100 inch defender pure vapour build

[mad_pete]

So I was out at the weekend and saw a defender that if I had unlimited time and money is pretty much what mine would end up as. 

100 inch auto, air suspension, soft top with forward facing rear seats.

so I was musing what does it take to go to 100 inches from a 90? And this is speculation only. 

So richard chassis 100 inch,  take the panels engine front off mine (90) extend propshaft, brake lines, electrics, exhaust , custom cage, custom hood. Get rear seats in. Some sort of trival paperwork for dvla and a solve for extra 10 inches rear tub and your done aren’t you? Weekend, maybe two ? 🙂

[daveturnbull]

8 minutes ago, mad_pete said:

Weekend, maybe two ?

[Bowie69]

Trivial? IVA

£450 or so.

[Retroanaconda]

Why not use a Disco chassis and avoid the IVA?

If that's still possible

[miketomcat]

2 hours ago, Retroanaconda said:

Why not use a Disco chassis and avoid the IVA?

If that's still possible

As long as you don't alter the chassis in anyway, which makes the proportions look odd. 

Why not build a 100 inch tomcat I built mine in 6 months though not a soft top.

Mike

[mad_pete]

I’m wondering what difference a specifically built chassis makes.  I e watched some of a 4x4 is born. That looks complicated but with an actual defender 100 inch chassis is it easier? As this is my imaginary 100 inch build it would need seats in the back.

 

 

[western]

Design chassis do 100 inch wheelbase chassis I believe 

[Bowie69]

But then of course, it is no a like-for-like replacement, and will still require an IVA.

[Retroanaconda]

I wouldn't have thought cutting the rear crossmember off and replacing with a Defender one, and likewise with the body outriggers, would cause any bother with requiring an IVA. That’s what Mark Evans did.

Although the rules may have been tightened since then.

[mad_pete]

I hear it various ways of yes/no/depends on the examiner but putting the Iva aside if it’s 100 inch defender chassis don’t most things bolt on at this point with a 10 inch gap behind the bulkhead and rear bed? 

[Bowie69]

41 minutes ago, Retroanaconda said:

I wouldn't have thought cutting the rear crossmember off and replacing with a Defender one, and likewise with the body outriggers, would cause any bother with requiring an IVA. That’s what Mark Evans did.

Although the rules may have been tightened since then.

There's no question about it, yes, it does. Not to mention of course the outriggers that will need cutting off and replacing with defender spec ones.

I don't know how Mark did his, but that is probably 20 years ago now

 

[miketomcat]

When I had children I seriously considered taking the hard roof off my tomcat and replacing it with a soft top. Changing the cage at the rear and fitting forward facing rear seats. The only reason I didn't was it was beyond my budget at the time.

Any chassis mod (not repair) triggers IVA including changing the wheel base.

Mike

[mad_pete]

This was the chassis I was thinking of.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/galvanised-land-rover-100-defender-chassis-custom-richards-chassis.310674/

 

[miketomcat]

43 minutes ago, mad_pete said:

This was the chassis I was thinking of.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/galvanised-land-rover-100-defender-chassis-custom-richards-chassis.310674/

 

Would definitely require an IVA but that's not the end of the world.

Mike

[Bowie69]

Agreed, definitely the way to go if you want 100", just factor in the ~£450 for the test, it is not that hard to pass.

[miketomcat]

It's a bit more than £450 because when you fail (which you will first time) re-test is £90 then registration at £55 plus your MOT, tax and insurance all at the same time. It cost me about £1500 to put the ibex on the road, granted some of that is running costs but you still have to pay it.

The IVA isn't hard to pass but you do need to read the manual before, during and again before the test. It will still fail but at least it will be only minor items.

Mike

[mad_pete]

So chassis £1500

custom softtop and cage £2000

iva tests £1500 

rear seats £1000

custom tub fabrication and paint £1000

swap bits over and find broken things £1000

Air suspension £2000

hmm £10,000 pounds. 

How much is a 100 inch worth ?

 

 

[Tanuki]

I've never understood the antipathy towards SVA/IVA: having done a couple of kit-car builds myself and helped-out friends with another half-dozen I see a SVA/IVA-pass as a rather basic seal-of-approval that the workmanship is of acceptable quality and all the paperwork seems to be in-order.

Sure beats the likes of a friend being stopped inbound at Hull ferryport at 23:00 on a Sunday-evening by an officious customs-officer who thinks you're up to something-dodgy because you're driving a 1980s 6x4 LHD Range-Rover conversion that was exported to Saudi at first-build and so doesn't have a 'sensible' chassis-plate/VIN. It took him three days to get de-impounded.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Tanuki

[miketomcat]

Having done three different routes to registration. Kit conversion, SVA and IVA I have to say they are all costly and a paperwork exercise. My freestyle was SVA not as costly as the current system but there were so many loop holes it was daft. My tomcat was done as a kit conversion, taken for a VIC if it passed register it if not SVA. It passed as I've said it was one of the loop holes. The ibex was done under the current system of IVA. People are scared of authority hence the distain for IVA. I find it amusing that people avoid a Q plate when for me it screams that the vehicle has been tested and legit. The bottom line is it is time consuming and costly but not really a problem.

More importantly is a 100 inch worth £10k if your asking what it's worth your missing the point. My ibex is everything I wanted it to be. It's worth considerably more to me than it cost to build it and at least double what I could sell it for. If you want it build it but don't think you will do anything but loose money on it. My tomcat cost me £12k to build (about half the average build cost) but when I sold it (5 years later) I struggled to get £6.5k. 

I say don't just talk about it do it but then I would.

Mike

[mad_pete]

But this is a pure talk about it thread. 🙂 I appreciate its not a significant value add mod but if it’s spending 10k on a 5k base   to vehicle to make it worth 6k that’s a factor. I appreciate it should be primarily a labour of love.   

[Mudmonkey]

A 130 hi cap tub and defender cab fit perfectly on a 100” discovery chassis, just needs a frame to pick up on the body mounts to avoid any cutting of the chassis at all. I think I would have attempted to build it on a discovery 2 chassis if I didn’t already have the discovery 1. 

[MR-HIPPO]

@Mudmonkey

I like that a lot.

I would be curios to see how you picked up the body mounting points.

Edited June 27, 2019 by MR-HIPPO

[daveturnbull]

Very nice. Also interested in underneath pics.

[Mudmonkey]

The frame isn’t all that amazing. Just a piece of box section with the end of the defender outriggers welded on to pick up on the rear bulkhead/tub mounts and locate the tube of the rock sliders. This mounts to two chassis points with rubber engine mounts. The rock sliders are then integral parts to the frame, mounting to the rear box section and the bulkhead, as well as picking up on the discovery body mounts using the same rubber engine mounts. I’ll upload a few random pictures I have below. 

[Mudmonkey]