Yes, lucky for me. And because the vehicle is from 1986, it is unlikely I'll be pulled up on anything as the vehicle predates any of those type of regulations (not sure what the regulations are in NZ, but I'm pretty sure you're allowed to fit bullbars, since I see trucks with great big heavy...

Since we coated the underside, I thought I would try to get some photos of it to show people how it looks. I also included a shot of our home-made mudflap brackets which we built a few months back. They are made from aluminium, with stainless bolts holding them in place.

Here are some pictures of the spare wheel carrier.

Another shot, from the side. The light guards on the bar are a good thing to have I think, now that I have it.

Here are some pictures of the bullbar, and freshly painted and galvanised bumper.

Hi all, Am now out of hospital, so I thought I would put up the promised pictures of the progress on the Ninety. We have a new bullbar, and last weekend fitted a new spare wheel carrier to take the weight off the rear door hinges. As some of you may remember from my last thread, we also...

Haha, so often this is true. I remember taking apart some old series II's that had been sitting for a while at an old enthusiasts's place (he had passed away and the daughter sold them). The CRC got a hell of a lot of use, and inevitably so did the angle grinder. The most frustrating thing...

The other thing I should point out (especially with older Defenders) is the ease of servicing and repairs with basic tools means that you can save a significant amount of money on servicing costs, and if something goes wrong you may well be able to fix it yourself. Our Ninety is a joy to work...

We bought the Ninety near the beginning of last year, with a Nissan LD28 motor fitted. We have been tidying it up, and doing little things to make it more pleasant to live with (carpeting, seats etc.), and have had to do some work on it, but it was all a case of general wear, not unexpected on...

Hi, Thanks for your concern. I'm aware that the tyre is really too wide for the rim, however it was more important to make sure the profile matched our other tyres to ensure the spare was usable. the 4wd shop we use made sure we were aware it was not the ideal rim size, but said that it is fine...

Thanks for that. I'm not too concerned if people don't reply. I hope it's not all too boring, it would be a lot better if I had some access to photos etc. to show the bumper and the chassis. The underside of the vehicle looks great with the new coating of rubber-based coating. I will be...

The last "big thing" on the Ninety will be getting some side tubes/steps fitted. I have made preliminary contact with the parts place that we got the bullbar from, as they seem to specialise in off-road accessories to a greater extent than the other LR parts places in NZ, and they gave a good...

But before putting the bullbar on the Ninety, there were several other things which needed doing. First was to take off the bullbar which was currently attached. It seemed to be some sort of generic bar from a van or something, which had just been tacked onto the bumper with some welds, and if...

Here is the bull bar, which will soon be going on the Ninety.

Prior to all this, I had finally got a new spare wheel and tyre for the Ninety a couple of months back, replacing the old Series rim and tiny, wornt yre on it before. I now have a spare that is the same height as the rest of my wheels, on a 16", 6.5" wide Defender rim. Unfortunately, one...

So... after getting the Ninety back home, with a huge difference in braking performance, that weekend I did the big chassis paint. The garage supplied us with a spray nozzle and the black, rubber-based coating to coat the chassis, and then it was simply a case of hiring a compressor. It was a...

I haven't made any posts for a while now, possibly not since creating my thread on the installation of the new front seats in the Ninety. I am currently in hospital, and look to be staying here for a few weeks yet, so I am in need of entertainment. Luckily I have a brand new laptop and an...

And here are some photos of the access to the back. The seat can slide a long way forward (as mentioned earlier) and the back folds down with a quick release giving great access.

For those who are interested, here are some photos showing access to the front of the seatbox (a bit tight, which is why I want to put in an outlet for battery).

That's a good looking set of tyres. I have considered 255/85's as they do give excellent ground clearance, but they are hard to come by, and BFG's are pretty expensive. If I could find a good set at a reasonable price then that may be a good size to go for.