Hi,
I did it and don't regret it.
I had the cash reserved from when we sold our house and was ready to buy a new car. Then I got to thinking about the Land Rover I always wanted. It was all downhill from there!
Ultimately, I had Stephen Peters at Safari Rover in Orlando, Florida do the job. I had met him while test driving a full restoration he did and was impressed with his work.
We bought a donor 109 in Virginia and an ex-Canadian MOD 110 Frame that was in Colorado. Stephen had a 4.0L V8 and I tracked down an R380 and LT230 transfer box on the Internet. Stephen spent the next year putting it all together.
I'm really happy with the results. It was about 1/2 of what ECR would have charged for the job, but Stephen learned a lesson and won't do it as cheap again, I suspect!!!
I think he learned a lot, and last I heard, he's dropping an 88 body onto a D90 chassis.
Lots of pics of my build here:
http://tinyurl.com/47nc3
The only thing I would have done differently would have been to rustle up a TDI300 or some diesel that would fit to the R380. The 109/110 is eating me alive in gas prices (I commute daily in this beast!!!). Two weeks ago, I bought a 1983 Mercedes 300 diesel and converted it to run on WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil); the car and the conversion will be paid for in 10 months' savings with just my commuting figured in!!! Check out (
www.greasecar.com) for details on this; it's working GREAT!!! Last week was my first full week of driving for FREE!!!
Definately talk to Stephen (sales@safarirover.com) for advice, if nothing else. He's a great guy and really knows his Rovers!
-Chris-
