Update on my Land Rover Life

I haven't made any posts for a while now, possibly not since creating my thread on the installation of the new front seats in the Ninety.

I am currently in hospital, and look to be staying here for a few weeks yet, so I am in need of entertainment.
Luckily I have a brand new laptop and an internet connection to keep me busy, plus my Land Rover Monthly Magazine and various other 4x4 mags.

I thought I would post on what's been happening with the Ninety recently, as there have been a few big goings on. I will have to post some photos a bit later, as obviously it's a bit hard to get hold of them when you're in hospital.

The first thing was of course the installation of the new front seats, which was a big job, but gave a great result (see my other thread).

Then, about 3 weeks ago (before I got into hospital), we had a go at bleeding the brakes on the Ninety, as they had become quite ineffective. This didn't seem to make any difference, so after several attempts, we decided there must be something more to it.

As the Ninety was due for it's WOF (warrant of fitness) in about a week, we thought we'd get the garage to have a look at the brakes and try to find the problem. Brakes are one area where we don;t mind paying to get them done right!

We have discovered a great garage that has the software for working on several expensive european makes (including Land Rover), but doesn't charge nearly as highly as the dealers do. They also do steam cleaning of chassis and engine bays, and (we not know) welding too.

I was keen to get the Ninety's engine bay and chassis steam cleaned, so that we could then give the chassis a coat of black protective coating. It already had a pretty good coat, but I thought it would be good to have it really well protected for peace of mind.

The garage took the Ninety to do the WOF etc., then came back to us and told us that all the brake pads needed replacement, and the brake lines, and the front discs, and the pistons at the back for the drum brakes. It was all completely shot apparently, which explains the lack of braking power!
the mechanic also took the initiative to check the front wheel bearings while he was at it, and apparently one of them pretty much just fell apart when he removed the cover, so they got replaced as well.

The steering damper was also replaced, and the bottom bushes on the rear shocks. The damper was replaced with a high-performance one with a lifetime guarantee (I think it's gas-filled from memory), and looks a bit more effective than the old one which had at some point been dented off-road.

On top of this, they discovered a couple of bits of rust near the rear of the chassis around the crossmember after steam cleaning the chassis (3 patches in all) which they repaired. All this was their own initiative, as we didn't even know up to this point that they did chassis repairs and welding.

So it turned out to be a lucky thing that I got the chassis cleaned, as we discovered rust fairly early before it became any sort of big issue.

So... after getting the Ninety back home, with a huge difference in braking performance, that weekend I did the big chassis paint.

The garage supplied us with a spray nozzle and the black, rubber-based coating to coat the chassis, and then it was simply a case of hiring a compressor. It was a decent sized job, but very satisfying as all the axles and diffs looked great afterwards, and it's a great feeling knowing everything is well protected. I'm keen to preserve the chassis and bulkhead as they are in such excellent condition, especially for their age.

So that was that job done. But that was only one of the big things on my list...

Prior to all this, I had finally got a new spare wheel and tyre for the Ninety a couple of months back, replacing the old Series rim and tiny, wornt yre on it before. I now have a spare that is the same height as the rest of my wheels, on a 16", 6.5" wide Defender rim.

Unfortunately, one drawback of the big new spare (285 75 R 16) is that it is very heavy, and puts a whole lot of weight on the rear door, and is also too large for the rear door to open fully anymore, so I have now ordered a wheel carrier from Paddocks for a good price to end the problem. I am excited about seeing this new accessory go on.

The second thing remaining is the new bull bar. I have found (after much searching), one of the wrap-around bull bars for Defenders that clamp over the original bumper. I think these look a lot better than any of the ARB bars (and other brands), and I like the fat that they are lighter (no new front shocks required), and they properly wrap around to protect the corners. I believe they are now illegal in the UK, but I found a LR parts place in NZ that had a brand new, genuine LR one, and it is very smart!

Here is the bull bar, which will soon be going on the Ninety.

But before putting the bullbar on the Ninety, there were several other things which needed doing. First was to take off the bullbar which was currently attached.

It seemed to be some sort of generic bar from a van or something, which had just been tacked onto the bumper with some welds, and if any sort of impact hit it, it would almost certainly have snapped off (hence the need for a proper bar).

