James Carr
Member
- Posts
- 42
- Location
- Great dunmow
Hi everyone,
Bought a green 1989 90 pickup, (originally a 2.5 n/a) a few months back, totally new to Land Rover ownership but that didn’t stop me from driving the old girl back from Leeds to east London and thankfully without a single hiccup.
I done all the research online before buying that could be done, she seemed decent enough for the asking price so I took the dive!
Obviously it’s not without its problems but I wasn’t exactly buying a 2013 reg puma, so I didn’t expect perfection.
After a few weeks of ownership and more research I began compiling a list of things I neeed to fix urgently, the first being the rear axle was totally shot!
Some eBay hunting and patience and I found myself a new (new to me) rear axle. It was at a good price and not too far away. Over the space of a weekend me and a fellow Defender owner/long term friend swapped out the old axle, along with all new nuts and bolts, brake lines, fulcrum ball joint etc etc. Drives so much better (aka no more knocking) since!
Next up, a raptor dash install, a stereo (as it didn’t have one at all) some new headlights and bulbs and a fuel filter change (pumped it full of the premium fuel for weeks before hand)
The more I drove her, the more I started to explore my local green lanes having purchased a explorer map and done my research into the do’s and donts of green laning (ps I live in east London, closest lanes are essex and Hertford) and test the capabilities of my landy. In all honesty I was seeing what would break, better for it to break close to home than a million miles away whilst overlanding (in the future)
And now onto the present day,
Bought myself a unit (for work purposes) but the landy has taken over for a few weeks while some much needed work goes on, I do keep telling myself it WONT turn into a restoration.
Currently the whole front end and interior is stripped, cleaning up as much of the chassis as I can get too and painting, full extended wading kit fitted, all new filters, oil, sump plugs, washers etc fitted.
Steve Parker intercooler pipe conversion (it’s a 200tdi conversion) some chassis repairs on the front end, new door pillars, new wings, snorkel, thermostat, rocker cover gasket, braided brake lines, suspension turrets, door hinges, bonnet hinges, freshen up on the wiring, new headlights, sidelights and indicators, rad flushed and intercooler flushed, timing belt kit, water pump and I will probably end doing a full respray too, along with all new washers and nyloc nuts whenever I can put them!
Future plans are... use it as often as I can, fix it as often as I can afford and maybe some nice trips away!
Thanks for reading and would be great to find some local Land Rover owners to meet up with
(I hope the pictures upload)
James
Bought a green 1989 90 pickup, (originally a 2.5 n/a) a few months back, totally new to Land Rover ownership but that didn’t stop me from driving the old girl back from Leeds to east London and thankfully without a single hiccup.
I done all the research online before buying that could be done, she seemed decent enough for the asking price so I took the dive!
Obviously it’s not without its problems but I wasn’t exactly buying a 2013 reg puma, so I didn’t expect perfection.
After a few weeks of ownership and more research I began compiling a list of things I neeed to fix urgently, the first being the rear axle was totally shot!
Some eBay hunting and patience and I found myself a new (new to me) rear axle. It was at a good price and not too far away. Over the space of a weekend me and a fellow Defender owner/long term friend swapped out the old axle, along with all new nuts and bolts, brake lines, fulcrum ball joint etc etc. Drives so much better (aka no more knocking) since!
Next up, a raptor dash install, a stereo (as it didn’t have one at all) some new headlights and bulbs and a fuel filter change (pumped it full of the premium fuel for weeks before hand)
The more I drove her, the more I started to explore my local green lanes having purchased a explorer map and done my research into the do’s and donts of green laning (ps I live in east London, closest lanes are essex and Hertford) and test the capabilities of my landy. In all honesty I was seeing what would break, better for it to break close to home than a million miles away whilst overlanding (in the future)
And now onto the present day,
Bought myself a unit (for work purposes) but the landy has taken over for a few weeks while some much needed work goes on, I do keep telling myself it WONT turn into a restoration.
Currently the whole front end and interior is stripped, cleaning up as much of the chassis as I can get too and painting, full extended wading kit fitted, all new filters, oil, sump plugs, washers etc fitted.
Steve Parker intercooler pipe conversion (it’s a 200tdi conversion) some chassis repairs on the front end, new door pillars, new wings, snorkel, thermostat, rocker cover gasket, braided brake lines, suspension turrets, door hinges, bonnet hinges, freshen up on the wiring, new headlights, sidelights and indicators, rad flushed and intercooler flushed, timing belt kit, water pump and I will probably end doing a full respray too, along with all new washers and nyloc nuts whenever I can put them!
Future plans are... use it as often as I can, fix it as often as I can afford and maybe some nice trips away!
Thanks for reading and would be great to find some local Land Rover owners to meet up with
(I hope the pictures upload)
James
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