Build Thread: 1988 Saudi Spec 110

[RBBailey]

...the desire to go camping is counter-balanced by the temptation to just sell it and buy a Toyota, and still have money left over to actually buy... an awning, or a RTT, or tires... to actually, for once, have a vehicle that is set up to go out for the weekend.

Every time I see pics of people out in Defenders, camping, or overlanding, I instinctively think it must be a Hollywood trick, or CGI. No, really. I honestly have to psychologically convince myself that I actually know people who have been on trips in these, and have not had to get a tow home.

Right now, I don't feel comfortable enough to go out.

 

[RBBailey]

But... I’m going to ignore the odd noises and try to continue with the project.

The cargo area: want to keep it simple, easy to remove, and I want it to be usable for camping or daily use. I need to be able to secure items as well as work to quiet down the interior noise, while cleaning up the rear area. So I’ve got my design nearly figured out.

In the mean time, I’m planning to try to get the heater and blower hooked up. I’m using a standard blower and heater core, but with the NAS style dash. I don’t know exactly how well the dash vents and such will work — it’s all about the controls and getting the airflow to go where I want, when. The NAS style floor vent on the passenger side won't be hooked up. But I think I can get the other parts to work. However, it will take a lot of experimenting with the vacuum system.

Keeping my fingers crossed for no breakdowns in the meantime!

 

[nas90tdi]

I have the Toyota argument with myself almost every week.
In almost 20 years I have been without at least one Rover for almost a year on 2 different occasions. Once I bought a Mercedes G320 thinking a Galendewagen would fix my problem. Then I just sold them all and had nothing. But, it didn't work. Instead I keep buying something that is never finished, never right,never 100% dependable. But, it seems to be I am going to keep doing it despite all that.
So, suck it up, accept that you are bat-shit insane, and keep plugging away.

And oddly enough, I actually suffer from your affliction that they are about to break me down any minute. Yet, have never actually been towed home. I have worked on them in the dirt and in parking lots however. My nephew actually drove a RRC back to the shop from across town with a ring gear sticking through the front of the diff cover. It didn't sound nice, but ,it made it back. New 3rd and weld up the cover, and it was as good as new.

 

[xplorutah]

I have the Toyota argument with myself almost every week.


And oddly enough, I actually suffer from your affliction that they are about to break me down any minute. Yet, have never actually been towed home. I have worked on them in the dirt and in parking lots however. My nephew actually drove a RRC back to the shop from across town with a ring gear sticking through the front of the diff cover. It didn't sound nice, but ,it made it back. New 3rd and weld up the cover, and it was as good as new.

^^^Both of these statements ring true for me ^^^ and I do have a 4Runner. But wouldn't give up the 90 and just have that. I also suffer the "affliction that they are about to break me down any minute.". Not sure why cause they have never broken down, well the ROW 110 did but I was able to triage and get home. But my NAS 90's haven't let me down yet.

 

[RiftRover]

...the desire to go camping is counter-balanced by the temptation to just sell it and buy a Toyota, and still have money left over to actually buy... an awning, or a RTT, or tires... to actually, for once, have a vehicle that is set up to go out for the weekend.

Every time I see pics of people out in Defenders, camping, or overlanding, I instinctively think it must be a Hollywood trick, or CGI. No, really. I honestly have to psychologically convince myself that I actually know people who have been on trips in these, and have not had to get a tow home.

Right now, I don't feel comfortable enough to go out.

I drove my 110 to SCARR from Arkansas three times (450 miles round trip) with the wife and kids. One time I had the lower radiator hose pop off on the trail (my fault for not tightening it well enough) and another time I had the brand new alternator fail. Had the old one as a spare and changed it by the side of the road. These things are more reliable than you think. They always need something but mine have rarely left me stranded.. Best thing you can do is drive it frequently, the problems will show themselves if you do.

 

[rovercolorado]

Truer words have never been spoken.
Driving daily the last year has made my list much more complete. But I only found some new things by pulling apart to fix other things.

