Velocewest
New member
This is Smokey, an honest 3 door Land Rover 110 (Defender), built by me from two trucks, one a 1984 "A reg" 110 van with an NA diesel (built in 09/83), and the other a 1995 "S reg" Defender van with a 300TDi engine. It's intentionally cosmetically similar to a SIII Stage 1 V8, with a steel grill and Series headlamp rings. My focus was mechanical reliability first, cosmetics second, so don't expect a show car. It's been a labor of love, sweat and bloody knuckles, and I hate to let it go, but life has other priorities right now.
It just completed a 3,800 mile drive across the US, with zero mechanical issues. I'd trust it to make the same trip again tomorrow, which is more than I can say for my aching bones.
The engine is a turbo diesel (Land Rover 300TDi, 2.5 liter 4 cyl) with mechanical injection (Bosch VE pump). It delivered 20 mpg carrying 2,000 lbs of cargo across the US at 65 mph, so in day to day driving with a sensible load you should average 25 mpg. It would run fine on grease, and conversion would be straightforward, lots of room under the hood for heat exchanger, etc. Given the crap that passes for biodiesel, I'd not choose that route, but the Bosch pump would be fine with it. There's not much rubber in the fuel supply path, so it wouldn't be expensive to replace what there is with Viton.
The asking price is $15,000 with all the spares, or $12,500 for the truck only.
Comes with all required paperwork (EPA/DOT releases and Customs entry); registered in Oregon with a clear Oregon title.
The truck is located in White Salmon, Washington, right across the Columbia River from Hood River, Oregon. I am happy to deliver it for shipping to Portland or somewhere of similar distance.
Ask me anything the below doesn't answer, I'm sure I've forgotten something. Link to some pics (truck still dirty from the x-country drive) -- https://picasaweb.google.com/velocewest/Smokey
The good:
78k mile 300TDi, R380 5 speed and 1.4 LT230 transfer case. Will have a fresh timing belt kit installed before sale
New radiator (aluminum Britpart, cheap but functional)
New mechanical fuel lift pump
New oil cooler pipes
New power steering pipes
New turbo oil drain line (feed line is good)
New coolant overflow hoses
New front door locks
Fresh filters and oil at 73k (just before I shipped it to the US in May)
Aluminum coolant header tank and oil separator (will last forever, unlike the LR plastic bits)
Newer exhaust system
New tie rod, drag link, and all new greasable TRE's
New drop arm ball joint
New brakes all round -- calipers, discs, pads. New copper/nickel brake lines from the master to the back calipers. Goodridge +2" braided hoses.
New X-Brake disc transmission brake (replaces heavy and trouble prone stock drum)
Original handbrake handle replaced with RRC handle to get it out of the footwell, now it's next to the seat -- works better, more legroom
Urethane bushes on the front and rear arms and pitman
+2" springs and shocks, new galvanised front spring pans (rear shock mounts are HD pin/pin, so Toyota shocks can be used -- more practical in remote places)
New galvanized HD front shock towers
New rear door (slightly damaged in transit from the UK)
New rear latch/lock
New windshield seal
New door seals (all 3)
Good clean seats, no tears or stains. Exmoor seat rails on driver seat (raises seat, allows some tilt adjustment, and allows seat to slide back further)
Good dash with Raptor console (steel and aluminum, not plastic) -- panels are cut for and hold 3 gauges and a DIN radio (wired in, no speakers). Room for more gauges, switches, a CB or HAM, etc. Bottom of dash has some screw holes from comms equipment.
Raptor steel instrument binnacle -- lifetime part, no more cracks
Rust free seatbox (I replaced the original)
Headlamp wiring upgraded with relays and larger wire
100a alternator (from Disco)
Fresh felt channels on the front windows (roll up)
Rock sliders
Front and rear diff guards
Front steering guard
One sliding side window has new rubber/felt channels, I have the material for the other still to install.
All the electricals work as they should (it's a pretty short list...) The rear wiper has not been installed in the new door, but it worked fine on the old door. I installed cheap LED's in the gauges, they're better than the old bulbs and should last forever. The heater works very good by Land Rover standards.
The bad:
Not really bad, but -- the fuel tank started leaking on my drive from the east coast. At a friend's house in Ohio, I pulled it, cleaned it up and sealed the leak with JB Weld. It's not leaking any more. Long term, it should be replaced, but it isn't urgent.
A rather not-pretty paint job. I painted it in the driveway with a brush. The goal was to inexpensively make it all one color, the same color as stated on the V5, so there would be no issues on import. It worked. Revel in the freedom to not give a hoot about scratches and dings, or think of it as a blank canvas...
The chassis is not perfect, but it's solid. The rear cross member, about 2 feet of the frame rails, and the cross member in front of the fuel tank were all replaced with solid used parts (cut and weld). The front outriggers have welded repairs. It passed MOT in the UK, no small feat. Definitely no safety or function issues now, just cosmetically challenged.
Although it looks good, the bulkhead (firewall) is rough, it has patches, and needs welding. It leaks around the cowl vents if you are driving in heavy rain, but the seals are old and dried up (cheap to replace). Cosmetically it looks pretty good, but my long term plan was to replace it with a galvanized bulkhead.
