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marshy714

Active Member
hi all, im trying to sort out a budget for a build i would like to do, i am still undecided on a 90 or a 110, if i get a 110 ill probably sell my focus diesel estate so ill possibly have an additional £1000-£1500 at the end, ive been a panel beater for 8 years so body and paint are pretty much just at cost price!

Ok as far as what i intend to use it for will be mainly road/daily commute if i get a 110 with the odd bit of green laneing if i get a 90 itll be more indepth green laneing with a bit of light off roading! both of which will have to tow a horse box and carry the odd live stock in the back and make it accross muddy fields!

my plans are as follows
  • by said defender
  • galvanise chassis and bulkhead
  • transplant a disco 300tdi lump and both front and rear axles (better breaking?)
  • road handling suspension kit, anti roll bars, poly bushes etc (not really a fan of the 2" lift as i wont be going major offroading)
  • all new seals gaskets nut bolts anything that would of or has perrished rusted or corroded will get replaced so i dont need to worry about it for another 5-10years!
  • rebuilld/recondition engine with a new turner head, new bigger intercooler, possibly reconditioned turbo?(do these last a life time or do they all give up eventualy?

it'll basically be a full nut and bolt rebuild! shall i jump straight in and buy a fender with disc breaks and a 200/300tdi lump or buy an older one and buy a cheap disco as a doner? i want the mod cons and asphetic extras, for those who are thinking just buy a disco! i think most of them are hideos pre 2005 lol just my personal opinion :p anyway would love to know your thoughts! anyone done a road use rebuild on here or is it mainly hardcore offroaders! there should be a road user tab on the forum :p
 
Gosh, length and pieces of string come to mind!

Assuming you'll do the work yourself:

Reasonable Defender 90 300 Tdi - £3.5k - £4.5k
Galv Chassis £1.2k

That would avoid any need for engine and axle transplant or brake changes, just leaving you to blow what you want on any suspension, intercooler or snorkel, winch mods

Frankly Defenders are not exactly built for speed, so not seeing the head mod etc, but each to their own!
 
I would go for a shed version of what you want to end up with , then find a disco with good engine/trans and merge the two on a new galv chassis . The cost of doing it this way can be spread over a period, governed by how much you can get done as you go.
You can spend just as much on a £3-£5 K defender , and probably end up do a patch job on the chassis as well. JMHO
 
I was thinking more along the line of galving the old chassis and bulkhead after repairing what ever needs to be done, I was thinking of spending about 5k
 
marshy714 said:
I was thinking more along the line of galving the old chassis and bulkhead after repairing what ever needs to be done, I was thinking of spending about 5k
Click to expand...

If you galv an old chassis it will just rust from the inside out.

Also its expensive to galv a whole chassis, you may as well pay the little extra and be sure it will last.
 
Doesn't the galv treatment penetrate the inside as well? I always thought it did, there are various holes in the chassis
 
Yeh I'm pretty sure it goes inside aswell, like wolf said it flows into the holes, I could get the bulkhead and chassis galved for about £500 I recon, ill still waxoyl it to be safe, I know as it's dipped it flows in everything
 
the_wolf said:
Doesn't the galv treatment penetrate the inside as well? I always thought it did, there are various holes in the chassis
Click to expand...

marshy714 said:
Yeh I'm pretty sure it goes inside aswell, like wolf said it flows into the holes, I could get the bulkhead and chassis galved for about £500 I recon, ill still waxoyl it to be safe, I know as it's dipped it flows in everything
Click to expand...

yes it does but your just galving the ****ty chassis and rust thats already in there.

I dont know how you would get the rust of the inside of a chassis.

There is also the danger of blowing the chassis out if the galv cannot exit the hollow sections. You need to have holes in the right places.

And not to mention the galv will pool at the corners of the chassis and cost more money.
 
BIG_GINGA_BEARD said:
If you galv an old chassis it will just rust from the inside out.

Also its expensive to galv a whole chassis, you may as well pay the little extra and be sure it will last.
Click to expand...

