Thread: Full Puma 110 rebuild. Flood damage. Project ideas needed

Originally Posted by cal415

Body isnt great, firewall rusted badly as are the doors, roof is good, i had dibs on the roof when paul owned it but he changed his plans. Over all its pretty battered around, as is the chassis as it was owned by a guy who drove everything in it - its even driven Wirraba ridge several times apparently, but mechanically sound and very strong motor. I have spent a fair bit of time playing with this county and have driven it quite a bit too, we put my 37s on it at one stage and it was loads of fun on the beach.

No chassis damage underneath?

Originally Posted by isuzurover

No chassis damage underneath?

It has a few dings and scrapes. It is also coated in sound deadner/rust proof so could be rust underneath that is hidden. From what I can see it looks servicable though, just not pretty. It has definately been used as a 4wd

Just took the young fella for a drive up and down the back paddock. Both came back with a grin from ear to ear, it has some stick!!

Hi Alex

I had a bad flood experience having been washed off a bridge with a relatively new Isuzu back in 1986. In those days I was able to get a full payout and bought the car back from the insurance company





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I had this vehicle for a further 10 years and a few hundred thousand kms after that and never encountered the from the water damage.

The difference is that I recovered the vehicle on the day after and dried everything out. Also this is a far simpler vehicle in the technical sense.


Also we also rebuilt an accident damaged Puma last year and I would say the chassis is very similar to that of the TD5 Defender. There are additional items such as the fuel cooler mounted on the chassis and there may be a difference in the fuel tank area.

Early Defenders are different in the fuel tank area and Countys are different again, but nothing that can't be addressed with an angle grinder and MIG

There are some chassis pics in this post below

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-t...a-project.html



Erich

Hi Erich, thanks for that. I have just read your Puma rebuild thread, truly amazing the amount of detail you have gone into. Great reference for anyone doing work on a Puma.

The pic of your isuzu in the creek looks nasty. I think I was lucky that mine seemed to have stayed upright and only panel damage was on the roof.

Originally Posted by Alex

Just took the young fella for a drive up and down the back paddock. Both came back with a grin from ear to ear, it has some stick!!

This thread is making me sad... going to miss that car... still cant beleive paul let it go, and you got a good price too!

STOP PRESS!!! I can't beleive it!!! After quite a few phone calls between the insurer and RTA and finding someone at the insurer that was helpful, I am now getting the letter that says it "...has not suffered non-repairable damage..."
I had given up hope of getting this resolved (this started in November last year), but now looks like the Puma may live again I still need to jump through a few hoops with RTA but hopefully is just a formality now that all the paperwork is in order.

Problem now (not really) is I have two unregistered defenders in the backyard and SWMBO has decided to claim the county for herself

NEW PLAN.

1) Restore the county and get it registered and hope the wife lets me borrow it on the weekends

2) Sell the EF falcon I bought as a shopping trolley / school bus / Land Rover tow vehicle

3) Sell the wifes bent VY SV8 (another unfinishedstarted project)

4) Use the proceeds to restore the Puma and turn it into the expedition vehicle.

4) Hope I win lotto to pay for TWO lots of accessories, modifications, repairs, trips...

Oh dear, what have I got myself into, these bloody Land Rovers are addictive....

Originally Posted by cal415

This thread is making me sad... going to miss that car... still cant beleive paul let it go, and you got a good price too!

It will be well looked after, am going to get it back to its former glory now. Have promised Paul to do a Stockton run when it is all finished and registered, hopefully get a chance to see the LS1 110 in action too!

That is good news!

Now there will be two threads to follow, the expedition Defender and the County rebuild.

who needs ebooks!!

Good luck with the RTA