New project - farmer spec Land Rover Defender 90

[Blake's Den]

I had a free afternoon so I decided to mess about with the canvas tilt. I believe that it is from a Series 3 but I seem to have made it fit. I was looking at a 110 double cab with a canvas tilt in Waitrose car park (where else?!) and it looked completely different.

I replaced some of the old ropes with bungee cord. 25m from Amazon turned out to by way to long, I forgot how much it stretches by 🤦‍♂️.

Anyway, there was enough content for a short video update. The next job is the new radiator which was due on Friday but mysteriously did not turn up.

In other news I hit 666 subscribers which is a scary number!

[Blake's Den]

Bit more progress today. We'll sort of.

I've got all of the bits to replace the radiator. I decided to do this in the garage which meant getting my tractor out. Which of course did not want to start. Once I got it running it was quite sweet. Anyway, got the Land Rover round and found that it won't fit in the garage. D'oh!

Parked up the Landy, released that the water leak was getting worse. Upon invesitgation I realised that it is the water pump not the rad. FAIL! New water pump and gaskets ordered, the rad can wait for another day.

Here's a video of the 'tractor'. The LR makes a cameo appearance.

 

[Blake's Den]

I've been busy making my Defender even cooler. No I haven't gone for chequerplate, 36 inch tyres or a "One life, live it" sticker 😄. I've been busy overhauling the cooling system.

I knew that it was losing coolant. I suspected that it was the radiator as it looked crusty but further investigation revealed that it was the water pump gasket that had gone. The 300 Tdi engines don't like running low on coolant as the water pump sits high on the block.

In the end I overhauled the full system - new radiator, hoses, thermostat (the old one was not closing fully), water pump, 'P' gasket, fan belt and coolant. The 'P' gasket is a known failiure point on these engines.  The aluminium water pump housing expands at a differn rate to the cast iron block which causes the gasket to fail over time. I was surprised to see that my gasket was an old paper one so I'm guessing this was original! Now replaced with an upgraded metal sandwhich type.

The result of the changes was significant. It now runs quieter (the old water pump bearing was on its way out), it now gets up to temperature and provides heat to the heater (!) and also seems to be faster. I'm not sure if this is all in my head or not. It is now running warmer and presumably more efficiently plus I've had an intercooler pipe off so maybe there are now a few more horses to unleash.

 

[Rusty_Rocket]

Nice job.  Your vid took me back, I used to do lots of TDi belts, P-gaskets, water pumps etc in Defenders and Discos.  Haven't done one for many years now though, which is a shame... because the Puma-engined cars I see now are nowhere near as simple to work on!

[Fabergé Greggs]

That little Turner Ranger is absolutely lovely! Also, watching some stuff on your channel has made me realise that I really want a CJ autos lift. 

[Lacquer Peel]

It's great to see an unmolested farmer-spec Defender. 

[Blake's Den]

1 hour ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

That little Turner Ranger is absolutely lovely! Also, watching some stuff on your channel has made me realise that I really want a CJ autos lift. 

Thanks. The Turner Ranger is great fun, I've become slightly obsessed by them to be honest! I've found about 25 other survivors including one of the original prototypes.

The CJ Autos lift is well worth the investment. A bit fidly to assemble but very practical. Well worth the money.

1 hour ago, Lacquer Peel said:

It's great to see an unmolested farmer-spec Defender. 

Yup, I'm going to keep it that way. My plan is to get it mechanical sound and realtively rust free whilst retaining the same worn out paint, bumps and scrapes. Its a working car and that how it will stay.

2 hours ago, Rusty_Rocket said:

Nice job.  Your vid took me back, I used to do lots of TDi belts, P-gaskets, water pumps etc in Defenders and Discos.  Haven't done one for many years now though, which is a shame... because the Puma-engined cars I see now are nowhere near as simple to work on!

Thanks! I was amazed to see that the original paper P gasket was on there still. Its only on 111k miles but most of that was within the first 4-5 years of ownership. It has led a farily easy life since then.

[Blake's Den]

Not much action on the Defender lately mainly because it is working and I have been too busy to use it!

But one thing I have started with is running on vegetable oil. I was lucky enough to get 20 litres for £23.00 from farm foods which equates to £1.25 a litre. Not cheap but still a massive saving over DERV. I've noticed no difference in performance (if that is the right expression for a Defender), no rough running, no problems starting and no excess smoke. Also, it now smells like a chip shop which is both good and bad!

I'm now at a 50/50 veg oil to diesel mix. That should be fine for the summer and I've got a spare fuel filter should it all go wrong. The next fill will need to be diesel, hopefully the prices are more sensible by the time that comes around.

Here is the video for your viewing pleasure:

 

[bezzabsa]

Tdi's have zero problems with a veggie diet, ALL my discoveries were ran on it (apart from the V8!!) and fuel filter is a piece of cake to change if it does clog..

do miss having a leaky 4x4 in my possession..

plus bonus bike shite with my 2004 Bandit 600 bought after a heart scare, and my ONLY Brand New vehicle to date!!

also bonus @Cavcraft piccy LOL

[Supernaut]

That ponytail really suits Cavcraft.

