Andrew's Defender 90 NAS Restoration and 2.8i Tribute Build
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It's been taking some time with the machine shop for the engine rebuild. They were really backed up. It turned out I needed to source a new head because the one on the engine was too warped. I got another one at a self service wrecking yard from an E39 528i with 84k miles. It was in good shape. The machine shop gave it a cleaning, a minimal deck to make a perfect flat sealing surface, and a valve job. I'll install new stem seals and transfer the springs over from the old head.
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Nice
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What a great swap for a defender. Good luck with this project.
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I got the rest of the engine parts back from the machine shop. They seem to do good work. Just really slow, but you'd expect a good shop to be busy. I got some engine paint I'll use on the block. I'll just have to clean it good first. They refurbished the head, bored the block, cleaned the sump and timing cover, and polished the crank & cams.
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Oversized pistons
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New bearings. These are standard size. I may need to get a few green color ones. I'll check the clearances. They are color coded from BMW to make minor corrections. Yellow is standard, green is slightly undersized, and white a little more. These are from the OEM Kolbenschmidt and their catalogue shows these covering the full size range of the colors. The green and white ones are only available from BMW and they are expensive.
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Oversized pistons
New bearings. These are standard size. I may need to get a few green color ones. I'll check the clearances. They are color coded from BMW to make minor corrections. Yellow is standard, green is slightly undersized, and white a little more. These are from the OEM Kolbenschmidt and their catalogue shows these covering the full size range of the colors. The green and white ones are only available from BMW and they are expensive.
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I'm starting to round up parts for ABS. It's been quite a few years now ABS has been required equipment on new cars, so it must be doing something good. I'll get LSDs for the diffs later. Probably the Ashcroft ATBs. I know the Wabco modulators can be problematic (3 amigos), but hopefully I got a good one out of a Disco II today. The connector on it is labeled August 2013 (13 08 13) so it appears it got a new valve kit. I did some continuity and ohm tests on it with the multimeter and it looks good. Not a bad deal for $73.
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I read somewhere that the disco11 ABS units can be made to fit a defender.
how's the rebuild coming on?
how's the rebuild coming on?
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ooooooooooooooh baby! I can't wait to see how this goes!!!!!! I have wanted to do this forever!I'm starting to round up parts for ABS. It's been quite a few years now ABS has been required equipment on new cars, so it must be doing something good. I'll get LSDs for the diffs later. Probably the Ashcroft ATBs. I know the Wabco modulators can be problematic (3 amigos), but hopefully I got a good one out of a Disco II today. The connector on it is labeled August 2013 (13 08 13) so it appears it got a new valve kit. I did some continuity and ohm tests on it with the multimeter and it looks good. Not a bad deal for $73.
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Yes, the Disco 2 ABS unit just needs to be plumbed for the Defender because the unit itself is the same.
The project is currently on hold because I've resumed full time classes at the University. I also have to finish work on my mother's car for her. I'll get back to work on this as time allows. Perhaps I can finish the engine over the winter for installation in the spring.
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This project has taken so long without being completed and the future comes sooner than we anticipate. I have a Hyundai Kona Electric rental right now because the BMW is in the shop and I really like it! So I'm thinking staying with a combustion engine is a mistake now that we are headed into an electric future. Billions of dollars have been allocated to constructing new EV charging stations in the infrastructure bill and petrol & diesel filling stations will start vanishing over the next decade as automakers stop making petrol & diesel powered vehicles. I think I will continue the project as planned for now, but as funds allow I will convert it to electric. I'm sure there will be EV kits mass produced for these old Land Rovers since they are so popular.
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Yeah I would go full speed ahead with what you are doing and you can always change down the road when decent engine and battery kits come out. Everything on the market sucks right now (underpowered).
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Yeah, I’ll wait until the conversion parts are available so I don’t have to custom fab anything. The electric crate motor from Ford looks good to me. Plenty of power for a D90. The press release says they’ll be developing stuff to go with it “including battery systems, controllers and traction inverters to close the loop on full turnkey aftermarket electrification solutions.”
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I think it's pretty cool that Ford is selling crate motors. Great way to build the ecosytem and enthusiast community. These things enable insane 0-60 times with their full torque at 0 rpm performance. Of course, the hard part is energy storage. Hard to beat the energy density of a ~10 gallon plastic tub filled with gasoline.
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This is probably old news, but I just stumbled across this Land Rover technical document for the paint that shows what kind of paints were originally used for each color. http://www.seriesdefender.com/manuals/Land Rover Paint Codes.pdf
It looks like they list single stage urethane as "clearcoat." It says Monza is a base/clear, but I went with a single stage urethane like the original Portofino. It also doesn't list Glasurit as a supplier, but that doesn't matter because it's good paint. I read on another forum someone said it cost less overall than PPG because it's a higher solids paint, even though it's more expensive by volume. I also didn't know some of the colors like Arles were an ALKYD paint instead of a urethane, but it also shows Beluga as a single stage and I thought that was a base/clear.
If I was doing this over again I think I would choose Willow Green because I've become really fond of that and it seems like Land Rovers should be green, but that's also a base/clear. A single stage makes for easier repairs and can be fixed up later, so I don't regret that. I think a metallic single stage would be difficult to work with. I'm not sure how good a non-metallic Willow Green would look. Maybe the correct choice would be Pastel Green.
It looks like they list single stage urethane as "clearcoat." It says Monza is a base/clear, but I went with a single stage urethane like the original Portofino. It also doesn't list Glasurit as a supplier, but that doesn't matter because it's good paint. I read on another forum someone said it cost less overall than PPG because it's a higher solids paint, even though it's more expensive by volume. I also didn't know some of the colors like Arles were an ALKYD paint instead of a urethane, but it also shows Beluga as a single stage and I thought that was a base/clear.
If I was doing this over again I think I would choose Willow Green because I've become really fond of that and it seems like Land Rovers should be green, but that's also a base/clear. A single stage makes for easier repairs and can be fixed up later, so I don't regret that. I think a metallic single stage would be difficult to work with. I'm not sure how good a non-metallic Willow Green would look. Maybe the correct choice would be Pastel Green.
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This is probably old news, but I just stumbled across this Land Rover technical document for the paint that shows what kind of paints were originally used for each color. http://www.seriesdefender.com/manuals/Land Rover Paint Codes.pdf
It looks like they list single stage urethane as "clearcoat." It says Monza is a base/clear, but I went with a single stage urethane like the original Portofino. It also doesn't list Glasurit as a supplier, but that doesn't matter because it's good paint. I read on another forum someone said it cost less overall than PPG because it's a higher solids paint, even though it's more expensive by volume. I also didn't know some of the colors like Arles were an ALKYD paint instead of a urethane, but it also shows Beluga as a single stage and I thought that was a base/clear.
If I was doing this over again I think I would choose Willow Green because I've become really fond of that and it seems like Land Rovers should be green, but that's also a base/clear. A single stage makes for easier repairs and can be fixed up later, so I don't regret that. I think a metallic single stage would be difficult to work with. I'm not sure how good a non-metallic Willow Green would look. Maybe the correct choice would be Pastel Green.
I used PPG SHOP-Line acrylic enamel. Its a single stage paint
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I used PPG SHOP-Line acrylic enamel. Its a single stage paint
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That looks fantastic!
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