My 92' Defender rebuild

Started last May and nearly completed now. Waiting for the final shiny bits back from the paint shop.
We'd had this vehicle since brand new in 1992 and it had had a hard life but been regularly serviced. In later years it spent a lot of time by (or in) the sea. I bought it off the company and decided to get it rebuilt on a new galvanised chassis and galvanised bulkhead to ensure it lasted a minimum of another 27 years. The decision was based on economics really - rebuild a Landrover I'd known and driven since new with a full history and all the bills or spend a lot of money on a newer one that could turn up some nasty surprises within a few years.

With this in mind I bought a galvanised Richards chassis which was then etch primed and sprayed in black raptor. A chance conversation wit hthe spares guy at our local Landrover dealer had me forking out for a rare original brand new 200 tdi bulkhead which was promptly shot blasted, galvanised and painted with all the exposed underneath bits being sprayed in white raptor.

The A & B posts were very badly rusted so the decision was taken to scrap them and buy reconditioned and galvanised replacements. The engine &transmission were all sound so were just cleaned and painted as were the axles and running gear. All the brake pipes, bushes and brake hoses were replaced with new items. All the lights were replaced with LED ones.

The body panels were taken in batches to a local spray shop after the doors were stripped and repaired. We decided to paint the roof black rather than the original white just to give it a more modern feel. We could never match the original Landrover white - even Landrover couldn't match it when it went back within the first few months of its life as the paint was peeling off the bulkhead air vents - so the decision was made to respray in Mercedes commercial white so we could easily get matching paint in the future.
Its not quite there yet but we are expecting the doors back from the paint shop at the end of this week so hopefully it'll be on the road again by the end of the month.

I haven't had the time to do the work myself but a friend, who's a 4 x 4 specialist in N Wales where I work, has serviced it for years and is doing the rebuild when time allows.

A few more photos showing the shocking state of the old chassis and the shiny new chassis and bulkhead.

Here's a photo from 1992 when it was only a few months old. It was used to pull that Indispension 4 wheel trailer full of test equipment all over the UK, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland!
Those were the days you needed a carnet for travelling in Europe...........

Penrhyn N wales ?

Very nice

Mold.

Love it

Long time since there was much progress due to other commitments in the garage but its now really taking shape.
Bit of adjusting required to get the doors to fit but with new chassis, bulkhead and A/B posts that was expected so everything left loose before finally bolting up.

Drivers side door has proved a pain in the a*se to line up properly until we realised the B post had twisted during galvanising. Using a hydraulic ram sorted it out and all doors probably fit better than they did when it left the factory in 1992!
The old bulkhead had the whole top section replaced with a newer design without the bulkhead vents. We couldn't find the old vent levers so a set were acquired off a well know auction site. On the final straight now. Just the drivers door to build up, dash / instruments to finish once the vent levers are fitted, windscreen re-fitted, a bit of interior trim to install and an MOT!

Its back on the road! Few teething problems to sort out but only to be expected after a major rebuild like this. Heater not giving out heat but looks like the control cables need rerouting and adjusting. Can't get the rear window de-mister or wash / wipe to work and currently much scratching of heads as we don't seem to have a live feed at the fusebox. Drove it to Anglesey and back at the weekend for a shakedown (round trip of 130 miles) and the handling has been transformed by the new suspension bushes whilst road noise has been reduced by the addition of Wright Offroad interior matting. This is a working vehicle so the addition of a Rhino roof rack to carry long ladders has improved the appearance when compared to the old box like galvanised roof rack previously fitted.

Another job done at the weekend was to remove all the door cards and use the tip seen on this forum and on various YouTube videos to grind off all the broken fixing stud heads with a dremel, drill a pilot hole and then use countersunk stainless self tappers screwed in place to hold the 'fir tree' male fittings that push in to plastic female fittings set in the metal door frame. Virtually everyone had been broken over the years and the door cards are now firmly fixed and no longer flap and rattle in the breeze. Another rattle cured was the replacement of the felts in the channels of the rear sliding windows. Another YouTube video showed how to do this without having to remove and split the window frame. My only other tip when carrying out this would be to soak the new felts in water then use an iron to iron them into a 'V' shape as this makes them much easier to handle!

The interior is the original and its a County spec with 'tweed' seat covers. These are pretty grubby although in good condition as I'd previously replaced the foam bases. I'm toying with the idea of making it more practical to keep clean by replacing all the seat covers with dark grey vinyl.

Update: all little electrical gremlins sorted. Heater now working better than ever as the control cables needed rerouting and adjusting. New seats on order from Exmoor trim and now considering Masai panoramic glass.
Although we managed to get the rear washer pump working and live to the motor itself we found the motor wasn't working. It wasn't the motor but the output shaft from the cranking case was seized. Taking it apart was easy - I drilled out the rivets on the rear cover and then removed the 'C' clip and washer on the end of the shaft that connects to the wiper arm. Removing the plastic connecting rod I then gently tapped out the shaft from its housing. Cleaned everything up with emery cloth, greased it all, used a new 'O' ring on the shaft and put it back together using stainless self tapping screws to refit the rear cover. It works!

looks awesome.

Finally got round to buying snd fitting complete new set of seats from Exmoor trim. The 2nd row and load space seating utilises the existing frames but the two front seats are completely new. Much more practical for me as they're now wipe clean