Bankz's Defender TD5 90

Bought my 90 just over 3 years back and already had a build in mind of what I wanted to do. A balance of off road ability and modern 'comfort'. I am certain many of you will think I'm totally mad but then again it is my daily driver and I often to long trips. The aim is to 'modernise' it without breaking the bank, too much.

Pics -


Not much has changed externally except for the addition of some 9" 75 watt HID Spot Lights.

Its taken about 2 years to get to this stage and I only just feel like I making some headway!

Interior styling shall be a mix of the Defender rubber matting & leather with orange stitch. I've had leather in since the summer been off roading a few times and its easier to clean than the plastic + looks tones better best of all didnt cost me anything!





Other leather parts include -
- Top Soft Dash
- Gear Gaiter - Original rubber is underneath so when off road is comes off
- Handbrake Gaiter - Original rubber is underneath so when off road is comes off
- Steering Column

Underneath much sound proofing. Fatmat Xtreme will line all pannels where appropriate then the rubber matting will have 3mm - 6mm closed cell foam which does not absorb water like the bog standard stuff LR put in. So far it has mad a big difference in heard noise & vibration and im only 1/4 through doing it. Will also be covering the front headlining, rear headlining, A-Pillar covers & sun visors in faux Alcantara. Already done the rear which looks pretty good, material is decent quality as well.

Plan for the exterior will be to black Line-X
- Roof
- Bumper
- NAS Rear Step
- Steering Guard
- Tank Guard
- Rock Sliders
- Bonnet
- Current Chequer Plate
- External Roll Cage
- Window Grills
- Body/Tub Sliders

This months mods/upgrades include/will be -

- Corbeau RRS Heated Bucket Seats - Fitted and im toasty and comfy
- Slickshift - 'Slicker' and shorter gear shifts, worth it imo
- Soften the clutch pedal - Done with the clutch spring mod, MUCH better
- Wipac LED Lights all round - Crystal clear, update the look and no more blown bulbs! - Fitted, again much improved. No more MOT man saying your lights where out and charging me
- Rebuild the front hubs - All done! No more wheel wobble!
- Build up my new centre console - RDX Command Console w/ RDX K Switches, carling switches but with LED Legends on them - Fitted, so much happier now!
- Aero Flat Wiper Blades - £5 a pair cant be any worse! - Improved wiping!
- Dynachip Remap - Best thing I have done!
- Heated Windscreen - Will also tie in heated mirrors - Second best thing!

Those bits should increase drive-ability, performance and ease of use. Lots of other things will be going in as well and I shall add pics as and when .

The vast majority of the work will be done myself with help where needed.

Hopefully you'll enjoy the thread, there's a lot more to add but I will as and when the parts arrive/are fitted.

Thanks
Josh

Looks great so far mate

Nice landy, looks like you are doing a tidy job there, and putting in quite an investment in the old girl. Well worth it, I should think

Cheers guys Indeed. Not something I will ever part with unless absolutley forced to. Ill sell organs first!

Currently marking out the RDX console for cutting. Think ive finally settled on what i want on it plus 3 spare sockets if required in the future.

Looks great, liking rh dash idea too.

Slickshift on the way, should have it fitted soon.

Looks like an interesting piece of kit, meant to make the gear changes smooth and soft more like a modern car. Whether this is the case or not I shall decide once its in.

Todays work involved cutting the MUD Console to fit the various switches and fitting the Synchro Slickshift.

The console cuts are not 100% perfect but the best I could do with limited tools. Next challenge will be actually fitting it! Its meant for the pre-2002 style dash but im pretty confident i'll be able to fit it in.





From left to right -

Top -
- Volt Meter
- 12V Fag Lighter
- Rear Screen
- Front Screen
- Hazard - Will be using the original switch to save on re-wiring
- Rear Washer Jets
- Rear Wiper
- 5V Dual USB
- 3.5mm Audio Jack - Will be below the USB

Bottom -
- Left Heated Seat
- Head Unit
- Right Heated Seat

Bottom -
- Blank
- X2 Blank
- Rear Fog
- Rear Work Light
- Front Bumper Spots
- Front Roof Lights
- Auxilary Horn

Tiny upgrade but also fitted silicone aero wipers, £6.00 off ebay for a pair much better than the standard ones, actually clear the windscreen properly.

Update -

Slickshift is installed. Very simple to do, even with zero mechanical experience you could fit it. The result? Slighter shorter travel between gears, its tighter and softer with a more modern feel. Definitely vibrates considerably less.

Did the clutch spring mod. Which was extremely difficult due to lack of decent instructions on the web, cut my hands to ribbons with some hefty bruises but its in and my god is it different. Depressing the clutch is totally effortless now, I wish id done this years ago!

I've started doing a write up of how to easily install it which I should get up this eve.

FINALLY!! My new Corbeau bucket seats are in, after 10 days of work they are in.

