49-514 Defender/Perentie

[Dervish]

Here is a project I’ve had going on for a while. On AULRO I started a thread investigating options of how best to get a 4BD1 into my Defender. In the end using a Perentie chassis won out as engineering a body swap (basically a seating capacity change using factory parts) is much easier than engineering the 4BD1 into a ‘97 Defender (plus you get the gal chassis, recovery points, upgraded CVs etc). So from that point the task became finding the best driveline and chassis. I found 49-514 when visiting Trent (dodgeguy1942) to look at another Perentie he had. It had been stripped down to driveline, chassis and firewall; perfect. A deal was struck with Trent for the chassis, firewall, running engine and a number of other bits for the conversion. I’ll leave the nitty-gritty for the AULRO thread, but 49-514 has been brought back to life.

The REMLR database entry for 49-514 notes it was probably left incomplete after AQIS stripped it. It is certainly very clean. Here is an auction photo.



How it was when it arrived at KLR.



Work in progress.



It's amazing who turns up at these places.



How it is now beside its sister 48-010.

[boxy]

That's awesome. Match the one JRA made back in the day

[sydneymver]

Does KLR make any comment about the towing capacity being less than a civy 110, just curious .

[AlexR]

Great work there you've given me an idea now for a project. And actually it's real sister is my perentie 49513

[Philthy]

Big job!          Never judge a book by its cover…


A question as I’m curious by your solution for the fuel tank, did you retain the spare on the safari door and put the civilian one back under?


You’ll get a few double takes in that, well done!

[303Gunner]

Does KLR make any comment about the towing capacity being less than a civy 110, just curious .

More than a comment, there was quite a discussion going on about.

Dervish was having some troubles, see. Troubles with the RMS. Trying to get this vehicle registered specifically. Because the chassis is off a 2 door Perentie, the compliance is for 2 seats and Category NA. But the body is off a 5 door wagon with seating for 5. This would make it Category MC and different ADRs apply. Not only that, the Perentie and 200Tdi Defender have different GVMs.

The easiest (ie most legal) solution was that the Compliance Plate from the matching chassis would be used. It would be registered as a Perentie. An Engineering Signatory looked at the "additional" seats and was very happy (looks factory!), so signed off on it. But then....

The RMS struck!

The local RMS office could not find ANY reference in the database for a Land Rover "Military 4x4". Doesn't exist, never made them. But there's one parked outside, come look at the plate! Nup, no such thing, come back when your paperwork is in order.

Well, long story short, Dervish's new vehicle does not have the towing capacity of a Perentie, it has the towing capacity of a Defender.

[Dervish]

Does KLR make any comment about the towing capacity being less than a civy 110, just curious .

Well, long story short, Dervish's new vehicle does not have the towing capacity of a Perentie, it has the towing capacity of a Defender.

The RMS has refused to acknowledge the existence of the "Land Rover Military 4x4". The poor lady I was dealing with behind the counter had to deal with me in one ear telling her that the vehicle existed and an "expert" on the other end of the phone telling her that the army only bought "Defenders" and modified them themselves. Sufficed to say, the expert won out.

So despite our very best intentions, the vehicle ended up being registered as a 110 (at least it wasn't a DEFENDER 109 SERIES III as suggested to be the closest match by the RMS  ). As an exercise, I've been looking through all the Perenties for sale online with their number plates visible and putting them through the RMS' online rego check. It's amazing what they come back as:

One GS is a 1988 GREEN LAND ROVER DEFENDER 4 X4 UTILITY
One GS is a 1989 GREEN LAND ROVER 4WD UTE UTILITY
48-010 is a 1987 GREEN LANROV UNKNOWN UTILITY
One Senior Commander I found is a 1988 GREEN LAND ROVER 110 4WD ESTATE PANEL VAN WITH WINDOWS & SEAT/S - 4WD
A different one is 1988 GREEN LAND ROVER 110 4WD ESTATE SMALL BUS
And one FFR I found is 1989 GREEN LAND ROVER DEFENDER 4X4 PANEL VAN WITH WINDOWS & SEAT/S - 4WD!

Each of these options have different GVMs and GCMs.

Suffice to say the official tow limit of a Perentie may be 1.2T, but none of our vehicles are officially Perenties. Perenties don't exist, remember?

A question as I’m curious by your solution for the fuel tank, did you retain the spare on the safari door and put the civilian one back under?

The fuel tank is under the rear; the spare will sit on a wheel carrier, but we're still scratching our heads at the best way to do that. Hopefully we will be able to re-use the Kaymar wheel carrier from the Defender with a different means of mounting to the chassis, stay tuned.

That's awesome. Match the one JRA made back in the day

Thanks mate. That wasn't intentional, but there is more than a passing resemblance.

Great work there you've given me an idea now for a project. And actually it's real sister is my perentie 49513

I noticed that when I looked at the database, strange thing is; our membership numbers are consecutive too    What's the project idea?

[FFRMAN]

I wonder if the confusion is because Land Rover is actually two words but on the compliance plates it is one word - LANDROVER MILITARY 4x4 - maybe there search engine doesn't convert... just thinking out load

[Diana Alan]

I wonder if the confusion is because Land Rover is actually two words but on the compliance plates it is one word - LANDROVER MILITARY 4x4 - maybe there search engine doesn't convert... just thinking out load

I had the same issue, it is merely that the RMS don't have it in the "Makes and models" database, so most get registered as a Land Rover 110 Isuzu.

[THE BOOGER]

Would a letter to RMS from LRA sort the problem? They would only have to admit that they did build them

[Dervish]

Would a letter to RMS from LRA sort the problem? They would only have to admit that they did build them

I don't think it's a problem; people are getting the tow allowance they want. Some are losing 150kg on their GVM, though.

[Minikeg]

1988 GREEN LAND ROVER 4WD UTE UTILITY

that 2nd gs is probably mine .. cause for my greenslip i went though every land rover option nrma had and chose the one with the cheapest premium haha

[AGAS 5]

That's a great project you've done there Dervish - well done !

Pete

[Diana Alan]

I wonder if the confusion is because Land Rover is actually two words but on the compliance plates it is one word - LANDROVER MILITARY 4x4 - maybe there search engine doesn't convert... just thinking out load

I had the same issue, it is merely that the RMS don't have it in the "Makes and models" database, so most get registered as a Land Rover 110 Isuzu.

Actually I must correct the above I had to stand at the counter while the agent tried to enter the model and then she said, I'll enter it as a land Rover 110 with Isuzu engine.

Now I look at the paperwork its registered as 1988 - LROVER - MILITARY - BLANK - UTE  where the blank is variant

[Phoenix]

Looks great, I have updated the DB as well