Well that's the thing outback, what to do with it. For my needs pretty much a bog stoke truck will do, but I have a yearning to do a little building in the rebuilding. Because I'd like to sell it at the end, and you guys do things a little different because your needs are different I'm not sure if I really should.
Most of my ideas revolve around secure storage, and mechanical soundness. I don't cope well with issues on the road while I'm travelling. I see it as poor planning, and would much rather spend the money at home and sleep in my own bed than in some dive paying 3 times the price for a half arsed fix.
Initially I thought bling it, bit like a jeep, the yanks will love it. But I have gone away from that as it seems Defender owners in the US and world wide are not really into that. Suits me.
Was thinking of rebuilding the trans and gear box and adding some reduction gears whilst doing so.
New clutch, new slave, possibly master.
New rotors and pads, Re kit the callipers if need so.
Re-bush the drive line, new ball joints, add some HD trailing ams. Some new shocks.
New bearings and seales in the diffs.
Add a detroit, HD axels and flanges in the Salisbury and float it all in oil.
Probably just upgrade the front diff to a 4 pin. A lot stronger than the standard 2 pin and for my needs that's plenty.
Add a winch, probably a Warn as they seems to be all that you yanks like.
Already has a 140lt fuel tank, so probably add 100t of water somewhere.
paint it, revamp the seats, detail the good trimings it has already, add a few gauges, stereo with sub, and maybe a double din screen.
Probably do a bit of heat and sound proofing.
Motor, have had the radiator flushed and checked already. Have done the timing belt and water pump already. Maybe some big end bearings not that it needs them but it's not hard either. Rear main oil seal, welch plugs that type of stuff. Actually I wouldn't mind a bigger turbo and a bit of fuel pump tweaking but that is low on the list.
And a new steering wheel, don't like the feel of an aged wheel. It's like good quality shoes, you feel smart with a new wheel in the hands.
Fit a Td5 or latter exhaust. Easy way to take it from 2" to 2 3/4" diameter. If a dirty ol Tdi needs more I'll be surprised.
Also thinking of adding a camera on the left front for overtaking purposes on the highway and for driving generally. Bit of a wank really as I'll be putting around at 55mile overtaking no one. But it may be able to be wired into a double din face along with a reversing camera.
That's about it. Chuck a wheel on the bonnet, new stickers, 6 tyres. Have some other ideas like a heat exchanger for a shower, I better decide on that first as it will determine the size of the water tank.
It's always evolving however. Like an idea to eliminate the heater intake from snow issues, see how it goes.