1993 Defender 90 Rebuild

Yes, made a bit more progress this weekend. The front axle's off...


My hi-lift gets a bit of use for the first time in years


And after fighting with the bolts holding the shock mounts and a-frame for a while, the rear axle was ready to come out.


One magically floating chassis ready for a cleanup and possible sale.


One rear axle in slightly weathered condition.


And after a quick once-over with a flap disc.


And one front axle after the same treatment.


The best way to keep warm in winter - moving chassis and axles about. This week I'm hoping to clean up the axles a bit more in the areas the flap disc can't reach, and get them ready for painting. The new chassis is coming on the 16th so there's a bit of time to fill. And who knows, my Paddocks order might eventually get dispatched and I'll have some bits to bolt on to it.

Looks like a great project! I would highly recommend cutting off the RH dumb iron complete with chassis number before you dispose of the old chassis.

Britcyclerider said:

Looks like a great project! I would highly recommend cutting off the RH dumb iron complete with chassis number before you dispose of the old chassis.

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I've been wondering about the legalities of the whole chassis number thing. Can I stamp it onto the new chassis? Would someone buy a second hand chassis with the number ground off or does that just look dodgy?

I’m watching this with great interest as it looks like you are doing my defender, same issues etc. I’m fitting a new chassis to mine, Marsland, but currently preparing everything first otherwise I’ll get impatient and not take my time!!
I’ve kept the chassis number plate for the original chassis, it can be added officially to the new one by them.

Nice read up, funny how we all tend to find snap bolts
Not got as far as you due to space but keep up the good work

Dieselweasel0 said:

Nice read up, funny how we all tend to find snap bolts
Not got as far as you due to space but keep up the good work

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Tell me about it. I spent the best part of an evening drilling out the bolts holding the spring seats onto the axle after the heads sheared off. Why Land Rover had to use captive welded nuts is anyone's guess.

And in other news...

...it's here! Oooooh, shiny.

shiny shiny awesomeness

A very long overdue update on progress, delayed because of the distinct lack of it. My blind optimism that Christmas and New Year would be full of days spend happily bolting together bits of Land Rover turned into one fortnight-long game of being nice to the in-laws who never leave. Anyway, I've now got something to show you so without further ado...

I started stripping the drum brakes and discovered that one of them was full of grease. The photo doesn't really show it well, but it was pretty grim and I'm surprised the brakes worked at all on that side.


Stripping the axle down I was expecting to find a shredded oil seal but the only thing I could find was this pitted stub axle, which went on the list of bits to replace. I ordered new oil seals as well just to cover all the bases.


Then I started looking at the front axle. I'd already ordered a new swivel ball for one side but closer inspection showed that both needed replacing.


See...


Then the trouble started. I started to strip down the swivels and got as far as unbolting the drive flange when the heads sheared off not one but two of the bolts. I gave up on that end and stripped the other swivel just so my evening wasn't completely wasted.


For some reason there were two oil seal retainer plates on this side. Any idea why?


And here's one stripped front axle (except for the diff which I'm not touching as it seems fine). It's a hell of a lot lighter without all of the bits on each end.


One evening I plucked up the courage to tackle the seized drive flange bolt stubs, and finally they gave up. Took bloody ages though.


I had a look at the calipers to see if they were in a salvageable condition and gave them a scrub with a wire brush.


They've come up well enough, I think. I'll get some high-temperature silver paint and see how we go. As the pistons in one of the calipers are rusty (the left one, everything on the nearside is rustier than the offside for some reason) I'm also thinking of going the whole hog and buying a stainless steel piston kit.


Frustrating job number 93, removing the track rod ends from the track rod. The main problem is not being able to get any purchase to twist them. You put one end in a vice and then attempt to twist the other end with various things - stilsons, long bits of bar, but nothing doing. Hitting hard with big hammer: tried. Huge amounts of heat: tried. To cut a long story short, I've given up and having discovered that you can buy a new track rod for a tenner I'm regretting wasting a vat of penetrating oil on it.


And to add insult to injury the hub bearing nut had become inextricably attached to the lock washer and only purchase of an extremely expensive 52mm socket would shift it. Still, at least I can torque it up properly when I rebuild it.


