Strong Stella

No, sorry for you guys checking for anything alcohol related, this is just what my little girl christened our 110 CSW, and the name has stuck since.

I got his some time ago, and despite intending to do a quick tidy up and use it, ended up being a much more involved project with an impending deadline, a trip to Cornwall from Sheffield (ironic really given that's where I picked it up from).

It's been a long journey, in which time I've learnt to weld, prep body panels, paint with a compressor and gun, sew to make my own seat covers from lengths of material, service all manner of oil filled components, adjust swivels, wheel bearings and gear linkages, wire in different lights, chase wiring faults, and install a stereo system with nothing to start with.

To say I've learnt a lot would be an understatement.

Anyway, seeing as how pictures paint a thousand words, I will simply upload the pictures I have. They may not be in order exactly, as I just have a bundle in a folder, so I've tried to sort them into exterior and interior. I didn't take many pictures of the many many days spent underneath, as I'm sure everyone has seen enough of their own chassis' to be sick of grinding, welding and waxoyling!!!

I appreciate that it will not be in everyone's style, but I'm pretty thick skinned, so feel free to tell me which bits you hate, which bits I've done wrong, and which bits need changing.

All I can tell you is I love it, it suits me and the family, and does everything we ever wanted it to do!!

We love piccys !!!

Interior pics will be uploaded tomorrow

Nice work

Looks fantastic, I like what you've done with the seats

Well, I got the rebuild finished with 1 weekend to spare before the Cornwall trip.

MOT on the Saturday morning, and she bloomin' well passed with no advisories (once I had swapped the horn unit that stopped working on the way to the station!!!!)

Last part was a full fluid service before the big trip. Had a good ride down, got a feel for how friendly most Defender drivers are, and only 32 miles from home, we ticked over the 1000 miles mark, so I would say she had a good shakedown.

Only mishap was one of the wipers coming off the spindle, but it was the passenger side, so caused no drama anyway, and dead easy to replace back at home.

Wow nice work mate, enjoy

Awesome, nice when the other half gets involved ain't it? that interior looks the bollocks, I want to retrim my dash now

I've landed on my feet with the missus because she gets actively involved in my car projects, so it's quite nice.

On sunny days, we would generally get the tools out, and spend the day in the garden with all 3 of us doing some sort of job. Even the little one has a hand in scotchbriting the panels for painting.

Just want to enjoy it now. I've started boarding out the roof rack and we've got a small tent that fits just nicely in the footage of it, so we can set the tent up on the roof, and we just plan on doing some travelling round the country on the weekends.

Also, whilst I've only lurked in the background, I have to give a hand to Landyzone, as I've had endless searches on here for problems I've come up against, or little tid bits of knowledge I've needed, like swivel adjustment, steering wheel spline count etc.

Wow, you've done an awesome job on that, really like the colour, and the seats look very classy!

Proper job that. Like the interior, better than the usual black or grey

Looks like you really put the hours in on that, very nice job done

Love the commitment! Should be proud of yourself (and the wife and daughter seeing as they did the hard parts for you )

Man - you are an inspiration! Thank you for sharing this!
-Mike