Defender 90 pickup.

[Springertastic]

Hi

Just signed up here bought myself a G plate 90 td pickup. Chassis are new and lots of other work done but she is a bit tatty not a huge problem but i want a bit advice on how to go about smarting her up a bit. Most is the old aluminium rot around sills and creeping up doors etc. Few small holes and bit banged but was a farm vehicle. Im tempted to just panel over the rubbish and in a few years replace the whole body or try find one now? what you reakon what kind of costs am i looking at etc.

The Td engine is strong enough and actually pulls well compared to my 110td but is a bit smoky blue smoke that disapears once warmed up. Gone fiddle with the timing first also needs a new pully damper. Not useing oil and mpg is ok.turbo seems to be working well.

Has some sort of alloys on them reconise them but cant put the vehicle to it but i gona reaplce them prefer steel. pitty good tyres anaw.Fancy another set of wolf.

Any adviec be great as my 110td is generally mint condition for its age and is a bit pampered but i do want the 90 to last just as long. What should i do first were should i buy from or have you got anyhting i could use.

Ill try get some pictures taken this wkend if it ever stops raining.

Cheers

[Springertastic]

Hi Folks

Bit disapointed got no replys but guess yer all to busy plus i did forget to post pics up. Anyhow i have had a change of heart now with the 90 and im gona sell it. Its a nice wee truck just not my cup of tea and ive slightly lost the intrest after being mislead. Maybe an impulse buy i should have thought about bujt i did genuingly check it over just not well enough. The 110 is more to my liking and size wise suits my needs alot better. Ok so im not selling it on without fixing most its problems. I have replaced the steering arms and tie rod ends, drop arm ball joint, power steering belt, alternator and fan belt, oil and fuel filters changed and going to be fitting new glow plugs. The engine has the signs of worn oil seals and the badly timed engine causes it to run rough when cold. Once warmed up practically no smoke so thnk its ok for a TD engine of its 112k milage. I readjusted all the wheel bearing and generally checked over evryhting else. Tyres are good chassis are a recent replacment so solid underneath and as mentioned in the first post the bodywork is a bit batered and corroded but after lookign at similar vehicles on autotrader and fleebay reakon its not bad, certanly no showroom condition but in the right hands an easy fix. It has MOT till april 09 and taxed till january 09. Gears all seem to work well and cant get it to jump out even jerking the throttle on rough ground. Difflock works and brakes are good, handbrake needs adjusted as its at the end of its pull. Exaust is recent. Usuall interior damgae of this age door panels and seats ripped. Propshafts seem good and no play.

I realise its not perfect but with the excellent chassis and good running gear with a little tlc will make a good solid wee 90. Im sure the engine is fine ok once you get it warmed up and its been running a while the mentioned smoke does almost disapear and im certain the timing has a huge amount to play but cant proove this till the belts etc are changed.

Im thinking selling as spares or repiar due to this reason what do you think? Cant really figure out a price seen some silly asking prices on what i class buckets with poor chassis etc and no MOT. Just want to do it right. Quiet confident a real landy owner would see my point if they test drove it and i would make a point of going a good 20-30 miles show im not hiding things.

This does not mean ill bugger off my much loved 110 is about to go through a major overhall as im taking it to norway next year and driving the whole way so its time to treat the old girl well and ill no dought be asking you lots of advice on her.

Im a bit bad for random vehicle buys but this one i think could work in my favour. The guy i bought it off was totally dihonest and claimed to know nothing about the minor hidden issues and leaving a landy sitting for a month or so goes a long way to hiding problems even after a good long test drive. Im not going to be like that i know its problems and am quiet happy to take my time over selling it right.

I would appriciate help and advice this time i wont sell it on ebay and prefer it goes to someone that otherwise needs a solid landy with minor work required to get it there.It will come with all the spares required to achive this. I class it more as a fully rolling chassi bar the engine but if your happy with a smoky landy on startup and till warm might be ok for farm work or estates etc but i cant have this and yes im comparing it too much to my 110 which is fully restored now.