Why would it rust from the inside out? I thought they would be acid dipped first to remove all rust, then galved. I thought you just needed to make sure that there are enough holes to let the zinc in and out.

If there wasn't much in it, new metal over possible old thinner metal obviously would be better.

Oops, didn't realise this was left open and didn't see the replies :)
 
Last edited:
The budget for my expo vehicle prep is out of control. Be prepared to sell the family gold
 
yeh it is acid dipped first, removing any rust grime and debry before hand, ill drill a few extra holes if need be, a friend of mine who works for a landrover firm in mersea island, colchester, essex had his done and he said it is fine to dip an old chassis! i guess ill never know the true budget until i start, like someone said earlier lots of bits of string :p
 
marshy714 said:
yeh it is acid dipped first, removing any rust grime and debry before hand, ill drill a few extra holes if need be, a friend of mine who works for a landrover firm in mersea island, colchester, essex had his done and he said it is fine to dip an old chassis! i guess ill never know the true budget until i start, like someone said earlier lots of bits of string :p
Click to expand...
Lots and lots of pieces of string !!
 
I am in the middle of fixing up my 1989 chassis prior to galv'in. To me it is as cheap to galvanise the chassis as paint it. Just loads more work, but sure its a project, isint it ?

Rust proofer, paint and waxoyl would be about €130, galvanising would be about €155, so opted to strip down and galvanise.

The big decision is new chassis or repair old one. I will have spent about €400 repairing and galvanising my old chassis. It should be fairly good when finished, but, no, it wont be a new chassis, but that would cost me over €2000 by the time i got it to ireland.

Budget looks like:
rear cross member:70, 2* front outriggers 60, 2* turrents 40,welding supplies ( rods , i dont have a mig), 2mm sheet metal, cutting disks, 100, sand blast 70, galvo dip ( 1/per kilo chassis weight) 155, poly bush kit 100, make new copper brake pipes 25, 4* shocks 100. assorted bolts 20, clear waxoyl for internals 40.

Say €1000, thats Euro by the way as i am in Ireland.



My 90 pickup bulkhead is fine, and my bodywork is fairly original petrol blue with decals intact. I decided that I was just doing mechanics in the current project soI lifted the body off the chassis in one piece. By what I have seen on this forum, if you need bulkhead done also then that is pretty much another €500 to repair and galvanise, or €1K to replace.

best of luck, but dont expect to make any money out of it !
 
joeyb said:
I am in the middle of fixing up my 1989 chassis prior to galv'in. To me it is as cheap to galvanise the chassis as paint it. Just loads more work, but sure its a project, isint it ?

Rust proofer, paint and waxoyl would be about €130, galvanising would be about €155, so opted to strip down and galvanise.

The big decision is new chassis or repair old one. I will have spent about €400 repairing and galvanising my old chassis. It should be fairly good when finished, but, no, it wont be a new chassis, but that would cost me over €2000 by the time i got it to ireland.

Budget looks like:
rear cross member:70, 2* front outriggers 60, 2* turrents 40,welding supplies ( rods , i dont have a mig), 2mm sheet metal, cutting disks, 100, sand blast 70, galvo dip ( 1/per kilo chassis weight) 155, poly bush kit 100, make new copper brake pipes 25, 4* shocks 100. assorted bolts 20, clear waxoyl for internals 40.

Say €1000, thats Euro by the way as i am in Ireland.



My 90 pickup bulkhead is fine, and my bodywork is fairly original petrol blue with decals intact. I decided that I was just doing mechanics in the current project soI lifted the body off the chassis in one piece. By what I have seen on this forum, if you need bulkhead done also then that is pretty much another €500 to repair and galvanise, or €1K to replace.

best of luck, but dont expect to make any money out of it !
Click to expand...

Do you need to sb it if it gets acid dipped first?
 
Buy a 300TDi with a galv chassis already done, theres plenty out there, prob cost less than doing your own anyway...
 
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