I Wanted One, I Bought One, I Don't Know Why, is This Normal?

So I've had a bit of a thing for Defenders for about 2 or 3 years. I live in a tiny Village in Dorset and occasionally get flooded in, sometimes snowed in, and see the local farmers just plodding through 12-18 inches of water no worries.

So a bit of an impulse buy this one, dangerous I know, but oh well it's done now. I got a call letting me know that someone was thinking of selling there Defender, and went to have a look. It's a 1996 90 CSW, with 108,000 miles on the clock, ended up doing a deal and picked it up a couple of weeks later. I'd say it's reasonable condition, the chassis has had a couple of recent repairs, and there is only surface rust visible on the chassis.

I'll post a few pics up in here as I go along, niff naff and trivia is all I'm really doing at the moment. As soon as I got it I had both the gearboxes drained and filled with new oil, the diffs had the same treatment. The speedo was ticking really loudly, so that had to be fixed. I didn't fancy jumping into TD5 speedo fitting as my first job. It was repaired by speedycables, it took 6 weeks and they charged me more than they said they would, and every time asked for an update all I got was "it will take about 6 weeks, we'll phone you when it's ready". They couldn't even say if they'd received it or not, so not 100% happy but it's stopped ticking so it's a success.

I replaced the radio as the CD player wasn't working so put in a DAB unit, had to use a 15mm spacer as the unit was too deep tp fit in the dash..

The drivers seat foam had collapsed so that was taken off and replaced with a nice new bit of foam. Feels weird after driving it after having no support on your left side and having to hold yourself up with the cubby box on roundabouts.

Sorry no pics of those bits.

The snorkel has obviously taken a hit at some point, which has broken the bracket which supports it. The previous owner obviously thought and old shelf bracket with only 2 screws was a suitable replacement:


I had removed 2 bolts from the snorkel itself in those pictures.

I bought a bit of aluminium angle off eBay thinking it would be 90 degrees and just a simple case of transferring the holes from snorkel/a-pillar but no. I ended up using a persuading device to bend the angle further, it probably ended up at about 85 degrees give or take. I painted it satin black, and installed using a bead of RTV to seal against the elements. some new stainless screws and bolts were used which have now been painted black too.


Here's a picture of Cadbury keeping an eye on things.

Very nice!

Nice looking truck you have there. There is definitely something about Defenders that is not normal, I have always wanted one despite having no real need of a 4x4. When I got mine I thought I would own it for a while and then eventually rebuild it, however I found myself obsessed thinking about it and what I could do with it. Suffice to say, she is now in hundreds of bits in my garage being restored.

Cheers

I know what you mean, they use a TD5 pickup at work to tow around things weighing up to about 6 tons. The only modifications are; special tow mounts, and uprated brakes, that's it! I could see mine being in pieces when something happens. I'd love to have a galvanized chassis and bulkhead but won't be touching anything unless it needs doing. I plan on just keeping it in good working order..........................................................

That truck looks ace

Thanks. For a while after I got it I kept looking at hard tops thinking I should have saved a chunk of money and bought one of them instead, it's pretty much only me and one other at the most in it. The side windows are good for checking blind spots though. It has grown on me now, although when I can't see the wheels as I approach it, I keep envisaging it with black modular rims and some AT tyres.

Welcome to the club Mr Nonk, a mighty fine looking tratter you have there.

Nice to see you getting stuck in to tidying it up straight away, not only does that bracket look better but I reckon it'll make you feel better anorl!

Cheers

The repair on the snork looks very good,hope all the repairs are just as simple,good luck and the csw looks good.

Nice looking fender mate love the colour,

Looks like a fairly tidy one for that age. I would try and investigate the rust on the bulkhead and windscreen surround, and treat it before it gets any worse. Those wheels wouldn't be to my taste either, steel modular would be better!
And if you are planning to drive through deep water, try and sort the surface rust on the chassis and get some kind of protection on it first!

Nice! I know it's not the most exciting thing to spend money on, but get the chassis treated with dinitrol or similar ASAP... Will save you a headache in the future

Welcome to the game. I hope you have deep pockets and thick knuckles.