The front doors are functionally good and cosmetically OK, but need welding repairs to the steel frames. They could be patched, but my plan was to rebuild the lower frame with new channel from YRM. Ideally they would get lower skins too, they're a little perforated from corrosion along the bottom (covered with filler for now). They're lift handle doors with the galvanized middle trim rail, so Series III lower skins could be used. The inside door trim panels are rough, the driver side more so. John Craddock's in the UK shows that they have replacements for about US$75 each.
(Editorial note -- after driving cross-country, and spending a fair bit of time in warm weather, I decided I want to swap to Series doors with removable tops -- then it would be easy to go topless in summer).
The rear tub shows the evidence of use as a working vehicle. The back half of the floor is covered with a piece of 5 bar chequer, and the "wings" are topped with plywood. There are some small holes in the floor and wings of the tub, some drilled, some corroded. Nothing compromises safety or function, and unless you wade in 3 feet of water they don't leak. Land Rover tubs are a riveted assembly of flat panels of aluminum -- not a big challenge to repair, modify, etc.
Right now the truck has a smooth roof with a glass manual sunroof. The roof has patches from where lights and aerials were mounted over the years. My plan was to replace it with an older (age-appropriate) ribbed roof. The original 1984 roof was pretty beat up, so the roof on the truck is from the 1995 that donated the drive train. Lesser of two evils... When I encountered tropical-strength-rain-blowing-sideways storms in Nebraska, the sunroof did leak a few drips, but not much. First time it ever has, so I am writing it off to the ridiculous weather. Why anyone lives east of Colorado is a complete mystery to me. But I'm glad most people do...
It hasn't got a lot of sound deadening material, so it's pretty noisy inside. Above 55 mph it's downright loud. Insulate and panel the back area, and put a liner under the hood and it would help a lot. Sound proofing in the bulkhead can be addressed when it is replaced.
The other:
It's right hand drive. I like it; if you don't, you can convert it. Still has RHD Hella E-Code headlamps, I can put some cheap LHD sealed beams in if you want, but I drove cross country with the RHD lamps (with tape masks on them) with no problems.
Wheels are 7x16 with more backspacing than stock wheels (so you can run wider tires without hub spacers). They've been sanded and repainted, cosmetically OK. Long term they would benefit from being blasted or chem dipped and repainted.
Tires are 235/85-16 Colway retreads with BFG A/T tread. The fronts are pretty much worn out, the rears have another 6 months or so of life. The spare is matching and like new. As far as I can tell, no one in the UK rotates their tires.
The front axle case is very solid. It was a 10 spline, it now has a 24 spline diff and halfs. The case needs the 4 side studs that hold the 3rd replaced, as the early cases had shorter side studs. It isn't a safety issue, but long term it will be a durability issue. The swivels are the later ones with taper bearings top and bottom instead of the top railco bushing.
The rear Salisbury axle could do with a sandblast and paint. It's structurally/mechanically sound and has a good rear cover and new gasket, it just has waxoyl/rust/dirt on the case.
The rear driveshaft is an HD version, but the balance weights have been eaten away some by corrosion. It doesn't vibrate that I can tell, the UJ's are fine. I have a spare rear shaft, so it would be easy to bolt that in, pop some fresh UJ's in the HD one and get it balanced.
The cubby is homebuilt, from stuff I had in the garage. It's functional...
Overall there are lots of little corroded bits under the truck, I've been replacing/refurbishing things as I go, and again, if it was just cosmetic it was back burner.
Currently there is a stock fan/clutch on the engine but no shroud (I ran without a fan in the UK). It has never come close to overheating, but I was planning to install an electric fan in the future.
Other parts (not installed)--
A/C compressor and required pulleys/idlers
Spare starter
Spare complete cylinder head
Spare brake vacuum pump
Spare turbo (without exhaust manifold)
Spare rear drive shaft
Spare clutch MC
Spare 65a alternator
New wiper drive shaft and two new wiper wheel boxes
Rebuild seal kits for the brake MC and clutch slave
New reinforced clutch release arm and all the little associated parts
New hood mount for spare tire (spare is currently loose in the bed)
Set of new tank to engine fuel lines (lines are for the set up with sedimentor, need a new sedimentor to complete)
A factory hand throttle with new cable (requires some simple bracket fabricating on the IP end)
A couple spare valve cover gaskets and a spare serp belt
Two swivel gaiter kits (each does a pair)
Spare set of rear springs that match the fronts. The factory rear springs are +2" (commercial body)
A new set of heavy duty rear spring retainers with hardware
The remainders of a new set of major suspension fasteners (mostly the large bolts/nuts for the rear A-arms, the front ones have been installed)
A set of used but good rear A-arms (was planning to replace the existing when I did the ball joint, just drop and swap the whole set)
A factory saddle tank, filler neck/hose and the filler body mount, and a military mechanical tank switch valve -- potential for ~35 gallons total fuel capacity, giving about a 700 mile range, or run one tank diesel and another for grease.
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