 | Home > My Defender > Building my dream machine... Sort of! |
 
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10742  
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Nice purchase you will have when you've got her home, nice to work on and very little electric's to worry about. Good you have took the plunge and got one and will look forward to as and when you can update your thread
 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up.
Keeper. Clayton. |
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8th Sep 2021 8:27pm |
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| SimpleSimon Member Since: 05 Sep 2021 Location: Worcestershire Posts: 43  
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Well folks, I brought her home last night! She put a smile on my face all the way home and I have to honestly say it's the best defender I've driven (not that I've driven a huge number, but enough to form an opinion).
Unfortunately it was dark when I got home and having been at work all day and gone straight to collect afterwards I had other things to do than start playing with my new toy. She'll be thoroughly cleaned up and looked over at the weekend, middle seat out, cubby box in, and I'll try to see exactly what is in the huge box of spares and bits that are in the back! I've decided that fitting the door and quarter panels is a job for somebody else. Unfortunately I have the inclination but not the time or space to do a decent job of it. So for now they're just cluttering up the house! 1998 300tdi 90 Hard Top. Daily driver, dog bus, shooting wagon and ongoing project! |
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14th Sep 2021 5:18am |
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| mikeh501 Member Since: 07 Jan 2013 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1142
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Congrats on the purchase. I think my first job would be some new fluids and plaster it with some rust prevention inside and out before winter sets in
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14th Sep 2021 8:30am |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10742
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The adventure starts now you have got her home
 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up.
Keeper. Clayton. |
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14th Sep 2021 9:00pm |
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| SimpleSimon Member Since: 05 Sep 2021 Location: Worcestershire Posts: 43
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Yes indeed, I've booked her in to a local Landy specialist for a major service and a check over. In future I'll probably do most of the servicing myself, but as she's new to me I'd like the peace of mind knowing exactly when and what has been done to start with. As for rust proofing, I am going to do a "temporary" waxoyl underneath myself, then she's going in for a professional Dinitrol treatment early next year (first opportunity they could offer!) 1998 300tdi 90 Hard Top. Daily driver, dog bus, shooting wagon and ongoing project! |
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18th Sep 2021 6:30am |
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| SimpleSimon Member Since: 05 Sep 2021 Location: Worcestershire Posts: 43
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Well, the Defender has had a dramatic first weekend! I was supposed to be taking her on a trip across the county to deliver some stuff I sold online. Unfortunately she had other ideas and I lost clutch action about 200 yards from home. A bit of investigation revealed a weepy slave cylinder, so she was out back on the road with a top up and I've added Master, Slave and hoses to the job sheet for the garage next week.
With that sorted out I decided she needed a very good clean. The inside was not exactly filthy, but surely hadn't seen a brush or hoover for a while, especially under the seat bases and in the space between seat backs and bulkhead! I also had a little surprise when I popped the middle seat cushion, and found the EGR control box under there! Luckily the EGR on mine is already blanked, so I unplugged the box and cracked on fitting my cubby box. There were no pre-drilled holes in my box, and no obvious place to mount it after I'd pulled the middle seat out, so I first cut a thick piece of rubber matting to cover the bare metal between the seats (removed the seat belt buckles first and cut it sized to tuc under the seat runners, then bolted back down so that it looks "factory". Then I just used Tek-Screws and fastened the cubby through the rubber and straight into the inspection cover. I'll grab a few pictures later, but I think the result looks great. The front TekScrews are under the removable plastic cup holders, the rear ones I just cut a small nick in the box lining with a Stanley knife and covered them back over. Look luckily I had some countersunk ones left over from a job I did a while back, so they're flush with the bottom of the box and hidden completely, but easy to get out again if needed. Next job for the interior will be to cap the corners of the seat box, the vinyl is already badly split on both sides. And then to find some good quality rubber footwell mats. I'm also going to take the spare off the back door until I can get the new galv door fitted, the old one is on its last legs and having a big fat Goodrich hanging off it probably isn't prolonging its life! 1998 300tdi 90 Hard Top. Daily driver, dog bus, shooting wagon and ongoing project! |
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19th Sep 2021 5:18am |
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| Co1 Member Since: 19 Aug 2018 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 3672 
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Standard day out in a landy then!!