For seats supposedly designed for a Defender they are a punch in the dick to fit. However they look excellent and are unbelieveably comfortable.

Pics tomorrow

Quick shot of the interior

Got the new center console in. Its the Bolt On Bits center console meant for a pre 02 TD5 but 40 mins with a dremel and I got it fit! Its not 100% perfect but its good enough.

Tried to neaten up the wireing, went alright -



Offering up for fitment & side light feed check -






Everything is in now and works just need to take a pic! Well almost everything works, the red slit 'on' illumination is temperamental at best only works on a few switches despite being wired up in an identical way....


Also had it mapped by Dynachip and I am very impressed. Overall driveability is massively improved, low end power is greatly improved, noise is just amazing, torques up so is the BHP. Really nicely done!

Busy day today!

Removed the rear seats and belts ready for some sound proofing, hopefully quiet down the exhaust and road noise.

Much easier than i thought to remove however found some ali corrosion not bad but sealed up.



Show how **** the paintjob is on my 90 all that came off from an aggressive hoovering....



About 70% done, finished for the day will return mid week.



Should keep all the water off the ali, stop anymore corrosion.

Nice new 3D Defender badge, the little things [emoji41]



Got a larger performance intercooler going in next weekend. It is Britpart [emoji33] [emoji33] however I have it on good authority that the new Britpart intercoolers are actually manufactured by Alisport, just slightly smaller and to a slightly lower standard but it is £350 over ~£500....

From the pics on Alisports website it looks the same...

Got somr Terrafirma silicone hoses going in too.

I got a little carried away on Monday night hyped up on Redbull, ended up stripping the entire rear section out! Was planning on doing that just not now!

Either way its all out, interior trim is going to be cleaned up, primed and repainted matt black. More FatMat has gone it, any gaps filled in, any rust has been taken care off. Very pleased that my tub cappings are in excellent condition

Roll cage is also being cleaned up and repainted. Loadspace rubber mat has come out, been cleaned and going to be lined with 3mm closed cell foam to further insulate and sound proof the 90.

I plan to get most of the trim back in this evening, should be much quieter, less rattly and generally look cleaner.

im cracking on something good!

Quater panels - repainted
Loadspace fully soundproofed and resprayed
B pillars soundproofed
Load space matting cleaned and lined with 3mm foam
Taken care of a bit of rust in the B pillars, only surface so all good
Was a bit more rust on the rear roll cage supports, taking a bit longer than I expected to clean up.... Mainly surface rust but bad surface rust. Must be a leak...

Found the source of the rattling, of course its the fecking side windows. Seeing that its going to cost at least £120 to repair them (using the upgraded weather seal) then another £80 or so to tint and that I need to replace my rear window I've decided to (eventually) buy the Masai Rear Window kit, all tinted. Seems reasonable for £500 inc all seals and rivets plus actual tinted glass not a film...

This evenings job consisted of sorting out the surface rust on the roll cage support struts and the raer seatbelt mounts.

That was long hard work... but all sanded back to bare metal and painted with hammerite.

Interior trim has also be primed and painted matt black ready to go back in.

Everything is just about finished and ready to be refited tomorrow afternoon along with replacing the A-Frame ball joint and related bushes.

Thats looking really good, you will need another motor for offroad soon......are you still planning on the heated screen and door mirrors as well? Would be interesting to know the noise level difference now, I should imagine its a good place to be in now on the faster roads. Keep up the good work.

Thanks

Heated screen is done! Fitted and working mirrors when it gets closer to winter/i decide to referb my doors.

Thing is the leather wipes down so easily, have seat covers and the alcantara is water resistant and easier to clean than the std lining so still going off road! Off to France in August.

Once its all back together (Sunday hopefully) ill do a db test see what I get!

tired now. Started at 3pm, just finished.

Most of the interior trim is back in and looks so much better, im happy with the result! Pics tomorrow!

Started loosening the bolts around the intercooler they are stiff very stiff. Tomorrow will be a long day!

Intercooler is in! An easy yet very hard job... Mainly due to a shockingly poor design by LR.



There are 2 nuts n bolts that hold the intercooler to the rad, the nuts are held in place by a PLASTIC retainer! and rear of the nut is inacessable. After 13 years obviously as soon as you get any torque on the head the nut just bloody spins!

Had to cut away parts of the intercooler to actualy remove it.

But its in! Power take up is much smoother, torque is increased.

Also finished sound proofing the rear. Jesus christ is it quiet! I mean REALLY quiet now its quite unbelieveable. Loudest noise I can hear now is the occasional rattle of the rear windows!

Over all this weeks work has been 150% worth it. Todays job is refitting the rest of the interior and upping the boost to 18psi.

For a second I thought I had solved the issue of water ****ing in through the passenger side door near the windscreen. Sadly not, but its getting worse. No obvious signs of water ingress so the headlining is coming out, sikaflex is coming out and anything that looks possible is getting sealed up.