Rebuild dilemma

Hi all

A while ago now I bought myself a 1986 defender 90 County. I picked "Colin" up quite cheep and have been spending on him whenever I have some spare cash. He now sports a galvanised Richards Chassis new bushes etc, he drives ok and is completely stock inside and out. Now that he's solid I'm thinking about "improvement's";

Plan A;
He's 2.2ltr petrol engine really does feel gutless and drinks petrol like a thing that really likes too drink petrol. A recon rover V8 should drive better and I hear whispers that because it would pull better a lighter right foot would give better mpg whilst keeping up with those old boys with there flat caps n orange badges.

The interior really is quite rotten the dash is held together with gaffa tape and the seats are too close to the peddles for me so a trip to Mudsport in Kent could remove the rear bulkhead and replace it with a strengthening member allowing the seat to move back a few more inches adding a pair of nice seats, centre cubbyhole/beer cooler and dash elements Raptor Engineering

Outside is ok a bit scruffy a carbon fibre wrap, dip the trim in chrome and replace the county decals with identical ones that say Colin instead would tidy things up and cost less than a proper respray.

Now for those howling at there monitors I have noticed that I'v never seen another county as old as my Colin and especially not with a petrol engine and double especially not in completely stock condition.

So here's my dilemma. Am I about to destroy a never to be seen again rare classic car that will be worth an absolute mint in a few years time when it becomes tax exempt because my plan B involves just replacing all the bits that are worn out with parts from main dealer and perhaps reconditioning and tweaking the original engine perhaps a light bore/stroke to increase torque then trade the extra torque for a few more horses with a cam reprofile and light head/valve work.

Me n Colin are at a fork in the road and I'd love to hear peoples advice.

Cheers Leeness

I also have a 1986 county but its the 2.5 petrol,I have done some modest changes like seats and bumber
But have all the original parts in the loft if needed,although the interior is still in good condition with original carpets and rear seats.have a look at my album its the black 90

Is Colin a transvestite as I thought all Landys were she's?

....I think you are right to wonder about how valuable these things will be in their original form in the future. Yet it is your vehicle to do with as you wish.

....perhaps if the works that you are considering doing are reversible and you keep the original parts, you leave as many options open to you in the future. Not sure that you would want to cut and weld new engine mounts onto your expensive galvanised chassis....would a V8 conversion require that? I've done a couple of 200 tdi conversions of a petrol series and an early petrol Defender and I've kept the original worn engines...just in case. very straight forward conversion. Funny tempted to change my series 2 back to it's original petrol form now it's not my main drive

Kwakerman said:

Is Colin a transvestite as I thought all Landys were she's?

Click to expand...

He's very blokey

What does Colin look like?

:nopics:

I'm a fan of keeping things close to original. The thing with an old 90 is you can put big wheels on it, jack it up, paint it luminous orange, stick loads of extra lights on it etc... and then quite possibly pass someone the next day who's done exactly the same thing.

I'd fix him up, replace anything that's broken or worn out (e.g the dash which is easy to swap out). Rebuilding the engine is always an option- a lot of people compare a replacement engine to their old worn out original so no wonder they see a performance improvement. The 2.25 petrol is a little underpowered for a heavy 90, but no worse than the 2.5D. I'd rebuild the original engine first and you should see an improvement. From memory I think the later 2.5 petrol just has a longer stroke crank fitted so that could be an option during the rebuild process.

As far as seats are concerned, remember that the driving position in a land rover is a bit like a van- you're sort of over the pedals rather than behind them, so I don't think the extra few cm you'd get through modification would make enough of a difference to be worthwhile.

Definitely need some pics.

as said already it's nice to keep things fairly original but it has to suit your needs too. A good quality conversion to a similar engine like the 2.5 or v8 should suit nicely, I think the lower power of the older engines is what makes the drive train last so long.