Hello again chaps and chapesses, and thanks for tuning into another one of my projects again
I have been mulling this one over for a while now, and with the other 90 pretty much done it is time to make a start on it.



So what is the plan? Well I'm not really sure yet, one idea I was thinking about was a marine blue soft top, with 300tdi auto.
A big dilemma I had was weather to keep it original with the 200tdi or go 300tdi.
If it was going to be 200tdi then it would have to be a genuine Defender version, so rocking horse poo and expensive.
I had to make a decision so I could order a new galvanised chassis. In the end I decided to order a 300tdi type chassis as I thought it would be easier to source.
So I plan to buy a donor discovery for the engine/gearbox and will also make use of the rear axle.
Anyhow, it turns out not even a week after ordering my chassis someone on here pm'd me asking if I still wanted a defender 200tdi engine, doh! Just my bloody luck.

Anyway, the chassis is ordered in 300tdi variant and their is no going back now, but their is a 10-12 week waiting list
So plenty of time to get the axles sorted, find a donor and maybe even time to give the engine a bit of a spruce up.

Two weeks or so ago I started the strip down.
The vehicle is in a pretty sorry state if I'm honest, more just previous owners bodgy shit'e but is going to require a lot of time and effort to make it reasonable again.
But the more I looked the more I found, but hey, nothing that can't be sorted.
Especially the body work, nearly every panel is dented and battered, and I've no idea what they painted it with, but it is terrible, red oxide or some such like I guess, not looking forward to stripping all that off either












The Saturday after I stripped the rest of the chassis of everything I may need.









The chassis was then cut up to make it more manageable to get rid of, although it is still just sat their, oops



More updates when I get a mo..
This will likely be a slow moving project at any rate, I have spent far too much of late and need to let funds re-coupe a little (save up for the new chassis) for a start.
And their is no rush what so ever for this vehicle, I just want to get a rolling chassis, engine and gearbox in and I can take it from their as to what I want to build, but only time will only tell, and as always, it is nice to be starting a new build

You like your 90,s.

So moving onwards with the project the axles are the first job.
Now some of you will remember this picture of a few bits I had galvanised for the last project.
Well I had some things left over, which I actually nearly sold when I was tight for cash, so glad I didn't now as it has given me a good start to the project



So galvanised axle casing, radius arms, trailing arms, a-frame arms, panhard rod and mount.





Axle casing, radius arms etc where suitably taped out and t-washed prior to paint, quite a time consuming job really.





And then the weekend just gone I started painting a few things.
Corroless primer first, this on top of the galv, I expect to have no rust issues for a very long time



And some more hanging out to dry..



Cleaned a few more bits and pieces up.
I really need to invest in a shot blasting cabinet, it would make life so much easier..





And again into primer.





I then started to get some colour on the job..







And that was it for the weekend, just had to choose a colour to paint the radius arms etc next..

mick the builder said:

You like your 90,s.

Click to expand...

Haha, the only thing that will fit in my work space Mick
Well I wouldn't mind restoring a Series 1, and that would fit, but they are silly money
One day I may have a bigger garage, or working space so I can take on something bigger Or here's to hoping anyway..

Ooo round 4 I like!

Do you ever get any warping when you galvanise a bulkhead as I've got a series 2a to restore and I don't know whether to leave it or brace it

Ace , subscribed

Looking forward to following this one!
Cheers Aaron

bloody hell man
do you every stop!
looks good so far mate

I wish I had a pile of lovely fresh galv parts in stock like you. As with all your builds great work looking forward to seeing it progress.

If this is as good as the last one it will be a great one to follow, good luck.

Thread watched! Look forward to watching the progress.

Great start to what will be another great build I'm sure. Thanks for taking the time to write it all up for us.

An Auto eh? Coolio!! Looking forward to this build, which having seen your previous work will no doubt be stunning. Watched

Well thanks chaps I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy doing..
Just a small update before I go out and do something.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I needed to chose a colour to paint the radius arms etc..
So I was on the arc-rite paints website, just having a general browse, but mainly for the above, was having a look at their military paints, looking through the colours and saw RAF blue grey..
Hmm.. I like the sound of that I thought, but no picture to show the actual colour.
So had a quick google to give me an idea, which brought this picture up, and I actually quite like it, the whole vehicle may end up this colour yet



Anyway, I ordered 500ml to get the bits I wanted done, which arrived Wednesday, so spent the evening splashing a bit on..







I had planed to get the front axle built up this weekend, but that isn't going to happen now, or not finished at least, ordered a few bits and bobs from island 4x4, swivels etc.. which turned up Friday, and ordered the rest, discs, pads, calipers etc.. from lr direct, which hasn't turned up yet, bugger!

Have a bloody holiday mate, you make me feel bad! I come home after a weekends laning, keep meaning to change the rear wheel bearings and sort the A-frame balljoint, keep putting stuff off and here you are, re-building a complete feckin' 90....

I used to like you ...











Actually, nice one mate ..

I like the blue/grey especially with the galv cappings.

That's looking great, Aaron. I like the colour too. Quite formal. You really will have a Land Rover for all occasions very soon.

Keep it coming mate love a good Arron rebuild you selling the last 90 yet.

Another little update from the weekend, not exactly to plan, but not too bad either I suppose..

First job was to get the axle built up as far as I could, so new swivels, cv's etc and swivel housings/stub axles on.
New bearings greased, races knocked into the hubs and new seals, all ready to go when the discs arrive, and that was as far as I could go with that.





I was then a little stuck as to what to do, so I decided to do the pedal boxes / heater box.
So pulled them off the bulkhead and started prepping them for paint.





And into primer.



Next, the clutch pedal, why... I've no idea, DOH!





And brake pedal box assembly.





And again into primer, along with a few other bits and bobs, steering bar, fuel tank bracket etc..





For the top coat I am using a Corroless product, and while it is a very good paint in regards to corrosion control, the finish when applied by brushed isn't the best.
So, I planned on spraying it, and I'm sure I have seen it done before, so I gave it a go..
Well it didn't really work, for two reasons I think,
A) because I only have a small nozzle on my spray gun, (Recently threw the bigger nozzle, primer gun away)
And B) it probably wanted thinning.
So I have ordered both, and hopefully I can get it flowing quite well next time.
Although on the small items I did try it on, I am more pleased with the finish than by brush.
So definitely what I will be doing with the other bits and bobs that will want doing, just a bit of a pain in the arse getting set up to do it at home, as opposed to just getting a brush out.