 | Home > My Defender > My 1994 300Tdi SW |
 
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841  
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Thank you! Nice to know someone made it through to the "end"! Donald
1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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5th Feb 2021 5:31pm |
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| Co1 Member Since: 19 Aug 2018 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 3671  
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B*get me you’ve been busy!! Nice work!
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5th Feb 2021 6:23pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Looking good, Donald.
I'm intrigued though - what are the slots cut into the rear window trims? 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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5th Feb 2021 11:50pm |
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| Jon w Member Since: 22 Dec 2015 Location: North East Wales Posts: 204  
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Just sat and read the whole thread from start to finish as hadn’t seen this thread before, and thank you for taking the effort to write it. I know it sometimes feels like you are talking to yourself but other people are reading it and maybe not commenting, and your experiences and ideas do help others.
I admire people who use them as a daily as know the time to spend in the garage is a commitment sometimes when you would rather be doing something else but also limited as it needs to be back together Ready for work. Yours has some really nice touches and is turning into a really well put together and future proofed vehicle. I did a rebuild on mine in 2018, what was a chassis swap turned into 12month project to do chassis and bulkhead amongst other parts while it was apart. Now I’m on the rolling restoration of sorting the body and doors out. Sound proofing and doing things which I didn’t have time to do as I wanted as I was taking up space in a mates workshop. In a way a rolling restoration can be better as you get to enjoy your hard work regularly rather than many project vehicles which get abandoned or forgotten about and in the end take an age to get completed. I really must get round to putting a thread up about mine |
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6th Feb 2021 10:13am |
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841
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Thanks very much gentlemen – as I say, it’s nice to know someone looks at it at all.
Jon – I started the thread as an ‘introduction’ but it has morphed into a ‘record’. I haven’t used it yet, but I’ve noticed there’s a button for “print whole thread”. At some point I will do just that and keep a hard copy record with the car’s never-to-be-added-up file of receipts... I think the biggest thing you need in your ‘toolbox’ to do something like this is some sort of undercover space. I don’t think I’d have got this far without a ‘shed’. Trying to do this in a mate’s garage would be a challenge. In fact I had a mate come to me and do his bulkhead swap. Initially built about 15 years ago as a ‘boatshed’ for the diving club’s two boats..  Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge It’s now the home of our little LR fleet Click image to enlarge So back to the build. Having got the back door fitted I was able to finish installing the Nakatanenga spare wheel carrier. I’d bought it on here probably 2 years ago. Really good piece of kit. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Then, partly inspired by yourself Darren I think, I installed a new interior light above the back door. The metal plate is the fixing for the Naka. Door stay and I was able to incorporate other stuff onto that quite neatly. Although the light fitting itself has a little switch, I chose to fit a remote one more easily found when fumbling about in the dark. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge The MUD light in the original location is fine, but with the upper shelf in place, and with things like coats and jackets up there, it blocks a significant amount of light from the floorspace. The cutouts in the window trim are to accommodate the shelf. I know that a couple of smarter or better thought out versions have come onto the market since, but I’ve had this in there for ages. It just screws into the inner roof guttering but did need the trim to be cut. I’ve since sourced a complete set of inner trims, so if at some point I replace this shelf with something else, I’ll have uncut ones to replace them with and I could maybe sell this shelf with the cut trims. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge I like music in the car. Not so often when I have others in the car, but almost always if I’m by myself. The shelf also serves as a location for the rear speakers. Nice (maybe not!) home made mounts for these new speakers. Click image to enlarge If you were looking closely at the pics in one of the previous posts you might have noticed the ‘deadlock’ unit on the inside of the back door. As we all know Defender security is a worry, and I’ve never been especially inspired by the orginal locks so I have a set of the LR Security deadlocks to fit. At this stage I’ve only got round to the tailgate one though.... This is the plate that the deadlock bolt throws against. Click image to enlarge Finally for this installment, since I got the car I’d never had the trim for the rear quarter lights. It’s never been a big deal, but I got a pair with the trim set I mentioned above. Because I’ve got the security grilles fitted I had to cut a little bit off the trim where it’s supposed to fit to the glass. Click image to enlarge Then in place – yay! A small thing, but pleasing for all that. Click image to enlarge to be continued...... Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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6th Feb 2021 2:39pm |
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841
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This time round it’s doors, doors, doors...