So we took the bumper off, and used a grinder to cut off the slightly rust speckled bar.

The bumper also needed attention while it was off, as it had quite a lot of rust on it, and large areas of paint had flaked off, especially inside and underneath. So we took it to a place that does sand-blasting and galvanising via zinc-arc spraying.

They told us they would clean it up, galvanise it, and even do the black paint over the top, as they had specific paints which worked best over the galvanising and would last the longest. They also tidied up the last little remnants of the welds which were left over from the bullbar removal.

I have yet to see the finished product, but my Dad is going to collect the bumper at some point as it is ready. We can then fit the bullbar and bumper to the Ninety, and get the whole vehicle looking really tidy.

I will certainly be posting some pics at that point!

The last "big thing" on the Ninety will be getting some side tubes/steps fitted. I have made preliminary contact with the parts place that we got the bullbar from, as they seem to specialise in off-road accessories to a greater extent than the other LR parts places in NZ, and they gave a good price on the bullbar.

After that, the Ninety will be looking pretty damn good. Like all LR owners, especially Defender owners, I have a vision of exactly how I want my Defender looking, and it is getting closer and closer.

Obviously there is also the dream Defender with chassis, bulkhead galvanised, stainless steel bolts, hinges etc. and a powerful turbo diesel, but hey, you've got to have a dream and a reality.

Sounds like its coming along to how you like it. Hope you get out of hospital soon and keep us posted even the misrible bastids that have read and not posted!

Thanks for that.

I'm not too concerned if people don't reply. I hope it's not all too boring, it would be a lot better if I had some access to photos etc. to show the bumper and the chassis.

The underside of the vehicle looks great with the new coating of rubber-based coating. I will be sure to get a few photos, and I will get some of the freshly repaired and painted bumper too, then the LR with bumper and bull bar fitted of course.

It will just have to wait a little.

Sounds good. That bull bar looks nice -- and whilst it would be illegal to fit it to a newer vehicle in the UK, it is still legal to fit it to a vehicle of an age where they were fitted from new, for example your 90 being from 1986 would be fine.

Keep on updating... and yes pictures would be cool!

sorry to add to your worries (being in Hospital) but a 285 on a 6.5 rim is not a good idea as they need 7.5 at the least and an 8 preferably . Have to agree they are a bit big for a door mount , but with a 86 you should be OK as body was a bit stronger than the defender badged coilers ! I had to adjust the inner stud nuts out to clear the rear wiper arm on my110 , as its on 285 BFG MT . Before you splash out on the side bars check that you can step down ok without them hitting the back of your legs (dirties your clothes up when muddy) as on my 90 HTSH

Langers said:

Sounds good. That bull bar looks nice -- and whilst it would be illegal to fit it to a newer vehicle in the UK, it is still legal to fit it to a vehicle of an age where they were fitted from new, for example your 90 being from 1986 would be fine.

Click to expand...

So does anyone know when Land Rover stopped fitting the full Bull Bar as an option?

Sounds like your making good progress with it, as said get some pics and get well soon

Tazz070299 said:

So does anyone know when Land Rover stopped fitting the full Bull Bar as an option?

Click to expand...

My guess is that it would be the same year that the legislation came in.

tacr2man said:

sorry to add to your worries (being in Hospital) but a 285 on a 6.5 rim is not a good idea as they need 7.5 at the least and an 8 preferably . Have to agree they are a bit big for a door mount , but with a 86 you should be OK as body was a bit stronger than the defender badged coilers ! I had to adjust the inner stud nuts out to clear the rear wiper arm on my110 , as its on 285 BFG MT . Before you splash out on the side bars check that you can step down ok without them hitting the back of your legs (dirties your clothes up when muddy) as on my 90 HTSH

Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for your concern. I'm aware that the tyre is really too wide for the rim, however it was more important to make sure the profile matched our other tyres to ensure the spare was usable. the 4wd shop we use made sure we were aware it was not the ideal rim size, but said that it is fine as a spare, and we should be able to drive on it without problem in case of a puncture.

In terms of the steps, I plan to use them to get both in and out of the vehicle, as one of the annoying things about access at the moment is in fact getting down out of the Ninety, so the crap on the trousers should hopefully be avoided when possible.

All sounds good, hope you are on the mend and out of hospital soon so you can enjoy it.