Royal Overland’s Trophy Defender

HillSeeker

Active member
Cross-posting from d90 source as I’m making an attempt to get back on the forums and start focusing here on NAS ROW.
I’m building a high horsepower desert racer to look like a stretched 130... here’s the rendering.
It’s all tube chassis, and admittedly not much outside of the bodywork will be Land Rover. Heck, even that is cut and stretched and worked... but it has the spirit of a Land Rover and that’s what matters to me.
the project is an attempt to marry my love for desert racing with my affliction (Land Rover hobby), while displaying the capabilities of the shop and our team.
 

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HillSeeker

Active member
First step was designing the front suspension, knowing that we were aiming at a 39” tire and lots of travel. Here’s the completed view of just how long these arms are. Stock defender track width is 68.5”, we are at 94.5” on this car!!!
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This is what we call the front “bulkhead” - it’s the center architecture that the upper and lower A arms bolt into.
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So, here’re the pieces for the jig table and the front suspension design:

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HillSeeker

Active member
Photo dump part 1 of assembly:
Jig Table
Centermount suspension bulkhead
Control arms
Spindles (knuckles)
 

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HillSeeker

Active member
Photo dump part 2 of the front suspension assembly:
 

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HillSeeker

Active member
With the front end locked down, it was time to mail down the total wheelbase. We settled on 145” and locked it in by building a “y frame” that ties the front end we just showed you to the rear suspension. It’s called a “y” because it connects 1 point to 2... I guess it’s also a “v” frame...

Anyway- here’s the design:
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You can see now the front end, and how it’s tied to the boxed trailing arms and the rear solid axle.
So now, here are those pieces:
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HillSeeker

Active member
I bought a stupid rear end

I mean, it’s so overkill it’s amazing. We specified 3/8” wall tube and a 1/2” thick third member mounting face cnc milled post-weldout for trueness. It’s extra heavy. And extra wide. I’m thrilled...
Ford 9” pattern and room for 40 spline axles.
 

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HillSeeker

Active member
Trailing Arms!
here was today’s progress... not much but it’s something. Arms are 56” long hole to hole!
 

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pfshoen

Well-known member
Crazy, baby! True awesomeness.
What's the thinking behind choosing a crew cab design? Aren't tophy trucks usually single cab? I get the silhouette objective to match the 130 crew cab, but there are single cab pickups too.
 

HillSeeker

Active member
Crew cab is because it has a Vin number, and will be street legal. With glass in it, it can be used on the road. This thing will have air-conditioning! It takes way too much time, And money, to not be able to use this thing on the street. Performance as a pre-runner is the main objective, while being well-built enough to be quickly modified to become legal as a race car also if we become tempted.

actually the vin is from my 110 hi cap, I’m well aware of that configuration!
 

MountainD

Technical Excellence Contributor
I for one would love to see the progress! Not sure how streetable, at least in a city, that it’ll be given it’s nearly a foot wider than a Hummer H1 and that is even super wide feeling to drive on street! But it looks incredible and proportions are awesone. Any update?
 

HillSeeker

Active member
So when I said we were all in on the GM platform… that turned out to be premature. Haha…

I introduce to you, my 7.3L ford GODZILLA big block push rod American v8

I didn’t get nearly as far along as I wanted to over the last 6 months… I tabled this project to build the Beach Runner for SEMA in November, and have been playing catch-up on customer stuff ever since. The motor is actually due to arrive today so that will certainly kick-start some more progress.
Oh I also bought a ‘72 crew cab international to use as a shop truck, and that ended up being way more of a project than intended … ugh I’m the worst.
Pics of motor, then beach runner, then the international. I have some A-Arm weld-out pics also I will add.

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