1993 Defender 90 Rebuild

This is the beginning of my journey rebuilding my old Defender 90. I bought her in 2004 and ran her until 2009 when big rusty holes appeared in the chassis and bulkhead and I hadn't the time or funds to do anything about it. Luckily my parents had a barn with a Land Rover sized space in it and so I cruelly parked her up and walked away for a decade. Two children later, and thanks to a mate with a garage closer to where I live in Anglesey, I've had the Landy trailered up from Northamptonshire and the stripdown has finally begun. I'm hoping to be able to spend at least three full days a month plus two evenings a week on the restoration. My two girls are looking forward to having their own Land Rover, although every time I come back they ask if it's finished yet, so they may yet lose enthusiasm. This post covers the first full day's work.

It doesn't look too bad from a distance. The seats took a surprisingly long time to unbolt and remove. Any ideas how to remove the rectangular rusted-on fog light and reverse light? I've tried drilling out but it's proving a bit much for my cordless drill. I'll probably leave it until the tub's off and upside down.


After struggling for a while with the sealant between the roof and the top of the windscreen they finally parted company.

Roof off, and almost all of the seaty bits out.


First hard top side off, and a glimpse of things to come. Galvanised cappings go on the shopping list. £250? Seriously?


Zoomed out a bit


Hard top side two comes off and although the capping looks mostly alright, I'll be replacing it with the same one-piece galvanised version as is needed on the other side. I'm not a fan of the two-piece with the world's ugliest welding holding it together.


The seats are out. No idea why the bolts holding in the seatbelt buckles are so tight. I've got a 2' bar on them and they still need a fair old bit of brute force. They're not even rusty.

That's it so far. This week I'm hoping to get two evenings in, so hopefully the doors, wings and seatbox will be out soon.

Fog rev lights are always a pain, the bolt heads are captive moulded into the plastic and spin when you show the nut on the back a spanner. I just ground the plastic away then the bolt or stud head and Wang the lot in the bin.
Replacements are cheap.

Good work, keep going your daughters will love it when they get to choose the colour

Plenty of enthusiasm available on here to keep you going.

Good luck

J

Good write up! Keep the pics coming.

My initial optimism may have got the better of me! It's taken me two evenings to get the floor panels and seatbox out. Almost all of the floor screws were rusted and had to have a slot ground in each one with a Dremel before using an impact driver, and the captive nuts for the four bolts holding the seat box to the rear tub all 'escaped' and it took me a good half an hour to get them all out. On the plus side, a lot of the bolts just sheared off which saved time! So here's some sort of rough approximation of progress.

It took quite a while to get to the point where the first floor panel was out, but it's the first decent photo I've got so we'll start here. Note the big hammer and Dremel.


The second floor panel finally yields as well, showing the first proper rust hole. I have a TD5 bulkhead I optimistically bought ten years ago which will be replacing all of this.


And a bit more of an overview of the bulkhead in all its rusty glory.


The gearbox tunnel comes off to reveal... a random hole that some bugger has cut in the bellhousing. Any idea why this might have been? Luckily they seem to be fairly cheap to replace.


And finally, out comes the seatbox at about 10pm.


All the upholstery has been flung unceremoniously into the back for now. A bit of tidying may be called for before the tub comes off.


And one last one for luck. Hopefully the next update will see the back of the doors and wings, as I promised last time! Maybe the windscreen too...

The hole looks like someone had a new slave cylinder fitted and was done to re-locate the push rod and clip !!!
Ask me how i know...

Nice work. I didn’t think that you could fit a td5 bulkhead to a 2/300? Keep plugging away at it. Take loads of pictures and label everything!

resto_d1 said:

Nice work. I didn’t think that you could fit a td5 bulkhead to a 2/300? Keep plugging away at it. Take loads of pictures and label everything!

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I've heard it is possible. They're essentially the same, and as far as I can see it's mainly a case of cutting a different shape for the gearbox tunnel and tapping a few holes for the older dashboard. We'll see how it goes!

swisstoe said:

The hole looks like someone had a new slave cylinder fitted and was done to re-locate the push rod and clip !!!
Ask me how i know...

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At least there was some reason behind the madness then! It might have been nice if they'd patched it up again afterwards though.

SNAP! Looks like you've got all the problems mine has (apart from the hole in the bell housing which I would simply fit a plate over rather than replace). I've just spend a ridiculous amount of time rebuilding the doors on mine and if yours need more than just the bottom channel, I would highly recommend that you just buy complete doors. Good luck!

Resurgam said:

I've heard it is possible. They're essentially the same, and as far as I can see it's mainly a case of cutting a different shape for the gearbox tunnel and tapping a few holes for the older dashboard. We'll see how it goes!