The original passenger doors were in a pretty bad way. Maybe not totally beyond saving, but certainly beyond my skill-set and equipment. So a pair of new galvanised rear doors came up from SP4x4, and I got hold of a couple of Puma doors. While they’d been fitted to the car and built-up for a while, they were still ‘bare’ on the inside. It’s a new door, with the old inner panel for the window winder. Click image to enlarge Having them like this though was an opportunity to fit these ‘security’ plates behind the hinge bolts. Click image to enlarge Before building up the doors I spent a bit of time looking at parts diagrams, to be sure I had all the right bits and pieces. One of the things I saw was a ‘water channel’ for the 2nd row doors. I certainly never had these before, and they’re not the easiest things to source, but they seemed to be a good idea to me. Click image to enlarge It’s kind of obvious what they do, catch the water running down the window channel, and stop it running down onto the door stay. Click image to enlarge While I was there looking at this I wondered about the route water might take inside the doors. While I would be fitting water shedders, it seemed to me that any water running down the inside of the shedder would still be ‘inboard’ of the door frame... So I made up some (admittedly pretty shonky) internal shedders – channelling any water into the base of the door where it will drain away. Let’s be generous and call them ‘prototypes’..! Click image to enlarge Having sorted that, I had a look at another niggle - the way that all Defender driver doors seem to crack right next to the lock button. Obviously just a spot where there's a lot of vibration force when the door is closed. Click image to enlarge I have bought a replacement panel for this - but until I can improve my welding skills (and buy a welder!) it'll have to stay in its box. In the meantime I've gone for the 'Clayton fix' - with gratitude! It looks OK here, and is still OK now. Click image to enlarge Then proper foam shedders on the front doors, just poly sheets on the back. Click image to enlarge The Puma door cards were black (though a bit grubby). My original cards, and what I had for the rear doors, were grey. Cue some plastic primer, and some black paint and a bit of Heath Robinson rope work.... Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge .....and finished. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Finally for now, I’m really happy with the Nakatanenga upper door strut on the back. After years and years of the rear door swinging shut against my back it finally stays open. But, there was a ‘but’... Even with a part-worn 265/75 AT on the spare, it was being pushed onto the rear lights with the door open. Not hard necessarily, but enough to be annoying. With a different or newer tyre (more tread) there would have been more force involved. (This pic shows it 'sorted' - before it was pressing directly onto the brake light.) Click image to enlarge I did look at trying to source a slightly shorter gas strut, and while I did find something suitable, it would have been prohibitively expensive. The easier answer was just to relocate the mounting in the door aperture – just 10mm or so makes all the difference, and the door still opens all the way out. Doing this I learnt that the way to drill stainless steel is slow, and with a sharp bit. Click image to enlarge Next... the VNT! Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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6th Feb 2021 3:44pm |
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841
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Right then, the turbo...
As I’ve said the turbo on the car till now, and even since the engine rebuild in Jan/Feb ’20, was the original 1994/230,000 mile job. I had put a boost gauge in before any of the engine work, and it did show that at full throttle I was getting 1.5bar – a little surprising – but it dropped off pretty quick and on the whole performance was just ‘sluggish’. So what I wanted to achieve was a modernising of performance (though I appreciate the irony of using that word in relation to a 300Tdi!) – perhaps even restoring things nearer to what they’d have been like when I first got the car at about 65,000 miles. I was also really taken with the idea of a turbo which would provide boost even at low revs. The original was OK when it got going, but below 2000 revs there was just nothing there. So – VNT it was. BAS/Turbo Technics. Not so many pics really – an engine is an engine, and a turbo is a turbo! This is the newly rebuilt engine, and the gas flowed head with the new gasket already in place. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Then the turbo in place. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge I had got new ‘bullhorns’ for this as well and needed to fit them. It all went pretty smoothly. Prior to this I had flushed out the ‘running in’ oil, and put another fill through it for a few miles. New hoses, gaskets etc. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge In these last two pics you can also see something I’d forgotten to mention before – in a bit of lockdown boredom I’d lined the inside of the bulkhead with soundproofing... does it make a difference? Yes, I think so – marginal maybe, though I think all Defender soundproofing is incremental/cumulative. So what’s the car like now? When I took it out for the first test run I was being a wee bit careful - but one thing sticks in my mind. I had the driver's window open, and heard this strange new noise.... it took me a little while to figure out that it was the sound of air being sucked in through the wing grille - I'd never heard that before! Boost now - with the same gauge and pipework - tops out at 1/1.1 bar, but it gets there sooner. Exhaust gas temps - I'm trying to be cautious, so I have the EGT alarm set to 650', and the probe is also upstream of the turbo vanes. I believe the temp will drop further even in such a short distance. If I overfuel - heavy pedal, uphill, then the EGT will go up past 650'. It certainly encourages you to be more aware of the accelerator pedal and what you're doing with it. In normal use, then somewhere around the 400/450 degree mark. I am just delighted with how it goes. It is still clearly a 300Tdi Defender not a Ferarri, but it will pull really nicely from right down the rev range. It is MUCH more driveable in general, both around town and on the open road. Does it go any faster – I don’t actually know. I haven’t felt the need to try. For me this was never about going fast – it was about picking up speed a little faster, yes – but not about trying to make a Defender do 90mph. I think I have been there once or twice over the years, but only once or twice. I know the roads around the Highlands pretty well – up to Ullapool; across to Skye; through the Hebrides; down to Oban and Kintyre. On these A or B roads I could always hustle along – knowing how the bends go makes all the difference, and this is just a lot easier and more relaxed now. I’ve also taken to using the ‘fuelio’ app, and I’m still getting 29-30mpg overall. Best for a single tank has been 32mpg on a longer run. Two final things to say at this stage: 1) The recon gearbox (of which more in due course) did come with a higher ratio 5th gear. This means that cruising along in 5th at 60mph the engine is just at 2000 revs – quiet and relaxed. 2) I did wonder how this might all work offroad – and I’ve been delighted with that too...... (of which more in due course!) and finally, finally I think I'd like to see if I can improve the air intake side of things. I've been in touch with Ian at IRB who says he's working on a better 300Tdi intake, using the standard appearance/locations, so that's something I'll be very keen on. Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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6th Feb 2021 4:26pm |
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841
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At this point – Feb 2021 – the thread is ‘more or less’ up to date as far as mods or refurb work are concerned.
