Another 90 joins the pack ...............

[nicks90]

its a TDI right?

if so, chuck an EGT gauge in there as well for the eventual fuel tweaking you'll end up doing once its all run in and you want a bit more oomph

[varleym]

Had a good day yesterday, got the roll cage fitted and all the body & doors lined up. Went better than I expected, particularly as it was a galvanised chassis, however we ground off all the galv around the spreader plates and welded them on with the garage door open and everything was fine.

Very impressed with the cage from Malcolm Whitbread, everything fitted very well and would thoroughly recommend. Pictures show the rear hoop and stays fitted and the front hoop removed for final painting as this simply bolts to a spigot on the outrigger and through the roof onto the sandwich plates on the top of the rear hoop.

Next up is the seat box and floor in the cab.

Cheers

Mark

[tecnick]

Its lookin' great Mark, keep up the hard work, you can come out and thrash the pants off us all.

Cheers Nick

[pamw]

My old rear tub looks better with the new floor!

Re. the horrid furry bits - had some really bad soundproofing pads stuck on when we first got it. Pulled the pads off but it left behind some of the fibres and the glue. As I was covering the floors and sides with a full LR rubber mat, never bothered trying to remove that stuff.

However, when it was sat propped up against the garage last spring, the blue tits and other ickle birdies thought it was wonderfull stuff for nesting material....

[Matthews]

Mark , how are you going to get the cage off if you need to remove it (or the rear tub) as from the pics it looks like it's welded on?
Matthew

[Bo]

I found this clip of a 90 chassis change on you tube. This crew are going some as talking with Al at Richards chassis, it takes them 4 days to do a straight swap including MOT and they are doing them week in week out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoeif1eQ55E

[varleym]

Matthew

You're correct that the rear hoop/stays are welded on. Hopefully it'll be a long time before I need to remove the tub so shouldn't be a problem. If I do need to take the rear hoop off I'll probably cut the hoop about an inch or so above the chassis mounting and re-weld it.

The front hoop fits onto a spigot mounting on the front outrigger and a simple through-bolt holds it in place. That means the front hoop can be removed easily if I need to take either the wings or roof off.

Cheers

Mark

[Matthews]

If you do the maths 4 of them worked for about 28 hours each which equates to 112 hours (and they couldn't get the bumper to fit!) which equates to 14 days working on your own for 8 hours a day so it's not that amazing really.
Matthew

[varleym]

Big milestone last night - got the tub, roof, doors & bulkhead and lined up & fixed. Even managed to remove the driver's door 'sag' that it had when I bought it. Seat box and sill channels also fitted.

Want to carry on and get the floor and tunnel fitted next then crack on with the remaining wiring.

I could do to find someone who's breaking an early Defender as I'm missing one or two bits from the bulkhead - must have got thrown out in one of my tidying up sessions. Bits I need are:

Bottom steering column bracket (fixed bottom of steering column to bulkhead);
Pipes/duct for air flow to windscreen (behind dash);
Windscreen washers.

Cheers

Mark

[Bo]

Mark, what diameter and length are the vent tubes, I have just broken a range rover and have the ones from that on a pile to go to the tip.

[davew]

Looking good, just don't forget to put the wheels on the correct side before you take it anywhere

[kingsonlim]

or going in reverse everywhere will solve the issue..

[varleym]

Bo

The tubes themselves are about 48mm and are around 6 inches long. At the top they must go into some sort of fitting which then connects to the bottom of the grill that you can see on the top of the dash.

Cheers

Mark

[varleym]

Dave

Well spotted sir - I just banged them on any corner when I got the chassis 'rolling'.

Cheers

Mark

[olzook]

I could do to find someone who's breaking an early Defender as I'm missing one or two bits from the bulkhead - must have got thrown out in one of my tidying up sessions.

Mr James Spurgen Nr Clitheroe has a 300 tdi 90 that he is breaking that was rolled into a ball by his over enthusiastic trainee mechanic, give me a shout if you want his number, you could call after having breakfast at the A59 MacDs.

Cheers

Oliver