Edd's Defender 90 Rebuild from Rust to rut muncher

Hello there folks!

As i posted a while ago i am going to be undergoing a rebuild on my defender. Following an abysmal MOT i am going to be doing a lot of work as listed below;

New Galv Chassis
Re-Paint Body (RAF blue/grey Matt or Matt Black) Features will then be red
New suspension all round to low comp spec
Roll Cage
new set of insa turbos 285's
Restore and rebuild axles
braked axle on rear
Driveline work/replace
LED lights all round
HID Headlights

its going to be a lot of work but i'm going to enjoy it as much as possible too! Am lucky enough to have a forklift/telehandler at my fingertips to use to aid all the lifting, most work will be single handed until i get the bbq out and the mates come and help!

You guys like pictures so i will post as many as possible for you to see and also people tha want to do this to learn from...

First things first, i have only just had this landy a year and bought it with an MOT but knowing the chassis wasnt good, but used it and it never really failed me chassis wise, but as i said MOT this year said otherwise, so first job after making my decision was to get it up and give it a good degrease and wash underneath to see the extent of the damage, and also try and minimise the amount of **** i'm going to get in my eyes when i start to strip it.



A bit of fun whilst washing, due to upgrading my suspension a lot i also measured what articulation i could get..


I then had a good look underneath and found the rust was real bad.. these are some photos of just some of the bad bits










So i parked her up where she is going to stand and then took the wheels off as someone wanted them (and i need the money) also, don't worry.. it is now on axle stands.




Im going up to the farm now to start on the next jobs which is start to strip her down, im keeping the body whole for the moment to lift off
So ive got to do alot of disconnecting, draining and removal. more photos to follow!

Watching with interest....

Right guys, yesterday The strip down began, as i said i popped her up on axle stands and began stripping...



To keep myself on track i made a to-do list of the major jobs that had to be done before i could think about lifting the body off which ive put below for people to use if you want! Had myself and a mate going at it.. Im very lucky to have been able to use some barn space on the farm i work on so can get on in good space..

Heres my rather messy looking engine bay during strip down


That took me 6 hours to the point where all that i had to do tonight was disconnect clutch actuator, disconnect remaining electrics, remove 4 remaining bolts mounting the body and a few other little things!

Tonight, went to the truck at 4pm and started cracking on with jobs, tommorow i will post some pictures of all the body mount points on the landy so people can get a good idea of it in the future..

Cracked on with the jobs as listed and then brought the big machines in!



gave it a tug upwards and all i got was a bend in the middle where the tub came upwards.. hmm i thought, oh bugger i thought ive mised two mounts bolts..
I FORGOT TO TAKE THE FARKING RAD AND INTERCOOLER OUT so a further 15 mins later after removing them adn taking all the bolts out attempt number 2!

PLEAST NOTE: WHERE I HAVE PU THTE STRAPS ON THE ABOVE PICTURE IS NOT SAFE i put them there out of the way for a min and took a photo, i eventually strapped below the windscreen & bonnet line one on either side on a much stronger part of the bulkhead and then also through the holes on the back of the tub.

When we started to lift for a 3rd time the front wasnt quite keeping up as the very back and virtually the middle were being lifted, so i whacked another (3)rd strap around the front not to take any weight but just to support it with the rest of the body



And there she started to lift!

I found it as a good idea to lift by a couple of inches whilst someone else is constanly checking around the landy to see for any parts catching, once up a couple of inches i got in and around checked for any parts i forgot which ended up being a brake line and also a cable from the rear lights.

Up up and away and there she was lifted away!

Popped her down on the floor and posed for a picture in my low lander


I quickly drained the oil from the transfer box and gearbox tidied up organised all my tools (don't keep them there) and headed off t'pub!



Tommorows tasks are strip everythign else down, get axles, gearbox, transfer box, engine and everything else off!

Really happy with progress so far! only 8 hours to get the entire thing split!

i like the no nonsense approach taking the body off the chassis!

Enjoying this build so far, you are lucky to have so much room and access to a telehandler.

Cheers guys, and yeh it does help so much! and also keeping the area clean helps too! haha

Completely forgot any pictures today Gus and gals, but I will snap some tomorrow for you but managed to get a fair bit more done today but did slack a little due to laziness..

The chassis is on its last legs now, got fuel tank removed, rear axle, engine, gearbox, PAS steering box all removed. Pretty happy with the progress really as it's taken 14 hours so far!

Next jobs are to get front axle and steering rods removed.. Pull all the wiring out of the chassis rails and then scrap it!

