Project 130 Rebuild

[Leroy_Riding]

Hi Guys,
I started a new thread in the Members Ride section, but though I would come over here for more of the advice, guidance and general chit chat.
Linky to my member ride bit https://www.aulro.com/afvb/members-rides/249073-my-return-land-defenders-1996-130-project-rebuild.html

The basic story goes though, Ive been building a 100" Hybrid for a while now with scavenged bits from mates projects and such as ive been on a super tight budget, but found myself needing a few more bits that id have to purchase, and i really wanted to drop the series windshield for a defender one along with defender wings ect. . . so I was guimtree'ing and spotted a 'rusty 130' the essentially had all the bits I needed.
So i went and picked it up on the cheap. . .

so now I have a 130, first defender since i sold my puma 90 a few years back (some of you may remember my saga with that one !)
my love for the big 130 meant i didnt even have it home before i had decided it was no longer project 'strip it for bits for the hybrid' it became project 'rebuild the 130'
problem being, the chassis i near snapped in half and rusted well beyond repair, so first order of business is sourcing a new chassis on the cheap.
managed to find one at SBL land rover, and hopefully will be able to sort out collecting it in the not too distant future.
I have a mass of land rover bits and bobs under the house crossing defender series and rrc parts to help along the way also.

So here I am, with this giant rusty Tank under my house and no real idea of where to start.
I woudl like to do essentially a 'nut and bolt' restoration but my budget really doesn't allow for such a thing, so it will be a 'clean the nuts and bolts' restoration, where ill replace what needs to be replaced, including suspension and bushes, but will try and reuse al the bolts and things where i can, cleaning them all up and such.

one more kicker, that im going to do though, is drop my 4jb1-t 2.8l isuzu motor and ZF4HP22 in place of the 300TDI, some people may not like my descision to do that, but im going to do it anyway :)

The Questions:
Suspension - Idealy I would like to lift it, the 'usual' 2" lift, it wont be doing hard offroad work, only light camp site finding and beach trips, bit of glasshouse work, but im not affraid to say im not driving a track and then go around it, so i dont think superflexy and dislocation cones are needed here, what are the other cheap options, as it will need all new springs and coils regardless, is it okay to drop King springs and some repco shocks under it?

tray - Currently has a big heavy galvanised steel tray with wooden floor, ugly thing. . . hate it, also have a single cab alloy tray on my s2a ute in the back yard, would it be worth cutting the alloy tray down and using it instead? or how about a HCPU tub? I dont really have a 'need' for a ute but when you have one you use it, so im not really restricted in my use case as to which route to take. but i do like the idea of an alloy canopy of some sort in the future, and i do have a big gullwing toolbox on the camper that houses my fridge that would drop nicely onto the back of the 130 if it was a tray. . whats the best path to take?

bullbar - it has a what i think is like an ARB? with a small dent non winch bar on it, i have a TJM defender winch bar thats rusted in the bottom that i could repair also that was going to go on the hybrid, personally i like the factory bumper and the 'A frame' look the best and is what i had on my 90. . but it wasnt exactly that protective, i also really like those rovacraft/terrafirm/rijidig tube bars. ive got a 9000lb winch already so whatever route i got it will need to mount that (could mod the ARB bar?) chances of swapping my other bar/bars for a tube bar? what king of money for a tube bar? seems $1200 ish, but when i had my 90, you could get them for $600 for a rovacraft or something whats happened there?

Wheels - I have more series and defender 16" steelies than i can to admit, and around 12 15" sunraiser style steelies also, and i then have two wolf rims. . i suppose the smart option would be to get another two wolf rims? however I would like to fit D1 alloys. . . but not sure of the load rating, ive heard of lots of people running D1 steel wheels on 130's and i 'had' 4 of them also but gave them away recently, so if the d1 steel wheels are okay, are the alloys? what about Boost alloys?

interior - I am a family of three. . . two adults and a fur baby. . . the rear bench seat looks to be the most uncomfortable thing ever, and i happen to have 4 defender front seats, two i purchased for the hybrid and two that came in the 130, the ones for the hybrid are in really good nic, the ones from the 130 not so much, so ill use my 'hybrid' ones for the front, but wondering if anyone has done a 4 seat 130? I think 4 seats, with a center console in the back would be great for the 130, or what options are there for 'better' back seats if the 4 seater isnt viable?

Thanks
Leroy
only photos i have so far, sorry. . .

123197123198

[Andy130]

Good luck with your project, looks like a big one.

If the chassis is as rusty as you say, 99% of the bolts will need to be replaced also.

I've been through this process and learned the hard way.

I like you, also started out thinking I could do a partial rebuild - but discovered ts not possible when they are this far gone.

So, with a limited budget, it becomes a case of working out a monthly budget and buying the most logical pieces for the next stage.

