My Defender Story

Documenting the ground up restoration of my North America Spec Land Rover Defender 110, #66

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Fuel. Lots of Fuel.

on April 07, 2021

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In June / July - Jim finally took his assignment in Japan. This left me down not only a pair of hands, but a project manager and decades of experience working on Defenders. Over the course of the project, we experienced tons of delays - many related to Covid and other issues. From sourcing a frame to stripping the original frame, to paint and other delays - we just ran out of time. Early last year, Jim and I had Drew at Coniston Classics do the welding on the original frame. The work was great, and while we were at his shop we were able to get a great look at the work he and Jimmy were doing on their custom builds. From the moment we walked into their shop, Jim and I agreed, that should things go awry - and I find myself unable to finish the project, this was the best place we could take it. Jimmy and Drew have a ton of experience with not just Defenders, but Land Rovers in general. They are factory trained LR technicians, and met while they were working at Land Rover of Richmond in

Well That Escalated Quickly, aka the 4th of July Mega Post.

What an epic week its been since my last update. We've made huge disassembly progress and the next day will be used to start processing anything that needs to go off to paint, powder coat, galvy or chemical dipping. In summary - we're down to bare frame on my 110, and have started the building up process on Jims 130. Read on for the timeline and tons of photos. Last Thursday we had about an hour, and pulled the drivers side t post. Jim and I got back at it early on Friday, and finished pulling the passenger side t post, as well as the tub. This was also a great chance to get a look at my fuel return line leak. It looks like someone used non fuel injection fuel hose here, and it finally gave up the ghost. A potentially dangerous situation that is easily avoided. Feeling good about our progress Thursday and Friday, we were joined by Dave on Saturday. He gave us a hand tearing down the front end and dash. Note the growing debris field on Jims poor lawn. Feeling that we were mak

Defender Sunday (aka FedEx Recovery)

A sign of things to come? Photo: David Harmantas Jim alerted me Saturday that he and a friend would be out scouting for photo spots. I weaseled my way into going along and we agreed to meet up at his place at 9am. I had been telling Jim about a little water crossing I'd found in Loudoun County, and thinking about the rain we had this week, I thought it might be a little high for us to cross. Just in case we tried it and failed, I went ahead and tossed my tow straps in the Tuffy security drawer , just in case. After all - you never know what will happen. On Sunday, we met up with photographer friend David . David is retired from the US Army, and while in law school at Iowa State, he also freelanced as a sports photographer for the college paper as well as local papers in the area. His work is amazing. After about an hour, we had been cruising some dirt roads around Loudoun County and ended up at a ford which crosses the Butchers Branch stream . There had been some recent rain, so