[320touring]

Good to see some veg experimentation on this Lovely Defender!

Theres a thread I started that may be of help re the process of running on veg:

one thing to note is that the "Extended life" oil is more prone to gelling in cold temperatures than either sunflower or rapeseed oil

Here's a wee video I made to show what happens

https://youtu.be/vJnyB8Du0t0

 

Good luck with it and let us know if you need a hand setting up to filter used oil for even cheaper running!

 

[Blake's Den]

6 hours ago, 320touring said:

Good to see some veg experimentation on this Lovely Defender!

Theres a thread I started that may be of help re the process of running on veg:

one thing to note is that the "Extended life" oil is more prone to gelling in cold temperatures than either sunflower or rapeseed oil

Here's a wee video I made to show what happens

https://youtu.be/vJnyB8Du0t0

 

Good luck with it and let us know if you need a hand setting up to filter used oil for even cheaper running!

 

Very useful, I shall give it a read then report back 🙂

[Blake's Den]

I've had this back on the road for one year now which is great. But that means another squeaky bum MoT 🤣.

Not surprisingly it was a fail but only on two things. A ball joint in the steering arm and a hole in the chassis. The ball joint was replaced last year but something is a miss, it's as sloppy as anything. It also snapped when I was re-torquing it up. Obviously made from the finest Chineseium. A new one is on the way along with a new bush for the steering arm.

The hole in the chassis wasn't too bad. I desperately need to fit a new rear cross member with chassis leg extensions, I think that I'll farm the job out as I'm going to struggle to find the time to do it. Anyway I made up a patch and welded it on with my R-Tech MIG 180 which is a fantastic bit of kit.

Just waiting on the ball joint now....

Video update coming soon.

 

[sutty2006]

Those rear crossmembers are a yearly service item on a defender aren’t they? 

[Wack]

I bought an ex farmer 110 hicap 

One owner low mileage isn't a good thing when it's been pulling tree stumps out while up to its axles in cow shit 

The winter drive home from Cambridge to warrington was the most terrifying one of my life , I managed one junction on the M6 before shifting myself and coming home on A roads 

I managed to get it OK but it took a back axle, gearbox, steering box and welding before it was driveable , I think it was a telephone MOT job when the farmer had it.

[warch]

11 hours ago, Wack said:

I bought an ex farmer 110 hicap 

One owner low mileage isn't a good thing when it's been pulling tree stumps out while up to its axles in cow shit 

The winter drive home from Cambridge to warrington was the most terrifying one of my life , I managed one junction on the M6 before shifting myself and coming home on A roads 

I managed to get it OK but it took a back axle, gearbox, steering box and welding before it was driveable , I think it was a telephone MOT job when the farmer had it.

Anything a farm has decided they can't get any more use out of it is usually well and truly bolloxed. Farm dispersal sale stuff (where a farm is sold following the owner's death or retirement) is often ok though. 

There used to be a Hi Cap near me that literally looked like swiss cheese at the rear end, god help them if they'd ever attached a trailer, slurry is horrible corrosive stuff.   

[Wack]

1 hour ago, warch said:

Anything a farm has decided they can't get any more use out of it is usually well and truly bolloxed. Farm dispersal sale stuff (where a farm is sold following the owner's death or retirement) is often ok though. 

There used to be a Hi Cap near me that literally looked like swiss cheese at the rear end, god help them if they'd ever attached a trailer, slurry is horrible corrosive stuff.   

It was surprisingly good from a rust perspective 

The mechanicals though 

Candles for headlights, wiper blades that must've been 10 years old , the steering box had that much slack it was ½ a turn before the wheels moved , the drive train had a 3 second delay while it took the slack up 

One m6 junction in the dark and rain and I was a nervous wreck , wouldn't go over 50 so trucks were overtaking coving me in spray 

[Blake's Den]

Agreed that farm stuff does lead a hard life. My defender was used intensely for the first 4 years of its life. It went all over the counting auctions and dragged stuff back that it probably shouldn't have towed! After the first owner retired it got passed down through the family and has lead quite a sedate life since then.

Once it has passed its MoT my plan is to give it a good service as nobody can seem to remember when it was last done. That probably means that I'm playing cambelt roulette too! 

 

[leafsprung]

HiCaps had a heavy duty chassis made with actual decent steel. Mine was a D plate but even ex-farm fresh was immaculate underneath, just a tiny bit of grot on the X member in the usual mudtrap which didn't warrant a welding session.

[warch]

 Trucks off an arable or sheep farm won't be as rusty as a dairy farm runaround, plus they won't have been towing a great big heavy cattle trailer either so the engine and drive train will have had an easier life.  They do tend to rack up huge mileages (a bloke in my cricket team uses 600 quid of diesel a month on local journeys sheep farming and rough terrain does take its toll especially on suspension and steering components. 

