1990 90 Rebuild by a 19 year old!

Hi all!

Having owned my little 90 for nearly bang on a year, and that it's starting to go somewhere now, I thought I'd start a wee project thread to show you all what I'm up to! A quick background on me. I'm a 19 year old Mercedes Benz apprentice, having chosen an apprenticeship after A levels instead of University. I know my way around a set of spanners, this being my sixth or seventh car (I've lost count lol). Land Rover's have been in my family for years, both my parents owning several Defender's and Series'. Here's a quick picture of my Dad's old 2A.



So when I had some money lying around this time last year, I went and bought my little pre-Defender 90. Here she is the day I bought her.



Last summer.



And here she is as of a few hours ago.



Basically, she was a bog standard 90 station wagon with the original 19J. She was an absolute lemon, and still is now. The chassis has been patched all over, she leaks everywhere, the rear cross member has had it, and both the transfer/gearbox have an unbelievable amount of backlash. I 200tdi converted her in August last year, but the clutch release bearing gave up just 2 months later. She's been sat up since, until last night when I had her moved to my new storage unit. Ready for some much needed TLC!

So the next 12 or so months and the next £5000-£6000 should see a big change for the old girl. I'm thinking galvanised chassis, Ashcroft R380 and LT230, Salisbury axles etc etc.

alexcarter said:

Hi all!

Having owned my little 90 for nearly bang on a year, and that it's starting to go somewhere now, I thought I'd start a wee project thread to show you all what I'm up to! A quick background on me. I'm a 19 year old Mercedes Benz apprentice, having chosen an apprenticeship after A levels instead of University. I know my way around a set of spanners, this being my sixth or seventh car (I've lost count lol). Land Rover's have been in my family for years, both my parents owning several Defender's and Series'. Here's a quick picture of my Dad's old 2A.

So when I had some money lying around this time last year, I went and bought my little pre-Defender 90. Here she is the day I bought her.

Last summer.

And here she is as of a few hours ago.

Basically, she was a bog standard 90 station wagon with the original 19J. She was an absolute lemon, and still is now. The chassis has been patched all over, she leaks everywhere, the rear cross member has had it, and both the transfer/gearbox have an unbelievable amount of backlash. I 200tdi converted her in August last year, but the clutch release bearing gave up just 2 months later. She's been sat up since, until last night when I had her moved to my new storage unit. Ready for some much needed TLC!

So the next 12 or so months and the next £5000-£6000 should see a big change for the old girl. I'm thinking galvanised chassis, Ashcroft R380 and LT230, Salisbury axles etc etc.

Click to expand...

It looks like it's gonna need a bonnet, too. And a bumper.

Looking forward to seeing the strip down then rebuild. Good luck with it. Dad's 2a looks great.

Sounds like you have some fun work ahead of you.

Looks good so far, what do you have planned for it in terms of use? Presumably something pretty HD if you're going to the bother of putting Salisbury axles under it?

Good luck mate, look forward to another rebuild thread.

Look forward to this good look.

Nice pics, love the front garden car park. Look forward to more updates

Good luck mate!

timmay said:

Nice pics, love the front garden car park. Look forward to more updates

Click to expand...

Flat drives are for cars!

Good luck with the build, I look forward to seeing more

Thanks guys, love a warm welcome.

Had a few hours spare after work, so cracked on with more body stripping.





Angle grinder was needed for every single door for one or more bolts. I'm replacing all the hinges so they were sacrificial, as were the check straps. The driver's door is probably too far gone, needs a new frame, outer skin, and window runner. Passenger I should be able to save, and the back door just needs some surface rust sorting. You can also see the 15x10 modulars in the last picture, that have been sat in my bedroom for 6 months!

Still moving stuff into the unit, don't know what I'm going to do with all the space! lol. It's such a welcome change from when I had to do the 200tdi swap on the road outside my house.

Still need to invest in a decent engine crane and stand, and maybe even start looking at compressors. All well and good having the air tools at work, but no good at home without a compressor!

PS, I forgot to say, I'm am very envious of your work space.
I would say you can never have too much space, but the truth is, the more space you have the more crap you find to put into it. Or maybe that's just me

watching with great interest ,,, get ready to get you're wallet out lol,,, seriously good luck ,,,,

Nice looking truck mate. Good luck.

aaronmorris said:

the more space you have the more crap you find to put into it. Or maybe that's just me

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Not just you. I've got a 85x65 foot barn which was meant to be a workshop/bar.. it's now a storage facility for my family with only just enough room for me to get my truck in... I'll sort it out one day.

aaronmorris said:

PS, I forgot to say, I'm am very envious of your work space.

