 | Home > My Defender > Mine now - 2003 TD5 90 HT |
 
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| aaronmorris Member Since: 03 Sep 2010 Location: doncaster Posts: 62   
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Looking good mate
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11th Mar 2012 9:33pm |
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| RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2025
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All the underneath now pressure washed and dried and will be ready to start painting the chassis hopefully at the weekend, after that, the Waxoyl treatment inside and out.
The thing is, I might do the suspension at the same time, taking it slowly, 2 corners off per time and then I have more access to paint properly. 2016 D4 HSE 1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol |
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12th Mar 2012 6:09pm |
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| RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2025
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Had a clear weekend to work on the suspension, weather not great but luckily I have a double garage to work under.
The aim of this work was to improve the Defender's road manners, with the current off road specification of a 2" lift it was quite scary on the road on anything other than a flat piece of motorway. Hit a bump and the car would jolt off it, speed was hampered and it felt most comfortable and safe at 50mph -which I didn't exactly feel was much of an improvement over my Series 3 from when I was 17  I think the shocks on it were also mainly to blame, as it had a mix of Pro Comps and one De Carbon on the rear, when I got those off and tried to flex them the rebound was almost non existent. So, maybe they were to blame more than the springs.
Anyway, with every known tool to man ready to hand including the recently purchased Aldi air compressor and tools (plus a few more from Machine Mart) I set about it...How hard can it be right? 
Started with the Rear OS, all went rather well, I took my time, the only problem being that someone fitted rear dislocation cones which made getting the spring out a faff, luckily I'd had the forethought to buy a set of spring compressors from Screwfix just in case. Without these, I couldn't have done any of them.  Click image to enlarge The new spring and shock went in fine: 
Click image to enlarge The rear NS was a complete B  tch! The top shock mount had 'collared' slightly and so the bushes wouldn't go on. I got the first done, and had to sleep on the second after trying for 4 hours. I was going to slice the bush to help it expand but in the end I used my angle grinder with a very light sanding pad (P180) and just cleaned up the end of the mount, with a little bit of grease the bush went on ok.
The front Shocks were a bit of a pain, the lower shock mounting bolt is very hard to get at and you have to grip the shock body through the spring to try and remove the bolt. I got tired of this so I used an air sabre saw and sliced through it instead as I was throwing them away anyway. I had to use 2 jacks to manipulate the axles up and down, but even with no support the axle wouldn't drop low enough for the springs to simply fall out, that's the problem with extra big springs. The compressors earnt their keep that's for sure. Getting the shock out of the turret is also a nightmare, so I just put a cutting disc on the angle grinder and did it the easy way. I did this for both sides and saved loads of time. I didn't replace the turrets, saw no point, its just more expense and there's nothing wrong with these. Here you can see the final front going together. Click image to enlarge Here you can see the difference between the old Bearmach Blue lift springs and my standard HD springs. Many thanks to fellow forum member Steve B for the springs. Click image to enlarge I love the look of fresh parts fitted 
Click image to enlarge Old stuff going to the skip: Good riddance - why anyone would want to do that to their LR is beyond me, it was awful. Click image to enlarge The finished article: Not sure if you can tell immediately without me putting a pic below of the before look, but it sits quite a bit lower and preliminary test drives show massively improved road manners, and it now sits at 60mph easily, so a 10mph increase from before. (before you jump in and tell me that it should go faster than that and there must be something wrong with it, 60mph is NOT the top speed, just where it all feels smooth and right.) Click image to enlarge And before the work: Click image to enlarge Tools Used: Trolley Jack Bottle Jack LR Front jack Axle stands - never needed and too short to support the chassis by about a foot
Spanners Impact socket and Impact wrench Air compressor Air sabre saw Angle grinder Pry bar Hammer Spring compressors Grease Air socket wrench Screwdriver An article in LRO said it took a mechanic 20 mins per corner to do this on a Range Rover Classic (same setup). I can't see how that's possible, on average each corner took me 2hrs. I don't mind, I did a thorough job, copper greased everything made sure it was all correct, and that's all that matters to me. I saved myself a few hundred quid maybe on garage rates and have learnt more about the car. Still waiting for my mate to be available to help me install the La Salle headlining 
Still need to paint and waxoyl the chassis.  2016 D4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol Last edited by RRUK on 20th Nov 2012 10:42pm. Edited 2 times in total |
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19th Mar 2012 10:01am |
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| mymini007 Member Since: 10 Nov 2011 Location: Chippenham Posts: 273 
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Looks much better now its at the correct height. You cant polish a turd!
But you can roll it in glitter 
2006 Mercedes Benz CDI320 2001 Volkswagon Caddy Van 1.9 SDi 1993 Nissan Patrol 4.2 TD 1986 90 200tdi - SOLD 1990 Mini mayfair (highly modified) - FOR SALE |
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19th Mar 2012 10:29am |
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| SteveT247 Member Since: 21 Feb 2011 Location: Central Posts: 491  
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Looking good mate
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19th Mar 2012 10:38am |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10378
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Looks good, I'm sure it drives even better
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19th Mar 2012 12:56pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Looks like you need a winch to make best use of those front HD springs, but otherwise much better compared to the 'before' shot. Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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19th Mar 2012 12:59pm |
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| RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2025
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Nah, never required one, not planning on going winching either. 2016 D4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol |
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19th Mar 2012 1:12pm |
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| RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2025
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Getting a few things done before the Convoy4Heroes run on Sunday.
Oddly (for me) I gave the LR its first full wash today since I bought it, now I can see how much effort I need to put into the paintwork with the Porter Cable DA polisher etc. Might do that tomorrow as it's a bank holiday. Also, I bought a window tint for the rear safari door glass and did that myself, only cost me £5.69 and was surprisingly easy to do. The end result looks really good. Apologies for the rubbish photo quality, these were taken on my iPhone 3GS. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge 2016 D4 HSE 1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol |
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5th Apr 2012 12:26pm |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10378
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Window tinting is a no brainer, keeps prying eyes out, I even did the garage windows!!!
Looking great!!!! |
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5th Apr 2012 12:40pm |
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| RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2025
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Decided to go over the paintwork with the 3 stage process (Paint clean, Paint Polish, Wax) and it is much improved, the next time I do it I'll need to clay bar the car all over but for now this will do.
Still need to do that blasted headlining!
Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge 2016 D4 HSE 1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol |
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5th Apr 2012 5:23pm |
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| chiefstoker Member Since: 11 Oct 2010 Location: Weston-super-Mud Posts: 897 
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I really shaping up nicely now RRUK
nice to see another tidy HT 90 2005 TD5 90 Hard Top
Beer 'n Sex 'n Chips 'n Gravy |
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5th Apr 2012 7:44pm |
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| bpman Member Since: 21 May 2008 Location: Oslo Posts: 8069 
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proper job
great transformation |
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5th Apr 2012 7:48pm |
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| RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2025
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Thanks Chaps.
2016 D4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol |
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5th Apr 2012 8:10pm |
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