Defenders good bad or otherwise

[rockcrawler31]

Hey there rover guys

I'm considering getting a new(ish) vehicle as a lease car for work. One of my choices is a 110 fender, about 2-3 years old.

I have a few questions about these vehicles i was hoping you could answer to help me choose.

1. On the newer fenders, can you still unbolt the roof off and make it a softtop?
2. How hard /expensive are they to make into a capable hard core truck, lockers, axles, 4-5inch lift
3. What are these 5 cylinder engines like, are they quick, can they be easily upgraded, are they reliable?
4. Are there any systemic problems/weakpoints in the defenders i.e. drivetrain, body chassis etc.
5. are there any models to avoid for any reasons.

thanks heaps in advance

MILO

[RedlineMike]

Hey there rover guys

I'm considering getting a new(ish) vehicle as a lease car for work. One of my choices is a 110 fender, about 2-3 years old.

I have a few questions about these vehicles i was hoping you could answer to help me choose.

1. On the newer fenders, can you still unbolt the roof off and make it a softtop?
2. How hard /expensive are they to make into a capable hard core truck, lockers, axles, 4-5inch lift
3. What are these 5 cylinder engines like, are they quick, can they be easily upgraded, are they reliable?
4. Are there any systemic problems/weakpoints in the defenders i.e. drivetrain, body chassis etc.
5. are there any models to avoid for any reasons.

thanks heaps in advance

MILO

1-Yes,roof unbolts exactly the same,might be a few holes in slightly different places but genrally its all the same.
2-piece of piss,you guys have the best choice of axles & drive train Etc (not jelous,honest)
3-TD5 engine,im considering retrofitting one into my 200tdi 90,have done some tuning work one a few,last one dynoed a good 176bhp at the fly with a Dastek plug in chip,full frontal intercooler,straight through 2 inch exhaust & the EGr removed,Yes i like these engines,only thing that can sometimes be a worry is if crusing under 70mph the temp guage doesnt move & if u start to cruise at above 70 mph the guage suddenly shoots up of the scale the engine goes into limp home mode,this is an indication that the headgasket is either cooked or is going,1 other thing if you run a chip/reflash with a heavy fuel map the manifolds can warp & pull the studs out the head,normally happens on No 5 cylinder (seen 2 do this but only becoase thay have been driven flat oot all the time)
4-some 110 defenders can have problems with wear in the drive flanges due to no lub getting in cos landrover double sealed the hubs to keep EP90 out the wheel bearings,on my 90 i whipped them out,would rather have oily bearings than dry flanges,gearbox main shafts have all been cured,not heard of them being a problem on the TD5's,the flywheels on the early ones can get a vibration (dual mass setup),
on some vehicles you can get oil coming up the injection loom harness & after time it ends up in the ECU,it "should" have been cured by now,still see ocasional ones do it,
5-In my opinion No,just depends what you are looking to do with the motor,personally a 90 is the nuts,a 110 is better for carrying more gear/shite,

[Micka]

Hey there rover guys

I'm considering getting a new(ish) vehicle as a lease car for work. One of my choices is a 110 fender, about 2-3 years old.

I have a few questions about these vehicles i was hoping you could answer to help me choose.

1. On the newer fenders, can you still unbolt the roof off and make it a softtop?
2. How hard /expensive are they to make into a capable hard core truck, lockers, axles, 4-5inch lift
3. What are these 5 cylinder engines like, are they quick, can they be easily upgraded, are they reliable?
4. Are there any systemic problems/weakpoints in the defenders i.e. drivetrain, body chassis etc.
5. are there any models to avoid for any reasons.

thanks heaps in advance

MILO

1) Not sure on that one.
2) With a 2" lift you can fit 35" tyres easily. 4-5" lift and 37" tyres fit easily. But...with 4-5" lift you will need a new front and rear driveshaft, cranked trailing arms, redrilled swivels, off-set bushes in radius arms. Lockers are easily sought, and you have the choice of McNamara or Maxi-Drive for axels. I ran 37" tyres with standard axels/CVs and had NO breaks.
3) TD5 is a good strong engine. Upgrade from 90kw to closer to 130-140kw in about 30 mins. Add a bigger cooler and good exhaust and you are in charge of a really angry Fender. As far as quick goes...120kph is about the limit, but in a car with gearing as good as it is, it is impressive that it will go that fast.
4)Only what Redlinemike said. Chassis is truck-like. Probably strongest chassis of any 4wd. Driveline is good. LT230 is very strong.
5) No.

[grimbo]

and what sort of prices would you expect to pay for the above mentioned 2nd hand vehicle?

[RedlineMike]

from £4k to £9k

no sure what that works out in aus dollars

was offered a TD5 90 needing a pair of wings & bonnet for £2k,had over 100k miles on the clock

[ISUZUROVER]

1. On the newer fenders, can you still unbolt the roof off and make it a softtop?

Yes - windscreen frame if glued/siliconed to the roof at the front though. See the 110 haultech built for tufftruck.

2. How hard /expensive are they to make into a capable hard core truck, lockers, axles, 4-5inch lift

Body lifting is diffucult and unnecessary. 2" spring lift and some chopping should be all that is needed - even up to 37" or so. Post 2002 they had rover diffs front and rear (pre 2002 the super-strong salisbury/d60 rear). Weakest part is ring and pinion, but OK up to about 35's. Mods to install toyota internals to the axles are available.

3. What are these 5 cylinder engines like, are they quick, can they be easily upgraded, are they reliable?

Chipped with a big exhaust they sound (and go) like a jet taking off.

4. Are there any systemic problems/weakpoints in the defenders i.e. drivetrain, body chassis etc.

No - apart from diffs mentioned above, and what RLM said.

5. are there any models to avoid for any reasons.

Early TD5 models had a few teething problems

thanks heaps in advance

MILO[/quote]

[rockcrawler31]

thanks for all the reply's guys.

with the post 2002 models, how hard is it to retrofit salisbury/d60 diffs? do lockers remedy the slightly weaker rover diffs? If you had the salisbury diffs, wouldn't you be chucking the internals when you locked it anyway?

I have a Thomas 9000lb PTO on my cruiser i'd like to carry over, how hard is it to fit the pto drive gear and at what sort of expense?

[ISUZUROVER]

Salisbury retrofit would be possible.

Rover diff has an 8.25" diameter ring and pinion, salisbury has a 9.75" hypoid ring and pinion, which is at least twice as strong as the rover. This is the one part which doesn't change when you fit a locker. The Maxi-Drive salisbury locker retains the stock case (can't get any stronger than the 4-pin diff already in there) and just machines the side and presses in a sleeve with the locking dog teeth.

Another option is the hypoid diff conversion from Jack Mcnamara for rover diffs - which actually use a toyota ring and pinion.

As for the PTO - Maxi-Drive make a PTO drive for the LT230 T-case, which you can connect the thomas linkage to.