Tips for buying landy thats not been on road or mot for a while...

Hi, i am looking at picking up a 25 year old defender thats been used as a people mover on private land/estate. It has not had a mot for a bit ( dont know how long) and i think it had a new engine in as well (mileage not known until view)

I can hear already the cries to walk away already but want to give it a quick once over in the flesh and looking for any help on main things to look for make sure i dont get a dud thats a money pit.

Also in theory can i drive it straight to MOT landy garage rather than a trailor job only got to make about 8 mile.

Thanks in advance,

If it's roadworthy you're allowed to drive to an mot station still needs insurance etc
And check the chassis for rot particularly towards the back and the bulkhead around corners then pretty much usual stuff. Get underneath and check properly! Clue yourself up on engine conversions too some work better than others
What engine is it?

Check for rust, rust, rust and rust and 25 years of botching and rust.

I wouldn't walk away from it without checking it out first. As mentioned above the biggest killer in my mind would be rust. I would take a screw driver and hammer with you and give the chassis a good check over. You can crawl underneath a defender without too much problems. Most other parts like wheel bearings, ball joints, shocks, springs etc can be replaced quiet cheaply. If you like a lot of Defender owners you will probably want to tinker about with it and change things like that anyway. As long as the price asked reflects that it has not service history and is not road going you could have a bargain. I think I would look at it as a base for a project and pay accordingly.
Good luck.

If I was selling my landy and someone turned up with a hammer and screwdriver, they would be leaving wearing them. What right has anyone got to be smashing and poking hell out of someone else's vehicle. You don't need to resort to destructive vandalism to check for rust. Look for for holes or flaky rust on the bottom of door posts, the top corners near the screen and around the vents. A test drive is essential.

Col

Yes if you're insured you can drive it to a pre arranged test and then to a place of repair. Iirc theyve added in a 'reasonable' distance clause but 8 miles wouldn't be an issue.
Technically it still has to be roadworthy so if a copper thinks you've got no chance of getting through you can still be charged....Just not for having no mot.

I went with a mate to check a possible 90 purchase for him that had an MOT. Thirty seconds of poking the bottom of the chassis with a small penknife that sank to the hilt in several places has us scurrying away.
Check it out.

Quick blast around the field with some left foot braking and check the disc temps to see if any are to hot (seized callipers) or not warm at all (seized callipers) and the discs surface is shiny.
Mines pretty much sat on the drive for nearly 2 years used little and both rear callipers were seized.

Makes me wonder why it needed a replacement engine if it doesn't do any road miles. Look for signs of service neglect like low engine oil lack of general lubrication of ball joints and linkages, oil leaked from every joint, ability to change gear smoothly or not, colour of exhaust smoke etc.

Col

My 85 90 was a shooting estate car which was sold at auction 15 years ago. It has only done 46k miles, engine had been changed to tdi for some reason. New owner purchased galvanised chassis and never fitted it, leaving it sitting for all the 15 years. I changed it over, old chassis had completely melted away from front to back. With no mot, chassis never gets checked and sits in mud all the time rusting away. Interior was nice though. It all depends how it was looked after, with no mot to go through, if it starts, all is good. Problem comes when you get it ready for mot, first one for many years and used off road most of the time means it might be costly. Chassis will need work at that age but viewing will tell all and we need pics.

I once drove from Nottingham to Norfolk to look at a SW that was a good condition daily driver, it took me longer to put on my overalls than to decide to walk away.
I could push my finger through the chassis front to back both sides, it had an MOT and I stopped counting at 22 holes

Thanks for the intel, went along this afternoon, had 168k on clock and seemed to tally with last mot from 2013 and historic ones, been sorn since then. From your comments doesn't seem too bad its just the unknown of what might crop up at MOT and whether that costs 100 or 1000+ is the magic question

Got undernearth had new rear cross member, bulk head seemed ok and some rust on chassis but no holes or deep rust noted really. On the old MOTs had a few failers for front exhaust minor leak, parking break efficiency only just ok and a few times the registration lamp not working, which suggests maybe a on going electric issue to the light bulb?

The landy had a blower over paint job which I was aware off, wonder if it was to cover up any nasties or just wanting to freshen up the look.

Not had chance to drive it, but fired up first time and the v8 petrol engine looked tidy. Would having a engine in like this effect resale value in future/put people off and would I need to disclose to insurance and tax about different engine as still shows up as diesel on searches hmmmm

On a final note on the historic MOT info on line last passed in 2013 but had lots of fails before with front exhaust minor leaks, parking break efficiency and registration lamps not working, getting fixed and not working again and front and rear break pipes being corroded slightly.

Worth a punt for the right price or a potential money pit?

Some pics

Dont think i did that good a job of taking good pics doh!

Last couple

Caution !!!!!!!
Bulkhead has had bad repair on the corners there should be a hinge for the vent flap visible, a poor repair usually shows flush to the hinge . But on yours the hinge is covered.
Expect lots of covered up rust in the bulkhead

+1 to foxy looks like it's been filled along top of bulkhead and bottom of the windowframe

Omg just had another look as something seamed wrong ! Where are the screen support hinges !
I've seen turds polished .But that turd's raw !!!!

It looks like they have actually welded the windscreen on the bulkhead thus needing no hinges or mounting bracket, if you zoom in you can see it then covered it in seam sealer or similar

Its kinda odd along the top of the bulkhead as Foxyred pointed out like they have layered plate over the rusted metal I would run away fast! Well unless you dont mind but I would be suspicious unless they had pictures of the the repair in progress.

If you factor in the costing for a new bulkhead and window frame at some point it's not a massive job. It's just getting it for the right price. You'll probably find something better on fleabay. Depends on if you want to do work or not