Defender 110 double cab with Isuzu turbo diesel build up...
- Thread starter The Rover Shop
- Start date
harbinger808
Adventurer
If I had a means to ship Defenders back to US, I would in a heartbeat if I could find others to go in with me. I see so many quality examples in Portugal and Spain when I travel there and they are cheap. Tahiti has its fair share of Defenders also but they have a lot of rust on them since they are used for farming and hauling boats around.
The Rover Shop
Explorer
Doug at dividing creek imports is the main go to guy here in the USA for importing land rovers..he's probably imported more than anyone else in the USA..boy knows his stuff...
Rovertrader
Supporting Sponsor
Tahiti is where I rode in my first 130- bad experience as I had to have one!! Cost a bit more than that trip ;-)
To add to Rover Shop concerning cost- they vary wildly, and some times good reason. We are restoring an Eco Challenge Disco currently, and a full resto at that, as it has been in the Vegas and Florida sun for 20 years- sand, seal, paint and new graphics. New dash, door cards, headliner, etc for interior, new springs, shocks, complete bushings from end to end (try that once!!), and then servicing new fluids, filters, belts and hoses. And then hope she is all good and not having issues.
That is on a Disco that was running/driving to start with, whilst Rover Shop is starting with a pile of parts, and will likely not have the few NLA hens teeth bits required, so will end up jabbing or paying a fortune. The values have certainly escalated, but not as much as the cost to get them top shelf!
Besides- his truck won't be 'stock'- check out his 130 build just on electronics and theft prevention!!
See you next week mate!! Just let me know when we get to drive these rascals across the outback- I'm certainly game!!
thethePete
Explorer
I always love seeing builds for personal toys of professional builders. They're always awesome.
I'm a mechanic and fabricator, and come from a blue collar family, I know full well the value of labour.
I just had a simliar issue to what ou describe with a customer of mine. We did a refresh on his 65 Mustang and he was expecting it to be around 10K, I knew that the chassis work would be around there and the engine would be another 7-10K. He was a little... shocked... when he saw that the two bills pushed his project into the 23K mark; I was not so surprised.
I'm a mechanic and fabricator, and come from a blue collar family, I know full well the value of labour.
I just had a simliar issue to what ou describe with a customer of mine. We did a refresh on his 65 Mustang and he was expecting it to be around 10K, I knew that the chassis work would be around there and the engine would be another 7-10K. He was a little... shocked... when he saw that the two bills pushed his project into the 23K mark; I was not so surprised.
The Rover Shop
Explorer
Haha...don't get me started on 65 mustangs...I'm redoing my 65 fastback...started out as a mild resto keeping it stock...morphed into a stroked 347 nitrous oxide motor with t5 tranny , 13 inch cobra front and 11 inch cobra rear brakes, fully channeled frame, (to stop the frame twisting) Bmw recaro seating.. 10 inches of rubber on the rear and 8 on the front, fully adjustable Shelby suspension etc etc etc... I gave up adding it all up...
Build thread on vintage mustangs forum...
Build thread on vintage mustangs forum...
The Rover Shop
Explorer
D2s are a problem to do because of the electronics interface with engine ecu to transmission ecu etc etc...but I wanna say that I recently saw someone advertising the complete interface harness etc etc.. From the UK...maybe different instruments etc also.. Diesel engines don't rev as much as gas...
D
Deleted member 9101
Guest
The Rover Shop
Explorer
I like that, now if i could just get the wife to see the logic in that statement...
D
Deleted member 9101
Guest
I like that, now if i could just get the wife to see the logic in that statement...
haha... I feel ya... mine struggles with it daily...haha
The Rover Shop
Explorer
So did my EX...lol..
The Rover Shop
Explorer
So the truck arrived and a gameplay was devised... Tear into it all gung-ho in the driveway and then let it sit with nothing being done to it for a month...so far I have stuck to the game plan...
Engine definitely needs to be moved forward...update to r380 transmission should take care of that as they are longer..
Engine definitely needs to be moved forward...update to r380 transmission should take care of that as they are longer..
The Rover Shop
Explorer
So we got stuck into the disassembly of it pretty quick so that I could see what parts I would need to get coming..it's in pretty good shape all round but plans for it have changed a bit... I picked up an older disco 1 with pretty low miles on it for some parts I need for other projects....so this means I have front diff and steering box etc to convert it to LHD... And it also means I have a spare auto Trans setup, managed to find a buddy who has the adaptor plates for auto so it's now going to be a LHD 2.8 Isuzu turbo diesel (going to add in an intercooler setup also) automatic..... And here's the kicker...not sure if I'm going to keep it once it's done... So if someone wants one and I can build it to their specs let me know by PM...getting ready to paint the nice galvy frame black...
