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chrispy

Member Since: 13 Mar 2015
Location: Gwent
Posts: 347

1987 Defender 90 300 Tdi CSW Keswick Green

My Wifes 90 - Project Monty

This was originally going to be a 60th birthday present for my wife (who's birthday is in July) but it's a little too big to hide from her so I had to present it early. It's an 87 300 Tdi 90 with a TDi chassis and a TD5 bulkhead, interior etc with heated seats and front screen. It had a new crossmember fitted just prior to our purchase with refurbished TD5 axles with drilled and grooved discs. It has yellow heavy duty springs (no lift) and new yellow polybushes all round. A recon R380 box was fitted just prior to our purchase and a new complete clutch. mechanically it's sound which enables us to move on with the other stuff.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

The plan was a modern car with all the luxuries and comfort etc (a little bit like a Kahn vehicle but without the hideous bolt on panels). I'd like to put an Exmoor Elite XS leather interior in it with the heated seats etc, double din Android unit in the dash with sat nav etc and a kick arse sound system, NAS flush fit LED lights all round with a pair of Terrafirma LUX LED headlights. We're putting in a pair of Masai Panoramic windows and fitting a winch bumber and NAS rear step. This is not going to be a show car, it's going to be used to it's fullest extent both on and off road. I love the way it sits naturally so high with the springs giving it a kind of natural 2" lift. I struggle like hell to get in and out but the wife who's 4"11 1/2 and 6 stone soaking wet gets in and out of it like it's a bloody convertible.

Anyway, we started this week with the conversion to a van from a pickup and cut out the rear bulkhead wall completely (as can be seen in the photos below), we also fitted a rear bulkhead bar to give fatty (me) more leg room so I can get my belly behind the wheel and to provide strength where the wall had been cut away. It was a lot of potch and much more work than originally anticipated to be honest. You see the photos of them in magazines etc and it looks simple but it's a lot of work and took a good few hours.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

The roof and sides went on pretty straight forward with a little adjusting here and there so we were grateful for that.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Since we switched from a pickup to a van we needed a new back door that we sourced from SPGlobalParts in Liverpool. The guy I dealt with there couldn't have been more helpful especially considering twice I forgot to order something (first time the handle and the second the seal) and he got them delivered to me the following morning for no extra charge on the delivery. Anyway, fair play to them at £149 for a new back door with heated glass is a bloody good price and there's no drop in standard compared to an OEM one to be truthful. We bought the rear handle, seal and a new set of locks also (which he threw in for free) and we were off.

Click image to enlarge

And here's some photos of when we got it home which is much better as it's not in a dark garage.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Thats it for now. I hope I haven't bored you all and i've done this post right. If anyone is interested i'll be updating the post in a few weeks when i've got some more done. Hopefully it will turn out to be a fun job and not a frustrating one considering I have no idea about these things.

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Last edited by chrispy on 18th Apr 2015 3:19pm. Edited 3 times in total

5th Apr 2015 9:01pm

JAY BOY

Member Since: 04 May 2010
Location: Not here
Posts: 1706

Nice work. I'm looking forward to the finished product.

5th Apr 2015 9:11pm

ChrisJ

Member Since: 12 Nov 2013
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 231

2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 SW Corris Grey

Great transformation so far!

Look forward to updates.

5th Apr 2015 9:11pm

chrispy

Member Since: 13 Mar 2015
Location: Gwent
Posts: 347

I'm hoping the updates will be quite frequent but to say this has hit my savings quite hard is an understatement. Considering i'm as mechanically minded as Ian Duncan Smith is sympathetic to the disabled I was quite chuffed when we went out for a drive yesterday and I managed to fix a bump and rattle on the exhaust

There was this vibration that wasn't drowned out by the engine and it turned out to be a bolt on the exhaust had come loose from a joint. Hey, for a computer geek like me that never used to like getting his hands dirty I was chuffed. I actually felt like a man

The bumping noise underneath was the exhaust hitting the chassis everytime we went over a hole in the road so a few zipties until everywhere open on Tuesday will do for now.

Thanks for your kind words by the way. It's very encouraging

5th Apr 2015 9:16pm

steve E

Member Since: 06 Mar 2011
Location: Tenby
Posts: 2073

I love it.
A great defender built with skill.
A lovely present for the wife.
Look forward to seeing the finished Defender project.

5th Apr 2015 9:23pm

Anderzander

Member Since: 08 Feb 2011
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 1000

Yes keep posting ! And keep doing little bits yourself and it'll snowball until you can do more and more of the work yourself. Satisfying and cheaper

After all Land Rover has been making mechanics out of drivers since 1948.

