Coffee Addict signing in. Bigger hammer required.

Well.. I had to peak your interest just a little.... Wouldn't be fair otherwise!

Hello all!

As many I've been reading up left right and centre on the forum but not signed up. I've been talking with a friend of mine and next month, hopefully middle of Aug he'll be ready to give up his 110 300tdi to me!

I've a long history of tinkering, being 30 now you'd think I actually know something - yet I've got to ask and read up first before I go ahead and discard everything because some XYZ thing is stuck and just donk it with a hammer anyway!

I'm based in Bristol and maybe some of you local will know truck as its been here in Bristol for the last 10 years or so. I'm not however aware if he is a member of any of the forums but I will ask when I see him next.

One thing I have never ever done in my life is gone off road.. Well.. not with 4 wheels and an engine anyway! That being said, I'd like to go have a play so I can scratch the itch but wont be building this defender into an off road monster by any stretch - At best i'll just make sure I double bungee the shopping down.

Some of the 'off road' kit however to me looks the dogs on the trucks, the steering guard for example for sweeping up the occasional O.A.P is on my to make/buy list! Just like that p*ssed off look it gives the truck!

Many moons ago I did a shell up resto on a classic mini - loved every minute of that and consumed a sainsburys (Or insert favourite food shop here) warehouse amount of coffee during its build. Being a member and reading around the forums it's exactly the same here in the sense of they've not got XYZ but at some point you just have to own one... Well here I am!

I am struggling to understand at present the huge price variations between the trucks, time I'm sure will help me understand what makes a 2k 5k and 15k example.

When I've got the truck if there are local meets I'd like to pop along and see what other people are doing with theirs and all the usual fun banter of a meet. I guess the difference here is we won't be tearing up the local dual carriageways or finding the longest tunnels (old Honda days)

Enough blurb for me as that's the coffee over. Look forward to annoying you all soon :-D

Ta,

Mark.

So this post is useless without pics right? (Sent more to upload but not come through yet)

I don't want to ruin the surprise but your thoughts on these pics would be good. How would you go about dealing with the surface accumulation? Anything look alarming?

1st pic, welding looks a bit suspect, has it had a new rear cross member with extensions maybe?
The towbar electrics cable needs securing.
Looks a good solid truck all in all.

Hi @Coffee Addict and welcome to the loonyzone!

I'm also Bristol Based so looking forward to seeing photos of the truck to see if I recognise it at all!

Theres a few of us who, from time to time, take a little trip down to Salisbury Plain (looking at something in December at the moment) so if you're interested in joining us i can add you to the conversation about that. We dont tend to do anything that a stock defender (or for that matter Disco) would struggle with - even the freelander we took last winter made it out alive! Oh - and we always take decent coffee!!

Or i'd be happy to meet up with you at some point near Bristol and do a few of the lanes between Bristol and Bath

Thanks for the replies so far! These are questions i can ask regarding cross member etc. Currently replying on my phone but i will log onto PC in a few hours and upload more photos. What i do know is he said that the rear area was very recently welded..

Regarding meet up's im game on! And will reply shortly etc.

Ta,

Mark

wire brush it ... waxoil it

So.. Time for another little lot of piccies!


Just to the left of the spring here is a bracket, one hole in it and seems to be spaced away, is this normal?



Bulkhead corner looks pretty clean? The surface rust of the bulk will come off with some elbow grease me thinking looks just like its on top of the paint at this point and attn to be spent on the door hinge itself.



Well.. Oil keeps the rust away I suppose! I'll have to look into where this leak is from but looks sump related as the top end is dry from a quick look. Steering box has a leak also.





Keep the replies coming! Your advice is much appreciated in what to tackle and as inexperienced eye the things that don't look right to you. Just like the welding job on the rear which has been pointed out. When you say it looks suspect, what would you advise on that? Once I take ownership the questions will come thick and fast I'm sure! I'll open a work in progress thread with the mandatory 6.2 billion photos.

Ta,

Mark

Welding- grind the bird sh!t lumps smooth and run a fresh bead of MIG weld all round.
It looks like not enough amps have gone into it and it's stringy like a poor arc weld or a gasless MIG might produce.

Hinges- replace them if worn rather than clean them up and refit with stainless screws, kits are available for this to do the rear door and bonnet too if you so wish. Galv and stainless steel hinges are available too but are priceyer.

Great stuff, to be honest ive not checked the condition for wear.. just went with the complete opposite approach to closing the door then i do in any car ive had.. Slam it! Really grinds my cogs when people slam my door to shut it but i guess i'll be getting used to that! I'll fettle as required as everyone does.

The time has come!!!!!!!

Now the new owner of the truck whoop whoop! Not on the pc so can't upload photos at the moment.

Have already found electrical woes in the dash and the oil leak is worse than i thought. This also isnt helped by a water leak - these things are sent to test us hey.

Until very soon.. cheers all!

Mark.