Series to Defender - "hybrid" - what's involved?

[pmd]

What's required to rebuild a Series into basically a D-90?
Let's say one finds a Series in need of a rebuild.
Let's also say one finds a donor d-90 that has a solid rolling chassis, motor and most of the body parts - what is required to legally rebuild the Series?

Thanks in advance.

[Series 3 guy]

A Shitload! Not the end of the world though....get a defender bulkhead and work your way forward basicly.....sounds useless but essentialy thats what ya do. I have seen it done on dozens of trucks over here. Job looks ok but it's not quite a defender.looks slightly off as the wheel bases are different.

[XtremeMarine]

You'd be better off with a donor series IIa, or III, and just buying a defender "coiler" galvanized chassis. Make the bulkhead and body panels of the series fit the defender chassis. Or get a good running defender chassis that's been rolled, and just rebuild it off of a salvage title. Good luck.

[msggunny]

Originally Posted by XtremeMarine

You'd be better off with a donor series IIa, or III, and just buying a defender "coiler" galvanized chassis. Make the bulkhead and body panels of the series fit the defender chassis. Or get a good running defender chassis that's been rolled, and just rebuild it off of a salvage title. Good luck.

I think, which can get dangerous, that ECR is the only place you can get a new coiler chassis in the USA right now. Unless some prat has a stock of them and hasnt let us know about them.

There used to be a company that imported them, but they stopped a while ago.

Please some one prove me wrong.....

anyways...

Just buy a RRC or D1 and chop a few inches out of it, or go with the donor D90 chassis.

No, actually go with a D1, and give me the D90 chassis....

[trecker]

as for the parts you can check out car part

[pickuprover]

Wise Owl wil bring one in for you, however you have to be very committer to get a quote. They get about 4 or 5 requests a year and it always fall through because of the cost of it. I beleive most of the usual suspects would be happy to import one for you, but no one stocks them because of the cost. I am currently looking at a SerIII galvy frame for a 109 and we are up in the 3500 CAN$ range before it hits Canadian soil. In Ontario, there is Land Rover Salvage, who fairly regularily has good used defender frames, might be worth looking at them, and then having any neccessary repairs done, then get it dipped.... (he never gets series frames (or rarely gets good ones, because if the frame is good, he rebuilds the truck on it.)
As for rebuilding the Series in to d-90 legally in the states. I would imagine that there would be sooo much red tape involved that it would be next to impossible, but I am not sure as I am not in the States.

[gordo]

The cheapest way to do it is to use a D1 or RRC chassis, cut down and weld new outriggers and a crossmember to it for the series or 90 body. Im ass deep in building one now and it is very time consuming. I used a run down series 3 I picked up for 500 bucks, trashed the chassis, saved the body, and then tore apart my old RRC trail toy for the frame/engine/drivetrain etc. I left the engine/trans/axles etc in place, chopped 10 inches out of the chassis to make it fit the body right and tacked everything in place and mocked the truck up. The only D90 body parts are the hood and breakfast. Once pretty much everything was mocked, I tore it all apart, welded the chassis up, and sent the body out for paint. Thats basically where I am right now and Ive got 11 months into it already. There are some photos in the hybrid section as well. I will say mine has taken a bit longer as I fabbed up my own sliders, rollcage, tire carrier, bumper, snorkel and anything else I could make vs buy. If you cant do it yourself save your coin and buy a D90 as it would cost a TON to have someone do it for you. Gordo

PS: a 90 wheelbase is 92.5 I believe so a series tub probably wont fit right on it. You could cut the rear fender out I suppose, plus you can get a running D1 or RRC for next to nothing vs a donor 90. Gordo

[slouzon]

Originally Posted by pmd

Let's also say one finds a donor d-90 that has a solid rolling chassis, motor and most of the body parts - what is required to legally rebuild the Series?

If I had this I would just build a D-90.
Maybe with a Series front clip?
Although I do like the looks of the D-90 front end.

[The Colonel]

when i bought my land rover series 3 it came with all parts needed to put a defender front on it. i didnt want to do that so i sold off the parts. if you put a larger engine in you then have to upgrade the engine mounts, etc . why do that to a good series....???

[CliftonRover]

The other option, what I am doing right now, is take a RRC or disco and use the frame, engine, axles, etc... and get a series 109 pick up and ust the tub shorter. In my case I had a 88 tub so I added 12" to the tub, but it mught be easier with the 109. Also I had to source defender hood, fenders, and grill. Now you have a 100 wheelbase, truck, basically a defender but with a 5 foot bed. this is really useful. To solve the roof length problem I found a series pick up cap. I also switched to edelbrock performance carb and intake, along with hedders an straight through exhaust. I wanted there to be as little wiring as possible. The truck will end up being about 1500 lb. lighter than the RRC or Disco that you start with, meaning it will get better gas milage, and be faster.

[pmd]

Originally Posted by slouzon

If I had this I would just build a D-90.
Maybe with a Series front clip?
Although I do like the looks of the D-90 front end.

Thanks for the replies so far.
If one wanted to go the D-90 route (chassis and body panels, roof, etc..) - what parts are needed from the titled Series to get the vehicle leagally registered?

Thanks

[cellulararrest]

what on earth are you up to, Paul?

[jimfoo]

With what it sounds like you are doing, legally you can't get it titled. I'm pretty sure the chassis defines the vehicle.

[XtremeMarine]

In most states, true. But some states have very lenient "homebuilt" and "kit-car" rules for titling. If you modify the chassis enough, a kit-car clause could take effect.

Honestly; before going any further, the smartest and safest option would be to get the rules from the commonwealth, and go from there. Pretty easy to get by t5he fed rules, as they don't do the registering, but the states rules have to all be met.

Good luck.