Project Rook

Well here we go, this will be my way to keep on top of this project with the help of you lovely guys and girls.

I’ll make it simple and split it up into before I got it and where im going with it.

Pre-Ownership:

This was initially an airport run around, from new, and never left the airfield until the second owner, who proceeded to convert it into a station wagon, which is where its build story really begins.

The car was taken apart and the chassis galvanised, from there the body conversion and a respray. No mechanical changes were made so everything went back into the car as is minus the new body and interior configuration.

The full exterior Khan body kit is actually fitted by one of the mechanics of Khan with the blessing of Khan/Chelsea truck in his off time to this car and the owners other personal defender, which got the full interior package and plaque of completion but never received a build number as it was not done “in house”. This is all topped off with a full exterior LED and Xenon light pack, Custom fabricated light bar bumper and a roof rack, 16” anthracite sawtooths on AT continentals. Inside its got the XS puma dash, Khan cream door cards, quilted cubby box (that is unbelievably comfortable and pillowy), working front and rear heated windows, central locking (excluding rear door), and a full pump kill switch (handy).

Here are pictures, of pictures, because the car came with a little photo album of what he’s done to it.
(re-uploading pics as they were oversized.)
BEFORE

AFTER:


The process:

Very nice ... but personally I would have stopped at the galvanised chassis and left out the Khanification, just too bling for my taste.
The one in my avatar is the way I like them but hey it's yours, so enjoy.
Welcome to the forum

Does look absolutely brilliant but i'm with capo when it comes to defenders.
Not that I would say no if it I was offered it for the right money (probably a fraction of what it cost).

Wow! That looks like a great job. Lots of hardwork gone into that conversation. Good luck keeping it clean.

Very nice

capo said:

Very nice ... but personally I would have stopped at the galvanised chassis and left out the Khanification, just too bling for my taste.
The one in my avatar is the way I like them but hey it's yours, so enjoy.
Welcome to the forum

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Bantam1 said:

Does look absolutely brilliant but i'm with capo when it comes to defenders.
Not that I would say no if it I was offered it for the right money (probably a fraction of what it cost).

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Thanks, i was very much on the same boat as you but after going to see it once and then looking at pictures of Khan defenders on instagram i was swayed.

DaveP_Tomcat said:

Wow! That looks like a great job. Lots of hardwork gone into that conversation. Good luck keeping it clean.

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Im lookging forard to getting it a bit dirty!

neilp1 said:

Very nice

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Thank you

So this is essentially my work car. I have a construction company in London and I do a lot of work in Central and the west end.
My issue was that I dont want to drive an actual van but need the utility of one. I had an audi A7 that i would nip around in to check on different projects ubt i always ended up going to pick up odds and ends for different places and the car was just getting ruined. I had to replace the mat in the boot and the stealers charged me £119+VAT!
I've always wanted a defender, and very nearly bit the bullet 2 years ago (wish i did because i could have got more for my money) but I sold the Audi and went for it this time round.

My plans:

There's a number of mechanical issues i'll have to fix, which i'll bullet point below:

- some hoses and seals in the engine bay needing changed because i think the vacuum pump seal is leaking and there was signs of some oil spray but after cleaning it up ive not seen any spray so i dont know what thats about?

- Prop shaft coupling needs checked/replaced. There is a bit of a knock coming from the middle of the car when i change gear and from my understanding this could be the cause? (please advise otherwise if you think its something else.)

- Clutch upgrade (maybe)
going to put those clutch springs in for now because London traffic is not ideal with that heavy a clutch.

- Have minor death wobble at 45-50mph, need to investigate the cause.

- Steering wheel has a little too much play. will tighten steering box, as soon as i figure out how.

Other works:

- lower by -1" in the front, -2" in back.
Currently its on Heavy duty springs and shocks thanks to it being a Van in the past life. However, it is now a City runner and London at that. Which means underground car parks and height restrictions.
With the roof rack and its current suspension the car is sitting at 87.5"(222cm), without the rack at 80"(203cm).
I have a parking space in covent garden that is at 205cm MAX, so i need to remedy that ASAP for when i take it into central. For now im going to take the rack off even though i need/want a rack, until i lower the car. Even at that i need to swap/sell this rack for one with a more flat one.
Here's a pic of the car on its first day of ownership. It may look like it but its no Chelsea tractor, that's for sure!


