C

Conall

Member
Hi Everyone,
Unfortunately this is a bit of a sob story! So my apologies in advance. I have found this forum to be the best place to go for advice as people on here seem really genuine and helpful. coming from the republic of Ireland I find the Landrover community here to be a bit hostile and untrustworthy, sorry to any from Ireland on this, but its true. Anyway Having spent €20k (stupid money) on my landrover, it went from a almost clapped out 95 Defender 110 300TDI to a decent fully resprayed and rebuilt defender. I got my main mechanic to do a lot of work on engine, brakes etc. This being a short summary:

Brakes: discs
Pads
Calipres
Brake Pipes
Fluid
Rear diff oil seal
2 rear half shafts
2 rear drive flanges
New Fuel Tank
New senders
Rear cross-member
A Frame Joint
Trailing Arm bushes
Shock Bushes
Handbrake oil seal
Handbrake Flange
Front diff oil seal
Passenger front hub oil seal
Drivers side front
CV joint
Front drive flange
Tappets
Rocker cover gasket
Water jacket gasket
Water pump housing
Water pump new
Inlet manifold gasket
Timing belt
Timing cover
Radiator hoses all new
Ali sport Heater matrix
Clutch hydraulics
New bulkhead
Front bumper
Lights wired up
New wipers motor
New power steering fluid
New brake fluid
Oil change
New cylinder head

And list goes on, I put the body work back together myself after panels and wings etc had been sprayed. Having now spent a year (flat out) refurbishing this I'm now looking at a full engine rebuild as the piston rings have gone!! (confirmed by pressure test) I'm looking at everything now and all money spent on it and wondering if its even worth it anymore. I do love this vehicles but for the money I have sent on it I probably could've bought a much fresher Landy with half of that work and money to have put into it. My options are now take the hit and sell it or start looking into newly refurbished engine and I at this stage I would be looking at something from Turner Engineering with coast of £4K and cost of putting it in (Id do as much as I could myself, but I'm no expert!) I do realise I have been royally shafted with this Landy and I have made mistakes on it, as the mechanic really should have tested the compression when he put new cylinder head in and didn't bother! Anyway thoughts and opinions are appreciated!
 
Seems wasteful to sell it now that you’ve invested in it so heavily. You’ve still got a brand new cylinder head still so if you were to go down the reconditioned engine route it would only be the bottom end. If it really is only piston rings I’d have them replaced but be wary that low compression can be caused by a few other things also. Lets see a picture of your shiny 110!
 
Conall said:
Hi Everyone,
Unfortunately this is a bit of a sob story! So my apologies in advance. I have found this forum to be the best place to go for advice as people on here seem really genuine and helpful. coming from the republic of Ireland I find the Landrover community here to be a bit hostile and untrustworthy, sorry to any from Ireland on this, but its true. Anyway Having spent €20k (stupid money) on my landrover, it went from a almost clapped out 95 Defender 110 300TDI to a decent fully resprayed and rebuilt defender. I got my main mechanic to do a lot of work on engine, brakes etc. This being a short summary:

Brakes: discs
Pads
Calipres
Brake Pipes
Fluid
Rear diff oil seal
2 rear half shafts
2 rear drive flanges
New Fuel Tank
New senders
Rear cross-member
A Frame Joint
Trailing Arm bushes
Shock Bushes
Handbrake oil seal
Handbrake Flange
Front diff oil seal
Passenger front hub oil seal
Drivers side front
CV joint
Front drive flange
Tappets
Rocker cover gasket
Water jacket gasket
Water pump housing
Water pump new
Inlet manifold gasket
Timing belt
Timing cover
Radiator hoses all new
Ali sport Heater matrix
Clutch hydraulics
New bulkhead
Front bumper
Lights wired up
New wipers motor
New power steering fluid
New brake fluid
Oil change
New cylinder head

And list goes on, I put the body work back together myself after panels and wings etc had been sprayed. Having now spent a year (flat out) refurbishing this I'm now looking at a full engine rebuild as the piston rings have gone!! (confirmed by pressure test) I'm looking at everything now and all money spent on it and wondering if its even worth it anymore. I do love this vehicles but for the money I have sent on it I probably could've bought a much fresher Landy with half of that work and money to have put into it. My options are now take the hit and sell it or start looking into newly refurbished engine and I at this stage I would be looking at something from Turner Engineering with coast of £4K and cost of putting it in (Id do as much as I could myself, but I'm no expert!) I do realise I have been royally shafted with this Landy and I have made mistakes on it, as the mechanic really should have tested the compression when he put new cylinder head in and didn't bother! Anyway thoughts and opinions are appreciated!
Click to expand...


I would also not sell it after spending that amount on it. However I am guessing most of the cost will have been mechanic labour rather than parts and this will be a similar story with the engine. I would look for a reasonable second hand unit rather than a full 4k refub unit just for cost reasons. You could buy a whole discovery less than £1000 steal the engine and sell the rest to recoup some of the costs. You could then either rebuild your current engine over a period of time, or just swap over the recon head and sell the old engine for spares.

I do not know your mechanical skill level but if you are able to put the body back on yourself, you should be more than capable of removing and refitting the engine so it should not cost you much more than the engine itself to get it sorted and back on the road. Where as an engine rebuild is more involved there are plenty of resources to teach yourself, I have just done a minor top end rebuild after my timing belt snapped, I just asked lots of questions on here and followed the youtube videos!
 
Where are you @Conall . Youre right about some "mechanics" over here but I think its just a case of landies needing a specialist mechanic rather than someone whose fixing a micra one week then a ride on mower the next. Theres a few good engineers near to me, one especially that i would put my trust in. Did you pay 20k for it in its original condition or is that the total investment? puts mine in the same bracket :D Put up a few photos.
 
^^^^ Wot he said :)

There are mechanics I wouldn't trust to make a brew, let alone work on any LR.

I feel for you OP, but probably better to stick with it - the second hand engine out of a rotten D1 ( much as it is a shame to admit it ) is probably your best option ....
 
Don't sell, as others have said above, fix the engine, then enjoy the fruits of your labour!
 
Yeah, don’t give up now. Chuck in a second hand engine for now (as already said, get a complete disco so you can see / hear the engine running before you remove it, as well as gaining a few valuable spares from the engine bay. If you have room the axles would be worth keeping too)
Once the defender is running, refurb the engine out of it yourself, taking your time, to use it as a learning curve.
All the best
Rich
 
Last edited:
Get the bottom end sorted and you're onto a winner.... which in land river terms means a needy, unreliable, disabled friend.
 
Don’t get down about it, if it’s just rings theylll be cheap , the support on here will get you through changing rings yourself or more as reqd
 
So to sum up..

Don't be an idiot..

Keep the thing..

You'd be crazy not too now you're in this deep ;)
 
I'm another vote for keeping it. :D I've recently rebuilt my engine and it cost a canny bit, even though I did almost everything myself. Agree with finding an old Disco with a running engine you can check and using that. Keep the Fender engine though!
 
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