In July last year the opportunity popped up on here for a last minute place on a Highland 4x4 trip. As a ‘local’ it was pretty easy to commit to, and I am so pleased that I did. The trip was featured in the October edition of LRO magazine. The hook for the mag was that it was one of the first times that a privately-owned ‘new’ Defender had been taken on such a trip. We all met on the Monday; the new Defender had been collected from the dealer on the previous Thursday! There was also a distinct ‘orange tinge’ to the trip – with three other vehicles from the G4 challenge club. So – some gratuitous pics of various LRs offroad to follow, but before I get there I’ll say that this was really my first ‘offroad’ trip. I first bought the Defender, all those years ago, to tow a dive boat and to launch it off sand or shingle beaches. It also helped that it could take a lot of kit – bottles, regs, even a portable compressor, two or three passengers and still tow the boat. But extended off-road use? No. As we don’t have ‘green roads’ up here, the opportunities for such trips are more limited. Click image to enlarge As always, the best photos of my car, are on someone else’s camera! Excuse the quality of these next three pics (stills taken from video) It feels a whole lot steeper from the driver’s seat. You know the water’s shallow, but the shark fin on the left was worrying... Click image to enlarge Note to self, relocate towing socket to crossmember Click image to enlarge I was quite pleased with the textbook ‘bow wave’ here..... It is there if you look carefully! Click image to enlarge All the camping was ‘wild’ – and the first night definitely was. One of those occasions when the wind swings 180’ just after you’ve put up the tent and the awning. Click image to enlarge To try and tie this vaguely into a ‘rebuild’ thread, I mentioned that I was really pleased with the new turbo offroad. There is a lot more oomph low down, and it remains very, very driveable. I was a little concerned that somehow the VNT would make the car more sensitive, or harder to manage, but not at all. To be honest I didn’t come across any downsides, and the upsides, of having power to hand for gradients without having to rev overly hard or keep stirring the gearbox were clear. The last pull up onto the top of Fyrish hill was steep, with a tight corner, and a bit of a 'wash out' on the track. The G4 110 had to stop and take a second go - which I found a useful 'heads up' - and given that warning, it was really satisfying to have all the new power on tap. Click image to enlarge Because we'd jumped onto the trip at the last minute, we had just thrown stuff into the back of the car. It was also going to be our first slightly extended use of the roof tent. We're pretty experienced campers, but there were still a few lessons to learn. One of which is better storage and organisation - but it was great to be outside, even if it was cold for us, but still warm enough for the midgies! Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge This won't look like much to you 'old hands' - but it was still the deepest and widest river I'd ever crossed. Click image to enlarge And all too soon it was time to pack up from the last camp - mixed blessing though - always good to escape the midgies on a still morning! Click image to enlarge Hey ho! That's it for now - we know the Highlands pretty well, but it was great to see them from such a completely different perspective, and the trip fairly whetted our appetite for other such adventures in the future. It's also great to do this in a car that you've put so much time and thought into yourself - built not bought! Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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6th Feb 2021 6:03pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Excellent write up
 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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6th Feb 2021 10:37pm |
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| Barneyboy Member Since: 19 Nov 2014 Location: Exmoor Posts: 1619  
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Hi, really enjoyed that
Thank you cheers Paul |
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7th Feb 2021 10:55am |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10742
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Great update there Donald and it's good that you can give feed back with the additions to the 110 that you have put on it
 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up.
