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 Project 90 Welcome to PROJECT 90!
This page is intended to be a sort of "Blog" for my Land Rover 90 "Yorkie" and will detail changes, improvements and other events in it's life as they progress:
Latest Update 29th July 2010
As well as adding some new content, I have reordered the page so the latest stuff appears at the top to save having to scroll to the bottom everytime there's an update. I also decided to put in a few other events in Yorkie's life so even if you have been here before, you might want to scroll down and find out what's new
07/07/10
Finally got the strobes wired into some decent switches. I got three driving lamp switches from British Parts UK in Stevenage and connected them up using the correct Tyco connectors which I got from Dingocroft
The switches were installed in the blank positions normally taken up my the switches for the air con and heated seats. The left hand one operates the front strobes and the right hand one the rear strobes, the centre switch powers up the 12v socket in the rear speaker housing that the mini light bar is usually plugged into. It can of course be used to power up any 12v accessory in the rear.
08/07/10
Demonstrating just how versatile a Land Rover can be....
What do you do when you can't get a ladder tall enough to reach the top when painting the outside of the house? Simples....
06/07/10
Been a while since I did any work as the 90 has been in the dealers getting some warranty items sorted:
Now all sorted with a new (upgraded) clutch, gearbox selector shaft, EGR valve and an update to the mapping of the ECU. Now running a lot smoother, with more mid range power and better fuel consumption and it changes gear a lot easier.
So decide to treat myself and ordered up some new wheels. Great service from Silverline, ordered them at 10.30 on Monday and they arrived at 09.00 Tuesday!
After my problems over clearance with 285/75s, I decided to go for 255/85s instead, obviously 30mm thinner although very slightly taller. I had been looking at Cooper Discoverer STTs (Mud Terrain) but these are not available in this size, so went for the ST instead which is advertised as an All Terrain. However the tread is much more chunkier than a BF Goodrich A/T for instance, looks about half way between an A/T and a M/T. Only driven them on the road so far but very well behaved and no noisier than the original Grabber TRs.
I went for steel modulars again this time in the new Gunmetal colour:
 I had intended to have the white lettering hidden on the inside but forgot to ask when ordering them. Also the rather bright silver wheel nuts are a result of my set for steel wheels being rather rusty, which I didn't want to put on the new wheels, do decided they needed a coat of paint. A hunt round the garage only turned up silver spray paint. The longer term plan is to get some black hard anodised nuts from Wrington Engineering but these "bling" silver ones will have to do for now. Here's a few more shots, looking rather good I think.
   You will note the Thule Roof Bars, a bargain on eBay for only £50!
I also got round to fitting my Devon 4x4 Fuel Cooler Guard:
 As can be seen, this comes as a base plate that just slides behind the cooler and is fixed on by the cooler mounting bolts.
 The top plate then bolts on creating a strong steel box round the cooler.
I also started work on tidying up the wiring for the strobes but this is still work in progress.
03/07/10
On the way back from a week away in Devon, we had a brief stop at Stonehenge. To avoid thecrowds of tourists and dozens of coaches, we pulled onto the adjacent Byway.
How they are trying to close this based on the potential intrusion is beyond me when at the time this photo was taken, 100 yards behind my back, the A303 was nose to tail traffic in both directions. No plans to close that though!
01/05/10
Today I ran the wiring to the rear strobes, via convoluted tubing from the drivers side seat box to the rear light wiring. Using compression fittings at each end has made for a nice neat and waterproof installation. I also tidied up the mounting of the auxilary fuse box under the drivers seat.
  Wiring installation at rear - Auxilary fuse box
The wiring also allowed me to fit a 12v power socket into the rear speaker mount. A very neat fitting that looks like it came from the factory that way. I have also fitted wiring for a rear worklight.
 I also installed my first aid box in the rear offside, using a wall mounting brackets for a nice neat and unobtrusive fitting:
  30/04/10
Hopefully this weekend will see the strobes finally wired up. I did manage to get a photo of the reflective tape on the door edges after dark...
09/04/10
Added some stickers for www.defender2.net a great source of information for late model Defenders. Solved the problem of where to put silver stickers on a silver vehicle by putting it on the alpine lights.
