Am I mad?

[philandmickey]

Hi all

We are looking at buying a defender, probably a 300tdi 130 double cab hopefully tray top.

The plan is to build it up for touring, with a home built/bought box on the back with a roof tent on top.

Ideally we would like to spend about $15k.

It will be my daily drive so will need to be fairly reliable.

We have owned a couple of Landrovers in the past a series 2a and a D1, and as we were originally Poms I guess we have LR's in our blood.

I plan and hope to do as much of the work myself as I can.

So the questions are:

Are we mad?

Can we get a defender for this price that is not a wreck?

What should we be looking out for?

And how many K's is too many, before major rebuilds are required?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Phil

[BigBlackDog]

Yes, completely mad!
I got mine, 95 300tdi hcpu for $15k, 330000 Kms with rebuilt engine at 250000. Still not sure why it was rebuilt, I get the impression someone fiddled with it too much perhaps.
Heaps of threads on hear on what to look for. Just search it. There are suggestions of these engines running for a million kms in some installations! Suspect it depends on how you look after it.
Biggest thing I found with mine was the wiring giving trouble. A few shorts, time consuming but easy fixes. I ended up replacing all the wiring running from the bulkhead plugs to the back.
I'm not guru but I love mine, fun to work on, easy mechanically for the most part, learnt lots. Good luck.

[Blknight.aus]

in order

No,

Yes, well maybe ,is $15k the total you want to spend all told OR what you want to pay for the base vehicle?

A specimen that has just received major work in terms of routine mainenance

the intervals are 80K for the timing belt 250K for the head gasket and an overhaul inpsection at 500K.

Aim for an example that is just about due for the timing belt as it gives you the opportunity to inspect and sort a number of minor things in one hit. OR aim for one that is about 1/4 of the way past one of the more major services (say 300K km with a head done at 250K km.)

[philandmickey]

Hi thanks for the replies.

Sounds like it might be doable, the 15k was just to buy the vehicle.

I will continue researching and see what comes up.

Another thought I had but possibly a rather silly one would be to covert a 110 to a double cab tray back - might leave that one in my head for the moment.

Cheers
Phil