- The light bar bumper was fabricated by the previous owner and the housing has got water damage so when i use the high-beam the bar comes on in some places and not in others so it looks pretty naff. I've ordered a new one with a single round DRLs on each side. This current bumper only needs the off the shelf light bars, RDX i think? and it'd be good as new but im not totally sold on the look. Might stick it on the marketplace here and see if anyone is interested.

- I have a new smaller 15" steering wheel thats just arrived. Need to find time to stick that on, although it came with a 48 spline boss and im not sure if its the right one so need to take the wheel off and double check if i need a 36 or 48.

- Im also going to brand it up ever so slightly because it gets a lot of attention when im in traffic, which is all the time.
I've stuck some designs together for that, let me know what you guys think. Also does anyone know of a good wheel cover that is gloss black and not too expensive?

It does look good and seeing you're in Lunnon very nickable particularly 'to order'!
If you haven't done so already, I really suggest that you beef up the non-existent security. This could include all or any of - an enhanced steering lock (X-Eng) and / or steering wheel cover (Disklok), pedal box (X-Eng flip down or various steel box types), separate immobiliser or hidden kill switch (factory immobiliser is very accessible although possibly less so with the Khan grille-light surround), tracker (cheapo off eBay or Defender Defender, SkyTag etc). Then go mad and get security hinges for the doors and bonnet, deadlocks, chain it to the lamp-post etc

+1 ^^^^^^

capo said:

It does look good and seeing you're in Lunnon very nickable particularly 'to order'!
If you haven't done so already, I really suggest that you beef up the non-existent security. This could include all or any of - an enhanced steering lock (X-Eng) and / or steering wheel cover (Disklok), pedal box (X-Eng flip down or various steel box types), separate immobiliser or hidden kill switch (factory immobiliser is very accessible although possibly less so with the Khan grille-light surround), tracker (cheapo off eBay or Defender Defender, SkyTag etc). Then go mad and get security hinges for the doors and bonnet, deadlocks, chain it to the lamp-post etc

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Shippers said:

+1 ^^^^^^

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Thanks for looking out!
I've actually got a kill switch, currently wired to both heated seat options, and central locking excluding the rear. The shocker for me was that the bonnet could just lift right out! the previous owner had a bike lock hooped through it

UPDATE
- There seems to be a tear in a hose, which is causing oil spray on the passenger side bonnet. I made a thread to see if anyone could identify it and lynall (no idea how to tag someone) has suggested its the intercooler hose. Any further confirmation and assistance would be very much appreciated.

- In the interim, i changed my steering wheel today too. I picked it up from ebay with a boss kit. The boss doesnt deactivate the indicators so its not the best but it was a cheap upgrade to get rid of the stock wheel which i didnt like. It'll do for now!

To tag a member add @Rook1

My car is in the shop (AJD) just now getting a once over, since im driving it up to Glasgow on Friday so i dont want to have any surprises on its first long journey. If it behaves i'll take it up to the green welly stop and there abouts.

Before i took it to the shop i changed my bumper. The one that came on the car was a custom fabricated LED light bar, wired up to the high beams. A tad too flashy...
I bought a double DRL one from Ebay and went about sticking that on on Sunday.

Here is the old bumper


As you can see it was sealed terribly and its filled with condensation/water and most of the LED's didnt work.

Annoyingly, the Khan grill got in the way of the bumper bolts so had to take it off completely. ( i had to take the passenger side piece off anyway to wire the DRLs but was hoping to avoid the main grille).
In the end i was glad i took the grille off because i needed to clean up the cable tied wiring mess in front of the intercooler.



Unfortunately the bumper lights arent as White as i would like but they will do the job for now. Its main purpose was to get rid of that light bar.



For anyone wondering i picked up the bumper for £160+£10pp