04/04/10
Fitted the fire extinguisher to the side panel at the rear of the nearside. So in an emergency it is clearly visible through the rear side window. I had screwed an extra piece of plywood to the back of the side panel in this location, which allowed me to use longer screws and make the mounting nice and secure.
21/03/10
Finally fitted the panels, opting for some rockwool loft insulation behind them because a roll cost £5, the foam I had intended fitting came out at £30 so no contest really. And yes they really make a difference to the noise levels.
Also added some red reflective tape to the door edges for safety. I used the very reflective "prismatic" tape as used on emergency service vehicles. This does have the disadvantage of being quite thick and the top layer chips easily especially at the edges but it is much more reflective than most tape available. I found it on eBay and bought a 5m roll of 25mm tape.
The pictures show it in daylight, I will eventually take a picture at night to show just how bright it is! The second picture also shows the rear strobe set up (and no I still haven't wired them in).
  19/03/10
Took the 90 back to the Lakes for a week away...
 Pictured here at the top of the Wrynose Pass
 And here on the byway through Great Langdale, the Langdale Pikes in the background.
07/03/10
The work continued the next day, glueing and stapling some grey vinyl (only £6.99 a metre from Dunelm Mills) to the panels.
The were then test fitted and although I say so myself, a very professional looking job.
I removed them for a couple of reasons not least that I glued them with Evostik, so the inside of the Defender smelt like a glue sniffers paradise. They were removed to the garage to "vent" off the solvent.
I had intended to fix them using countersunk self tapping screws with chrome socket cups for a neat finish. These would be fitted top and bottom of the vertical stiffening rib on the hard top side, top and bottom of the door frame and one into the internal gutter rail at the rear. However the guide holes I drilled were just a little too large for the screws and to use bigger ones would have meant the screw cups were too small and I didn't have any larger screws anyway.
I therefore chose to open out the holes and fit rivnuts instead, the only size that would fit was M5 but on completion I discovered that the only M5 fasteners I had were some pan headed machine screws, ideal for the job but too short!
So a trip to Screwfix Direct is required before final fixing too. I also intend to fit some foam between the hard top sides and the ply, to insulate the hard top from cold and to help prevent condensation. This should also help to dampen down the noise caused by the flexing of the sides at speed that create a distinctive booming sound.
06/03/10
During the bad weather, I had not been idle having previously cut some 12mm exterior plywood to shape, to line the wheel boxes in the rear, I had been varnishing them in the garage whenever the opportunity arose. However the cold weather made for slow drying times and this coupled with the need for four coats on both sides to get the finish I wanted, meant progress was slow. The picture shows the plywood being dry fitted before varnishing:
  A nice sunny, if still cold Saturday galvanized me into action and I finished the varnishing. I then decided to fit my front strobes:
Previously I had these mounted on the spot light brackets on the A bar on my old 90. Lacking an A bar and deciding on a more "covert" mounting, I removed the front grille. Two holes drilled in the top edge of the trim panel beneath it and a couple of steel brackets to space the strobes back from the grill and a very neat installation in the gap beneath the inter cooler.
 As you can see a very unobtrusive installation, they show up a bit better in this photo:
 The cables run through a convenient hole that leads into the nearside wing and then to the strobe unit fitted under the bonnet, just in front of the heater. Like the rear strobes they have yet to be wired in. This will be done by running a feed cable to the auxiliary fuse box under the drivers seat through convoluted tubing, to keep it looking original. The strobes will be fed by relays to suit standard Land Rover switches that will be fitted in the blanks below the heater controls as these are designed to switch the earth to a relay rather than handle live feed to an accessory. Once again the modern design of the dashboard precludes fitting additional switches.
I then went out for supplies so I could tackle another job I had been planning. Purchasing two 6" x 2" sheets of 9mm plywood, I carefully cut them to shape to fit the hard top sides:
 This took up the rest of the day so I was glad when Sunday also dawned bright and sunny (If rather cold) allowing me to continue.
09/02/10
Had a slight mishap on the A1(M) today when a rear tyre blew out.
