Here’s one from our archives…

Defender V8 = More power!

Way back in 2004 we thought it would be an interesting exercise to build an off-road biased Defender to showcase and test our wares. We came across a rather sad and neglected example with 2.5 Petrol engine and LT77 5 speed box. Out went all of that, in went a much more purposeful V8 3.9 EFi engine mated to a 4 speed ZF automatic gearbox.

A new rear cross member was fitted at the same time to make the underside structurally sound.

Well Equipped

We added our own excellent Famous Four Heavy Duty plus 1 inch springs (FF001000 & FF001001) mated with Bilstein heavy-duty gas assisted shock absorbers (FF000992 & FF000993) and heavy-duty Bilstein steering damper (FF000989). For off-road protection we fitted rock sliders, diff guards (FF003735) and aluminium steering guard (FF001232). BFGoodrich 265/75X16 Mud Terrain tyres were fitted to silver modular steel wheels. To finish it off we mounted a Warn 9.5 XP (FF003438) winch to a winch bumper (FF003472 pictured fitted to this vehicle on our web listing), with a Plasma Lightweight winch rope (FF003441).

Silver Dream Machine

The freshly silver-painted beauty made it’s off-road debut at Kirton Lindsey Quarry later that year, and starred in a number of photo shoots and product testing for some of our ‘FourSport’ Off-Road goodies which are still available on the website.

The performance and torque were awesome, the off-road cross-axle abilities superb, and the grip exceptional. All round it was a wonderful vehicle. Sadly, due to lack of use we sold the 90 on for a new owner to enjoy. Recently we were pleased to be contacted by it’s current owner who clearly loves and cherishes it to this day, appreciating the unique qualities of our bespoke modifications all those years ago which are still performing well and standing the test of time.