Sandy Landy will be rebuilt, just to make her new again.

Well guys, my perfectionism gets me in trouble all the time. My 97 300TDI needed the only major rust I can see fixed, how that leads to a rebuild...oh well.

I striped out the AC to get rid of it and fix a rust spot, only major one I have seen so far. The Landy was leaking oil, so I never drove it since I bought it because I wanted to make her right. I also wanted to have the radiator redone, the timing belt, front end seals done etc.

So leaking from the valve cover, a bit from the rear crank shaft seal, around the head gasket it seems, power steering pump leaking etc. I was looking at all that I have taken out so far to make her better and have decided since she has 265,340 KM, I might as well rebuild her power plant.

I don't want it to start smoking first before I make the time to rebuild it. Better do it now before the wear and tear starts showing up soon and it will have to be done then anyway, so do it now.

I will be busy these next few weeks but will hopefully make the time to get the engine out and prepare for a strip down. I am anxious to see what the cylinders look like and condition of the head, valves etc.

I have attached some pics showing how she sits now. I also found out why I had no vacuum assisted brakes.

Also a pic of the famous high current brown wires which I will make sure is fused or on a breaker.

I also uploaded a pic showing two sensors on the thermostat housing. I am assuming that one is for the temp gauge and one is the electric fan switch.


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Been doing a lot of stripping and checking

Removed salt corrosion from Landy induced by previous owner who surfed a lot, leaving salt water from the ocean in the cargo cabin.

Removed seats, over 500 lbs of steel floor and bench tops, sanded the entire cargo area and then painted with a special corrosion inhibitor paint.

I used an air saner with different sanding grits, wire brush attachments and buffers spending the greater part of a few days to get it perfect. .

After running the looks in my head and all which I would like to install in the Landys dash, I opted to pull the board type dash and do something different. I will get the Mud UK dash console and will custom make the remaining parts to suit.

The original dash looked clean and neat but not piratical for me...so out it goes.

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Some defenders have the air con under the dash.

It does get in the way, fingers grazed when applying the hand brake for instance.

nobber said:

It does get in the way, fingers grazed when applying the hand brake for instance.

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Seen a few here with the AC under the dash, not a fan of that either, no pun intended.

Though I am on a tropical island where it's hot daily, I can do without the AC. You get a fair amount of breeze and I am self employed so no need to wear suits and being soaked.

I will look at installing a blower somewhere to bring in some forced fresh air.

The 2 temperature switches are for the air con. The switch for the the temp gauge is just a single push connector which won't be far from the switches you taken the pictures of.

Ian46 said:

The 2 temperature switches are for the air con. The switch for the the temp gauge is just a single push connector which won't be far from the switches you taken the pictures of.

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Thanks Ian, I had figured it out after I posted assumption. I will remove the AC switch replacing it with a switch for an extracting fan with a slightly lower temperature.

Are up you on a Base in France? Hope you have a Defender there

Cheers.

Yep, I'm in lower Normandie. I've got a 300tdi hybrid I build a few years ago but currently it's not been used, too many vehicles to insurer and all that.

Ian46 said:

Yep, I'm in lower Normandie. I've got a 300tdi hybrid I build a few years ago but currently it's not been used, too many vehicles to insurer and all that.

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Sounds cool, guess you are a US Citizen. I am from Canada on Dip Mission to Barbados. Been to France and due again soon.

Hybrid 300TDI? Electric assisted? What did you do to your Landy?

I'm a UK citizen. When I said hybrid I should have said a bitza, bits of this and bits of that. Some thing I built just to have fun with, it's never been on the road because I don't have papers for it.

Its been a while since I did anything much to my red landy.

Stripped out the entire dash and was totally happy to see that I have no bulkhead rust behind the dash, not a speck.

I lightly hand sanded it still, gave her a new high temp paint job and then sprayed on some rust protection wax afterwards.

Got my two 10" subs and box ready, two 6X9 main speakers, two 5 1/4" and 2 5" speakers ready for wiring.

Got a Kenwood 1000 watt sub woofer amp and Phoenix Octane R 300 watts main amp to drive 6 main speakers.

Landys panels will resonate Loud is good but must be clean and distortion free, I prefer less driven clean sound.

Happy that I got the Mud UK 4 gauge mud pod, center console and cup holder/tray in one piece shipped to Barbados.

Bought a steering wheel locally. Not happy with the wheel to dash depth, I will machine the hub to make that more shallow.

I will eventually change it to a slightly smaller and thicker wheel.

Progress so far, removed windscreen and windscreen frame both of which was fairly simple and fast.

The condition of this Landys body is stunningly impressive, I am so happy that there is absolutely NO rust to be discovered.

I also installed high density foam into the roof sections between the support ribs which was meant to roof linings. Will take more pics of this later.

though this Landy did not come with the roof completely lined and just having the front covered, I already have a full CSW set re-upholstered ready to be installed.

I have this on a dedicated thread for those needing information but have to add it to my rebuild and performance thread here.

I ordered my Marshall Gauges from SCX Full Sweep Performance Auto Gauges from Marshall Instruments

To play with turbos and tuning for more power, good gauges are a must.

These are full sweep electronic programmable gauges with high and low alarm settings, warning lights, programmable instrument lighting and peak reading logging.

They are US made and one of the best on the market performance gauges.

I also got an Innovate programmable EGT gauge with data logging,

Included in my line of gauges is a G-Tech Pro performance meter which indicates and logs HP, Torque, G forces ( D: on a landy) RPM, shift lights, 1/4 mile run time, 0-60 mph/time etc., and gives you graphs with HP.time or HP/torque and more combinations.

I had a few of these from before and thought it best to install one in the landy too, would be nice to see performance gains while tweaking.

Gauges to be installed:

Boost
EGT
Fuel pressure
Oil pressure
Oil temperature
Water temperature
volts
HP, torque, G forces, 0-60, 1/4 mile run etc

This entire package measurements are very, very accurate so quite expensive too. Since I was and to some degree in the performance business, this is a must for me.

I received my Alpine CDE-HD 149BT and a Viper 5706V with remote locking and power window controls to keep everything safe.

I can monitor the Landy, control the entire alarm and its accessory functions from my phone any where in the world.

Dedicated some more time to my Landy. Installed high density 1 inch foam sheets in the roof. While there, replaced the rear wiper washer tube.

Will run a conduit along both inner sides of roof for VHF 2 meter ham radio antenna which will sit above the washer nozzle.

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Installed 5 gauges in the Mud UK pod and 3 in dash console. I spent time marking and measuring the spacings to get it as accurately as i could. The gauges in the pod was easier since all the gauges were the same size.

The Innovate EGT gauge has a different bezel size and so was the digital Auto Meter Cobalt volt meter, so measuring the dash console to house them was a bit more time consuming.

I have to source an amber led clock with a silver bezel to match the other two gauges.

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