I was very thankful for the strobes and light bar, although in the photograph it has managed to catch a moment when none of them were illuminated. The flash rate is obviously too fast for the rather slow camera in my BlackBerry!
 Needless to say I needed a new tyre! Decided to replace it with another General Grabber TR for the time being to keep a set of five. Annoyingly this had been the spare until one week previously when I noticed a score in the tyre wall obviously picked up in the snow. I had swapped that wheel for the spare, so this was a brand new tyre despite being two anf half years old.
23/01/10
Improved the tree sliders with the addition of some gripper tape on both the tubular bar and on the reinforced sill itself, so they can be safely used as side steps for entering and exiting the vehicle. You have to look hard but it is just visible in the photo:
 Then come March, the weather improved.
05/12/09
Removed the original (and vulnerable) side steps and fitted a pair of jackable sills with tree sliders. These provide additional protection to the vehicle, give more jacking points and can be used as a step for getting in and out of the vehicle.
 I also bought a set of wheels and tyres from the small ads in the back of Land Rover Owner International. I had been planning to buy some new 16" x 7" steel wheels and 235/86R16 Mud Terrain tyres but saw these and thought they were too good a bargain to miss.
A bit larger than I was planning at 285/75R16, which makes them an inch bigger in diameter but a massive two inches wider. They certainly improve the look of the vehicle but are a very tight fit as the modular wheels are also 8" rims (standard is 7") and have 20mm more offset than a standard wheel. The picture below shows me trying out the clearances by cross-axleing on some ramps. The front tyres are fine and steering lock is retained due to the extra offset but the rears just touch the flexible wheel arch "eyebrows" on full articulation.
I don't really want to lift the vehicle and it has been suggested that Bearmach Standard Height H/D springs are the way to go as these will produce a very small amount of lift with the benefit of making the ride smoother, so looks like another modification on the wish list! As a stop gap measure, I may fit extended bump stops to limit the articulation.
In November I bought a mini LED light bar in amber from eBay, slight problem with the Defender as it is a mag mount!
Well after a the 90 saw action with Hertfordshire 4x4 Response in the snow before Christmas, I finally sorted this out and glued a couple of small steel plates to the inside of the roof, hidden by the roof lining. An extension lead runs from the sockets on the cubby box and the light bar plugs in at the rear. Just in time as we were again in action in the snow in January, a least this time the 90 was visible!
Over Christmas I also got round to fitting my old rear strobes, inside the rear windows. On my old 90 I just made up some brackets, drilled holes in the rear body and riveted them in place. Not so keen to drill holes in the new one, I noticed there is what I assumed to be a bolt on the interior gutter just above the window. Closer examination showed this to be a short length of studding with a nut. This solved my problem; A short length of studding (Bought a pack of four from Wickes) and a small steel plate, fabricated to get the strobe in the right place and a neat installation was completed.
 The strobe unit was fixed just above, behind the interior trim with some double sided tape. Next job will be to actually wire them in!
 The photo shows the neat installation and the CB antenna mounting (see 28/11/09 below).
With the continuing bad weather, little got done in January and February apart from making the decision to sell the recently acquired wheels and tyres on eBay. I had decided they were a bit too big and decided to sell and see if I could make a bit of profit. Well I did but clearly could have made more than just a bit. They sold on "buy it now" within 20 minutes so maybe I could have priced them higher but I was in pocket and have the cash to purchase something a bit smaller.
28/11/09
Wired in the three additional power sockets to an additional fuse box that is fixed beside the main fuse box under the drivers seat. This means they now work independently of the ignition, which is useful and gives me four power sockets in total.
I also used the new fuse box to wire in the CB radio. Unfortunately the design of the Puma's dashboard means there is no way of fitting the radio in the dash without major modification. So I have bolted it to the back of the cubby box. This means it is still accessible but keeps it quite neatly tucked out of the way.
Still not in the mood to start drilling holes in the 90, I had a think about how to fit the CB aerial and spotted a neat solution. Using an angled bracket that was originally supplied as a mounting bracket for replacement seat belts in my old 90 (but not required), the aerial was simply bolted to the upper rear door hinge.
