My 1992 ROW Defender 90

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I bought this Defender 90 in September of 2017. It was imported from Spain, and I purchased it in Tampa, FL.  I flew down and brought it back up on the auto train to Lorton, VA.

 With a 25 year old truck, there's a lot of deferred maintenance, as well as correction of some mistakes by the last few owners. Suffice it to say I was only marginally confident that my truck would make the three and a half hour drive from NoVA to Doug's place, but am now confident I could drive this truck just about anywhere in North America. There are a few maintenance items I'll continue to work on, but Doug was able to get me to a comfortable starting point.

There were three major areas of focus for this project - Engine, electrical/interior and axles.

Engine
  • Upgraded Allisport VNT Turbo
  • Aftermarket Intercooler
  • replace radiator
  • water pump 
  • thermostat
  • glow plugs
  • timing belt and tensioner
  • Adjust valves 
  • set idle and timing
  • set fueling for new turbo

This 200tdi now runs like a top and pulls like a freight train. 60 mph is a non event, 70-75 easily attainable. In mixed city/highway driving in Northern Virginia, I am easily achieving 25mpg, and expect to do quite a bit better on long range drives. The motor is "Quieter than my 300tdi" per JimC, and is just making a ton of power. Running like a sewing machine. Very finely tuned.

Electrical / interior

VDO Gauges
  • Boost 
  • EGT 
  • Tach
  • Fuel
  • water temp  
  • Volt gauge
Interior
  • New OEM MPH Speedo -  (Originally km)
  • Heated Leather / Mondus Exmoor Seats
  • Rear Jump seats
  • Exmoor trim front sound mat
  • Mud UK Gauge Pod
  • USB/USB-C charging ports
  • Exmoor Trim LT77 Acoustic Molded Mat System (quieter than a stock 300tdi)
 It's amazing to have a working fuel gauge for one, and that was no easy task given the way previous owners had run the signal wire across the passenger foot well - under the mat of course.  There were a few electrical gremlins, most notably someone had cut the power to the glow plugs and left it dangling - likely for some previously installed accessories. There were a handful of other issues, which Doug soundly resolved.

I've also added a Tuffy rear slider box which is a great storage solution! I have a center console with matching keys, but this may get moved over to the 110 project.  Time will tell.


Axles:
  • Adjust steering box
  • Align steering wheel
  • Disco 24 spline axles
  • GBR Remanufactured front diff with Detroit Truetrack & HD reverse rotation 3.54 
  • GBR Remanufactured rear diff with Detroit Truetrac and HD 3.54 
  • NAS Front & Rear Disc Brakes
  • Misc bushings

Clutch:

Exterior:
This has been transformational - I'm now daily driving the defender, and enjoying the heck out of it. It's quite competent in the left hand lane and capable of keeping up with any flow of traffic. Driving dynamics have changed completely and I couldnt be happier. The other stuff was out of scope (and schedule) so I'll continue to work on them in the coming weeks (with help from a lot of my new NOVA rover friends!) . For now, I'm just enjoying the hell out of this thing. There is some nominal rust on the floor pans which will need to be addressed, but it is otherwise in great kit.




























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