1994 NAS Defender 90 Soft Top
Repairs and Upgrades
This D90 has come to us from MA due to some front end damage. The front axle tube was ripped open off road (no diff guard) and the fender skin was wrecked. The customer also decided that they wanted a host of upgrades that reads like a "who's who" of D90 upgrades while the 90 was with ECR. Upgrades will include everything from ARB air lockers front and rear to 30 spline rear axles and new HD steel wheels, ECR ROX sliders, tie rod guard, diff guards, Safari Gard tire carrier and that is only the start.
First step was to repair the body damage by replacing the fender skin, and then adding some wing top guards that will not only look great, but they add protection for the fender tops that were taking some hard use. In this image you can see the new fender skin and wing top guards have been installed. Notice that the D90's sills have been removed as the Rover will be getting ECR ROX sliders.
In this image you can see the ECR ROX sliders in place on this '94 D90. They are frame mounted front and rear and are made from 3/16" box section steel for the ultimate tough slider for your Defender. They have a slick shape at the front that makes your wheel flare look correct and not trimming of the flares are needed. They are fully primed and painted with PPG products and even have Hi-Lift jacking points built in so that if you jack up the D90 by the slider that it won't slide out. These are a great asset off road, and they stand up to just about anything.
We also installed new HD NATO steel wheels, painted body color, and 5 new Super Swamper 35x12.5 10 ply radials. In this image you can also see the 30 spline HD rear axles that work with the ARB air locker.
The wiring of the accessories in this D90 was absolutely a mess. We ended up gutting all the systems and basically starting over. We removed a garbage can full of useless wiring and incorrect switching and got the D90 interior sorted out to be clean and functional, as you can see in the images above. The ECR supplied aux. light switches mount in the factory wiper motor cover for a clean look,and we sorted out and relocated the Rancho 9000 remote control to the cubby box (we had to replace the cubby box as well).
We also installed a Safari gard rear tire carrier. The stock unit was badly rusted, and the SG unit gives a better departure angle with the 35" tire installed and also is heavy duty and can carry a lot of gear.
In this image you can our ARB Air Locker control switch. This Land Rover factory switch gives us the ability to control the front and rear locker on an easy to reach flip switch on the steering column. This makes lockers operation smooth and you hardly have to take your hands off the wheel to engage one, or both lockers.
Here you can see the new front axle tube (that repaired the crash damage this D90 came in for) along with all the heavy duty parts ECR installed to both enhance and protect this D90. The OME steering stabilizer will help control the 35" tires and the Safari Gard diff. guards front and rear will help stop any accidental off road damage. We also installed proper recovery points on the frame (the customer was using the shipping tie downs and you should NEVER do that), as well as our heavy duty drag link, tie rod guard and more. Now this D90 is ready to tackle the hard stuff.
Notice that the ECR full tie rod guard leaves the stock sway bar system in place. This means more flexibility if you would like to retain your sway bars and run sway bar disconnects. Most other tie rod guards require the removal of your front sway bar, the ECR units give you a choice.
The front and rear differential have been fitted with ARB Air Lockers and Ashcroft 4.11 gears to counteract for the 35" Super Swampers and keep the D90 steaming down the highway at the proper rpm. We also added longer stainless brake lines as well as CV joint drive shafts front and rear so that the 90 can flex on the trail, and still have correct , quiet operation on the street.
This image shows the completed 1994 D90 ready for delivery. The 90 has had a host of ECR upgrades fitted from lockers front and rear to new tires, heavy duty rims, CV drive shafts and more. It also has had a ton of service work done to repair previous damage as well as some really poor quality upgrades that were previously installed. All the details right down to the correct switches and new heater intake have been taken care of by our full time staff, and this ECR prepared Defender 90 is now ready for the street, or the trail.
Let us know if we can repair or upgrade your Defender. We are the USA's best Defender source, nobody knows them better.