AS ANY Land Rover fan will tell you, Land Rovers never die, they just keep on getting makeovers. Mostly it’s only a series of little tweaks and touches over the years – a bit of fettling here, a bit of twiddling there. Adding a bit, taking a bit away.
But at some point an owner’s plans may demand more than a tweak and a twiddle – nothing less than a full bloodied refit will do. So at that point comes the big decision: do it yourself, or place your pride and joy in the hands of experts?
Each has its own merits and drawbacks of course, and for most of us the decision making process is dictated by the lack of either time or funds – it’s one of life’s curious mysteries that if you have a lot of one, you rarely have much of the other, while some of us seem to be strangly able to defy the laws of physics altogether by having little of either.
However, others are more fortunate. Take a Portuguese customer of Mansfield 4x4, the independent Land Rover specialists in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, for example. He wanted a 90 to explore the highly enviable off-road terrain of his home country and to venture further into the wildernesses of North Africa. So he found himself a somewhat tired and battered 200 Tdi in Portugal, then shipped it to Mansfield for the full works.

First job in the workshop was to strip the vehicle entirely for a respray turning it from a dull and lifeless green to a classy deep blue, before the refit began. Mansfield found the chassis and engine to be basically sound but a replacement LT77 gearbox from Ashcroft Transmissions was fitted.
A heavy duty Valeo clutch now conducts the power from engine to transmission with top end gearing raised through a 24-spline GKN overdrive. ARB air lockers, with purpose made control switches set into the natty brushed aluminium dashboard console, will keep all four wheels turning regardless of the severity of the terrain. Various mechanical odds and ends, like wheel bearings, were replaced and refurbished.

Suspension also underwent a major refit with Old Man Emu springs and dampers giving the vehicle a two-inch lift. A full set of polybushes and OME steering damper complete the underbody refit with the added protection of an Allmakes steering guard. New front discs were fitted with new pads all round.
Self-recovery is taken care of by a Warn XD9000 winch set into an ARB heavy duty bumper. IPF spotlights are also fitted to the bumper and the 90 was due to have an external rollcage, snorkel and roofrack tent fitted before being shipped back to Portugal.
Internally, the half bulkhead has been removed and replaced by a tailor-made bar from Protection and Performance. The dash is uprated to a Td5 unit, with the addition of the hand-made aluminium centre piece. Carpets, rooflining and rear seats are all new and the massive coolbox that sits in the rear load area, is powered through a split charging system supplying two Optima batteries. The pump for the air lockers sits in a neat chequer-plate box built in over the rear wheelarch.

CSA alloys are shod with BFGoodrich All Terrain rubber with the spare carried on a Mantec swingaway rear carrier. The whole vehicle is set off with chequer-plating to the wing tops, sills, rear three-quarter panels and rear door interior. Side steps and rear bumperettes come from the Allmakes catalogue.
It all adds up to one heck of a wish-list that’s turned an ordinary 90 into something really very special. However, the parts used are readily sourced and a specialist Land Rover dealer such as Mansfield, either at their Bury St Edmunds unit or the main branch at Manningtree, will be able to do all, or any, of the conversion work for you, should you be after creating your own high quality touring Land Rover.