1993 Land Rover Defender 110 

Completed 2007

When this 110 came to us it had already had a 2.8 International TDI put in it along with some other changes, however the quality of workmanship had left the vehicle unreliable & far from the owners expectations. Wiring for many extras was extremely poor.

 

 

Random dynamat & overlaid aluminum chequer plate was trapping dirt & moisture causing corrosion.

 

 

The winch was so corroded it did not work at all.

 

 

 

 

The customer wanted a Defender 110 that was civilized to drive on the road, had improved off road ability, excellent reliability & was as corrosion proof as possible.
The chassis & body cappings was sandblasted & galvanized.

 

 

 

 

The body capping were painted after galvanizing to give the original look.

 

 

It’s important to corrosion proof parts you can’t see as well. The steel t pieces between the doors were galvanized & painted & also the bed rails were removed & galvanized.

 

 

 

 

The firewall had had the vents cut out & flaps installed. This was done poorly so it was reworked, the whole firewall sandblasted bare & repainted.

 

 

 

The firewall goes back together with defender 90 heater & ac.

 

 

The galvanized & painted t pieces, seatbox & firewall are fitted to the chassis.

 

 

The customer wanted more power & torque so we designed & fitted a much larger more efficient intercooler for the diesel motor. Space is always at a premium in the front of land Rovers so we had to use a different ac condenser as well.

 

 

 

We custom bent the aluminum intercooler plumbing to get around the radiator & condenser & give a factory look & avoid too many rubber splices.

 

 

The vehicle got stainless steel brake lines on the firewall & chassis.

 

In cab heat was a big concern of the customers. We took several steps to reduce floor & firewall heat. We started by putting vent holes in the bonnet to allow as much heat as possible to escape. We also painted the footwells of the firewall, the floors & underside of the seatbox with a special ceramic coating that prevents as much heat transfer & then finally wrapped the turbo & down pipe with a heatproof material so that the heat goes out the tailpipe instead of radiating off the exhaust pipe.

 

 

 

To keep the cab cool the vehicle has D90 ac in the front & D110 rear ac in the rear.

 

 

 

Lining the floors inside the vehicle with bedliner has a number of advantages. It seals up many of the floor & body joints & stops dirt & water causing corrosion. It makes it easy to just hose out the interior & it also adds another layer of protection against wear & tear.

 

 

 

 

 

The doors were very corroded with lots of pin holes in the skins. This happens because the aluminum skin touches the steel frame & causes dissimilar metal corrosion. To corrosion proof against this problem we stripped new doors back to the bare frames & skins. Painted the frames & skins separately & then bonded them back together before painting them body color.

 

 

 

 

The rear body & cappings got primed prior to be riveted together, this means there are several layers of primer in-between the cappings & body. Then the rivets are primed & last everything is painted body color.

 

 

The rollcage was completely sandblasted & then primed & painted black. We use an industrial grade paint to achieve greater corrosion resistance. Industrial grade paints vary from those typically used in a body shop because they are not as quick drying or as easy o work with but are typically more durable. We feel the longevity is worth the extra effort

 

 

The customer is going to pull an off road camping trailer. To make the best use of the torque available & give the best traction we fitted 285/75/16 All terrain tires, 4.10 ring & pinions & true trac limited slip differentials front & rear. Any time we change ring & pinion ratios we fit a programmable speedometer so that the speed & mileage are accurate again. Small details like this make the job complete.

Dual batteries are a must on an expedition vehicle. These are controlled by a simple manual switch. A clean wiring job with all circuits protected by the appropriate size fuse makes a big difference with reliability.

 

 

The customer wanted a clean European look to the defender so we converted the rear lights to European style & put individual steps on instead of the running board style steps.

No diesel Land Rover is complete without a snorkel.

 

 

If you want to be able to use a winch easily it should be in a bumper where you can get at the spool. We fitted the customer’s original winch to an OEM style winch bumper & then modified the original brush bar to clear the winch. During the process we added light mounts for the PIAA driving lights & sandblasted & painted the whole bar. The bumper is of course galvanized under the paint.