Another full day arrives, I've taken a punt and am going Britpart on the new stub axle. Surely they can't bugger up a glorified metal tube. Time will tell, but it fitted fine and looks like a shinier version of the old one.


Old stub axle, brake backplate and gasket off, and the new one on. No photo for that for some reason. I was probably too busy getting everything ready for painting the axles. At last the time has come to do something constructive.


The axles are going to be painted using Buzzweld's Rust Encapsulator topped with their Chassis-In-One.


First impressions of RE weren't great. The Schutz gun was horribly spitty (if that's a word) and it turned out that the paint was really too thick for the venturi effect to pick it up nicely. I stuck the paint tin into a bucket of hot water for 15 minutes and that improved things somewhat. I didn't have any thinners and having got to this point I wasn't really able to put things off for any longer. So what I've ended up with is a bit of a mottled hammerite effect, which I'm not altogether displeased with. And if the residue on my hands is anything to go on, Rust Encapulator isn't going to be coming off in a hurry! The wheels and other assorted bits of Land Rover also give you an idea of the less than ideal windy conditions.


I then came to my senses and moved inside for the next bit. Buzzweld's Chassis-in-One (CIO) was much easier to spray than RE and after a few coats of this I'm now the proud owner of a much nicer-looking front axle.


And one finished rear axle.


So there we are. Not amazing progress for over a month, but hopefully things will start moving along a bit more swiftly soon.

And finally, while you're here, any ideas what this bit is and where it's come from? I can't find it in any of my photos and it's going to need replacing!

Your mystery part is the bracket from the footwell that supports the inner wheelarch liner.

I’ve known Britpart stub axles to be so poorly sized that the bearings wouldn’t fit on them - hopefully yours are okay!

Resurgam said:

Tell me about it. I spent the best part of an evening drilling out the bolts holding the spring seats onto the axle after the heads sheared off. Why Land Rover had to use captive welded nuts is anyone's guess.

And in other news...
View attachment 196454
...it's here! Oooooh, shiny.

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Sooo jealous

Retroanaconda said:

Your mystery part is the bracket from the footwell that supports the inner wheelarch liner.

I’ve known Britpart stub axles to be so poorly sized that the bearings wouldn’t fit on them - hopefully yours are okay!

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I have one of those stub axles, a real pain to fit, bearings and seals properly. I’ll know next time.

Another month of fiddly little jobs goes by and although progress is slow it's going roughly in the right direction.

The A-frame ball joint looked alright until I took the boot off and discovered that it was rusted to buggery.


Luckily I had a new one in my small collection of bits that I bought more than a decade ago. Unfortunately it's probably a Britpart one as I was younger and less wise back in the old days, but as it's here I might as well use it.


I cut the shoulders off the old joint to give the press something to push against, then took it to my local garage who have a hydraulic press. They also did a few bushes which I hadn't renewed in the past (and one which had already failed).


I've bought some stainless steel pistons to replace the rusty old ones. The caliper itself looks in reasonable condition so I'll give it a clean up and spray it before fitting new seals and pistons. I expelled the old pistons by using an air hose and a bit of wood to stop them in the middle.


Then I mangled them horribly with some grips to get them out. Spraying and fitting new pistons is still on the to-do list.


I'm pleased to report that the bearings and seals fitted onto the Britpart stub axle without any drama. And I got to use a dial gauge for the first time. The fun just never stops here!


This was the general condition of most of the steering and axle components, so many evenings were spent hunched over the workbench with a wire brush.


I decided to replace the stub axles on the front as well as they weren't looking their best and I had to take them apart to clean them anyway. This housing's obviously been off before. Not a huge fan of the red paint.


Here's a nice clean one ready for painting.


The drive flanges were in a pretty sorry state too but scrubbed up alright.


Someone had fitted this oil seal the wrong way up but it doesn't seem to have caused any problems.


The towbar needed a bit more than just a wire brush so the angle grinder with a wire wheel was called into service.


The ever-growing pile of bits for painting.


