1987 110 Defender, thoughts please...

[CompoSimmonite]

One time I visited a military surplus dealer in the South of France and they had Hotchkiss Jeeps for £1200 and Unimogs (the early version with canvas roof) for under £3000.

 

[Barking Mat]

One time I visited a military surplus dealer in the South of France and they had Hotchkiss Jeeps for £1200 and Unimogs (the early version with canvas roof) for under £3000.

Many years ago I'd imagine sadly.

 

[frank horton]

fly to Spain/Portugal for ur hols and buy a Toyota.....then drive it Home.....easy....
Dont go to Greece they are twice the price......

 

[frank horton]

Compo
I also found some in Greece but he wont sell.....have photo somewhere they are piled 3 high and complete....
must be 40 of them.....
I quite fancied one with a non electronic Beemer "D" in it.....

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I'll take a can of petrol

Don't forget the matches.......

Have a read of @KimB's thread on her one, it shows what can be achieved, but......

 

[Barking Mat]

fly to Spain/Portugal for ur hols and buy a Toyota.....then drive it Home.....easy....
Dont go to Greece they are twice the price......

90 minutes considerably closer and it's French registered.

I'm not going abroad at the moment.

 

[Barking Mat]

Don't forget the matches.......

Some people, really...

 

[Domdom]

Ok, I’ve had numerous Land Rovers including a cummins powered 110, a V8 110, a TD5 110, a very early 2.25 petrol 110, god knows how many discoveries and rangies. The thing with Deafeners is....
They will break your back, make you deaf and smash your elbow.
Mechanically it is simple enough, although time consuming, to rebuild them on a galv chassis. But it will still break your back, make you deaf and smash your elbow. It will also cost more than the most acrimonious divorce on record.
Resale values are mental, bordering on the altogether loony bin level but all that proves is there are a lot of people with no common sense. Most of them are deaf and crippled by the way, and they have absolutely no idea of the value of money.
Then you get to all the bolt on tat to make them look like they were covered in superglue and driven through Halfords. Expensive tat at that, which of course is not obvious to the afflicted. Perhaps this is because their brains have been shaken as badly as their spines, who knows. And all that tat is tantamount to rolling a turd in glitter.
But hey, if you want to be a deaf version of Quazimodo then who am I to argue?
Best advice. Run, run for the hills, run fast and run long. I wouldn’t have another one if it was free. But that’s me.

 

[Mick Annick]

Ok, I’ve had numerous Land Rovers including a cummins powered 110, a V8 110, a TD5 110, a very early 2.25 petrol 110, god knows how many discoveries and rangies. The thing with Deafeners is....
They will break your back, make you deaf and smash your elbow.
Mechanically it is simple enough, although time consuming, to rebuild them on a galv chassis. But it will still break your back, make you deaf and smash your elbow. It will also cost more than the most acrimonious divorce on record.
Resale values are mental, bordering on the altogether loony bin level but all that proves is there are a lot of people with no common sense. Most of them are deaf and crippled by the way, and they have absolutely no idea of the value of money.
Then you get to all the bolt on tat to make them look like they were covered in superglue and driven through Halfords. Expensive tat at that, which of course is not obvious to the afflicted. Perhaps this is because their brains have been shaken as badly as their spines, who knows. And all that tat is tantamount to rolling a turd in glitter.
But hey, if you want to be a deaf version of Quazimodo then who am I to argue?
Best advice. Run, run for the hills, run fast and run long. I wouldn’t have another one if it was free. But that’s me.

Not a fan then?

 

[sako243]

@8ob's got the most sensible comment here. If the body panels and bulkhead are in decent shape then it might be worth it, they are the bits that can fetch silly money when trying to source things. Engine / gearbox and drivetrain are slightly less important in my opinion - there's plenty of options to swap those even with like-for-like or for something with a bit more poke. I mean even 6BTs are fast becoming a drop in option these days.

If I were you then I'd grab a new chassis and complete set of bushes - start stripping the drive-train, clean up the components and sort as you see fit. Get it into a rolling chassis state and then swap over bulkhead and body panels etc.

I agree with @tom2207 - stick with OEM bushes, they're a far nicer ride. Everyone I know who's had polybushes in a vehicle for use on the road have gone back to OEM. The downside is if you flex the suspension a lot then you can kill them fairly quickly. I'm replacing them on a more or less annual basis but the suspension takes a hammering, particularly up in Scotland when out on the hills.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Many years ago I'd imagine sadly.

