Landrover Defender Thread

About my Defender

Bought this last year and it was in a bit of a rough and ready condition.  The RAC inspected it and the engines a good-un.
It's got the 300 TDI engine in it (despite being a 2001 model) so I know it's not got the potential of being a nightmare to work on compared to the newer Td5.

A few niggles here and there.

The bodywork was a bit dented and needed some work



Nice views, you feel like master and commander up in the cab



Bit 'o damage here:



The landrover was previously owned by a drilling company and has a nice open space in the back that is stripped out and is great for stowage.  I've got big plans for in here:



Theses are really handy for letting fresh outside air in. When you are at speed you don't need any fans drawing air away from the engine either



Need to see about getting a padlock on here.



I've also started a web-page featuring Defenders from the early days up to the present here:

http://www.squidoo.com/land-roverdefender

Please if you can spare the time take a quick look and let me know what you think of it.

Over the next few days I'll be posting the project work carried out so far...

Friendly feedback appreciated  

Just prior to painting the interior I got some filler going to repair the plywood floor.
Obviously those heavy bags of cement had taken their toll previously

 

The landrovers interior painting was nearly completed today.  It’s green green green inside the rear cargo area now.  No longer is dust ever present and getting on clothes and kit etc.  With the gloss finish on now any muck or debris just wipes off.
Final coat went on today.  




Also found out my grommet things on the headlight grills are the wrong way around.  So a quick blitz with the drill and I’d made them right.

Next it was time to grind out the flakey and bubbling paint on the aluminium bodywork.

I used my dremel for this.  I didn’t want to damage the bodywork with a heavy grinder...



Bottom of the door looking a bit grim.



Got some filler down on the floor.



Changed the Air Filter:



The itty bitty jobs out of the way I next focused on the spotlights/driving lights.

For some reason they weren’t coming on.
I tried calling the original seller and he was in the dark.  He reckoned it might be the bulbs though.
I started the saga of fault-finding there.  I got my solar battery out and tested each of the bulbs.  Both were fine.  
This meant it surely must either be the switch or wiring.



I started to trace the wire first:

So far so good...


The problem, after following it all the way back underneath to the battery inlet hole was the wire had come loose from the negative terminal.  Reattaching it I flicked the switch!  Let there be light ?



Later on the bulb did go on one of the lights but that was my own fault in not using fresh electrical tape to re-seal it with..

Jerrycans in place with some hooks to hold it steady.  I had to cut these first down with a grinder...

Plenty of Water for an exped of week-end away somewhere.  Note the solar reflector for keeping the sun off it (and prolonging it’s life).

 

I love defender. I owned one and using it for more than 2 year. Truly a heavery duty vehicle. The Land Rover Defender is a rugged terrain that has inherited the traditional range of Land Rover .  The Defender of the individual models are available in seven different body variants, thus allowing you to combine the different steps (90, 110 or 130 inches), depending on the model, with different types of coverage, such as hardtop, soft top, wagon , or crew-cab pickup.  The Range Rover Defender is powered by a 2.5-liter turbodiesel, while the earlier models were equipped with different types of engines.