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It is possible, did it to mine a long time ago. From memory the only difference is the wiper motor location, which on the Td5 is better (higher) as it keeps it out the way of the speaker. But you'll need the Td5 type motor and drive. Maybe some other differences that I've forgotten about, but that's what springs to mind.

benpalmer said:

It is possible, did it to mine a long time ago. From memory the only difference is the wiper motor location, which on the Td5 is better (higher) as it keeps it out the way of the speaker. But you'll need the Td5 type motor and drive. Maybe some other differences that I've forgotten about, but that's what springs to mind.

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Luckily the bloke who sold me the bulkhead threw in the wiper motor as well. I wondered why at the time but I wasn't about to turn away free stuff!
I've found this guide to modifying the bulkhead which will be pretty useful. https://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/38064-galvanised-bulkhead-pointers/. I wasn't planning on galvanising mine - it's pretty much in mint condition and I'm hoping that filling it full of Waxoyl or similar will keep the rust away.

Resurgam said:

Luckily the bloke who sold me the bulkhead threw in the wiper motor as well. I wondered why at the time but I wasn't about to turn away free stuff!
I've found this guide to modifying the bulkhead which will be pretty useful. https://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/38064-galvanised-bulkhead-pointers/. I wasn't planning on galvanising mine - it's pretty much in mint condition and I'm hoping that filling it full of Waxoyl or similar will keep the rust away.

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That's a good article, wish I had this when I did mine. But of the list I only did two - wiper motor, and transmission tunnel flange. I just stuck on the old to the new bulkhead. Didn't have any issue with install, although the wiring harness was a bit of a mare, and I guess point 7. explains why!

Like you, I got a good bulkhead so decided not to glav and wax it up. But the more the years go by, the more I wish I went for Galv.

I'm just going to stop setting myself weekly targets. My plan of removing the doors and wings in a couple of evenings has stretched into a couple of weeks!
I'll start with a cheeky underbonnet shot. It looks reasonably alright at this point. Washer fluid and brake fluid all still in place, but strangely there's no coolant in the header tank. And not much anywhere else either.


The doors are off, and I've put them in the pile of 'jobs for another day'. The windscreen coming off was a nice end to an evening's work. There's nothing worse than slogging away for hours with no visible difference.


Taking the doors off reveals a few more rusty bits


And the obligatory wide angle


The bonnet comes off


The headlamp bowls have seen better days. If anything was screaming out to be made of plastic, surely this is it.


And at the end of another fruitless evening struggling with seized bolts, I removed the fuel tank just to have something to show for it.


Finally I get to spend a full day working on the stripdown, and I can open the garage doors to get better access to the front end. Some daylight helps too. The steering guard and winch bumper finally come off with liberal application of a big hammer. The bumper bolts were rusted to about half their original width. New zinc plated bolts on the list.


And finally, a fortnight after I planned it, a wing comes off. These photos never quite sum up the blood and sweat that goes into it!


A new radiator goes on the shopping list. Luckily the intercooler looks better than this. Maybe this is where all that coolant went.


Cue an hour of struggling with rusted hose clips, and off comes the nearside wing and the whole front end. I did remove the bonnet slam panel too but forgot to take a photo afterwards.


And finally a cautionary tale of why you shouldn't block up the drain holes for wading and never take the plug out again. This is after I'd cleaned it up a bit too. The rusticles would have put the Titanic to shame. Nowhere seems to stock new ones. eBay beckons.


Next time... hopefully out with the wiring loom and the heater box. Sounds easy enough...!

if that's a 200tdi I have one that you may procure at your bequest, amongst other bits n bobs

Keep up with pics... following this one...
You'll always get encouragement on here and advice if needed...

windy81 said:

if that's a 200tdi I have one that you may procure at your bequest, amongst other bits n bobs

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Yes, it's a 200Tdi. That would be great. Could you PM me with details, and maybe an idea of what other bits you've got.

Resurgam said:

Yes, it's a 200Tdi. That would be great. Could you PM me with details, and maybe an idea of what other bits you've got.

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Sure, I'll have a gander in the garage and let you know tomorrow if that's ok. I'm sure to forget so PM me if that's the case, but I have a few few items that might be of use to you and none to me

Great thread btw, following this

windy81 said:

Sure, I'll have a gander in the garage and let you know tomorrow if that's ok. I'm sure to forget so PM me if that's the case, but I have a few few items that might be of use to you and none to me

Great thread btw, following this

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Thanks. Will do.

Looking good and horribly familiar to this time last year for me