![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DSC03067.jpg\" "\\"DSC03067\\"")
<\/a>At purchase<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The original motor did smoke quite badly<\/p><\/div>\n
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<\/a>Lack of a working alternator required a push start to get to Opere’s shop for the first round of mechanical upgrades<\/p><\/div>\n
Mechanical:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0 While it was sold as a “drivable vehicle”, the Defender we bought in February 2011 hardly met that criterion.\u00c2\u00a0 The alternator was gone and the battery very low so it did not really start.\u00c2\u00a0 The\u00c2\u00a0 motor smoked badly and much of the running gear – clutch, brakes, wheel bearings, etc. , were badly in need of renewal.\u00c2\u00a0 By June, within 3 months or so of purchase, we had replaced the TDI300 motor, all hoses, all the\u00c2\u00a0 clutch and brake pieces, wheel bearings, track rod ends, front differential and front propshaft.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The motor was a bit of a high stakes gamble, but it is one that so far seems to have paid off, because it is running so well and there are no leaks and I have not noticed any oil consumption.\u00c2\u00a0 The first phase of the mechanical work also included\u00c2\u00a0 installation of new heavy duty Biltstein shock absorbers all around and replacement of the original rubber bushes (the pieces that go between the chassis and all the suspension and axles)\u00c2\u00a0 with high quality polybushes.\u00c2\u00a0 As a result the ride is smooth and confident.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The Defender seems to be able to perform in all the gear settings, high and low and two and four wheel\u00c2\u00a0 drive, although we have yet to take it on any off-road tracks.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Little things that did not work before, like the fuel gauge and hand brake,\u00c2\u00a0 now work. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Even the clock works.<\/p>\n Bodywork:<\/strong> \u00c2\u00a0 The body was essentially sound, but with plenty of dings and dents in the aluminum body and rust at the base of the doors, a common affliction with Land Rovers where the aluminum body comes into contact with the steel door frame and water can be present.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Particularly severely rusted were the foot wells, the drivers side right through to daylight.\u00c2\u00a0 By September, within 6 months or so, the body had been completely restored, including installation of new foot wells and repair of any dents in the skin.\u00c2\u00a0 The doors had been rehung with new hinge screws and any rusted door frames replaced.\u00c2\u00a0 The bonnet latch which did not work now does, complete with a new functioning security cable from the interior.\u00c2\u00a0 The broken rear “safari” door frame has been repaired.\u00c2\u00a0 The windows that rattled no longer rattle.\u00c2\u00a0 The door steps have been completely reconstructed.\u00c2\u00a0 The front bumper has been straightened. The front grille has been (broken by someone at Opere’s and) repaired.\u00c2\u00a0 The Defender has been completely cleaned inside and out, and rust removed from underneath.\u00c2\u00a0 It has been repainted, and it is beautiful.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 We purchased and installed a new Defender decal for the front of the bonnet.\u00c2\u00a0 Remaining bodywork includes the installation of the chequerplate aluminum panels on the fenders and bonnet and insertion of the new locks on the front and rear doors, and new Tdi 300 decals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The fender the elephant (must have) sat on<\/p><\/div>\n Thats more like it<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Air Conditioning:\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong> Within seven months the old air conditioning system that did not work had been replaced with an old air conditioning system that does work, sort of.\u00c2\u00a0 This aspect does not inspire confidence and we may yet soon find we have to take advantage of those cute uber-functional vents that open an close in the bulkhead below the windscreen to keep us cool when the air conditioning system fails.\u00c2\u00a0 I am rather sure it will, you get what you pay for and we did not pay very much.<\/p>\n Electrical:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Within eight months the basic electrics mostly worked (lights, horn, wipers), and the contract is signed and parts procured for new lighting inside and out.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the air conditioning the quality of the electrical work is a bit dubious and will require some careful \u00c2\u00a0monitoring \u00c2\u00a0to have Phase Two of the electrical completed properly, which includes the installation of a dual battery system and various accessories like the fridge (purchased in South Africa more than a year ago), fog and rear area lights.<\/p>\n Interior:\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The interior was worn and dirty, with the front seats on their second cover, consisting of old flour bags.\u00c2\u00a0 Something which we did not really notice until now is the condition of the ceiling roof lining, which was taken out and stored at Opere’s Land Rover farm when the body work was being done.\u00c2\u00a0 15 years of road dirt and seasonal harmatan dust had left the\u00c2\u00a0 light grey lining a dark shade of brown that spews dirt on slapping.<\/p>\n At purchase<\/p><\/div>\n Stripped Down for\u00c2\u00a0Painting<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n By December, within 10 months, the interior had been ompletely stripped, cleaned and repainted.<\/p>\n Putting in the visco-elastic, butyl-based sound deadener from Alberta. Our own mobile tar sands<\/p><\/div>\n New seats installed in cleaned, painted, soundproofed Defender,<\/p><\/div>\n Laura installing thermo-acoustic foam sound absorber on the bonnet<\/p><\/div>\n Lets be honest about who’s done all the work.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n So much recovering, so little cover<\/p><\/div>\n That more like it<\/p><\/div>\n The vehicle has been soundproofed throughout, with material brought in from Canada.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The front seats have new foams and covers from Exmoor Trim, the front seats slide back and forth and the backs adjust.\u00c2\u00a0 The back seats have new foam and covers locally done and the cargo area seats have been removed to make space for expedition gear storage.