Since you're getting a donor chassis, I would get it sandblasted and painted first, and then start from there. As I see it, there is no point doing a full rebuild on a chassis that is not sandblasted and repainted.

Personally Ive really enjoyed this project -and now its getting closer to completion its even more fun.

in regards to suspension:

The overwhelming majority will tell you to keep it standard - don't give it a lift, its not required.

Koni shocks and king springs seem to be the most suitable for improving the standard springs and shocks - avoid cheaper no name brands and avoid ' lift kits.'

If your budget is limited, stay with the standard springs and shocks, replace the bushes with superpro - and keep the standard 235/85 R16 tyres on steel rims ( if they are stamped tubeless).

[strangy]

Nuts and bolts- use LRcat and actual samples and buy new ones from your local bolt supplier.
It simply is not worth the effort to clean up the old ones.
This was the cheapest and best decision made on my 130 rebuild.
Only spent around 100 and includes numerous custom brackets but excluding the stainless door hinge bolts.
Take the opportunity also to make some modifications to the fixings e.g. captive nuts/bolts etc to make the re assembly and potential maintenance easier.

[Leroy_Riding]

Good luck with your project, looks like a big one.

If the chassis is as rusty as you say, 99% of the bolts will need to be replaced also.

I've been through this process and learned the hard way.

I like you, also started out thinking I could do a partial rebuild - but discovered ts not possible when they are this far gone.

So, with a limited budget, it becomes a case of working out a monthly budget and buying the most logical pieces for the next stage.

Since you're getting a donor chassis, I would get it sandblasted and painted first, and then start from there. As I see it, there is no point doing a full rebuild on a chassis that is not sandblasted and repainted.

Personally Ive really enjoyed this project -and now its getting closer to completion its even more fun.

in regards to suspension:

The overwhelming majority will tell you to keep it standard - don't give it a lift, its not required.

Koni shocks and king springs seem to be the most suitable for improving the standard springs and shocks - avoid cheaper no name brands and avoid ' lift kits.'

If your budget is limited, stay with the standard springs and shocks, replace the bushes with superpro - and keep the standard 235/85 R16 tyres on steel rims ( if they are stamped tubeless).


Thanks Andy,
I read your build thread start to finish over the weekend, it was inspiring.

My plan was not to sand blast the chassis, but to wire brush and then POR15 or KillRust the chassis, Ill look into sand blasting and see what the cost looks like, its also an issue of how to transport such a large chassis fro sand blasting.
I had considered strengthening the chassis behind the cab where this one has rusted out and where ive heard stories on here of them bending/snapping/cracking.

I know for my minis you can buy a kit that has every single bolt you need to build the car in it, its like 100pounds, wonder if the same thing is available for the 130? I do have a large selection of bolts form my RRC, the S3S1 and the S2a along with parts stripped from a defender wagon, ive got to buy industrial amounts of WD and get that soaking over the car also now that ive degreased it.

speaking of the degreasing process, I took a closer look at the 130 (havent really had a chance till this weekend to actually look at it) and I uncoverd two things i hadnt expected.
1- its running on massive offset 16" sunrasiers, i thought they were 15's originally, the tiny 265 65 tires on them though still stick out past the guards about 1cm
2 - the letters 'MD' on the rear flanges :D yay! lucky me. . . yet to pull the rear diff cover off to see whether the Axels have been done also, by guess is probably not, but still a nice surprise none the less.

oh yeah, after getting about 30tons of fisholine or similar of the car, the wheels turned out to be white not the black they looked, the shocks are actually rather new looking underneath all that grime and are bright orange (bushes are knackerd so ill change the whole shocks all the same anyway) and the 300tdi motor came up shiny as hell and still runs like a litle dream with its 221k kms on the clock, pitty im going to sell it and move to my 4jb1-t but onward and upwards!

ill certainly be lifting it, as right now it looks like a bit of a low rider, ill go budget suspension I think, king springs and maxitrax shocks (i know people think they suck, but the combo was great in my D3) already have new superpro trailing arm bushes that i had ready from the RRC, though im missing one of the giant washer spacer ring things -_- hopefully i find it amongst my bits, the rest of the bushes ill go visit MR for a quoute on a full 130 worth of bushes and hope i dont have a heart attack!

Leroy

[Leroy_Riding]

Nuts and bolts- use LRcat and actual samples and buy new ones from your local bolt supplier.
It simply is not worth the effort to clean up the old ones.
This was the cheapest and best decision made on my 130 rebuild.
Only spent around 100 and includes numerous custom brackets but excluding the stainless door hinge bolts.
Take the opportunity also to make some modifications to the fixings e.g. captive nuts/bolts etc to make the re assembly and potential maintenance easier.

