erover82
Well-known member
I normally keep financial matters private, but tracking this project's cost may be interesting, and could be informative for others considering extensive rebuilds. With that said, here's the cost so far for the bumper and shocks: Parts $838 | Shipping: $145
After this, things began to accelerate..
Accelerate, they did. The first round of "parts-need evaluations" mentioned earlier resulted in a purchase from Britcar for 305 parts. Granted, much of this consisted of hardware and small bits. I had first tried to purchase the parts directly from Bearmach, but upon checkout found that their cart system couldn't actually process that many parts at once. I don't recall why I resisted splitting the order, or why I subsequently chose Britcar, but I then painstakingly copied every part over to Britcar, where it processed the order without issue. I believe Bearmach's system has been improved since then.
Running total: Parts $2,071 | Shipping $334
Enter, LR Workshop. This was a game-changer. In the early days, I would identify parts using vendor's websites, which vary greatly in usability, comprehensiveness, and accuracy. I wondered at one point why someone hadn't created a website to better catalog Defender parts; crowdsourcing and cross-referencing more information than vendors could offer on their own. Apparently, it was such a great idea that someone had already done it.
Now my "parts-need evaluations" could be taken to the next level. I would pick a section of the vehicle, look it over physically inch-by-inch to identify worn, broken, or corroded parts. I would then reference LRWorkshop's diagrams to determine which parts may be missing, had been superseded, that were overlooked, or that I had alternative choices. This was the gateway drug to shipfitters disease.
"See, this tail light bulb needs replaced. Well, the housing is a bit faded, better get that. The others lights will look mismatched. Better get those too. Oh, the panel is corroded around the light's mounting screws. Better get that. I'll have to paint the new panel and it won't match the capping which is corroded anyway. Better get that. Better get every single screw and rivet so as not to reinstall parts with corroded hardware. You know, I'd like to eventually repair and paint this adjacent panel here, but if I do that I'll have to re-fit all the previous work, so I may as well just do it now.."
I saw the onset of the disease coming a mile away. I'd experienced it before, seen it in others, and joked about it. Nonetheless, I was powerless to resist. It would all have to be done now or I couldn't live with myself.