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1994 NAS Defender 90 Soft Top: Accident repair

This Defender 90 has come to us from CT for repairs from an off road, roll over accident( no one was hurt thank goodness). Just about every panel has some damage, including the bumper, but we'll get it fixed as good as new, and add some upgrades along the way. The windscreen hoop of the safari cage was destroyed in the accident so the customer wants a stronger one made that looks factory, as well as a host of other ECR upgrades. The 90 also destroyed the mail order rock sliders that were on it, so we will also be installing a set of ECR ROX sliders that can take the abuse without damage.

The first step with this or any crash damage is to tear down the damaged areas and find all the hidden damage so that everything can be repaired correctly for trouble free use when the owner gets the Defender back. Here the front clip of the D90 has been taken off and the damage inspected. The damage extends into the bulkhead, but that is no problem, as long as you are ECR. We'll get everything repaired as new, or replaced as needed, and get this D90 ready for the trail again... better than new.

Here you can see the new body panels, painted and in place on the D90. The body has been lined up again, the bulkhead repaired, new glass installed and everything is starting to go back together. Once the basic body work is done we'll start on the upgraded safari cage and ECR ROX sliders, as well as the customer's other requested work orders.

One of the customer's requests was that he wanted a stronger, but stock looking, safari cage, so in case another roll over happened he would have the protection he needed. ECR fabricated a thick wall, one piece front hoop to accomplish this goal. In this image you can see the frame mounted hoop being test fitted to the D90. This will real help with a worst case situation we hope never happens.

Here you can see the new front safari cage has been painted and installed on the D90. Notice that is is all one piece, and made from stronger materials, but has the stock look. In this image you can also see the updated soft top from Badger Coachworks being installed.

Another one of the customer's requests was for ECR to build a set of ECR ROX sliders that could take the abuse he wanted to give them. The last set of mail order sliders he had basically fell off, or bent in half, during the roll over. In this image you can see the custom ECR ROX sliders. They are ultra tough, frame mounted, and will stand up to anything. The customer also requested that some side steps be built in front and rear so that he could walk around the D90 without steeping down. The side steps also incorporates a slick side recovery point for a shackle.

Here you can see the upgraded full soft top we installed. This system uses a better seal around the doors so you have fewer air and water leaks, and the top itself is made out of a much better material, and in numerous colors. These soft tops can even have a sunroof! They fit well, and look great.

With the fabrication and paint work done we now start putting the details together, and reassembling the items that were removed. We also added a set of stainless steel limb risers while we were at it.

Along with the crash damage we had a long list of things to service and take care of. We installed a CB, you can see the antenna on the Safari Gard tire carrier, as well as did some routine service to take care of items like a pinion leak, transfer case leak and such.

The finished product looks great, and is now ready for shipping back to the owner in CT. There is no way you could ever tell it was in a roll over accident, due to the attention to detail of the staff at ECR. ECR can handle anything from a simple CB install to a major roll over repair. No Defender job is too big or too small. Let ECR know if we can make your Defender one of the world's best... just like this one!