Buying first 110 advice

Hi, I'm on my journey to buying my first defender 110 and would like some advice for a newbie...!
I'm looking at a 1993 one tomorrow, but wonder should I hold off and buy a newer one, perhaps 04/05. I've a budget of £5000 approx.
I'll hopefully get a mechanic to help me out as I've no mechanical knowledge!
I'm in Northern Ireland so don't know if prices are higher or lower than on the mainland , would it be worthwhile to consider buying in ROI as the exchange rate is decent.

A 04/05 is going to be rough as guts for £5000, that's if you can find one. Same rules apply to a 300tdi or a Td5 though as regards to rust and corrosion, forget the oily bits, as those can be dealt with more easily.

Chassis, check by sticking your head in the rear wheel wells and looks at the cross member from the inside, grab on to it, you shouldn't or don't want to find excessive flaky rust or even worse, holes. Check both sides of the rear chassis rails where they join the rear cross members especially on the welds, they love to rust there, follow each chassis rail to the front, middle sections are usually in good order, anywhere the crud and mud can collect will be areas that cause rusting, around the rear spring and shock mount, front section in front of bumpers get a lot of road salt, pull the rubber caps off the end of the front of each chassis leg and have a good look inside. Don't just view the outer chassis rails, look at the state of the inner sides and top where possible too, Crawl underneath with a torch and have a good butchers.

Front outriggers, are situated in a perfect spot behind the front wheels to rot away and Land Rover decided to leave them exposed, again, lay under them and look inside and all around them with a powerful torch for rot and grot rear outriggers need the same inspection, working back (ifs its a wagon or double cab) check the B pillars from underneath, check the box section that runs across the chassis rails in front of the rear wheels for rotted areas, also look for the condition of the steel stiffeners that are attached to the underside of the buck area for rot.

Bulkhead, exterior should have no holes, or rust bubbling under the paint near the two vent flaps or anywhere under the windscreen or around the wing mirrors, the door pillar between the wing and the doors dose not want to have any holes or bubbleage under the paint either ideally, older Defenders have usually had some work done here you will find, repairs if done properly with welded sections are fine, filler is a massive no no for me personally.
Lift the carpets if it has them, down by the pedals, look at the where the floor panels meet the bulkhead for rot, also in the corner by each door, don't want to be seeing any grot there either, same with the passenger side, when your underneath, just behind the front wheels you will see the underside of the bulkhead, have a good probe about from the outside too, also spend some time under the bonnet inspecting the bulkhead there, you'll probably find evidence of some repairs maybe or more general rot.

That's where I start when looking at any Defender, then get on to the oily bits.

^^^ what he said^^^, but also the top of the chassis rails behind the 2nd row heelboard, where the body crossmember sits. There is a chassis crossmember across the top of the main legs and there are gussets welded on, these collect mud and hardly ever drain causing rot. They're a bitch to repair.

I Wish I'd seen this before I bought mine!

Also check the rear seat belt mounting points on the floor in the back. And have a look in the battery bay under the passenger seat for a 300TDi.

Check for billowing white smoke if you take it for a test drive. If there is, open up the coolant header tank and see if it hisses and squirts out brown water. Likely to be a head gasket!

Also ask to see proof of when the timing belt was last changed. You can also have a look through the timing belt housing inspection port for black belt dust.

Check the fuel tank for leaks and check the fuel filler pipe where the fuel cap fits to. These rust like hell and, as I found, if the fuel nozzle isn't right in, you'll have diesel all over the forecourt. It'll also come out of there on tight bends or off road.

Also check the door hinges. These wear out and become very loose which eventually leads to the doors opening by themselves.

One final thing, check the fuel hoses, including the spill return pipes. The latter can leak quite nicely if they are perished!

Relatively new to Defender ownership myself. But just because all seems well one day, it could be completely different the next. I thought my sunroof was water tight until I went around a steady left hand bend the other day and it started dripping on my head, and continued for another 30 seconds or so, luckily I had nothing to deflect the drips so I got friggin soaked . Not a big deal, but these are old fashioned vehicles built in a relatively old fashioned way, so you'll probably constantly have little niggles and snags with it that need fixing or messing with.

In an ideal world you should take someone who knows what to look for, when I bought mine I went and had a nose around myself for general corrosion and anything the novice can easily spot. Then went back the next day with a relative who's been a mechanic for 20 years and worked on Defenders on a regular basis. Having never really driven a Defender on the road I must admit that it's a shock to the system for a few weeks until you become used to it.

Cheers folks for the in depth advice.
I had my first drive in a defender yesterday, it was very windy and dark and down rough lanes, I loved it! The doors didn't close right, there were banging noises everywhere, but I actually enjoyed it.
This was a 1993 defender 110 which the seller admitted needed work.
I think I'd prefer buying a newer one with no work needed doing and also would consider buying one on mainland as opposed to searching just Northern Ireland. If any one knows of any gems going post a link. I've about £6500 to spend, maybe bit more if seemed a steal...!

Stick to the mainland Graham. As far as i have seen, those from the west coast are rotten or abused. Look out for ex ESB 110's. Every so often they come up for aution.

I don't know if choosing one that needs no work would be the best thing. You'll end up with a much better and more reliable vehicle buying a runner with minor chassis rot but solid mechanicals for about £1200 then buy a galvanised chassis and build it up. No nasty surprises that way and you will know it's been done to a reasonable standard. You hear everyday on a Land Rover forum about PO bodges on a seemingly good vehicle.

With defenders it's good and personally I think important to get stuck in and pick up a spanner and tinker. All my land rovers except one work well and are reliable but I like to tinker with them. Grease things oil things, paint a rusty component.

I wouldn't entertain getting a defender or series Land Rover unless I wanted to learn how to fix cars or already had an understanding. Not because they break down a lot but because garage bills are expensive for jobs that are so easy to do yourself. That's the big selling point is they are so simple.

For the money you have you can buy a newer td5 model but most likely will have been hard worked or rotted.
Or an older 200tdi or earlier which will probably be available to drive right away but need things fixing.

If you don't have any mechanical knowledge, make sure you take someone with you who does. In addition, these vehicles need quite a bit of regular maintenance to keep them running well, so you'll either need to be prepared to learn to fix and service it, or have deep pockets. Keep looking at the local gumtree ads, decent Land Rovers do pop up from time to time.

I was thinking about this... .For what its worth...

I didn't know much about them and took a chance.. I took it to a LR specialist and said "look over this and make sure its ok tell me what needs doing etc and anything major"

6 years later, when the Rear Cross member is replaced I find out the last chap cut through the supports for the fuel tank.. and they weren't there at all, and also the front outriggers were not attached to anything. You would expect the specialist to pick up on that as that's ALL he had to flaming do.

Anyway point is you only know what you know.... Sure you can poke for rust but that's it.... I knew about cars but sweet fa about LR's.....

£6500 wont get you much, I wouldn't sell my 92 for that...

Keep in mind if you plan to learn and get better you don't want something you are scared to weld with

As mentioned with these vehicles you will be surprised how little your money gets. I would suggest £10k plus would get you a decent one. Anything less and it will need work.

I was looking for a while before buying mine and have not seen a 200tdi anywhere near £1200. Even rotten discovery's are fetching that now rather than the £250 they used to get.

As voices above take someone who knows and got for one that has the harder jobs already done.