This Defender 90 is looking fantastic considering what it was like when I got it. But it did end up costing me three times more than I’d planned and I learned why old Defenders are so expensive. I had a plan and I stuck to it but then things changed a little bit. What actually happened is a bit different but the end result is still great. I’m going to share with you exactly what it cost me.
Defender Build Plan
The plan was a simple list of things that needed fixing. I wanted to get this vehicle up to scratch, mostly cosmetic because mostly it was working fine. I was just going to focus on fixing the things that I could see that were broken like the interior trim and some of the outside trim. Items needed a good old clean, to be fixed or replaced and tidied up. I wasn’t planning to do any re-painting or any major changes to the vehicle because it’s still in good nick. But what actually happened was a little bit different.
The Surprises – Why Old Defenders are so Expensive
I was starting to understand why old Defenders are so expensive. Starting off everything was fine but then I discovered unexpected items.
I realized that the transmission was noisier than it should be and there was a bad wine coming out of the transfer box. I noticed that there was a diesel leak coming out of the injector pump so I had to have the injector pump looked at. The airon pump failed, there was a crack on the bell housing. While I had the bell housing off so we also changed the clutch thrust bearing and the rear main seal in the engine. Proactively I decided to change the suspension bushes, new timing belt and I wanted new tires. The viscous fan was changed and I also put in a Madman engine monitor.
I didn’t have to do many of these items but I would end up doing them in future anyway. Then you know the saying – one thing leads to another? So you start on something and then it leads to another and another. Like on the interior I wasn’t planning to do a lot of re-upholstery and I was planning just to wash all the seats and reuse them. But once I looked at them the foams were just finished. When I took them apart and they actually needed to be replaced so I got completely new kit. Then the seats are looking good and now the interior trims not looking so good and there was a bit of a crack on the dashboard. So I had the dashboard recovered I had the center box recovered and then yeah one thing leads to another. Thats why Defenders are so Expensive.
Then things start looking good and you’re thinking maybe I should get some seat covers. And then there’s some paint on the outside that’s not looking great and maybe I should fix that. And the sills, I’d taken the tread plate off and then that didn’t look so good anymore. I painted some pieces on the back of the vehicle that were just really terrible. I ended up doing quite a bit more just to make sure that I’ve done enough so that nothing sticks out. So that’s how it changed, I did everything on the list and some more.
The Cost of Restoring our Defender 90
Let’s have a look at what it cost me to do this fix up. The purchase price was R170,000 about $9500
I was planning to do just cosmetic items inside and outside and planned around R50,000. I listed what I spent, some of the items didn’t cost me anything it’s just what I did myself. Dash cost R6700 and the roof I painted myself. The cab and upholstery cost a bit, about R23,000 and on the outside I spent R33,000. So I am sort of there and there about with my R50,000 estimate, maybe a little bit over.
But then the items that really pushed me over the top were the maintenance items. As I mentioned some I had to do and some I chose to do, but those were the biggest items. You know you can’t always see everything and those are the things that are going to cost you. So that gives me a total of R150,000, three times more than I thought. When you add that on to the purchase price the total cost of the vehicle as it stands now is about R320,000. So you can see that restoring an old Defenders can be expensive.
| Defender 90 Fix up | ||
| Rands | ||
| Purchase Price | 170 000 | US$ 9 444 |
| Dash | 6 700 | |
| Fix instrument and steering dash | ||
| Replace aircon dash | 990 | |
| Fix heater controls | ||
| Replace indicator stalk | 5 060 | |
| Replace light switch | ||
| New set of keys | ||
| Dash, door and roof clips | ||
| Fix/replace RHS vent lever | 650 | |
| Fix gear knob | ||
| New wind screen wipers | ||
| Roof | 750 | |
| Paint roof white | 250 | |
| Replace alphine light rubbers | 300 | |
| Tighten and reseal roof and sides | 200 | |
| Redo rear windows | ||
| Redo window felt and rubbers | ||
| Cab & Upholstery | 23 013 | |
| Clean front carpets | ||
| Seat retrim kit | 5 865 | |
| Replace seat bases | ||
| Clean door panels | ||
| Refit and tighten door panels | ||
| Fix door locks and window winder | ||
| Fix cubby box lock and openning strap | ||
| Recover dash, centre box steering wheel | 2 500 | |
| Fix and tighten floorboards | ||
| Re-carpet rear | 350 | |
| Install sound deadenning | 1 700 | |
| Reupholster headlining | 2 500 | |
| Repaint seat rails | 350 | |
| Repaint brake lever | ||
| Clean and repaint rear seats | ||
| Rear door handle | 1 048 | |
| Rubber matts | 1 500 | |
| New Seat covers | 4 500 | |
| Install better sound system | 2 700 | |
| Exterior | 33 170 | |
| Refurb/Replace faded grill, light surrounds worn door handles | 2 000 | |
| Weld rear door crack and repaint | ||
| Repair rear cross member and paint | ||
| Change spare wheel carrier | ||
| Rear panels and driver door repaint and polish | 7 320 | |
| New tyres | 14 480 | |
| Wheel nuts | 370 | |
| Wolf rims and powdercoating | 9 000 | |
| Maintance items | 89 604 | |
| Timing belt service | 1 800 | |
| Injector pump recalibration | 8 028 | |
| Transfer box and propshafts service | 24 926 | |
| Suspension bushes, anti roll bar bushes, rear pivot | 16 200 | |
| Repace flywheel housing, new thrust bearing and rear main oil seal | 15 600 | |
| Replaced track rod ends and drop arm balljoint | 1 500 | |
| Replaced viscous fan and airconfan | 4 600 | |
| Airconpump replace | 7 450 | |
| Madman | 9 500 | |
| Sub Total | R153 237 | US$ 8 513 |
| TOTAL | R323 237 | US$ 17 958 |
The Finished Product
Now looking back on doing this vehicle I’m really happy. The rest of the family’s very happy and my son’s happy, he thinks it looks great.
I now realize what the difference is between fixing up a vehicle and rebuilding a vehicle because I’ve done both.
Rebuilding a vehicle you are aware that you’re going to take the whole thing apart to redo everything. You are prepared for a lot of surprises and you know that this thing can go either way. You are going to do everything that you can to get this done in the best possible way. It’s like there’s no limit and that’s how you tackle the job.
But when you fix up a vehicle you start off thinking I just want to do this list of items and of course then you find more things. It becomes difficult to draw the line. How much do you fix and how much do you leave, that’s the difficult part. So it’s always going to be difficult when you start out like that and you’re not quite sure where are you going to end. Inevitably, you will do a little bit more because that’s just how it goes. You just need to be prepared for that type of a thing.
But when you get a good result at the end, you’re happy that you’ve done a little bit extra. It’s going to give you more reliability and you’re going to have to do less and worry about less in future. Now you know why old Defenders are so expensive.
In the previous article I explained the detail of Restoring our Defender 90 to Live a New Life . If you are looking to buy a Defender then check out our Defender Buyers Guide.
Watch the full video at The Overland Legend on Youtube
