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Home > My Defender > 300TDi Re-Chassis - Complete (well almost!)

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Litch

Member Since: 10 Mar 2013
Location: Oxfordshire
Posts: 762

300TDi Re-Chassis - Complete (well almost!)

Just completed a chassis change on my 1986 90 with a ceremonial chopping up of the old chassis!

Ordered the (Richards) chassis last November with a requested delivery date of mid-March. Turned up right on cue and then after spending a couple of weeks prepping the chassis (clean, T-Wash, etch primer, Frosts Extreme Satin Chassis Black & Waxoyl underseal) plus fitting a new fuel-tank, wiring harness, brake-pipes etc I SORN'd the 90 ready for a 1st April start. Took 3-months start to finish with the limited time available to me (I was working all through COVID) and then today I decided it was time to tidy up the driveway and prepare the old chassis for disposal at the local scrapyard.

Old chassis was 34yrs old and never been welded (ex-MOD and I have owned it since release 21yrs ago) and still in remarkable condition. In hindsight I have to admit that there was no way it was worthy of scrapping but it was one of those jobs that I wanted to do before I got to the stage when I wouldn't want to do it myself and at least now I know that it is done and I won't have to worry about chassis corrosion in my (LR) lifetime. Of course it did mean that many other components have also been replaced (wiring, fuel-tank, fuel & filler pipes, brake-pipes, Demand Engineering SS exhaust etc) so hopefully that will help with long-term maintenance as well.
Many items had already been replaced or painted in preparation so in most cases it really was a case of just swopping the parts over (bulkhead & just about every steel part galvanised a few years ago, new galvanised front doors fitted last year along along with a tub-off respray, new axles a few years ago etc).
The old chassis did have a slight kink to the O/S front chassis leg which happened when it was in service but it tracked true and steering / handling was always spot-on however if you looked you could see that the O/S front sat up slightly and things like the front-panel and O/S front wing (inner & outer) needed "adjustment" to make them fit.

Almost all done now with just a few finishing touches like door-cards, grill etc to fit.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

By the and before anybody says - the black marks on the wall are NOT overspray but soot from parking the 90 in exactly the same spot for 21yrs!

ONE LIFE, GET IT!

10th Jul 2020 8:34pm

steve E

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

Absolutely awesome 👍

10th Jul 2020 9:06pm

Pacha

Member Since: 23 Feb 2020
Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 772

2008 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 HT Stornoway Grey

Nice work! Rgds.

Chris

10th Jul 2020 9:32pm

Mossberg

Member Since: 29 Feb 2020
Location: Lancs
Posts: 553

1993 Defender 90 300 Tdi HT Aintree Green

Very well done!

11th Jul 2020 6:19am

LR90XS2011

Member Since: 05 Apr 2011
Location: bickenhill
Posts: 3641

2011 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Galway Green

well done looks like a tidy motor DEFENDER 90 TDCI XS,

I hope everyone is well and your land rovers make you happy

11th Jul 2020 6:25am

Bows

Member Since: 07 May 2012
Location: Wales
Posts: 513

Good work, I love the soot on the wall!! 2006 TD5110 station wagon
1995 300Tdi 90 truck cab
1989 90 hard top with 200 tdi
1983 110 hard top
1983 110 Hi cap
1954 107 pick up

11th Jul 2020 6:36am

Co1

Member Since: 19 Aug 2018
Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 3677

Top work. What was the reason for not painting the bulkhead?

11th Jul 2020 6:55am

williamthedog

Member Since: 29 Dec 2012
Location: south wales
Posts: 3441

Cracking rebuild, well worth it in the long run.

11th Jul 2020 7:38am

JOW240725

Member Since: 04 May 2015
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 7906

2012 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Orkney Grey

Fantastic work, well done!!

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

11th Jul 2020 8:07am

Alex1976

Member Since: 23 Jan 2013
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 596

Very very nice!

Makes me want to do another project!

11th Jul 2020 8:12am

90 Dreamer

Member Since: 13 Jul 2019
Location: Oop North
Posts: 2158

2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Corris Grey

looks stunning, nice job

11th Jul 2020 8:22am

Litch

Member Since: 10 Mar 2013
Location: Oxfordshire
Posts: 762

Thanks all.

Pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it (almost) all went, a little surprised at just how good the old chassis turned out to be but the point was to make sure that I never had to worry about chassis corrosion for the remainder of my LR ownership.
Had been putting it off for a couple of years (first my father died and then we had some other family issues) so at the end of last year I decided that the only way to make sure I did it this year was to get the chassis ordered early. As it turned out it was actually quite enjoyable.

"What was the reason for not painting the bulkhead?"

Just personal preference. I like a bit of galv on show (hence the cappings etc) but not too much of the bulkhead is actually visible. I did the bulkhead back in 2013 so this time I was able to leave it fully built and just swing it across from one chassis to the other without any further dismantling required. ONE LIFE, GET IT!

11th Jul 2020 8:39am

Co1

Member Since: 19 Aug 2018
Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 3677

Yep, I can see that. Looks good with the rock sliders, capping a, bumper etc.

11th Jul 2020 2:13pm

Procta

Member Since: 03 Dec 2016
Location: Sunderland
Posts: 5172

good stuff! It took me two weeks to re shell a car, ( rover metro) That was just a basic swop everything over. Wiring loom took the longest to do.

Defender TD5 90 ---/--- Peugeot 306 HDI hatch back

Success is 90% Inspiration and 4 minutes Preparation # you can make it!

11th Jul 2020 5:36pm

Mountain_man

Member Since: 09 Dec 2011
Location: Right side of Offas Dyke
Posts: 756

Really nice build. Welcome to the Galv bulkhead club. as a 1986 model should it have a "ninety" badge rather than a "Defender" badge? Not sure.

Click image to enlarge

12th Jul 2020 6:50am

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