1979 defender 90-Am i mad to buy?

Another newbie here, im interested in getting myself an old defender 90. im thinking of getting a vintage model, older than 1980 like. Cheaper road tax-and so much character!

wud i be mad? if u've any advice, suggestions or past experiences i'd love to here about it. thanks

p.s. would i get a decent starter for less than £2,000?

robzierover said:

Another newbie here, im interested in getting myself an old defender 90. im thinking of getting a vintage model, older than 1980 like. Cheaper road tax-and so much character!

wud i be mad? if u've any advice, suggestions or past experiences i'd love to here about it. thanks

p.s. would i get a decent starter for less than £2,000?

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Yep epecially as the 90 wasn't produced until 1984 what you're looking at is a 88" SWB Series 3, and you can get a good one for £500 for £2000 you'd want an absolutely mint Concourse standard vehicle.

From you're post, I've assumed you know very little if anything about Landrovers, My advice therefore is find some one who does and get them to find, a landy for you and let them negoiate on your behalf.

I agree with the above.
I went it alone and ended up with an over priced project rather than the good usable landy I thought I was buying.
If youre not careful you will end up with a money pit.

Yeah agree wiv above^.You want a landrover,clearly but it seems you dont know what landy you want.We can rule out range rovers and dsicos cos of age n type of car your after.It appears your after a short wheel base.Now you need to decide if you want a series or a 90/defender. What do you intend on using the car for?Both of the above car be DIYed-and is probbaly best witha motor of that age, otherwise the garage bills are gonna be well over double your starting 2k.

thanks for that, i guess i have some re-thinking to do! I had a look at the series 3, not mad gone on it on it to be honest. ill stick with it though.

cheers

Research first. Lots of it. Talk to people who know Land Rovers and can take you for a drive. You could be in for a nasty shock diving straight in not knowing what you're buying.

series three is a long way off what a normal modern car is.Have a few test drives in a defender and you might warm to it more.HAve a look round ebay auto trader and that maybe get someone from here to meet up with yer-feed em beer and they'll tell ya if its a wrongun or not.Where abouts are ya?

i love the 90/defender, and your right im not interested in discos or freelanders etc. I'm a stonemason/landscape gardener by trade so it mostly for pulling smallish loads of a couple of tonne...the 90/def is fine for that right?

should i look at newer models if im using the jeep for every day use? or do the older defs generaly keep going fo life?

thanks goonarmy

im from the south coast of ireland. im looking at autotrader.co.uk every day. there are so many landys in the uk than over here. and the euro is so strong against the pound at the moment, there couldnt be a better time to buy!

And you wanna spend 2 k(sterling) on it?If its gonna earn for you i would spend some more and get a newer one.Sounds like you want a hard top or pick up or even a hicap puck up.Thrown all yer **** in the back all day long and tow whatever you want.Does it have to be a short wheel base?

110 hicap well useful and get a truckman or similar if you need security.:http://www.eastcoastrover.com/Defenders/PASB16.jpg
Hardtop :http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Land_Rover_Defender_90_hardttop.jpg
pickup:http://www.rooftent.co.uk/webpages/library/IMG_9302.jpg

robzierover said:

i love the 90/defender, and your right im not interested in discos or freelanders etc. I'm a stonemason/landscape gardener by trade so it mostly for pulling smallish loads of a couple of tonne...the 90/def is fine for that right?

should i look at newer models if im using the jeep for every day use? or do the older defs generaly keep going fo life?

thanks goonarmy

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You gotta decide what you want first, do you want a Land Rover or do you want a Jeep? I believe the 90 is rated to tow 3500kg anyway, although I'm unsure if that's gross, kerb or train weight you'd have to do some research.

My 110 is a 1982 and that's a pre production model, so I'd be impressed if you found a '79 Defender

ya, id like the short wheel base rther than the long wheel base. ive never seen a hicap puckup? id prefer the closed back, rather than the open (youth stlye) please excuse my ignorance here with landy lingo, i feel like a plank trying to explain myself!

ive got to leave now, get back to you soon. thanks a million

Ghost said:

You gotta decide what you want first, do you want a Land Rover or do you want a Jeep? I believe the 90 is rated to tow 3500kg anyway, although I'm unsure if that's gross, kerb or train weight you'd have to do some research.

My 110 is a 1982 and that's a pre production model, so I'd be impressed if you found a '79 Defender

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Int yours the well ealry one thats the cross over from series?

Ghost said:

My 110 is a 1982 and that's a pre production model, so I'd be impressed if you found a '79 Defender

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bung up a few pictures of it please, especially of the engine bay and dash

Not exactly a cross over, and as far as I can find out it hasn't been in any press shots I believe 52Y was a demonstrator vehicle. Has a few differences from the fully fledged 110, I believe some of the suspension components, anti roll bars and the like are different, I know the steering set up is a bit unique as it's got a four bolt steering box I've been unable to source spares for, not sure what it's from but I've had several suggestions it may be from a Range Rover. Was originally fitted with a diesel engine and selectable four wheel drive apparently, however it's now got an LT77 5 speed box with high and low ratio difflock and a military surplus recon 2.5 petrol engine. The doors are series with military sliding glass rather than the wind up and down types later found. The dashboard seems to be similar to post production design, got a few holes and switches that don't do anything but that's to be expected with any land rover this age!









It's been a pretty solid workhorse all in all but I'm thinking about selling it at the moment as I'd like a short wheelbase.

that 110 interior looks just like mine.

The very early 110's all had sliding windows, and a couple of other oddities, like the 2.25 diesel engine in a few of them.

Then, when the 90 was released in 84? they updated them all to windy windows, etc.

I think my steering box is 4 bolt, is yours manual or powered?

Acutally, looking again at the pics, with the steering damper i guess its PAS.

I hadn' heard of a 4wd selectable box in them though.

Manual steering, although the box is shagged and as I've got a disco PAS box with a droparm I'm hoping I can convert it to PAS in the near future, just having trouble finding a pump that will mount onto the 2.5 petrol engine.

If the rains stops I'll have a look in my garage as I took mine off when I put a 90 2.3 inrto the Series, but I think I sold it at the time.

Davec said:

If the rains stops I'll have a look in my garage as I took mine off when I put a 90 2.3 inrto the Series, but I think I sold it at the time.

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Thanks a lot! I'd much rather replace the steering box with a like for like but it's finding one that's the problem. I'd resigned myself to fitting PAS to it as that seemed to be the only option in terms of finding parts.