The rust that kills most modern Defenders is caused by road salt, they don't really apply any protection to the metalwork from new and once corrosion has worked its way into the chassis and bulkhead they're living on borrowed time. We changed a bulkhead on a TD5 last winter, I was shocked how light weight it is compared to an old one, it was pushing the metal in fitting the plastic trim clips. My perception is that Td5s and later are much more rust prone than earlier versions of the 90/110/Defender but then they are also older and have had more exposure to salt.

[Blake's Den]

I've had the Defender back on the road for a year now. However that mean't taking it the local garage and passing the palms of the MoT with silver. Unfortunately I musn't have  gave them enough as it failed :-(. Nothing too bad, a dodgy ball joint on the front and a bit of welding to do on the rear.

The welding was fairly easy to do. I am in no way a skilled welder but I find that my RTech Mig 180 is a great bit of kit, I would without doubt recommend it to anyone who has a rusty car. The ball joint was a different story, it turned into a whole world of pain! But more on that in a seperate video......

I've obviously hit the YouTube algorithm sweet spot with the words "Defender" and "welding"! The video has been published for 20 hours, my typical views are usually somwehere been 30 and 60, at the time of writing its on 329 views, madness! I don't upload the video for self gratifcation or to make money from them. I enjoy making them and if they help one other person out then I'm happy.

[Blake's Den]

Part 2 of the MoT repairs went live earlier today:

I needed to replace the drop arm ball joint which turned out to be a real pain of a job. Land Rover's don't have conventional ball joints, you have to assemble it out of the component items. I should have read the forum advice and upgraded to a disco/RR P38 arm which uses a conventional ball joints.

Anyway - I replaced the bushing in the arm and that is where things started to go wrong. After a lot of head scratching, excessive force, googling and head scratching I concluded that the spring in the ball joint kit was too thick when fully compressed. I think this was because I was using the new bushing too, with a worn old bushing I think that it would have just gone back together. In the end I replaced the spring with a spring washer. It was still a super tight fit and I had to use quite a lot of force to get the circlip into position.

Its all good now with no play but I will keep an eye on it.

[Blake's Den]

I decided to get a little creative. I did a video a while back which was just me driving my Mini Cooper with the A-series engine as the soundtrack. I decided to try the same with my Land Rover except this time with Solihull's finest 300 Tdi for company.

The Defender is still running really well on the 50% veg oil mix. The steering feels a little sharper too since changing the ball joint. Still not quite like Caterham 7 or Lotus Elise but now less like a super tanker.

[Blake's Den]

Not much to report on the Defender lately as it has been running fine and not needing any attention. The only problem that I have had is that it failed to start in the really cold weather, I think that was due to the veg oil solidifying. All good now since I topped it up with diesel.

Anyway, I put the Defender to good use today to pick up a new toy - a Bateson 27-16 tilt bed car transporter trailer. I've been after a big trailer for a while and after a couple of false starts I finally managed to get this. I've got two AS worthy things to transport on it in the very near future so stay tuned!

 

[camryv6]

On 6/17/2022 at 3:54 PM, Supernaut said:

That ponytail really suits Cavcraft.

I was going to ask which one is @Cavcraft?

[Blake's Den]

Slightly Land Rover related........I have acquired a Warn M6000 winch from a local auction. Bought sight unseen and of course it didn't work when I connected a battery to it! I ended up stripping it down and rebuilding it and now it does work 😃

It came with a Defender winch bumper but it is in poor condition. Plus I already have a winch bumper on the Defender and I want to change it back to standard anyway. My plan is to attach the winch to my trailer in a way that it is removable. I've got an idea how to do this by chopping up the bumper that came with the winch - look out for this coming up in a future post/video.

 

[Blake's Den]

I decided to do an audio upgrade on the Defender. I say upgrade but in reality it's an install as it has nothing in it! This is base model motoring, even the interior light doesn't come on when you open the door.

I decided to go for a Bluetooth speaker rather than a radio or cd player. I decided on a Tribit StormBox Micro and I'm really happy with it. It looks fairly discreet compared to other Bluetooth speakers plus the sound is really good from it. I can even hear it above the 300 Tdi engine 🤣

 

[somewhatfoolish]

Interior lamp? Luxury!

[Blake's Den]

In sort of Land Rover related news.......I've been fitting a Warn M6000 winch to my trailer. I picked up the winch from a local auction and it came with a very rusty Defender winch bumper. I trimmed this down and used it to mount the winch to the trailer. I was really pleased with how it worked out.

 

Here is the video of the install 

I tested this out by winching the Santa Fe on. Despite a week battery it did the job really well:

So why did I do this? Well it will allow me to pick up other projects cars more easily. And this is exactly what I did today  . A full update and reveal will be coming soon......

[Blake's Den]

Not much to report on the Land Rover other than its running well and doing what it does well. I used it the other day along with my trailer and winch (see above) to collect yet another project....this time a Ford 3000 tractor that hasn't run in years.