Click to expand...

+1 on that! ................ why isn't there a little green monster smilie?
It's surprising how much space a dismantled 90 expands in to, so that work unit will be a massive help in keeping it all organised as well as giving space to work on the bits.
Tremendous! Hooked already, son.

aaronmorris said:

PS, I forgot to say, I'm am very envious of your work space.
I would say you can never have too much space, but the truth is, the more space you have the more crap you find to put into it. Or maybe that's just me

Click to expand...

That does seem to be what's happening already. There was a half finished pre-fab office block-on-wheels type thing in there, that belongs to the person who rented the unit before me. I've decided to make use of it as a makeshift living room. Chucked an under counter fridge, TV, Xbox and a freebie sofa in there! Like a home from home lol.

GATSO said:

watching with great interest ,,, get ready to get you're wallet out lol,,, seriously good luck ,,,,

Click to expand...

Wallet is poised and ready lol. I daren't update the excel spreadsheet I made, tallying up what the rebuild is going to cost... Especially since I haven't updated it with new bits I've thought of! Cheers mate.

Larry365 said:

Nice looking truck mate. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Cheers fella.

Al2O3 said:

+1 on that! ................ why isn't there a little green monster smilie?
It's surprising how much space a dismantled 90 expands in to, so that work unit will be a massive help in keeping it all organised as well as giving space to work on the bits.
Tremendous! Hooked already, son.

Click to expand...

It's leaving quite a trail of 'organised' destruction already, body panels everywhere, nuts, bolts and washers from god know's where. I need to invest in some freezer bags and a label maker..


The start of play on Sunday.


Began by having a little tidy up. Also roped in a friend to lend a hand, but he ended up just sitting on the Xbox in that office thing I mentioned earlier, especially since there's now a heater in there..

Started by removing all the roof bolts, all 24 of them or however many there were. Forgot about the 2 on each side securing the seatbelts to the roof, wondered why it wouldn't lift off..



Then soon, with the second pair of hands now helping, got to this point.



It did reveal that the tub cappings are probably going to need replacing, likely with the galvanised ones from YRM. Although fortunately it did show that the bulkhead hasn't rotted through from the windscreen mounts like I feared it had done. Every cloud..




Then set about removing the seats. Fortunately the angle grinder remained unneeded here, but it did take some hammering to slide the drivers side seat rail forwards. That's going to need replacing I think.




My lovely Raptor dash and TTi CB I was given for my 18th last year!

So that's pretty much where I'm at this week. I did manage to remove the transmission tunnel and the diaphragm, but the floor panels were firmly in place. My last grinder disc snapped on me part way through the first bolt, so that'll wait for another day.

I'm still in two minds as to where to start in terms of the rebuild. I have about £1000 this month set aside from bills and living costs to start, but I'm not sure if I should save that straight towards the galv chassis, or set about refurbing the axles and buying new suspension, ready for the chassis as and when... Also toying with the idea of turning it into a truck cab, again, unsure.

Looking great.
I'm sure I won't need to tell you this, but take lots of pictures of everything coming out. In fact, more than that Close ups of each part and shots further back of each shot. Label everything clearly with something that isn't going to fade.
I know you've got loads of space to keep the galv chassis, but until you get the axles sorted it's just going to sit there with nothing to do. If you get the axles, radius & trailing arms, springs etc sorted. Then, when the chassis turns up, you can create a rolling chassis straight away. Just my spin on it. Did I mention the importance of taking photos? (It may be that I've just got a bad memory - I'm certainly not 19 anymore )

You probably want to order the chassis first, from what I hear there can be many weeks of waiting in some cases. That will give you time (but maybe not the money) to get axles etc sorted while you wait for the chassis

My opinion on the chassis is, if you're definitely going down that route then get it ordered!
As depending who you use their is quite a waiting time. I ordered from Richards' and was told a lead time of 10 weeks, I'm now at 14 weeks.
You have the space to store it and it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it when the time comes.

Great start also jealous of the workspace! About the tub cappings I shotblasted mine then had them re galvanised, came up brand new and much cheaper than replacing. Might be worth a look.