Landrover Defender 130

[Ged]

Well haven't been here in a while. I bought a few motorbikes and strayed away for a year or 2 lol

Just thought id make a thread on something i picked up end of 2015 and am in the process of building.

It was a partly started 130 crew cab project without engine or gearbox.



After some time owning land rovers i could never get a 300tdi or td5 to preform the way i wanted. also after owning my last v8 i wanted something else.

And so after some research a plan was hatched to place the 5.9 12v cummins in this. its main use will be to tow the other toys to and from the track.

Engine was sourced from a daf 45 and painted and rebuilt. Then adapter plates made to suit the lt230

Arrived a sizable lump weighing in at around 450kg


Needed a stand made first


Then onto building it together with new parts


the LT 230 would not be upto the job and i needed a ratio change upgrades and a billet input gear made to suit the back of the daf45's zf gearbox.


With these it was time to get into the tbox and get it rebuilt

 

[Big Pimp]

I love this thread already!

 

[Ged]

Stripping it down it didnt look too bad.


However I replaced all the bearings and the center diff cross-pin with a forged one.



Job done should hopefully take the torque

 

[Ged]

Turning my attention back to the cummins to get it into the landy the sump needed spun and a pickup pipe made. when i was down there i pulled a bearing to see if i had a honey or not.



Didnt look too bad so i decided to leave them as the engine was making good oil pressure.

Also managed to get a gear lever on the S542 box.


I replaced the std 2500rpm governor spring with a 3200rpm one for some more power

 

[Ged]

It was time for the 2 halfs to meet.


After a short spin. the 2 Lego pieces where closer together



And after some hacking



it was time to get some engine mounts made.

It actually fitted reasonably easily in the end...

 

[Ged]

After sussing out the mounts i got excited in the spring and bought some bits.
Gearbox mount


new shineys Door wing 3" intercooler, rad and polybux kit aquired

 

[Ged]

Around this time i spotted a good deal on a HX35W so as you do i bought it. should be good for around 35-40psi on this and more than enough poke to turn the beguine chocolate landrover axles inside out


Heres some pics of the final mock up of the engine before tear down

 

[Nicky]

There was 1 for sale last year with a Cummins already in it on DoneDeal that wasn't dear.

 

[Dave..]

Great build. I wish I had your skills.

 

[weeloaney]

Definitely watching this thread. Going to be some roar of that, 5.9ltr? Holy frig.

 

[Ged]

Then it was into full strip down to see what i had really bought.



Found a small split in the rear xmember from some exuberent towing so got that welded up Ill be using a different towing setup anyway

 

[Ged]

More stripping, it was endless.



I bought one of these during the tear down.. dont think about it.. buy one best tool i ever bought


more stripping



Eventually while the chassis was off for galv i had most of the defender in peices.



Some presents for the rebuild had started arriving also.

 

[Andy55]

Shaping up to be an epic build. Subscribed!

 

[Ged]

While waiting for the Chassis i cracked on and got the axles stripped blasted and painted.



May or maynot have spilt an entire bucket of gearoil on the floor.



Anyway the diffs looked ok but where not going to take the power so ashcroft pegged units are needed.



After an age of a wait i got the call to collect my chassis from the galver. Never have i been as excited about something shiney.


Once it was back i couldnt wait to start bolting other bits of shiney onto it, so started a rust and paint repaintng saga.
Ive went for castor corrected and cranked trailing arms as i planed on a lift of some description.

 

[Ged]

There was 1 for sale last year with a Cummins already in it on DoneDeal that wasn't dear.

Yea a friend of mine actually owns it, it was stolen and recovered shortly after that and he decided to keep it.

 

[Creaney]

been following this on Facebook. looks class. looking forward to seeing the finished article

 

[Simon998]

That's fantastic!

 

[weeloaney]

Was curious about the power this is, 220bhp with huge torque 605lb/ft.

What will it be with the red line change and the new turbo do you know?

This thing will pull like a train, literally.

Will you be interested in doing some offroading when done? I'd love to see it

 

[suckindiesel]

Class! Threads like this are why I love RMS!

 

[Andy044]

Awesome machine. Fair play to you for putting the hours in!

 

[Ged]

Was curious about the power this is, 220bhp with huge torque 605lb/ft.

What will it be with the red line change and the new turbo do you know?

This thing will pull like a train, literally.

Will you be interested in doing some offroading when done? I'd love to see it

Common enough to see doge rams around 300, the VE pump isnt fit for much more. I would be p7100 time for more after that.

Working with a buggy builder in the UK for diffs atm. if those fail ill have to source larger axles. But yes it will be offroaded like my other wagons.

 

[Ged]

Cheers I have loads more info and pics to put up this is the short version.

Ill get it upto the present date this week.

for a taste of my latest idea. here is a pic of the springs A full 14" of travel on these.

 

[CR]

Excellent build. Do you mind if I ask where you sourced the engine?

My dad is in the process of a boat build and at the stage now he needs an engine! Looking at the possibility of a daf 45 engine then have it marinised.

 

[Big Pimp]

I was going to add I had the cummins engine in my we DAF 45

She was a 1997 truck and just went on forever, with no worries. Brilliant old school engine

 

[weeloaney]

Cheers I have loads more info and pics to put up this is the short version.

Ill get it upto the present date this week.

for a taste of my latest idea. here is a pic of the springs A full 14" of travel on these.

View attachment 116467

Seen air spring conversions for Defenders, seems like a great idea, lower it down for more on road stability and then able to jack it way up when needed.

That's unreal amount of travel tho.

Common enough to see doge rams around 300, the VE pump isnt fit for much more. I would be p7100 time for more after that.

Working with a buggy builder in the UK for diffs atm. if those fail ill have to source larger axles. But yes it will be offroaded like my other wagons.

Good power, will definitely boogy.

What kinda of axles do the bowler Defenders etc run? Bound to be strong

There's a good few on here that do a bit of offroading and there's rms days that have Ben organised for todds leaps in Ballygawley and Flagstaff which is kinda between Newry and Warrenspoint but in the middle of nowhere
Great craic be's had at them, usually watching people get stuck and then the recovery mission softer haha.