 | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Series body with modern chassis? |
 
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| Stacey007 Member Since: 25 Sep 2015 Location: Cheshire Posts: 3820  
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When our children were little and up very very early...
I used to watch an American custom car program where they did crazy things (you needed to leave your cheque book) They would take for example the equivalent of a Evoke take the body off it modify the chassis and steering etc etc and drop the series shell on top and attach. Obviously they did American cars but results were amazing. Custom Rides or something similar, lots of celebrities had stuff done. Cannot imaging the cost but everything is do-able... |
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18th Oct 2017 8:48am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17727 
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Land-Rover themselves did from 1979 to 1985, generally known as the Stage One V8 !
Pretty much exactly what you describe, and good examples are now rare and desirable. Last edited by blackwolf on 18th Oct 2017 12:24pm. Edited 2 times in total |
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18th Oct 2017 8:51am |
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| rallysteve Member Since: 10 Feb 2014 Location: Cumbria Posts: 2238 
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There are plenty around, most illegally registered with the Series 2/3 numberplate to claim tax exemption despite all but the body being Defender.
Steve 02' 110 TD5 Double Cab Rebuild Thread |
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18th Oct 2017 9:21am |
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| ian series 1 Member Since: 17 Nov 2014 Location: south Posts: 3127 
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Nothing new there!
This has been done ever since early donor Range Rovers were cheap enough to buy and cut up! Many of the 70s 80s trials vehicles had an early RR chassis under their bodywork, 80" 80" 86" 88" 90" Wanted, Forward Control Anything considered. |
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18th Oct 2017 9:30am |
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| zsd-puma Member Since: 09 Aug 2016 Location: Kent Posts: 2720 
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Well i think the wheel arch extensions are a must if you're going coil sprung, it's why LR fitted them as the axles had to be made longer to fit the springs between the wheels and the chassis. I suppose you could possibly add metal work and make the whole body wider, but that's a lot of work!
If you just wanted the front end look, then there is a big gap between the front of the engines and the rad so it's probably not impossible to fit a modified series 3 front panel onto a Defender if you moved the rad backwards.
Wasn't the Stage 1 V8 still leaf sprung? It's basically a series 3 with a V8 and (what eventually became) the Defender Bonnet and front panel. As someone has touched on, doing this it'll either be registered as a Defender (a modified one), or it'll have to go through an SVA to get a Q plate. |
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18th Oct 2017 10:56am |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10383
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I've had many series motors on coils, used to be quite the 'norm'.
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18th Oct 2017 11:24am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17727
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Yes, I was hoping to be able to edit my post to correct my gaff before anyone noticed, but you were too quick! 
Stage One V8 was indeed leaf srpung. |
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18th Oct 2017 12:25pm |
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| Super7 Member Since: 05 Feb 2014 Location: South Bucks. Posts: 135 
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How about a Series 1 body on a Defender chassis:
https://www.lro.com/reviews/featured-vehic...s%E2%80%A6  '99 TD5 Defender 90
'52 Series 1 80" '99 Caterham 7 |
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18th Oct 2017 3:49pm |
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| Coatesyyy Member Since: 07 Sep 2017 Location: Knutsford Posts: 423
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^ I like!!
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18th Oct 2017 3:52pm |
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| DSC-off Member Since: 16 Oct 2014 Location: North East Posts: 1467 
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This is exactly what Landrover did in 1983 when they created the 110, how much more retro do you want to be?
A tidy series model does look great though. I suspect the wheel arches will be the biggest problem getting the 'look' right. Wider axles will need the tyres covering somehow, then the profile will not be exactly in line with wheels due to the wheelbase differences. Depending on the engine/gearbox used fitting it behind the recessed grill may not be straight forward. Fixing a series windscreen, roof and doors on a defender bulkhead and body tub should be relatively easy. Then just paint it an old original colour. That would get you 80% to where you want to be without too much work. |
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18th Oct 2017 6:36pm |
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| davew Member Since: 02 Jan 2012 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 888  
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As has been said, many people have been there and done that, mostly using Range Rover chassis cut down to suit the length of the body because Range Rover rolling chassis were cheap.
One way to avoid the arch extensions is to widen the body, difficult to get it just right so the dimensions don't look odd but, again, it has been done. Widen the bulkhead by 4-6 inches by adding a section in the middle, same with the bonnet, roof and rear bulkhead and replace the rear floor. This also has the advantage of giving you a bit more elbow room inside. The advent of the tax exempt vehicle coupled with 90s and 110s becoming more accessible kind of killed off most of the hybrids. Before tax exemption nobody really cared if you cut down a RR chassis and stuck it under your Series I/II/III but after tax exemption it suddenly became a big issue and vehicles that had been running around for 10 years plus without an issue suddenly became a "problem" in the eyes of the DVLA. This was mine, when I was a lot younger, using a chassis from a Range Rover that had been rolled and written off as a result, the rolling chassis complete with engine and gearbox cost me £150 at the time and it took about 6 months to rebuild my Series III as a V8 auto hybrid that won the club trials league a number of times. 
Rather than replacing the chassis, there was also the option of converting the existing chassis to coil springs, as was done on this lightweight that we competed in for several years... i believe this is still being used in competition though no idea how much of the original is left ! Click image to enlarge http://www.yorkshireoffroadclub.net/ |
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19th Oct 2017 12:08pm |
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| JOW240725 Member Since: 04 May 2015 Location: Suffolk Posts: 7918 
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Sounds a great project! James
MY2012 110 2.2TDCi XS SW Orkney Grey - http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic43410.html MY1990 110 200TDi SW beautifully faded Portofino Red - https://www.defender2.net/forum/post743641.html#743641 MY1984 90 V8 Slate Grey - https://www.defender2.net/forum/post744557.html#744557 Instagram @suffolk_rovers |
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19th Oct 2017 1:09pm |
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| zsd-puma Member Since: 09 Aug 2016 Location: Kent Posts: 2720
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I think it was also around the same time when cut and shuts were becoming more prominent in the media, but of course they'd been around for decades. I'm sure most hybrids were done to a high standard, but i expect a few had poor welding and the legislation didn't differentiate between a Land-Rover Hybrid and two smashed up Ford Escorts welded together. So there was a bit of a clamp down on the rules to make it look like efforts were being made to tackle cut and shuts. |
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19th Oct 2017 4:55pm |
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| UtilityTruck Member Since: 09 Jan 2014 Location: Oxford Posts: 463
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Thanks for the replies and pics, @davew £150!!
Regarding track width differences and the width of the series body, does anyone know the difference in axle width(flange to flange) between say a defender and series 2/3? I am wondering if the difference is close enough that It would simply represent a more aggressive wheel offset, or if in effect 50% of the wheel would be outside the arch after the conversion. 2014 Keswick Utility 2.2 |
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20th Oct 2017 3:50pm |
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