Ive got to get all new door hinges anyway, do they come with stainless bots in the kits? or do you have to buy them seperate?
Ill probably go the all new nut and bolt route now that i think about it anyway, at least for the most part.

what things did you rivnut/captive nut on yours? Ive been surprised at how well the bolts inside the car have come appart so far, im waiting till i have a full weekend to get it up on ramps and such to test my luck on the bolts underneath yet, WD40 soak wil happen this week as ive got 4 days off work (unemployed now :S yikes! hopefully something comes up soon or this 130 wont be getting anything done!)

ive been toying with the idea of a 4 seater conversion(i have 4 defender front seats sitting around) also, as that rear seat is horrid! or can you 'upgrade' the rear seats? it just feels like sitting on a $5 camp chair but you are in a car . . .

Leroy

[Leroy_Riding]

Not much progress happening on this unfortunately,
Have managed to sell off a fair amount of my Series land rover parts to try and fund some work on this, however i also have a 67 Morris mini I'm rebuilding at the same time, so always seem to get little done to each.
What i have done however is test fitted my spare front seats in the back, and i think that the 4 seater conversion using my spare defender seat box as the base should actually work pretty well, however im not 100% set on the idea yet, as the dog would probably prefer the bench, and she is really my only rear seat passenger most of the time.
so on the lookout now for ways to make the rear seat more comfortable, been thinking of having it re trimmed with a lot more foam or something. . . but thats long way away anyway.

I did however manage to get myself a Mantec soft 'A-Bar' like i had on my puma 90, i love the look of these so much more than a bullbar, so will probably sell my ARB and TJM bullbars off now, though both have some rust and the ARB a dent so not sure what they are worth, and i will then fab up my own winch bar in the same design as the mantec one out of some 100x100x5 rhs, should be plenty strong.

I have also decided against using my Isuzu 4jb1-t in favor of keeping the 300tdi and mating this to my auto instead, so will look at selling the 4J and adapter plate along with the mounts for defender placement. my decision here was, that im trying to keep the car as land rover as possible, sort of my version of the ultimate 130 using as many factory options and parts as i can, as i hope this will also help when it comes to getting parts ect ect. so will likely have to tweak up the 300 to account for the power loss in the auto though.

hopefully seperatingt he auto from the 4J adaptor and bolting to the 300tdi will be an easy task? ive never removed and auto/fitted an auto to a motor before, plenty of manuals though. . is there much difference int he process? things i need to be carefull of ect ect?

Leroy

[Leroy_Riding]

another update for those people following(probably no one haha!)
my Isuzu motor has sold, and turns out the auto with it was for a V8, so that went with it for the grand total of $500.
so I'm now on the hunt for an auto for the 300tdi. This means it will probably have to stay manual for now, therefore it wont get used as much as it will just kill my Knee.
It is however but a short jaunt to the highway, so ill still get to drive it, but unfortunately the offroad work will be a bit much on my knee with a Manual, so the girlfriend might just have to learn better offroad skills untill i can get the Auto.(something tells me that will be more stressful than fun!)

Also picked up, lifted king springs(second hand, limited use) and some oztech shocks?(again second hand limted use) not sure what they will be like, came from a guys puma 130 as he went apt flexy coils and some super long travel shocks or some such, id have been happy with stock replacement suspension, but at $300 for the 4 coils and shocks which look all brand new. . happy camper here, also purchased off gumtree a 130 hcpu trailer. . . was the cheapest way to get a 130HCPU tub, but i now need the mounting bracketry and the fuel fillter bits as it has neither. . Anyone want to buy the rolling trailer chassis off me? :D

plan to try and strip the new chassis of its road gunk and surface rust on the weekend, along with some coats of killrust or similar, and maybe even get the front stripped from the 'donor' vehicle ready to pull the motor.
going to need to source a set of front control arms though so i can get the second chassis rolling whilst the donor is also rolling though. . .
127567

[bemm52]

That tub looks in good nick........mines MY13 and a bit dented[bighmmm]

Cheers Paul

[Andy130]

Havent been here for a while ...life and stuff.... so reading your thread, you sold the 4jb1-t ? I was curious to see how that would have gone into the 130. Whats the plan now?

[Leroy_Riding]

Havent been here for a while ...life and stuff.... so reading your thread, you sold the 4jb1-t ? I was curious to see how that would have gone into the 130. Whats the plan now?

I was also looking forward to it, but in the end i had a bit of a bust up with my mate who was supposed to help me with the conversion, and im more of a hack job than a mechanic, so i decided to stick with what i can bolt right back in with parts off the shelf.

ill still be looking for an Auto if i can though due to a bad knee, but 300tdi, boost pin, boost ring, tweak the injector pump up a little to compensate for the auto(if i can get one) and leave well enough alone. hopefully many miles of slow tracktoring along