Keeper. Clayton. |
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8th Feb 2021 10:08pm |
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| geobloke Member Since: 06 Nov 2012 Location: Nottinghamshire Posts: 4410
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Don this is a fantastic thread
So many excellent repairs, mods and ideas along the way. Some of which I am definitely going to have to implement, in particular when my new doors are back from the paint shop... Like the idea of a good thunk when closing the doors... |
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22nd Aug 2021 4:55pm |
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841
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As always, thanks very much for the good vibes. If there's anything here that can help anyone else, I'll be delighted.
Next on the agenda is something that happened a couple of months back now - it's just taken me a while to find an opportunity where time, photos, web and a keyboard came together. I'd always fancied an overdrive... so I must have been feeling flush earlier in the year and opted for a Roamerdrive... I'd just always fancied having three gearsticks! The main reason though is in line with my 'thinking ahead' plans, and preparing for the time we'll have the opportunities for slightly longer trips. I've realised I didn't take any pictures of the installed unit - but you probably all know it sits at the back of the transfer box: Click image to enlarge My transfer box had just been rebuilt - literally about 35/40 miles when I did this - so it all came apart easily enough. Not quite so easy to get the bearing race off the mainshaft/drive gear (if I've got that right) though I managed a 'workaround'. So the mainshaft gear is replaced with an alternative to marry with the overdrive unit, it's offered into place and bolted up. It really is that simple.... to get to that stage. There are some detailed instructions on filling it with oil - specifications and levels - but as part of that I discovered that the drain plug was a Chinesium special.... Click image to enlarge I thought I was really screwed when this broke, but in fact the stuff that was still threaded into the hole came out really easily - so it's not as if I was overtorqueing it massively... Next thing though... not really so easy. The overdrive lever sits (in RHD vehicles) on the passenger side of the main gearbox. Click image to enlarge There's a rod that runs back to the Roamerdrive unit and puts it in/out of use. Fitting the rod itself is OK, but then getting it to clear the transmission tunnel is not so much. To start with, I did a couple of test drives with the transmission tunnel just sitting loose. No problems. Then I screwed it down properly, took the car for a run, and I couldn't use the overdrive at all. The lever was blocked by/fouling the transmission tunnel. Click image to enlarge I know that my car has been apart and back together again more than once or twice, so stuff could be slightly out of alignment I suppose, but it does all fit OK with the tranny tunnel screws fitting into all the right holes in the bulkhead. floors and seatbox... Anyway, having got this far I certainly wasn't going to give up - nor was I going to drive around without a transmission tunnel in place! Neat little hole cut out of the tunnel: Click image to enlarge Not so neat little fibreglass job to modify the tunnel to accommodate the lever. I just used a spraycan lid, covered in clingfilm to create the shape, and glassed over it. Click image to enlarge This worked OK... but still not perfect. In fact I had to remove a few mm off the bottom of the reinforcing metal band/strip that goes around the gear lever opening. Click image to enlarge That did the job, and I was able to put the car back together again. In use, it's a great addition - so much so that you really start looking for '6th gear'. Running along in 5th at 55/60mph, slot it into overdrive and the revs drop by 200rpm. I can't say I've seen much in the way of fuel savings, but around where I live I wouldn't necessarily expect it - flat, it's not. On a longer run, on good roads I think I'd notice.... although on the other hand, I'd need to be sure not to use the extra rpm to drive faster! Fuel economy aside, on a long run I would very definitely notice the quieter and calmer 'ambience' in the cabin (can an old Defender be said to have an 'ambience'...?) That's it really - the Defender's just been behaving itself and just recently I've had my hands full pulling the back axle out from under my P38. Click image to enlarge I'm viewing this as something of a dry run for when I take the front axle off the Defender, hopefully this winter some time...... if I get the Range Rover fixed and MOTd. We did get the new rooftent collected and installed - using my bespoke (aka shonky) hoist on the posts of the re-purposed kids play area. Click image to enlarge And the sun even shone for our inaugural sleep up! Click image to enlarge Unfortunately it's off the car and back up in the garage roof now until the warmer weather returns, but we're all set for next spring. Might even be allowed to go somewhere by then! Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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1st Nov 2021 3:23pm |
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| Cragster69 Member Since: 15 Jun 2021 Location: Scotland Posts: 192  
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Donald,
Really enjoyed reading your thread, some of the things you've tackled are terrifying to me. 
I've bookmarked this thread for future reference if I get brave and need a reference point. A lot of things you've done are what I had in mind when I started my quest of Defender ownership, looking after it, having something to improve and repairing as needed so that you have a vehicle that can last 20+ years. We're heading up to your neck of the woods in a few weeks, Inverness then Ullapool and Stornoway, if I see you, Ill make sure to give you a wave. Craig.
“Don't believe everything you read on the internet.” ― Abraham Lincoln www.scotgrc.co.uk |
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21st Jun 2022 3:28pm |
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