Just joined the ranks of Defender owners

Well being a member on here for a few years now, and having previously owned two series III 88s, and two 300 tdi discos, I've bought myself a 1992 200tdi 110 csw.
I drove it 160 miles home and apart from incredibly dodgey steering at 65+, it was faultless. It cruised at about 65 which is ample considering I live a good 20 miles from any motorway, and when I refilled the tank and calculated my fuel economy it had done 33mpg!

The interior light was intermittent so fixed that and now works as it should, a couple of the speakers don't work so I'll investigate that tomorrow, and the rear door lock spring has failed so it locks, but needs sorting. Other than that everything seems to work!

I've driven plenty of defenders in the military (n/a and wolf), and used them on farms, and mine is about what I expected to be honest. It really is worlds apart from my discovery which seemed to have a bulb come on, or develop a worrying noise every time I sneezed.

I took it for a drive today over some mountain passes, and tomorrow I'm going to take it over an easy green lane or two.

It's got a snorkel fitted, oem spotlights and an A-bar, dog guard, and light guards. I've not got any pics but I'll get some on my outing tomorrow and post them here.

I haven't enjoyed driving this much since I passed my test!

welcome to the dark side!!

Thanks, and I forgot to ask, it's recently had new springs and they are appear to be black with a white stripe. Not sure what this denotes, I thought perhaps they might be police spec springs or some such but not sure?

ReadySalted said:

Thanks, and I forgot to ask, it's recently had new springs and they are appear to be black with a white stripe. Not sure what this denotes, I thought perhaps they might be police spec springs or some such but not sure?

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They sound like genuine parts, from memory they have strips of different colours for different corners?

stripes just denote which spring it is ie rating and hieght

One white stripe is military isn't it..?

Two white stripes would be standard drivers side 110 fronts I think.

Model Location Part Number Colour Code Free Length
110 Driver’s Front NRC 8044 Double White Stripes 384.30mm
110 Passenger Front NRC 8045 Double Yellow Stripes 368.10mm
110 Driver’s Rear NRC 6389 Red Stripe 407.00mm
110 Passenger Rear NRC 6904 Red & Green Stripes 395.00mm
90 Driver’s Front NRC 9446 Blue & Green Stripes 385.70mm
90 Passenger Front NRC 9447 Blue & Yellow Stripes 373.02mm
90 Driver’s Rear NRC 9448 Blue & Red Stripes 388.62mm
90 Passenger Rear NRC 9449 Yellow & White Stripes 376.00mm

blackstrat said:

One white stripe is military isn't it..?

Two white stripes would be standard drivers side 110 fronts I think.

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yes
PART

Oh okay, it's definitely white stripes on the o/side front, and n/side rear, but I havn't checked on the others. I'll have a good nose around tomorrow. Does anybody have a good list of tools that I should keep in the defender?
In my disco I had a box in the boot, but in the defender I think a tool bag in the rear load area with some stuff in, and the rest I will keep under the drivers seat.

And any recommendations on cheap sound deadening?

ReadySalted said:

...And any recommendations on cheap sound deadening?

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ound:

Hippo said:

ound:

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Nice.. :lol:

I used the silent coat stuff off ebay. Not sure it has made much difference, but a longer trip today will give me more idea I guess

ReadySalted said:

And any recommendations on cheap sound deadening?

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A number of members on this site have recommended bed rolls as used for camping, due to it being closed cell foam (will not absorb water).

I looked around for this and found prices ranged from £3.99 a bed roll up to what ever you were prepared to pay. In general the higher the price the thicker the bed roll.
I settled for £6.29 per bed roll from my local army and navy store and it was 8mm thick not entirely sure how many I purchased about 9. This enabled me to put two layers of the foam in a 110 CSW, I also used thermal insulation as used in house This was also two layers all attached with high temperature spray on adhesive. I has no problems fitting the roof lining but the side trim in the rear of the CSW was fiddly. Do not forget to do the inside of the doors and a layer of insulation between the door splash guard and the door card it all helps.

Oh it made a tremendous amount of difference to the noise level, the amount of condensation that accumulates and to the heat inside cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

PS Donot tell Hippo because it is quieter than a Freelander now and a lot more fun.

Hippo said:

ound:

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can tell they belong to a typical gaylanderer

I got a sheet of horse stable matting and lined the floor with that - easy enough, looks a bit rough but it dont half take away road sound - mine has no interior trim at all though so was easy and doesn't look out of place.

Oh and i stuck a couple of carpet underlay panels to the ceiling in the back which stops the condensation.

Foam camping mat is a great idea. I still have my old army issue one in the cellar, so may bastardise that tomorrow night.

The front seat box and the tranny tunnel has normal original carpet over it which is a bit old and tired but the floor panels, and the bulkhead are bare, with just some land rover mats in the footwell, so will try and get two layers for the footwells out of one mat. I'm not keen on glueing it down as it's a bit too permanent for me so will see what I can come up with. May try extra strong double sided tape or something.

I've only owned my defender since Friday and so far I've;
-Fixed (botched) rear wiper motor while waiting for replacement
-Fitted a 3 x 12v connector block
-Fitted an aux in to the radio
-Fixed both right hand radio speakers
-Managed to get rear door lockable (although I think it does rattle itself unlocked after a while)
-WD40'd all the bolts I am likely to want to undo in the near future
-Secured the dog guard with a few cable ties so it doesn't rattle
-Cleaned and fixed interior light

And now there is not a single thing on the truck that doesn't work as it should! From the windscreen wipers, to the rear heated screen. (I realise that having just stated this, it is likely that several things on the landy will miraculously stop working tomorrow).

I think the 110 has had a pretty easy previous life, and the engine (200tdi) runs like a beauty. It's not quite as fast as my 300tdi disco, but a little quicker, and alot smoother then any military 300tdi wolf I have ever driven.

The headlining is only slightly saggy in the rear seated bit, and all four side doors are completely rotten along the bottom edge. I'm hoping they won't cause an MOT failure next October, but I plan to get them fixed or botched at some point in any case.

The only things I'd like to change about her are the red light surrounds, which I will change to black as I just don't think they look right, and maybe a brownchurch roof rack if I can get one secondhand dirt cheat on ebay. I may remove the dog guard to sleep in the back, but other than that, she's as I want her to stay so very happy.

I will add some pictures in a moment.

Very nice. I have one just like it - same reg and colour:



Hopefully yours is a little less rotten. On mine the bulkhead was see-through and the chassis was very bad between the numberplates.