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1994 Defender 90 Soft Top
Service, body work and upgrades
This 1994 NAS Defender 90 has come back to us after a number of years away. It is now from VA and some years ago we did some work on this Rover. You can check that out by going here. Now after a lot of miles the 90 has returned for its next round of repairs and upgrades. The Rover already has a galvanized frame and such, so there are no frame rust issues or anything like that to deal with. There are some body rust issues to deal with however. The bulkhead is good, but the doors have become very rusty, so it is time to replace both the doors and replace the RH front fender skin that took a beating during some off road fun (it happens). We will also be doing some other upgrades and a complete service to make sure the 90 is in top shape.
One trick that the owner desired was an upgrade to the 95-97 NAS D90 turn signals and lamps, our LED versions of them. Here you can see that we have removed the stock 1994 square lamps and have laid out the placement using our templates. A few holes and some wiring changes later and this 1994 90 will soon have the benefits of sealed LED tail lamps.
This image shows that we have removed the damaged fender skin and are starting to strip down the doors as well as get the service work done. The good news is this 90 sports a 300 Tdi, so the service is simple and the owner has had tons of trouble free miles from our diesel conversion and the truck now has over 123,000 miles!
The heart of the diesel is still running like a top, but it does need some work to stay that way, so we are doing all the routine service work required at this mileage, like changing the timing belt (shown above) adjusting the valves and giving everything the once over.
A little while later the engine service is done and everything is back together and ready for the road or trail. Its always great for us to see our conversions come back to us and see just how well everything holds up. We build everything with longevity in mind and seeing this 90 in this great shape after all these years and miles later confirms that our way of building these vehicles is the right way.
Here you can see the rear LED lamps have been installed and are not only cool looking, but they won't have any issues with corrosion, and they are safer because they are brighter as well. A lot of folks ask us if 95-97 LED lamps will fit on a 1994... well, there is your answer.
Another thing that has started to sag, literally, due to the miles on the 90 were the seats. It is time for new seat trims and new foam backs and bases. Above you can see that we are stripping the seats down in order to get everything back into shape with new bits. While we have the seats apart we will also be adding seat heaters to help on those chilly trail rides.
Here you can see the fully re-trimmed seats back in place. The seat covers are back on to protect the new trims, but the seat now has its shape back and there is nothing scary hiding under the seat covers.
The heated seat wiring has been taken care of and the 2 stage heated seats switches have been added to the Tuffy center box so that they are easy to access.
This image shows one of the new doors all primed, seam sealed, painted and reinstalled on the truck, no more rust! We also added stainless steel door top hardware because the original stuff was badly rusted. The new stainless studs will make door top removal a simple task the next time the owner wants to take them off.
Here you can see the new fender skin has been painted and installed on the 90 and the body looks great again. Now it is time for some test miles to make sure everything is ready for the ride back to VA.
The completed Defender 90 looks great and will be an even nicer place to be with all teh upgrades, and the owner can rest easy knowing everything is serviced in the 300 Tdi engine and that all the service aspects of the 90 are up to date. Now the Rover can head off and start racking up another 100,000 miles! It doesn't matter if your 90 needs a full restoration or a quick service like this one. We are your best source for all things Defender... its all we do.
If you have dreams for your Defender, contact ECR. We'll be happy to make your Defender world class... just like this one.