Unfortunately. Probably 15 years ago - on the way back from Spain in my SWB SIIA Land Rover towing a car transporter with an Ebro Jeep on board

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Not a fan then?

I WAS a big fan as besides the 5 x Series, and Defender also had 2 x Disco and 3 x Range Rover Classic including a 1972 two door. In the end got fed up of the need for replacement chassis, alloy corrosion and constant attention.

 

[Barking Mat]

yep ,, thats do able ,, but seriously re read my post ,, buy in haste ,, repent at leisure.

If you have a '' need'' for a land rover , use your volvo .
You really have to appreciate it wont drive like the volvo , especially in the winter , you need wellingtons for the leaks , the only saving grace is that the water that leaks in will run out of the holes in a land rover ,
Ill not write more as Im starting to sound biased ,, but make sure her indoors gets to do the driving on a test drive , including a bit of reversing and a 3 point turn .

I've just let Mrs Barking Mat read through this post and when she got to the above line, steam started pouring from her ears and well I can't repeat what she said on this forum verbatim.

we drove round Morocco, some years ago in one of these...

Basically the French military equivalent.

Yeah, she knows what's she's doing. Power steering, so over rated...

 

[Bobtail4x4]

4 of us changed a 110 chassis over a few weeks
the next one was done in 3 days drive in drive out

I would not want to be doing it full time,

 

[Barking Mat]

4 of us changed a 110 chassis over a few weeks
the next one was done in 3 days drive in drive out

I would not want to be doing it full time,

Fancy a week's holiday in Brittany, ha, ha, ha...

 

[tom2207]

I've just let Mrs Barking Mat read through this post and when she got to the above line, steam started pouring from her ears and well I can't repeat what she said on this forum verbatim.

we drove round Morocco, some years ago in one of these...

View attachment 252734Basically the French military equivalent.

Yeah, she knows what's she's doing. Power steering, so over rated...

thats total luxury compared to a 110.
she will need the steam coming out of her ears to keep warm in the winter as the heater wont work well enough to stay warm
trouble is the windows will mist up from the staem , and only the draughts from the ill fitting doors will clear them , as the blower wont.

 

[Barking Mat]

thats total luxury compared to a 110.
she will need the steam coming out of her ears to keep warm in the winter as the heater wont work well enough to stay warm
trouble is the windows will mist up from the staem , and only the draughts from the ill fitting doors will clear them , as the blower wont.

Heater, what heater?

 

[Rannsachair]

I agree with most of the advice given - they rust are noisy and unrefined to drive and relatively high maintenance.

I am 6' 3" and find my 90 comfy to sit in (it is an XS so has a bulkhead removal bar as standard so front seat goes back a bit further). I should add that I passed my test in a BL mini and have had a 1937 Morris 8 and a 1969 Morris Minor, so my idea of comfort may not be the same as most people.

The things I like about them is that they are relatively easy to work on, parts are often very cheap or at least reasonable and are readily available. They are relatively low tech - so easy to fault find.

The parts with faults can all be upgraded: galvanised chassis, galvanised doors and parts from newer models or disco's can be got cheaply for upgrades.

I have owned my 90 for 15 years and for going down potholed singe tracked roads near where I live it is the right vehicle for me. They are quite common round me, there are two 110's on the street I live on.

If you use it off road regularly, running costs go up as bushes, wheel bearings, universal joints etc. need regular servicing/replacement. Then you start on the upgrades of all the parts you damage/break. Another plus is that it is a vehicle you can happily drive down overgrown tracks with tree branches rubbing down your sides and not worry about paintwork damage - it just adds character oh and they do still get stuck in deep ditches....

 

[tom2207]

Heater, what heater?

exactly ,, its like a mouse fart in a box.
probably smells the same and about as much use.

 

[Rannsachair]

thats total luxury compared to a 110.
she will need the steam coming out of her ears to keep warm in the winter as the heater wont work well enough to stay warm
trouble is the windows will mist up from the staem , and only the draughts from the ill fitting doors will clear them , as the blower wont.

Heated windscreen and aircon and heated seats on mine as standard....heated seats and heated screen quite an easy retrofit. Though I also fitted a side vent kit so the blower clears the drivers and passengers windows. Every challenge has a solution