Strung up for spraying


The winch bumper and all five wheels are back from the sandblasters. The bumper has come up really well, but I'm a bit concerned about the wheels as the blasting medium seems to have been quite aggressive and the inside of the wheel has been partially blasted as well. Hopefully painting it with high-build primer and top-coating it will make it smooth enough to get a seal with the tyre. Any thoughts?


And the sandblasted fuel tank clearly with a bit of a leak (despite being empty). For some reason the pipe touches the bottom of the tank before the top is sealed fully, so I think I'll have to take a fraction of an inch off the bottom of it. Either that or add a thicker gasket at the top.


All liberally coated with Buzzweld's Rust Encapsulator, thinned down this time and working much better!


And top-coated with Chassis-In-One. Mmmm, glossy. Well, satin-y anyway.


Another windy day, but I managed to get a coat of primer on the bumper.


And the fuel tank (excuse the huge run there - it's not all like that, honest!). I ran out of primer before doing the wheels so they're still on the to-do list.


A painted fuel tank which will hopefully be a bit more rust-proof than the original (albeit this was a replacement one anyway), and a few more bits I've just given a quick going over with CIO.


Some of the smaller bits cut down from the gibbet and touched up.


And finally, I've been lent a book of RAL swatches to try and decide on a colour for the bodywork. If anything it's made it harder to choose! Currently in the running are RAL 6011 Reseda Green, RAL 6021 Pale Green, and in a slight departure, RAL 2001 Red Orange. I wanted to get an idea at this point so I knew whether to paint the wheels black or silver.

Looking good, great progress. I’m stuck indoors due to the monsoon rain or hurricane winds, or both at the same time<so can’t work outside.
I was going to get my wheels and tank sand blasted too but concerned that it would be too abrasive, how have yours turned out?

Tirran said:

Looking good, great progress. I’m stuck indoors due to the monsoon rain or hurricane winds, or both at the same time<so can’t work outside.
I was going to get my wheels and tank sand blasted too but concerned that it would be too abrasive, how have yours turned out?

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Yep, the rain and wind both turned up as soon as I'd got the first coat of paint on

The tank has come out pretty well. I plugged up all the orifices with old towelling and other bits of fabric and it seems to have withstood the punishment. I didn't cover the bit where the connectors for the sender sit and that's looking a bit pitted but should be fine. I'd recommend you mask it off with something resilient if you get yours done. If I'd just bought a new one the standard paint wouldn't have been good enough anyway in my experience. I replaced the tank in 2005 and it ended up in this condition within 3 years. A couple of coats of Rust Encapsulator and CIO should give it a few more years of service yet.

The bumper came out particularly well and I think that's the ideal candidate for sand blasting as the metal's thick enough to take it.

Unfortunately I suspect the wheels are now a pile of shiny scrap. They were modular with decorative (read pointless) hex screws dotted around the centre which have been largely destroyed by the abrasion. The blaster also took it upon himself to blast the part of the rims that the tyre seals against despite saying he wouldn't when I dropped them off, and even if I prime and paint it I don't know if it'll be good enough to form a good enough seal to be safe.

As I could have got a brand new set of rims for not much more than the cost of blasting them I think I've cocked up slightly! I'd need to buy another couple of litres of primer to do it and at £24 a litre plus delivery and no guarantee it'll work at the end of it I'm keeping an eye open for some second hand alloys. If you've got standard steel wheels and a sand blaster who can follow simple instructions then it might work out for you.

Nice work! Where abouts Anglesey are you? Im over Holyhead end

Ref the wheels, go round the sealing bit with sandpaper/flapwheel and it will (should) smooth out. I've blasted quite a few wheels years ago and never had sealing issues.

Flossie said:

Ref the wheels, go round the sealing bit with sandpaper/flapwheel and it will (should) smooth out. I've blasted quite a few wheels years ago and never had sealing issues.

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Thanks, I'll give the flap wheel a whirl and see what happens.

samc88 said:

Nice work! Where abouts Anglesey are you? Im over Holyhead end

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Cheers. I'm over the other side in Beaumaris.

where the posh people live

windy81 said:

where the posh people live

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That's right. We can retreat to the castle if the natives get too rowdy.