So what do you think? Is it worth my while keeping or should i sell it on as spares or repair or should i consider breakign it. What would you do. Money not really an issue i can afford to sort her to the standard i like but if you dont love a vehicle whats the point.

[yellow]

Depending on the looks, and the amount of 'rot' I'd say that once you are this far, you might as well keep it, mainly as then you will not lose too much of your time and money. But like you said, pictures speak louder than words.

Having a vehicle ready to drive around in, means you can take your time finding a nice 200Tdi engine and pop that one in. It will boost your vehicle's value by the same amount as you would have paid for the much more loved 200Tdi...

[Springertastic]

Good point there Yellow aboot the 200tdi have noticed they can reach good prices. Decided to use my 110 for a month so i can park the 90 up in the drive and work on it. Took it to the local landy loving garage owner and he reakons most the smoke is a faulty injector from what i have described with a dab of worn stem valve sels thrown in for good measure and shocking timing , nothing he aint seen old taxis starting like in the mornings and nothing the local plod will annoy me about. Ill get pics taken they wont show in detail what you can see up close but ull get the idea. In its favour the bulkhead is solid along with the good chassis well solid chassis. Might give me time to get back into it just got a bit niffed at it when the hidden secrets started showing their ugly head. Its a case of do i spend money in which case i always say a landy is for life just rebuild em over and over so no real shelf life like modern 4x4 and cars then id be tempted to keep it. But you get to the point of how much do you spend compared with what you could sell it for. Ill get photos taken. Buggers though totally true you buy one and want the whole damn range.

Cheers

[Mo Murphy]

As yellow says, springertastic, put a 200 Tdi in it. Once done, you'll feel completely different about the old girl

Mo

[lrfarmer]

my old tatty 90

i've owned her for about 5 years as yet i haven't started doing the body work

and putting in a 200TDI in was the best thing i've done to it so far

[Springertastic]

Here some pics of the 90 for you.

I was offered a 300tdi engine complete for £300 recently with the intention of fitting that into the 110. I have done some figures and as is if i paid that kind of money on an engine done the refit myself with the usuall new bits reccomended during the operation and giving the body a tidyup if i can find cheap front wings and doors tidy the interior a bit and make door panels ill not go above £1500. Its looking tempting. I mean im no mechanic but have done alot of work on my 110 it had alot done befor i bought it aswell full rebuild infact so im ok with getting the spanners and hammer out. I look after a transit van aswell but would i toil on my own? I think its pretty good but is it worth my while. A guy recently offered me a very clean 90td same beast basically. It ahd a load of work dlone to a very high standard and bodywise was very clean but he did state it would need a new chassis eventually and it was hitting over £1500 mot and taxed. This is were im confused as myne has a great cjhassia nd evryhting else just needs tlc and the bodywork smartened up. Ok blabbing a bit now keep the ideas coming costs and honest opinions.

Sorry if the pics are a bit big tried to crop them down.

Thanks

[Springertastic]

Here are some closeups you can see the holes on the front wings the corrosion at the bottom of the doors and the damaged sills.

Few pics of the 110.

[Springertastic]

HI

Ok got some good offers for wings, sills etc so the 90 is goign to get a makeover. Its gona be stripped and rebuilt i may or may not get the chassis galvanised when stripped it depends on cost something i just done know yet. Now i have just also got hold of the engine that was fitted in my trusty transit befor it died the rot death. Its the Bannanna Di 2.5 deisel just had a full makover new timing belt, valves adjusted, pump tuned the works, this engine runs super sweet for a deisel and always took me by surprise the power it had even low down in 5th gear fully loaded going up hills. Also i know how to tune them further very easily if i want a little more grunt.

I know this convertion has been done and my thinking is the 90 is ideal. So im hoping there are memebers here that have this convertion done already and can point me down the right path. I also have the full old transit van so if anyhting else is required thats not an issue.

Looking forward to hearing from you transit engined landy owners.

Thanks

Scott