Thread: Choosing a Defender 110

Prices on most parts are not much different to the jap 4bies. A crab bar would handle baby seats and there are a few inward facing seats on e-bay. For parts that you can plan for it is worthwhile comparing U.K prices from paddocks, mm, LR centre,rimmer bro, etc. then it becomes even cheaper than owning a jap fridge. In brissy you have MR who have a good rep and can help with certain gear as well as hy-tuff. For a stronger drivetrain look to 2002 as from 03 defenders had the weaker rear diff. If you want to go bigger tyres hy tuff and Ashcroft are the places to look to strengthen axles and cv , as well as for gearing.

That's good to hear, the disco washer bottle experience put me off a landrover till now.

Leaning towards the 300tdi as all possible servicing and repairs will be done myself. And the fitting the allisport vnt kit later Down the track with intercooler and radiator to give me better towing and driving experience.

Luckily the car can sit so if there's any major repairs or costs I can as you say get uk sorted parts .

Looking at going stock size as clearance isn't essential atm but good to know if I want to go for taller gearig if/when it goes to vnt.

So far I've found the 300tdi's shred belts, anything else to watch out for , certain years to go for ?

- looking at spending up to $12000 if not a bit less depending on Kay's , what's the expected km of a 300tdi with regular use and servicing before a rebuild 400thou+ Kms ?

And what would you expect to pay for a 90's 300tfi with 200000 Kms ?

G'day mate, can't help you on the 300TDi question, but like to let you know you can source parts cheap, if you go to the right sources. Just look around, local & overseas. Check out PADDOCKS, & RIMMERS, in the UK for a start. MR Auto are worth a look. The best advice given to me, when I bought my first LR, A D2, was join this forum, ask plenty of questions, go to the GOOD OIL, buy a RAVE DVD, relevent to your vehicle, study it , do as much as you can yourself, saves a lot of money. The much maligned HAYNES workshop manual [ by some], is valuable for detailing the Land Rover maintainence schedule, which gives you a blueprint for the schedules on your vehicle. Combined with the RAVE DVD, you get a great heads up on doing the work yourself. Any other problems, ask the forum members. They will go out of their way to help. Enjoy, Bob

Originally Posted by Shootz

That's good to hear, the disco washer bottle experience put me off a landrover till now.

Leaning towards the 300tdi as all possible servicing and repairs will be done myself. And the fitting the allisport vnt kit later Down the track with intercooler and radiator to give me better towing and driving experience.

Luckily the car can sit so if there's any major repairs or costs I can as you say get uk sorted parts .

Looking at going stock size as clearance isn't essential atm but good to know if I want to go for taller gearig if/when it goes to vnt.

So far I've found the 300tdi's shred belts, anything else to watch out for , certain years to go for ?

- looking at spending up to $12000 if not a bit less depending on Kay's , what's the expected km of a 300tdi with regular use and servicing before a rebuild 400thou+ Kms ?

And what would you expect to pay for a 90's 300tfi with 200000 Kms ?

Washer bottle ?

Maybe he means the expansion tank for the radiator - the early 300TDi ones had a habit of splitting and then you cooked your engine. The black ones had a better reputation then the white ones, but in either case they are about $90 for a new tank, so not sure where the $150 comes from.....

For TD5, they can be chipped up hugely. Some TD5s had problems with the oil pump bolt not being LocTited in, which gives a catastrophic engine failure. They should all be replaced by now but still worth checking. Do a search here for this issue and you will find heaps of posts. Then there's the oil in the loom issue, which can be managed pretty easily and cheaply.

Cheers
David

That overflow bottle or windscreen washer bottle was for a v8 landrover disco but all the same put me off in the beginning but looks like that's changed now.

Yeah the main attraction of the td5 was the significant and simple power gains through chipping, leaning away from it now though as the 300tdi seems cheaper and simpler to maintain. The vnt conversion with intercooler and radiator will hopefully give me significant gains for towing. How will the 300tdi hold up with the vnt conversion if its converted at 200000+ Kms ?!

Thanks bob for that info, te good oil link didn't work , do you have another ?