Thanks for sharing your build updates!

 

[Roverman2010]

I have driven my 85 90 2hundy to our camp in New Mexico 1700 miles around trip many times in the past couple of years, with only a major cooling water loss, so far touch wood. One of the thermostat bolts had pulled out of its thread. Fixed with a bit of fencing wire found on the side of the road, lol.

Just drive the darn thing.

 

[RBBailey]

This is making me wonder about my other Rovers....

1. 1965 IIa: barn find, had not been driven in 12 years. Would often die randomly when dirt was picked up in the fuel line. Two or three times it killed the battery, and I had to hand crank it. 3rd gear went out. Then over the past four years I've dealt with the bearings going out on the engine.... twice. I have owned it off and on since 1998.
2. 1994 Disco: The heater control valve needed to be replaced. Window regulators.
3. 2003 Disco: The infamous bad-from-the-factory oil pump failure left me stranded.
4. 2004 Disco: fixed the 3-amigos. Never broke down, is still going with new owner.
5. 1997 Disco XD: The 4.6 engine liked to throw codes. And three months after I bought it the LT230 seized up because the previous owner had not put oil back in it..... I should have checked it, but since the cover was newly cleaned and newly sealed, I just let it be....
6. 1989 RRC: Lots of little things. Never broke down though.
7. 1993 RRC: Slipped liner. Drank coolant like a thirsty NFL fan with a free lifetime supply of Coors Light on Superbowl weekend. Never broke down though. I did fall through the ice once though, and got it stuck in the mud twice, had to get a tow for each of those.
8. 1995 RRC: Broke and needed a 120 mile tow a few months back.
9. 1988 110: Well... it was good till I started fooling with it, then one thing after another! But it's driving now. And the last few days have been 'smooth' days where the engine just seems happy.

Numbers 8 and 9 are the only two that have really given me 'trouble'.

 

[javelinadave]

It is all about persistence. We bought a Disco 1 for a buddy's birthday. It ran hot. Every part of the cooling system was replaced previously by the old owner except for the radiator. Guess what? Swapped out the radiator and it runs super cool. It threw codes that it was running on 5 cylinders. Swapped out the injectors and no more codes. The previous owner had tried new plugs and wires.
These are old vehicles that were probably neglected by their previous owners and just need a little loving.
Talk it out here or with a fellow Rover buddy and between the collective hundreds of years of ownership we can help you keep any and all Rovers running.

 

[RBBailey]

Can I just admit that I kind of wish I could just get rid of this and buy a nice Range Rover and get it all outfitted the way I've been trying to get a truck done for the past 18 years and just be done with it and actually have a lot of money left over?

I'm going to park it for a while, and see if I can get the time to pull the 2500 mile old injectors to see about getting them tested.

 

[RBBailey]

I've done a lot of daily driving in the truck, and two longer trips up I-5 to Seattle and back. One of those trips was when I had to get towed because that's when I discovered that there was a problem with the fuel system... However, in general, the truck has been doing well, and improving.

Recently, I've managed to get the cabin better sealed and actually pretty quiet! I actually talked on the phone as it sat in the holder using just the speaker!

Much of the last bit of sound proofing came from sealing up the large footwell vent hole that is in the NAS 110 bulkhead, and getting the heater box in place. Both of these holes were merely covered with foam and tape before now.

Right now, the one thing that is missing before I move into another phase of work is that I really need a good road test, long distance, up hill, and to higher altitudes. I've only done some standard interstate type hills thus far. So tomorrow I'm going over the mountains to spend the night camping in the cold weather. Several of the hills are going to slow me down to 45 at most. But on the main pass, I am hoping to see 50mph, if traffic allows for proper shifting, etc...

Pics and results to follow. And I hope none of them include a tow truck this time....

 

[RBBailey]

The truck is finally starting to take the shape and look I want. I have to admit, it has been a little embarrassing to drive the thing around with the wrong tires/wheels and panels not painted, etc...

