wil get you something old, TDi300 newest I would guess

Also consider Discoverys

Have you considered looking at something like a series 3? They are just as uncomfortable but a bit more bouncy.
Most qualify for free tax and classic insurance is about 90 quid.

thank you for advice, iv'e been told the clutch is very stiff to use is this so, i don't know about discovery, yet again i have been told they are not reliable but better to drive
michael

The clutch can be softened pretty easily with a £25 spring and about an hours work. Did it to my TD5 and its almost feather weight now, well for a Landy anyway. Best bet is to test drive a couple

Stiff/Heavy Clutch



Much lighter softer clutch

m m thompson said:

Hello

Can anybody give me some advice, I have taken early retirement, and I’m thinking of buying a land rover defender for £5000 I have always wanted one

I have had a 90s ranger rover 3.9 v8 but lot of trouble with it cylinder heads, petrol tank, wheel bearings etc.

I have been told the defender is hard to drive stiff clutch. What should I look for when buying a defender, any advice would be a help

Michael

Click to expand...

Search the threads as I started a thread on this about 7 weeks ago when I had knee ache, you can do the above which has varying degrees of success, or you can also get a retrofitting clutch assist which is pricey but means you can change gear with your little finger.

Yeah its not an easy job, **** my hand to ribbons trying to fit it, but well worth doing.

MGBGTV8 said:

Have you considered looking at something like a series 3? They are just as uncomfortable but a bit more bouncy.
Most qualify for free tax and classic insurance is about 90 quid.

Click to expand...

Very few Series 3's are tax exempt.

m m thompson said:

thank you for advice, iv'e been told the clutch is very stiff to use is this so, i don't know about discovery, yet again i have been told they are not reliable but better to drive
michael

Click to expand...

Clutch is not stiff unless it's broken. Heavy maybe, but no heavier than the same clutch used in things like TVR's or Triumph TR7's.

Defender/Range Rover Classic/Discovery 1 - these all share a heck of a lot in terms of design, construction and components.

If you want a Defender and then want to make it drive like a car - don't buy one. Get a RR or Disco, they are much better at it.

Condition is everything, ignore age pretty much.

£5k will give you a choice of engines. But with a bit of work it is fairly easy to swap and change engines, so don't let it be a deal breaker.

If you don't know what they are like to drive, go drive one before deciding to buy one.

300bhp/ton said:

Very few Series 3's are tax exempt.

Click to expand...

Anything made before January '75 is tax exempt.
So that'll be thousands of 'em then!

Yes, but production ended in what 1983/4. So only the early S3's are tax exempt. Sure they built plenty, but chances are you are more likely to find many more that aren't tax exempt.

My advice would be take someone who knows about them, maybe a member on here if beer tokens are waved or buy a well known one from a club ect

hello
thanks for all the information helps a lot, as any body had dealings with T & T motors at batley yorkshire they seem to hold lot of land rovers in my price range
michael