Spoke to Richards earlier and I have confirmed the build at around 1800 quid with mounts and roll cage mounts!

Until I have cash later on I'm going to crack on with everything else, painting the body, renovating the axles ECt

Photos later!

Nice work edd, can I have your telehandler?and your shed?


Please!

Woops! I never posted my to do list that i roughly followed!

Remove Seat Bases
Remove Centre Console
Remove Basses under above
Remove gear stick and gaiter
Disconnect and remove battery
Pull cables through holes
Disconnect harness from rear
Disconnect Handbrake cable
Drain Desil from tank
Remove Fuel filter and holder
Remove Grille
Remove grille surround
Remove front bumper
Remove rad top bracket
Disconnect snorkel
Disconnect steering collum
Disconnect brake lines from MC
Disconnect brake Vacuum hose - engine
Remove clutch actuator from housing
Disconnect speedo cable
Disconnect +ve from live fuse/distro
Drain Engine oil
Disconnect Feed and return from oil cooler
Disconnect feed and return from Rad
Disconnect feed and return from intercooler
Remove above
Remove fuel filler
Unbolt power steering res
Disconnect bulkhead electric plugs x4
Disconnect glowplug supply from first GP
Disconnect starter solenoid power (white inline)
Disconnect heater supply and return from engine
Remove body mount bolts

Didnt follow it word for word but used that and logic and it all happened quite fast!

Pictures as promised:

As i started to strip the rear axle dropped it down as to unseat the top of the spring and this just fell off.. the ned you can see is the (was the) chassis mount for the spring.. :O
[
This is how the engine now sits, she isnt very well with leaks and all sorts, and then something else i noticed.. not what i was expecting and cant believe i hadnt noticed!

Take a look at the issue here:
Turbo problems - 300tdi - YouTube


Ohwell! now to carry on stripping! Everything else out bar the front axle which is another days job..




Really happy for 14 hours work so far!

Billy B said:

Nice work edd, can I have your telehandler?and your shed?


Please!

Click to expand...

Yeh sure why not! theres another couple of bays free in the shed just mind the combine stuff and the drills ect But thanks bud


I will grab those pictures of the mount points tommorow and post them up!

lucky you caught this turbo at the rebuild stage and not when you had finished in case the turbo let go and your motor blew........

Best start to any build I've seen on here. We do like heavy machinery...

I'm enjoying this too.....

I've just tried to do the first job on my landrover and been stopped in my tracks due to not having a deep 27mm socket to take the spare wheel off the rear door in order to remove the wiper motor! Collecting one tonight, even the one out of my 3/4" socket set wasn't deep enough.....

Are you doing anything with the engine or just cleaning it up and sticking it back in?

Cracking start to a build. Keep up the good work !!

Looking forward to more updates!

flat said:

lucky you caught this turbo at the rebuild stage and not when you had finished in case the turbo let go and your motor blew........

Click to expand...

I know mate, glad I didn't go and put It back in the rebuild too!

Landyjd said:

Best start to any build I've seen on here. We do like heavy machinery...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words jd! Love a bit of machinery but it's annoying sitting on it all day at work knowing the lands is sitting not far away not being worked non haha

cowasaki said:

I'm enjoying this too.....

I've just tried to do the first job on my landrover and been stopped in my tracks due to not having a deep 27mm socket to take the spare wheel off the rear door in order to remove the wiper motor! Collecting one tonight, even the one out of my 3/4" socket set wasn't deep enough.....

Are you doing anything with the engine or just cleaning it up and sticking it back in?

Click to expand...

You have no idea how much that just made me laugh made! Very unfortunate!
The engine is pretty ####ed and although I'm good with a lot of parts of landis, the internals of engines isn't my forte so I'm in two mins a the moment, bin it and get a engine 2nd hand or get it refuted.. But that's going to cost a lot..

Thanks for all the words Guy! At work at the moment but will be cracking on with the final strip after work today!

abcdedd said:

You have no idea how much that just made me laugh made! Very unfortunate!
The engine is pretty ####ed and although I'm good with a lot of parts of landis, the internals of engines isn't my forte so I'm in two mins a the moment, bin it and get a engine 2nd hand or get it refuted.. But that's going to cost a lot..

Thanks for all the words Guy! At work at the moment but will be cracking on with the final strip after work today!

Click to expand...

The spare wheel is off now

It would seem such a shame to go through all this and then end up with a dodgy motor in it but I appreciate it's not always easy to sort everything at once.