The cubbys are fitted with rivnuts at the factory if you want to go full oem! Easy enough to drill out the holes left by the tech screws so you get the right alignment. |
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19th Sep 2021 7:21am |
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| SimpleSimon Member Since: 05 Sep 2021 Location: Worcestershire Posts: 43
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Yep, fairly standard by all accounts but I'd hoped to have had it at least a full week before something broke!
To be honest, although the tek screw method isn't exactly refined it has worked perfectly, and you'd only see from underneath... 1998 300tdi 90 Hard Top. Daily driver, dog bus, shooting wagon and ongoing project! |
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19th Sep 2021 7:38am |
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| SimpleSimon Member Since: 05 Sep 2021 Location: Worcestershire Posts: 43
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Well, it's been an eventful week for the old girl this week. I took her down to a local body shop on Saturday to get a couple of quotes, for the urgent job of replacing the horrific tailgate door and the two slightly less awful panels either side, plus respraying the very untidy back end. I feel that really lets the whole vehicle down, as its way beyond the endearing battle scars and stone chips on the rest of the panels. The good news is, it's not totally unaffordable (although the full respray I also got quoted is!)
The better news, is that she also had a major service and check up on Monday at a specialist. I now have peace of mind that everything has been done properly and the mechanic was overall very positive about her condition. Which means I have no fear of spending what little budget I have left on the cosmetics for now. I did ask him about renewing the rust proofing, which is fairly old waxoyl, but he said he didn't think it needed doing urgently ahead of this winter. What does need doing urgently, even more urgently than the door, is to renew the bulkhead vent seals. We had heavy rain the other day and when I got in to go to work there was a literal waterfall coming in to both footwells! I had previously noted the poor condition of the vent seal, but hadn't quite grasped how much water would come in if they weren't replaced! They arrived today, unfortunately it might be the weekend before I have time to fit them! Luckily I wear wellies a lot for work anyway... I've also now got all news seals for the rear door, rear screen and the small quarter windows, plus a new back door latch. All of that will go to the bodyshop along with the fully galvanised door and the new quarter panels. I've also gone for the Mud plastic tailgate liner panel, which is much better than the original door card. Eventually I'd like to get the side panels as well, they seem really practical with the storage nets on and nice to look at than the current ply sheets supplied by the previous owner! I've also bought a pair of seat box corner protectors, because mine is very worn on both corners, and a nice set of mats which I'll put in as soon as she's stopped leaking! I will try to get some photos up at some point. I feel like it's coming together now and I'm starting to put my mark on her, making her overall a bit less tired. 1998 300tdi 90 Hard Top. Daily driver, dog bus, shooting wagon and ongoing project! |
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29th Sep 2021 9:24pm |
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| Co1 Member Since: 19 Aug 2018 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 3672
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“ Luckily I wear wellies a lot for work anyway...”
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30th Sep 2021 5:03am |
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| SimpleSimon Member Since: 05 Sep 2021 Location: Worcestershire Posts: 43
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A quick snap of her in her natural habitat today... Not by any means supposed to be a work truck, but I turned up this morning to "any chance you can take yours out today?"
 Click image to enlarge 1998 300tdi 90 Hard Top. Daily driver, dog bus, shooting wagon and ongoing project! |
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30th Sep 2021 7:57am |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10742
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All good so far then with the 90 and you can't beat them in there natural habitat
1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up.
Keeper. Clayton. |
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30th Sep 2021 8:14pm |
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| SimpleSimon Member Since: 05 Sep 2021 Location: Worcestershire Posts: 43
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[
Well folks, a couple of mundane but necessary jobs done on the old girl today. Number one priority, and now sorted (I hope!) was the leaking bulkhead vents... What a faff of a job! You need hands the size of a two year old with the dexterity of a gynecologist to get to the bolts! There's no wonder the seals were leaking and the vents stiff to operate!
Anyway, I've renewed the pins with stainless and freed up the little plates underneath the flap so everything now moves much better, and hopefully the new seals will work! Also suck in some nice rubber floor mats and put on the seat box corner protectors which it desperately needed! 1998 300tdi 90 Hard Top. Daily driver, dog bus, shooting wagon and ongoing project!Last edited by SimpleSimon on 3rd Oct 2021 2:57pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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3rd Oct 2021 1:36pm |
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| JOW240725 Member Since: 04 May 2015 Location: Suffolk Posts: 7905 
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Welcome to Defender ownership and D2N
She's a beauty, have fun! 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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3rd Oct 2021 2:09pm |
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