Decisions, I hate them

So, it turns out despite sinking lots of blood, sweat, tears and mcuh love into my 300tdi disco over the years it's time for it to go to landy hell (the bastid).

I looked at a D3 at the weekend and I thought, I don't want that thing full of electrics despite it looking nice.

Instead (for all the wrong reasons) I've set my heart on a defender 110. Lots of space for kids whilst giving me a great rear end to fill with hiking kit and it's not full of electrics (not the older ones anyway).

Rather than go half heatedly, I'm thinking of going all out and sinking around £10k into buying one. I've never in my life spent that much on or buying a car so I really want to be sure that this defender doesn't fookin bite me after a year or so. That's why I thought I'll go for one that's already been rebuilt but to me that also sounds like a great opportunity for someone to hide a great deal of ****e car under nice new paint, so my question is, what can I do or what should I look for to make sure it isn't a ****ter? Which are the hard bits to get to that rot that someone wouldn't find easy to cover up with a lick of dulux?

Thanks

You can have my 1990 2.5 n/a 110 for £10k.

Buy something decent for a reasonable price and then get the rebuild done yourself. Not that I know anything about these things, but read this

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f16/wtf-dave-235947.html

For £10k you should be able to get a tidy TD5 110 which hasn't needed much work and which will stand you in good stead for many years.

Despite the horror stories from those who drive antediluvian 200 & 300 TDis, the electrics on a TD5 are not problematic (well at least not on mine). The minor irritations on mine are common to all Landys- a few leaks and draughts, etc etc

Have you driven/owned a 110 in the past at all?

We got our 90 as a trade-in at the local LR dealership and paid about that ..worth telling them what you're after and your price range , luckily we know the bloke who does warranty work pre resale so betsy was at his garage where we could have a damn good look at her up on ramps , so it may be worth a little detective work to find who does that warranty work for your local dealer ..

take someone with yer, preferably someone who knows what there looking for.

I did the same last year, I scrapped my 300tdi disco becauser the rot had gone in to the main chassis rails.
I then spent 5 grand on an early 300tdi defender SW, I've spent the last year dealing with all the little "modifications" done by previous owners and garages. Ive also done more chassis welding on it than it would have taken to fix my old disco. the wirings a mess, the doors are rotten, its noisy, slow and thirsty, its not as comfortable as the disco, or as fast.
would I go back
not a f****ng chance, the thing is unstoppable in the muck, I get out smiling every time I drive it, the only part I hate is that there is still no where to put your damn elbow other thanout the window, just like my old series trucks

10k for an old pre electrickery 110.. flip that

why not go for the extra work, buy an oldass rotten one, stick on a galv chassis and stick your 300tdi bits into it and scrap the disco

you know you want to

suew said:

Buy something decent for a reasonable price and then get the rebuild done yourself. Not that I know anything about these things, but read this

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f16/wtf-dave-235947.html

Click to expand...

blimey if I was gonna spend 10k I wouldn't expect to have to do ' a re-build '

for 15K yu could build a "new" one

See its perfect elbow room for my rediculously short arms ! i've always had trouble with not being able to reach

I agree i've bought my 1st defender from having a "regular car" & its thrown up a few random things already but i love it ! so fun to drive & tbh i dont find it terrible on diesel i spend about the same amount each week as i did on my petrol car.

definately worth the quirks

trax99 said:

I did the same last year, I scrapped my 300tdi disco becauser the rot had gone in to the main chassis rails.
I then spent 5 grand on an early 300tdi defender SW, I've spent the last year dealing with all the little "modifications" done by previous owners and garages. Ive also done more chassis welding on it than it would have taken to fix my old disco. the wirings a mess, the doors are rotten, its noisy, slow and thirsty, its not as comfortable as the disco, or as fast.
would I go back
not a f****ng chance, the thing is unstoppable in the muck, I get out smiling every time I drive it, the only part I hate is that there is still no where to put your damn elbow other thanout the window, just like my old series trucks

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Thanks for all the replies. I've not had a defender before. I did think of buying a shed and then doing the rebuild but I don't have the skills myself and don't really have a trusty mechanic nearby. In the meantime I've heard of a landy god somewhere near Kettering who dedicates his life to keeping landy's alive. I'm going to be put in touch by a good friend and hopefully with any luck I might be able to get my disco back on the road. If I could then that's my ideal! Thanks for all the replies again and "WTF is that Dave" ran the ****s up me. Can't believe some people, really feel for Sarah.

0writer said:

Thanks for all the replies. I've not had a defender before. I did think of buying a shed and then doing the rebuild but I don't have the skills myself and don't really have a trusty mechanic nearby. In the meantime I've heard of a landy god somewhere near Kettering who dedicates his life to keeping landy's alive. I'm going to be put in touch by a good friend and hopefully with any luck I might be able to get my disco back on the road. If I could then that's my ideal! Thanks for all the replies again and "WTF is that Dave" ran the ****s up me. Can't believe some people, really feel for Sarah.

Click to expand...

Yes, I was sitting here thinking "what could possibly be wrong with your 300tdi Disco that £10K can't fix?" I take it you do some of the spannering your self, so you wouldn't have to pay someone to do all the work? Good practice to find a landy specialist, not a main dealer, an independent who knows his stuff etc.

mudfever said:

blimey if I was gonna spend 10k I wouldn't expect to have to do ' a re-build '

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LOL, I meant on the Landy and the rebuild together