5th Apr 2015 9:26pm

JAY BOY

Member Since: 04 May 2010
Location: Not here
Posts: 1706

These things are a very expensive hobby.
Good luck with the rest of it. Although it will never be finished as you will always find something that needs doing or you find a nice new shiny part that you like. The problem with the forum is you are constantly seeing nicer and better upgrades that take your fancy. I bought an ex demonstrator with a couple of thousand miles on the clock. I thought I've got just what i want and then spent over 4k making it better. hey ho you can't take it with you.

5th Apr 2015 9:28pm

chrispy

Member Since: 13 Mar 2015
Location: Gwent
Posts: 347

Anderzander wrote:
Yes keep posting ! And keep doing little bits yourself and it'll snowball until you can do more and more of the work yourself. Satisfying and cheaper

After all Land Rover has been making mechanics out of drivers since 1948.

I plan to

JAY BOY wrote:
These things are a very expensive hobby.
Good luck with the rest of it. Although it will never be finished as you will always find something that needs doing or you find a nice new shiny part that you like. The problem with the forum is you are constantly seeing nicer and better upgrades that take your fancy. I bought an ex demonstrator with a couple of thousand miles on the clock. I thought I've got just what i want and then spent over 4k making it better. hey ho you can't take it with you.

Ain't that the truth. The wife is so chuffed to bits, the smile on her face is worth ten times what I paid for it. Every Saturday morning she wakes me up to go for a drive over this little 2 mile greenlane that's close to our house lol, she loves it. We live in the middle of nowhere with mountains all around us but the assholes from neighbouring towns have put a stop to being able to drive up there since they've all torn the place apart with their little Suzukis.

5th Apr 2015 9:31pm

Lou Sparts

Member Since: 15 Apr 2012
Location: Kent
Posts: 1501

2005 Defender 90 Td5 XS CSW Zambezi Silver

Great thread, keep us posted

2005 Td5 90 XS

Steve

5th Apr 2015 9:34pm

chrispy

Member Since: 13 Mar 2015
Location: Gwent
Posts: 347

Forgot to mention that as the rear tub is from a TD5 and it has a Tdi tank we're going to fit a TD5 fuel tank to it and make up some brackets to save having to cut a new filler hole in the tub and plate over the old one. The guy who's garage it is has a few TD5 tanks there and he said I can have one so it's just a matter of making up the brackets, fitting the tank, running a new fuel line and then working out that little pump on the top of the TD5 tank as they're different to Tdi's I believe in how thew fuel is delivered. Is that right?

5th Apr 2015 9:43pm

Pickles

Member Since: 26 May 2013
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 3786

2013 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 CSW Keswick Green

Chrispy, Great work.
As I'm in Aus, in sunny downtown Melbourne, I'm always interested in where you guys live when you say you're "in the middle of nowhere". So where do you live?
I'm English although I live in Aus. Emigrated here in 1958 from the UK, lived in a few places, Vowchurch Herefordshire & Manchester amongst others, & my Mum was Welsh!
Pickles.

5th Apr 2015 10:12pm

chrispy

Member Since: 13 Mar 2015
Location: Gwent
Posts: 347

Hahaha, not your middle of nowhere. My brother lives in Adelaide and niece in Perth and my parents lived in NSW so I know about Australian middle of nowhere. It's not like the bush or outback lol, i'm on top of a mountain in Gwent. Four mile drive to life so it's not that bad but we are alone here which is what I like

5th Apr 2015 10:17pm

Remington

Member Since: 24 Mar 2015
Location: northumberland
Posts: 15

looks cool chrispy!

6th Apr 2015 8:10am

chrispy

Member Since: 13 Mar 2015
Location: Gwent
Posts: 347

Thanks Remington.

I've been looking on the net for a nice headlining or a service to recover the one we have now but not had much luck. I emailed a company earlier to ask them if they had any covers for ours with a sunroof and alpine windows (pictured below) and they said no but if sent them ours they'd happily make us up a set of covers for free in black leather....RESULT! I'm getting them packed up tomorrow and shipped off on Tuesday and when they come back i'll add the photos here. I'm not mentioning the companies name yet but as soon as I get them back i'll shout it from the rooftops. Anyway, here's the ones we have now, sorry for the poor quality of the photos.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

12th Apr 2015 6:51pm

JMG

Member Since: 16 Apr 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 222

2014 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Stornoway Grey

Great looking truck, wish I could do that sort of thing

12th Apr 2015 10:15pm

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