The aerial cable slots neatly through the back door and is fed behind the door seal. There is a gap between the door flange on the rear body and the one on the roof that is perfect to slot the cable through and then under the headlining and forward to run to the radio on the rear of the cubby box.
Once the door seal is pushed back in place, a very neat solution. 24/10/09
Since the Land Rover was first invented, driver leg room has been an issue on short wheelbase models largely down to the presence of the bulkhead behind the seats. This is especially true if like me you are six foot or over! The bulkhead has finally been removed in the latest 90 Station Wagons but not in the commercial variants like my Hard Top.
The solution comes in the form of a bulkhead removal kit from Mud UK, an excellent piece of kit that looks like a factory made solution. Combined with this I have fitted the same Company's Mud Rails, which mount the seats 30mm higher than standard and allow the seats to move 100mm further back than standard (only made possible by the bulkhead removal).
  You will note the gear locker in the back between the wheel arches. This was something that was knocked up out of surplus wood for my old 90. It is secured by bolting through holes that originally had the tie down points attached. Future plans include building a much better quality custom fitted locker.
The standard spec includes a cubby box between the front seats, replacing the frankly pointless centre seat that was traditionally fitted. However with pretensions of being a modern vehicle, this seems strangely out of place being as it is a simple plywood construction covered in vinyl. It also feels very hard under your left elbow with no padding on the lid, neither is it secure.
Luckily I removed the cubby box from my old 90, this is an Exmoor Trim Item in steel with a locking (and padded) lid, solving the problems of security and left elbow comfort in one fell swoop.
I also fitted a three way socket to the passenger side of the cubby box that connects to the cigarette lighter on the dash, this also has a separate switch block that I fitted on the drivers side facing upwards.
All OK until I tried it at night, switches have blue LED indicator lights that are so bright, they lit up the entire cab area!
I relocated the switch block to underneath the front edge of the cubby box, in the centre facing forward. Now I just have a blue illuminated transmission tunnel.
The picture shows the three way socket as well as the life hammer and torch (fitted with X-Eng "Quick Fists") mounted on the cubby box. I didn't fit these until January 2010 but decided this was a better picture than that on here previously!
 23.10.09
Next improvement was a steering guard, traditionally Defenders have had a standard tubular guard bolted to the chassis that sits in front of the steering rods. However this now appears to have been deleted from the spec. Luckily I had bought a steering guard from Rebel 4x4 for my old 90 but had never got round to fitting it. This is a three piece item with 10mm thick steel brackets incorporating front recovery points and a hefty looking 8mm aluminium plate that bolts between them.
21.10.09
First step in the improvement process was to replace the rather basic single CD stereo. A nice easy job with a MP3 enabled head unit being slotted in its place. This has the advantage of having a USB slot in the front, so music can be provided from a memory stick and with no moving parts this is perfect when driving off the beaten track.
  One downside is the tendency to knock the memory stick out when moving your hand from the gear lever to the indicators. On the Defender it is in exactly the wrong place! Easily cured with a short stubby memory stick. The other is the fact that although it was a simple plug and play job, the stereo won't work when the ignition is off, a bit of rewiring is in order.
12/10/09
As new (well new to me) on the day after I bought it home from Cumbria on it's first Byway outing.
 29/09/09
The day I discovered it at Lakeland Land Rover at Torver near Coniston, I had just finalised the sale and paid the deposit when these photos were taken.
  It is a Defender 90 Hard Top, the only "modifications" as such are those it left the factory with...
The dealer also moved the spare wheel from where it was mounted inside on the bulkhead to the rear door (note that it is "missing" in the first photo above).
Also if you look closely in the photo you will see twin trailer/caravan sockets mounted high up out of harms way on the rear offside panel, definitely a "non standard" modification.
Although it resembles the "XS" special edition it actually started life as a base model 90 so it doesn't have some of the bells and whistles those models have. No ABS or Traction Control and no Air Con, although it does have the excellent new heating and ventilation system. I actually like it this way as it remains pure to the original concept of the Defender whereby its natural ability combined with driving skill are what is important rather than reliance on electronic aids. And of course there is less to go wrong!
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