Our restoration technician Jon has been diving into this 1987 Land Rover Defender 90 which at some point in its life was modified and fitted with a V8 as well as an aesthetic upgrade to make it look more modern. Jon is the technician who prepares all of our competition cars and is extremely stringent on his standards.
”Remove drivers door panel to check handle. Handle has all its rods and levers unlike nearside handle. Strip handle and remove key barrel. Free off barrel from holder and get it moving but plungers inside lock all seized so it can be locked and unlocked with a screwdriver, needs new key and barrel. Strip rear brakes. Clean drums and components to be re used. De-lip drums. Remove wheel cylinders and prep backplate for new brakes. Remove drivers side top door hinge to access mirror fixings. Remove mirror. Remove broken bolt. Clean out thread with thread chaser and refit mirror with newbolt. Refit and secure hinge. Investigate reverse lights not working. Put in reverse with ignition on. Short out switch, nothing. Check light works with power probe, works when powered directly. Found no power at switch. Check and replace fuse. Now have power to switch but still won’t work. Check wiring to light and found bad earth. Resolder and test, now working. Tape up wiring and tidy. Fit new rear wheel cylinders. Fit new shoes and refit lower shoe retainer. Refit drums and adjust.”
”Fit new oil filter and refit bung. Fill with oil, run up and recheck/top up. Tidy wiring at bulkhead in engine bay. Cut cable ties and reposition axle breathers. Find wire for washers in loom and check continuity to washer pump. Cut wire that had been fitted and cut wire in loom. Solder together a d test. Shrink wrap and tape up loom at nearside bulkhead. Make small bracket to hold fuel return hose. Attend to rad cowling. Drill and bend alloy support brackets to fit/fix to chassis.”
”Bleed brakes and top up fluid. Refit wheels and torque up. Inflate all tyres. Re adjust rear brakes and check handbrake, ok. Tidy wiring in engine bay. Cut and solder wires and secure light control unit. Shrink wrap and tape up wiring. Fit new alternator. Adjust belt and secure. Run up and test. 14.1v @ idle. Top up coolant but found system empty. Use vacuum filling tool and fill system. Drain oil and filter and leave to drain overnight.”
”Continue radiator cowling. Elongate holes on nearside stay. Drill and fix cowling to alloy brackets(stays) and secure. Remove side rear foglight. Mount spare wheel carrier. Lube and secure. Fit spare wheel. Refit offside rear foglight.”
”Look into noisy heater fan. Strip and remove intake vent on nearside wing. Gain access to fan. Lubricate and operate. Gradually getting quiet. Leave and test again later. All seems OK. Refit vent to wing.”
”New door handles here. Build up handles and swap required parts. Fit offside first. Remove again and file out door bolt holes to accommodate new handle. Refit connect and test, all OK. Refit door panel. Fit nearside ha dle. Fitted to door OK this side. Secure and wait for new actuator rod to arrive. Fit 2 x new 27mm nuts to spare wheel carrier. Put wheel brace in rear.”
”Actuator rods turned up. Fit Actuator rod to nearside handle. Test. But once locked it won’t unlock to open. Remove rod between handle release button and catch. Bend and straighten slightly and refit. OK now all door functions work OK. Fit new door panel and secure.”
