modifications

chassis & axles

The chassis came to us in seemingly very good condition, for a 1997 chassis there was no serious rust and only a light surface rust and even some paint in some places. No cracks or anything that needed repairing were found.

In this type of expedition the chassis needs some under body protection but we think it is possible to go unnecessarily far. If you are driving at competition level were every second counts and you are going to extremes you do not want to be wasting time by worrying about bending and denting things. As we are planning to take a year over driving though Africa we are not going to be going at the speed or taking the risks that necessitate extreme under body protection.

Suspension

The headache of how to upgrade the suspension was quite a big one. The 'reasonable' extreme is lifted, 50mm (2inches), and uprated springs or the other is going with standard springs. The lifted/uprated option will give you greater ground clearance and offroad ability, less body roll and a meatier look. The downside is greater angle on the prop shaft UV joints and the front axle needs castor correction angle bushes. The original spring option will give a softer ride, especially important when driving over corrugations but the weight of all the expedition equipment may make the springs sag a bit, reducing the ground clearance. To combat the sag an 'Air helper kit' could be fitted. This is a pressurised air bag mounted inside each of the rear springs which take the extra weight. The pressure can be adjusted to suit road conditions.

The shock absorbers have been upgraded to OME (Old Man Emu) Nitorchargers, the originals will be spares. This was a simple decision as these are generally accepted as the best way to go.

body

The body came with wing top aluminium checker plates and not much else that was not standard. The bonnet had a spare wheel mount which we have removed. There is a small crack in the bonnet which may or may not be due to the weight of the wheel. Also the wheel made the bonnet very heavy to be opened on a daily basis.

The design of the 3 door 110 Defender produces a large amount of unused space under the rear wheel arch, where the rear doors on the 5 door version would be. We have fitted, well Robs father fitted (we where away working), a twin jerry can locker on each side. These allow us to carry 80 liters (4 jerry cans) of fuel very low down.

cab

The cab originally came with a center seat fitted, occasionally useful in the UK (though not very often) its impractical for Africa and the space can be used a lot more usefully. We have fitted a secure steel cubby box with a lockable stereo compartment. The speakers for the stereo are 10cm items and we have mounted them in the roof linings, there is just enough space behind. We also picked up, in New York, an FM transmitter that allows us to connect our MP3 players to the car stereo without wires.

On the roof lining we have mounted two storage nets, for paper work and other small things.

interior

The rear of the interior is based around the need for safe and effective storage of all our equipment and a place that may be used for sleep is the situation requires, heavy rain or security.

safes, security screen,

engine

The engine has not been modified very much, cost for one reason and reliability the other. Mainly the work done on the engine was repairs and hopefully preventative work.

We have replaced the air filter with a foam version that needs very little maintenance and if it gets wet or dirty you just wash it and hang it out to dry.

electric's

split charger