<\/p>\n We have also purchased other important bits and pieces, like the door locks, although those have yet to be installed. \u00c2\u00a0 Removal of all the interior decor and seats is an achievement that is also worth noting – it took a lot of time and painstaking work, much of it done ourselves. do \u00c2\u00a0 Having stripped it down not only allowed for a good clean paint job inside, it also made the interior soundproofing and carpeting easier.\u00c2\u00a0 Just this week we have taken the final step in the restoration stage with signature of a contract to redo that dirty and ugly roof liner and install carpet in the front and back seats, with vinyl in the rear.\u00c2\u00a0 With that the restoration\/upgrading will be complete to our satisfaction.<\/p>\n One minor disappointment on the interior was the failure to find a used Discovery I back seat to replace the Defender bench-like back seat in order to acheive greater comfort for passengers.\u00c2\u00a0 As an alternative \u00c2\u00a0I am going to try to customize the old Defender seat a few inches further back and lower down to gain\u00c2\u00a0 leg and head-room, but I am not sure this is worth it.\u00c2\u00a0 We are outfitting this vehicle\u00c2\u00a0 for expedition and do not expect to carry passengers for very long once we hit the road.\u00c2\u00a0 The best arrangement might be to to retain the 1\/3 portion of the back seat split and devote the rest to expedition gear and storage.<\/p>\n Our daughter Kat wanted to take it for a spin when she visited from University at Christmas, but had a hard time depressing the clutch<\/p><\/div>\n How much did it cost?:\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>It is also appropriate at this point to look at the cost to date.\u00c2\u00a0 I believe the accrual accounting method would just look at what we have actually installed to date, but if I add everything up that we have actually spent,\u00c2\u00a0 cost of parts, shipping, and installation, it comes to is almost CAD\u00c2\u00a0 9,500, including the rebuild Tdi 300 motor, and all the body work and paining.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That can be rounded up to CAD 10,000, for all the odds and ends and sundry labour and dashes that I did not write down.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That sounds like a lot, and it is twice the original purchase price.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 With that we will have a completely restored vehicle for something in the neighbourhood of CAD 15,000.\u00c2\u00a0 That is about 50% more than the GHC 14,000 (CAD 9,250) price that Opere wanted for a 1995 Defender 110 he had redone himself.\u00c2\u00a0 However, there are some important improvements that justify the additional cost:<\/p>\n There is no question I underestimated the amount of work this vehicle needed.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I negotiated hard for the vehicle but I did not negotiate as hard as I should have, I think I took a sense of false confidence from Opere who referred me to the vendor Gomez. \u00c2\u00a0 The EPA Defender had been driven hard,\u00c2\u00a0 maintained poorly and stripped of many parts before it was sold.\u00c2\u00a0 I knew it would be necessary to replace the engine and running gear like the clutch and brakes, but I did not expect to have to replace the front differential, or to be annoyed by the absence of small but very important things like the fuel sender unit, or the parking brake shoes (which Opere felt so ripped off about he actually\u00c2\u00a0 “dashed” the parts to me).\u00c2\u00a0 However,\u00c2\u00a0 we probably now own the best 15 year old Defender in the country, and we are not finished yet.\u00c2\u00a0 We have definitely raised the bar for Opere and his crew, this Defenders seems to get the attention of everyone coming in to the shop with their own, which pretty much all pale in comparison.<\/p>\n It is now reasonable to say that the restoration portion of the project is pretty much complete.\u00c2\u00a0 The focus now has to\u00c2\u00a0 shift to all the extras required for expediton outfitting.\u00c2\u00a0 We started that with our trip to South Africa in December 2010 before we owned the Defender, and came back with a fridge, stover burners and a bunch of other things.We now have to shift to the outfitting stage.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 There are things we\u00c2\u00a0 have purchased and not yet installed (ie. fridge, chequerplate aluminum panels, dual battery isolator, camp gear) and lots more we have yet to purchase (roof top tent, camp table, awning, mobile storage system, water storage system, sound system, etc.)\u00c2\u00a0 but most of that falls outside the scope of the restoration phas.e.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Expedition outfitting will easily add between CAD 3,ooo and CAD 4,000 to the cost, and most of it will have to be (or already has been) imported.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We are going to have to pick up the pace to be able to be expedition- ready in six months.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The internal storage system still has to be designed and installed, including potable water system.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0We will need a rooftop tent and awning. a camp table.\u00c2\u00a0 a cookstove, and various other accessories.\u00c2\u00a0 We have started to accumulate the gear, including the fridge we bought in South Africa last year.\u00c2\u00a0 One more holiday in South Africa would certainly come in handy, there are literally dozens of supply places there, and not a single one here.<\/p>\n The task which I should have mentioned first is to obtain legal registration and insurance.\u00c2\u00a0 All the shuttling back and\u00c2\u00a0 forth between shops and more recently, just running errands, have been done quite illegally.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I was stopped by a policemen recently, who told me to do up my seat belt, which I did, I did not have the heart to tell him the ends were just hanging off the sides of the seats without being bolted to anything.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0The seat belts are now reinstalled, the lights all work, and I have all the papers to be able to register it.\u00c2\u00a0 Top priority now is to go to the Vehicle Licensing Authority to make it legal.\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t wait to get those red DP plates on it.\u00c2\u00a0 There is a backstory to that, but it warrants a separate post.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>\n
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