Land Rover Defender 90 TD5 Tribute Build

My 1999 Defender TD5 90 was beginning to look a little tired, it's been my runabout for over 5 years and after a lot of hard winters up north - it's definitely suffered.


With the Defender production coming to a halt soon, I've decided to create my own tribute to the Land Rover itself. To take the most iconic elements from previous Land Rover vehicles and combine them with the Defender to produce my own ideal Land Rover. I was a little underwhelmed by the Land Rover heritage special edition, so in effect, this is my interpretation of that concept. Any work carried out, the goal is to make it better than factory wherever possible.

I've been busy filming videos on the build too, you can watch how things have progressed so far:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhy-5DHZzPfkCpshOSByd7vQhEXkyfN6y

So, I found a small lock-up in early 2014, it had everything I needed (room for 2 Landy's, plus space for tools and body panels e.t.c).



I started stripping down the Defender in January of that year. Then, my parents had their car stolen from their drive, so the Land Rover was hastily rebuilt and loaned to them for several months.

After getting it back in one piece, I began removing panels (again) and assessing the general condition:



After painting the vehicle with Plastidip to use as a wedding car, I had to remove the film first.



Then began removing panels, when removing panels, you slowly reveal hidden corrosion and rust :S



In the meantime, I bought the wife let me purchase this 110 Puma, which has been a fantastic Land Rover!



Removing panels like the roof and wings is very quick and good for morale - progress is rapid at this stage. Most of the panels are in good condition, the roof will be replaced with a soft top so I'll lose my webasto sun roof But gain a canvas top. :thumbsup:



The sunroof was fitted at Land Rover Special vehicles - the 90 was originally owned by the National Grid who would drive up and down power grids with a hefty thermal imaging camera poking our the roof.

It was also used as a driver training vehicle, shown here at 2 Dales 4x4 training centre in Derbyshire. Apparently, as it had road tyres fitted, the instructors preferred this Land Rover over others available, it helped install off-road driving techniques.



The windscreen surround and hard top sides are gone! The whole lot will be stripped back so I can paint them later.I also spent time carefully drilling out rivets so I can get the capping galved. Upon refitting, I'm going to take measures prevent galvanic reactions from taking place ever again!



Then, the gearbox and engine needed to come out. The TD5 unit we have is low mileage and a really sound power plant. I love them! My plan is give this a good clean, perhaps a tasteful tune by Alive Tuning but that is all by way of modifications.



Then, the tub was removed, along with the bulkhead. The chassis was shifted to the side of the workshop to give me a little space.

I then began experimenting with electrolysis to remove rust. My experiment was working well, until the power supply exploded! Will come back to that at some point:



Underbody components were as expected for a 16 year old Landy - these are all at the shot blasters along with the bullhead as we speak.



Then, it's time to start rebuilding! A shiny new galv chassis came by way of Richards Chassis at Doncaster. I've been very impressed with the build quality and finish this chassis! Top notch product, should mean this Land Rover lasts a long time.



This was promptly sprayed black using a T-Wash solution, followed by etch primer and then an acrylic based top coat from Frost Autos! Looks very good now! I'm aiming for a factory finish so this extra work was worth the effort



And that brings you all up to press, with the chassis painted - I'm hoping to get the whole lot built by January 2016. I'm carrying out any work I can in the shop, including a paint job, so stay tuned!

Great thread!

Littelwill said:

Great thread!

Click to expand...

Thanks Will.

Here's what I got up to yesterday:



Using a twisted wire cup, started removing the worse of the rust. Really impressed with the cups, they work pretty quickly! A friend removed the superpro bushes using threaded bar - as they are a one piece construction, you'd need an 8" vice and suitable drifts e.t.c.

Today, I'm hoping to go collect my bulkhead and axles: here's a sample from the video I shot whilst I was there on Monday



It's brought it up lovely! Much less welding needed than I thought, then off to galvanisers :shock:

Excellent, nice thread - will follow this one

More progress made, a little gutted that my axles and bullhead won't be finished till next week - could slow me down a bit. I had help off my mate last night, but we didn't have tonnes to do.



The gearbox crossmember is in. These require a slight spreading of the chassis. I do not like farm jacks but it's all that was to hand, so packing it out with wood to protect the chassis and one man operating the jack whilst another hammers the gearbox in. The ends we're coated with grease to make the job a bit easier. Glad to be able to put the farm jack away again, no incidents :thumbsup:



I took delivery of this fantastic bit of kit from SIP Industrial products. It cut right through the CV shaft grease and means they are ready for rebuilding.