Looks like a fine example you've got there mate, good starting point to go either way, full restoration or mild green laner

Welcome to the club; Looks like a nice 90 from what can be seen on the pictures. One job I would tackle fairly quickly is the paint bubbling on the bulk head, before it rust through. Two main areas which rust up on Defenders are the chassis and bulkhead. I'm sure your Defender will grow on you. I inherited mine. a lot of the jobs I manage to tackle myself as they are fairly straight forward to work on. I also live in a small village. I find it ideal. Especially in the winter when the snow comes. Having had mine for just over five years I don't see myself owning anything else. keep it in good order and you won't loose much money on it. There are plenty of places to buy cheap spares for almost everything. Check on here before you buy or before you take it to a garage.
Hope you have as much fun as I have had.

Evening all, this is a friendly club isn't it. Thanks for the welcomes .

gemsdad said:

The repair on the snork looks very good,hope all the repairs are just as simple,good luck and the csw looks good.

Click to expand...

Sadly I've left the worser bits until tonight haha.

Rosie said:

Nice! I know it's not the most exciting thing to spend money on, but get the chassis treated with dinitrol or similar ASAP... Will save you a headache in the future

Click to expand...

That's my next port of call, my mate works at a garage who use Waxoyl, so I should be able to get mates rates. If not I'll either get researching or buy a compressor and dinitrol kit and do it myself.

payydg said:

Welcome to the game. I hope you have deep pockets and thick knuckles.

Click to expand...

I'm single and live with my parents, so until I move out and find myself another half I should be fine.

300tditoy said:

Looks like a fine example you've got there mate, good starting point to go either way, full restoration or mild green laner

Click to expand...

I'd be edging towards green laner if I was going to go in any direction, don't want a car that's too clean I don't want to use it I've already got one of them. Probably just keep it in good working order, possibly do a few minor things to make it a bit better, BF AT tyres are high on my list but the current ones have almost 8mm of tread left.

mikescuba said:

Welcome to the club; Looks like a nice 90 from what can be seen on the pictures. One job I would tackle fairly quickly is the paint bubbling on the bulk head, before it rust through. Two main areas which rust up on Defenders are the chassis and bulkhead. I'm sure your Defender will grow on you. I inherited mine. a lot of the jobs I manage to tackle myself as they are fairly straight forward to work on. I also live in a small village. I find it ideal. Especially in the winter when the snow comes. Having had mine for just over five years I don't see myself owning anything else. keep it in good order and you won't loose much money on it. There are plenty of places to buy cheap spares for almost everything. Check on here before you buy or before you take it to a garage.
Hope you have as much fun as I have had.

Click to expand...

Either you've got great eye sight or I'm missing something, is the screen surround classed as the bulkhead? I can see the rust on the vent hinge but that's all I can see. Although if you see my next post you'll see a few of the bad bits and that does include the bulkhead.
Yes ideal vehicle for hacking around the lanes in, I look forward to the autumn and winter anyway as I dislike the "heat". Now I'm just like a kid waiting for a trip to the sweet shop!

Bulkhead top panel?
There is also a tiny hint of rust beside the false bonnet hinge. Really is worth checking out and spraying some stuff inside.

So before I point out the bad bits, I'll just update another little thing I've done. At some point someone's sprayed the light surrounds and grilles and fitted a blanket on the front grille. I decided to remove all three, take off the blanket and spray the plastics black again.
Before:

After:

I'm tempted to get the bull bars shot blasted and galvanized as there are a few areas that are starting to rust, although I do like the look of the A bars better but they all say for off road use only. The bumper's faded and rusty in a few places too, so not sure if it's worth just buying a new one or doing the same to that, any input welcomed(at any time anyway but is it worth the outlay for galvanizing over buying another for £40).

Turboman said:

Bulkhead top panel?
There is also a tiny hint of rust beside the false bonnet hinge. Really is worth checking out and spraying some stuff inside.

Click to expand...

Ah I see, cheers! Yeah I've owned Fords all my life so know how it gets in and spreads like wild fire, small bubble becomes big bubble quite rapidly. Yeh will look into it soon, along with the other bit on the bulkhead

NinkyNonk said:

Ah I see, cheers! Yeah I've owned Fords all my life so know how it gets in and spreads like wild fire, small bubble becomes big bubble quite rapidly. Yeh will look into it soon, along with the other bit on the bulkhead

Click to expand...

Do it sooner rather than later,rust is a major concern regarding land rovers.