I refurbed five Disco spares, and got some hand-me-down 235/85r16 BFG ATs with about 50% tread left on them. The driving experience is absolutely 100% different! I don't let go around "normal" corners. I don't peel out when trying to come off a stop on a slight, wet hill. The extra width on the wheels means I don't get that secondary (un)settling of the center of gravity when in a turn. So nice.

The battery box is mostly sorted. And I'm starting to hook up the accessories. I actually got stock heater controls set up, even if they aren't 100% connected, they do work! The heater and blower are working... on high speed only. And I've figured out the electrical in the dash enough to take the next step in making it permanent. (I don't want to close the dash till I'm 100% sure everything is working correctly, etc...

So here are a few pics from today.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bhcmbailey/38565362965/in/dateposted/" title="1988 Land Rover 'Defender' 110"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4595/38565362965_076404988d_c.jpg" width="800" height="530" alt="1988 Land Rover 'Defender' 110"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bhcmbailey/39443845511/in/photostream/" title="1988 Land Rover 'Defender' 110"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4595/39443845511_fc7b37f2e2_c.jpg" width="800" height="530" alt="1988 Land Rover 'Defender' 110"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Tbaumer]

Glad you stuck with her. That's a good looking 110!

 

[Toyrover]

ben,
I saw you driving in Boring, Oregon yesterday. I raced to catch you but you turned off. Rover looked great!! We were coming home from bend.

 

[RBBailey]

Awe! Were you getting off the exit at Boring?

 

[Toyrover]

yes in the excursion, raced to catch up and then you went off by the polaris dealership. I tried my hardest to get a ticket and catch up but i failed. Made the boys day though. ian

 

[RBBailey]

Yeah, I actually turn right into just past there, but you had to contend with my TURBO power.

 

[RBBailey]

I'm focusing my work right now on ...well, correcting finals and essays and anything not dealing with the Rover... But in the mean time, I've been doing little tiny bits of work on the wiring into my center console.

I think I mentioned that I want to keep the dash as stock and clean as possible for two reasons. First, because it is hard to replace if any of the cheap plastic breaks. Second, because it is hard to do work on the dash in comparison with the center console.

In the center, I can run short wires directly to my switches from the battery box in like ten seconds flat. The wires are easy to protect and manage, and they can go from there to any other point on the truck with very little effort. So I have my set of Carling switches set right in the center of the upper part that I made a while back.

This image makes it look kind of horrible, but the black paint is basically just camo till I get it all figured out, then I will get new vinyl to cover the whole thing with.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bhcmbailey/39644227431/in/dateposted/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4722/39644227431_7ac3bd8743_c.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="Untitled"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The first switch is going to be my manual, momentary/off switch for my glow plugs. Then the spacer, then my bumper lights, then engine fan, then the rest for future events.

Everything is going through the Blue Sea fuse box in the battery compartment.

 

[RBBailey]

If you've been following along on the other thread, there seems to be some issue with the way the truck is running. It's the type of thing that isn't "broken" but something may be tuned wrong, or out of norm. I'll figure it out some day.

In the mean time, I'm actually doing something fun on the truck: Sliders!

I'm having a high school student at the school where I teach build me some sliders. He's a good student, and is actually already working as a welder in a local shop, and he is able to use his time in class to do this as a class project! It's something I've actually been trying to do for several years, but it's difficult to sort of find the right student/teacher combo that would allow it to happen.

I'm a very light-duty off-roader. So I'm not worried about these being the type of thing I can land on a rock with all day long. To me, it's just part of the overall improvement of the truck as a whole, not an effort to build a rock crawler. With that in mind, I'm not concerned about having a high school student building a one-off.

I'm working with him to make a design that looks good with the lines of the truck. It won't be just a steel Lego stuck to the side of the tuck, out of proportions; but it won't be as high-speed as Psyoptic's design.

I'll post a few pics down below:

 

[RBBailey]

Getting the main idea, then cutting and fitting the end just right.