I've filled it with paraffin for now, am waiting on some proper parts washer fluid for items I want to paint afterwards.

The rear upper link arms still had metaplastic bushes fitted. These were totally shot, they were burned out:



Then it's a case of cleaning off all the cast parts, going from this:



Using a twisted wire cup



Was a late night for me. Here's how they looked afterwards. I'l treat them to some anti-rust agent then etch prime and paint them satin black to match. There'll be no blingy bits underneath.



Also, couldn't wait to start fitting new bits and bobs, so....



I'm going with a standard suspension set-up.

Nice, going to be solid as when done

Episode 05 is out here:



So, since the last update, the following has happened.

After giving the parts a thorough clean, using a combination of wire brushing, degreasing and the parts washer:





The items were then masked up:



Hung up for painting on an industrial clothing rail:



Or slotted into some holes we drilled in a palette for things like the arms:



And hit with some etch primer:



Then, all the fixings on the chassis added so far were treated with M1 Corrosion protector (like ACF50, but cheaper)



Fitted the bump stops:



And today I can go collect the bulkhead and axles!

Great project.

Righto, things happened yesterday :thumbsup:



Collected the bulkhead and axles form the shot blasters. The bulkhead has come up very nice! Not as much welding needed as I thought so well worth having it blasted.



That's not to say I got off welding completely, both pillars will need to be replaced. Then once it's cleaned up, a jig will be welded up and sent to the galvanisers.



Here, all the underbody parts that prepped are getting a top coat of satin black like the chassis. These have cured to a pleasing finish. The masking trick worked perfectly





Then once fully cured, the parts are packed up safely until I need them - I'm trying to prevent accidental damage



Finally, the axles had some final prep for painting - I'll hit those with etch primer e.t.c as before. I'll then clean the internals throughly and the final drive case - bolt the lot back together and paint it!



This is how the everything looks so far, great finish from the blasters - who've recommended that I hit everything with 60 - 80 grit paper. I'll see if it seems necessary.

Nice, bulkhead looks quite good tbh

flat said:

Nice, bulkhead looks quite good tbh

Click to expand...

Aye, bulkhead is worth galving, the corrosion is minimal

now then fella can have twice the fun now i found ya on here too

any updates on this, need more pics , works looking great

Ok, so Episode 06 is out now:



Here's what I've been up to over the last week. I sold my 110 for a start, which is partly why I've had no time to be posting :thumbsup:



Took the opportunity of perhaps the last bit of good weather to fit a weather sealing strip, should stop the dust blowing under the door in the hard winters we get. :mrgreen:

I then prepped the axles for painting, removing the shot blasting material from the inside of the axles - this would likely make an aggressive grinding paste if there were any left inside.



The shot used was an iron oxide of some sort, but was coated on in the intervals of the axle. To remove, I gave the whole lot a through wash with chassis detergent and a sponge.



Placing a scaffold pole through the axle tubes or even bolting some old stub axles on lets you easily rotate the axle on the stands.



The axles then needed drying completely, before using a solvent soaked rag to clean the internals and outside. The axles were then spotlessly clean, took an hour per axle though



There will be no contamination of the diff oil now!



The diff studs were refitted, ready for the final drive casing.



The final drive casing mating surface after clean up to take RTV sealant.



RTV, adding the bits before cinching those down and torqueing up.

After everything is securely sealed up, I can clean the diff casing - preventing the crud falling into the axle or onto the diff.

Then, those were solvent cleaned, etch primed, left to cure and finally painted in satin black



Whilst they dried, I began popping bushes back in. You can fiddle around popping them in with a vice or similar. I found it easier to secure the arm in the vice, then use a large M12 bolt with some thick washers on to pull it through.



This would work really well if you had to do this at the roadside, a handy homemade 'tool'.



It can also be used to pull the inner race through :thumbsup:

looking forward to more updates

The axles are painted! And looking superb! Love the Frost Chassis paint :thumbsup:



Also, purchased a printed TD5 Defender manual with the 300TDi and Electrical supplements, pricey but worth it for a job like this.

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Picked up a new A frame Fulcrum bracket with the ball joint pressed in, saves me the hassle as I don't have a press and these aren't too pricey to buy pre-done.



That was all bolted together, using genuine bolts just to be safe.



I applied copper slip liberally - I don't want any trouble if I ever need to disassemble these parts.



I then bolted the brackets into place, the manual says to not torque everything down till it's in place



The A Frame was then lifted into place and nipped up, but not fully, I'll do that when the axle is in place.



Also bolted on the damper brackets, these ones are not handed, but the manual appears to show them as though they are.



I took the chance this week to set-up the shot blasting cabinet. This one came from Frost.co.uk, they are a good company to work with and have a lot of stuff that's of interest to vehicle restorers. I'm running the cabinet with recycled (crushed) glass - it's cheap at around £5 per 25kg.



The cabinet has been completely indispensable. Rather than having to replace all those little brackets that quickly add-up the costs - I've been ablate last them, restoring them to as new condition. It's brilliant. I'm going to refurb the callipers using this cabinet :thumbsup:

Here's a before and after (needs a little more blasting, but this was about 1 minutes work)

very informative vids, attention to detail , can,t wait till next week need to work longer hours, longer vids great work.

andy_v said:

very informative vids, attention to detail , can,t wait till next week need to work longer hours, longer vids great work.

Click to expand...

I'm trying

What have we been up to this week with our Tribute build?



First up, we set about finishing the swivels from last time. The pre-load had to be set using shims on the upper pin - a time consuming process to say the least.



You'll need a spring balance, which can be found cheaply online or at a fishing supplies shop.



We're looking for a constant pull between 1.2kg and 1.4kg. If you're reading over the number, you need more shims, if you're below, you need to remove some. Be careful not to crank it down with such a high pre-load that you buckle the bearing race.



Then the oil seal and retainer plate need fitting. These lock down with small bolts and are torqued to 11nm.



The steering stop lock bolt was added at both sides too, this will need adjusting later.



Once the swivels we're correctly pre-loaded, we slid the cv and half shaft into place, feeling for the splines on the final drive unit to match with the half shaft end before gently pushing it home.



Using a piece of plywood to prevent damage, the brass bushing on the back of the stub axle can be tapped into place. To fit the roller bearing, we used an old cv joint as a bearing setter. Worked very well!



The stub axles can then be bolted on using the correct tensile strength stub axle bolts, with thread lock.



The new discs are from EBC and look awesome! Hopefully they'll provide superior braking capability thanks to the drilled and slotted brake surface.



The hub bearings were then fitted as well as the oil seal and adjusted correctly, before flatting the lock washer around the two hub nuts.



Then we positioned the axle under the rear of the chassis and connected it to the trailing arms, as well as dropping in the a frame ball joint.



The a frame castellated nut needs tightening and then the split pin pushing through



The springs and dampers could then be fitted, along with some nice galvanised seats and retainer plates.



The wheels were then temporarily bolted on. These are not the final wheels we'll be using - those haven't been painted yet. These are just to allow us to shunt the chassis around the workshop.



Then the springs and shocks were offered up - working with standard, non-gas filled shocks is a bit of a treat as they don't want to rapidly expand!



Then the front boots can be chucked on. These will be up for sale once the build is finished as they are surplus to requirements.



It is now a rolling chassis! Here's proof as I move it further into the centre of the shop for more room!




The R380 gearbox was chucked on a palette and taken to a gearbox specialist for a recon and inspection. This one had done around 75k and was getting a little tired, however it's always been well looked after so that's good.



We added the steering arm to make moving the rolling chassis around a bit easier.



The clutch and Dual Mass Flywheel assembly was stripped from the engine, so we could fit it on an engine stand, this one is from <a href="http://www.sgs-engineering.com/garage-equipment/engine-stands/es1000-450kg-engine-stand">SGS Engineering</a>. It's a good value stand, but from my past experience with other SGS products, the are as good if not better than their competitors.





I drained the oil from the engine, before refitting the sump plug and setting about scrubbing it with gunk to get it clean.



Working in the 'Gunk' degreasing solution to shift those really stubborn stains.



Then fitted some new axle breathers to the axles. We picked up these M12 to 6mm pneumatic elbows from <a href="http://www.gwynlewis4x4.co.uk/product/land-rover-defender-90-110-td5-puma-axle-breather-fittings/">Gwynn Lewis 4x4</a> - I'm impressed with their service, they ship products very quickly! In the kit, you also get a tap. Then it's a case of removing the old brass bushing to reveal the 12mm hole and tapping that. The tap should be dipped into some grease to stop swarf entering the diff oil.

These ones are for TD5 / Puma axles. If you have 300tdi and older, you'll have a 1/8 hole, in which case you can pick up a 1/8 BSPT (British Standard Pipe Thread) fitting to 6mm pipe on eBay for next to nothing. You'll need a 1/8" tap too. The only difference is the elbow is smaller.

excellent