Land Rover 90 & 110

Land Rover Ninety 90 & One Ten 110 1983 - 1991

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1983 saw the introduction of the new Land Rover 110 at the Geneva Motor Show.

It was the first of the new line of Land Rovers, to replace the series Land Rover, first introduced way back in 1948. It coincided with Land Rover's 35th birthday celebrations.

Amongst the many "ground breaking" features of these new Land Rovers was that the chassis had a new coil sprung suspension, with live beam axles. The coil springs, were not only an additional comfort when used in rough terrain, but also added additional suspension travel and articulation in very difficult off road situations. There were disc brakes to the front, but the rear brakes were still drum on these early 110. It was not until the introduction of the Defender 110 that disc brakes were fitted front and rear as standard.

Externally the body looked somewhat similar to the earlier series 3 and especially the stage 1 V8. Differences with the 110 were plastic extensions riveted to all four wings, to give extra protection to the bodywork. There was a new plastic radiator grill, plastic trim encompassed the head and side lights and the bonnet was redesigned to line up with the front wings. This gave the new Land Rover 110 a more pleasing look.

The windscreen on the 90 and 110 was now a single piece of glass, but still with the ability of being lowered forward on a soft top, or if you removed the hardtop, you could also tilt the screen forward.

The doors, all of them, were very closely based on the series Land Rover. The upper side doors window sections still had sliding glass fitted in a separate removable frame. The luxury of roll down window glass was to come a little later, in late 1984.

The very rear door support was beefed up and now brandished three hinges rather than two, plus some extra strengthening. Otherwise it too was closely related to its series ancestor.

Cloth trim was offered on the new and more comfortable 110 seats, normal option on the more spartan utility models though was wipe clean plastic. The front seats were a world apart from the earlier not very comfortable seats which came with the series Land Rover.

Not only did they now incorporate a removable head restraint, but there was an adjustment provided to allow the seat backrest to be moved backwards and forwards, although they could not be reclined too far back on the 2 door models because there was a bulkhead in the way which stopped this.

1984 LAND ROVER 110 V8 Stationwagon. Noticeable early features are the sliding windows in both the side doors. The upper window sections were all detachable, in effect two piece doors.

Various side stripes were used on the County models over the years as and when Land Rover decided to give a facelift to its models now and again in order to help boost vehicle sales in these turbulent years. What was ideal for many people was the versatility of the body styles offered. With the 2 door 110 (and the 90) was the ability to make the soft top into a hardtop and vice versa. All you needed were the parts, some tools and a little time.

Engines used in these early 110's were direct decedents of the series Land Rovers with some modifications. The petrol engines were the dependable but slow 4 cylinder 2.25 litre, based on the series 3 engine, with a 5 bearing crankshaft and fitted with a weber carburettor, to help performance. The diesel engines offered in these early 110's were initially 2.25 litre 4 cylinder normally aspirated units also with a 5 bearing crank, based on the earlier series Land Rover 2.25 liter diesel engine. Both the petrol and diesel engines were replaced within months of launch by 2.5 litre lumps. Both engine types, whilst still retaining 5 bearings, they produced just a bit more torque to urge the 2 ton of Land Rover on that little bit faster.

At the other end of the spectrum, for those who could afford the running costs, Land Rover offered the ultra smooth and powerful Rover 3528cc V8 engine, seen earlier in the fabulous Series 3 stage 1 V8 (the stage 1 V8 was a sort of prototype - testbed 110 Defender, to get potential customers used to the new look soon to be launched 110 "Defender"). It was a natural choice to sell the V8 in the new 110 as this engine had proved so successful in the Range Rover. In 1965 Rover had bought the design and manufacturing rights for these wonderful V8 engines from Buick in USA.

The original Buick small block design was 4.6 litre. It was by far a cheaper and more reliable way to go rather than designing a V8 engine completly from scratch, as Triumph had done with their unsuccessful V8 which they fitted to the Triumph Stag. Rover originally used the Buick V8, reduced to 3500cc in their beautiful Rover P5B. The P5B had earlier been named as a P5 with a six cylinder 3 litre engine, so there was space enough for the V8 lump. Rover went on to fit the V8 into a number of it's cars over the years, including the Rover P6 and the Rover SD1.

In later years, because the engine was so adaptable, Rover fitted it out with fuel injection. They also increased the cubic capacity a number of times, including the full 4.6 liter that the original engine was designed for. Because the engine being alloy was relatively light it was fitted to Rovers MG mark, the MGB GT V8 sports car. Rover also sold the engine to a number of low volume sports car manufacturers, including TVR of Blackpool.

Unfortunately, tougher and tougher emission rules rendered it impossible to carry on with the production of these engines and over the last few years (2004) the manufacture has ceased. So it was the perfect engine for Rover to chose for the new Range Rover when it was launched in 1971 and subsequently the new Land Rover 110 in 1983. With its high torque and excellent revving capabilities it was a great choice, only drawbacks being that it was expensive to manufacture and thirsty to run.

An all new gearbox was installed in the 4 cylinder 110, same for petrol or diesel engines. It was a Land Rover designed 5 speed gearbox called the LT77. The LT77 suffered from not so wise owners filling it with regular gearbox oil, such as EP90, rather than the lighter ATF which it was designed to run on.

The wrong oil caused the synchromesh to bind so smooth gearchanging became difficult and the gearbox felt like you had treacle in there. Normally running the gearbox with EP90 meant that the only solution was to have the box rebuilt as the synchro rings became too badly damaged, but sometimes, you could be lucky if you changed the oil to the correct ATF, with no damage done, only maybe being careful when changing into second gear. The synchromesh on the LT77 gearboxes was never that good anyway.

The mighty 8 cylinder Land Rover 110 was fitted with an LT 95, a 4 speed "tough as old boots" gearbox, derived directly from the Range Rover. These LT95 gearboxes, proved to be the strongest and very robust. If you are lucky, you can still find secondhand overdrive units for these boxes. They are not as rare as people think, as they were often fitted to Range Rovers, before the advent of the Range Rover with the 5 speed gearbox. 1985 came and the V8 was fitted with the Santana Spanish design 5 speed gearbox, called the LT85. Whilst a strong tough unit, it was prone to being a noisy gearbox.

Land Rover had offered selectable 2 and 4 wheel drive transfer box on the early 110. This option was withdrawn in 1984, meaning that you could only buy the Land Rover 110 with permanent four wheel drive, same as today's current model.

The long awaited 90 Ninety was finally launched in 1984 and this replaced the rather tired and certainly aged but still well loved series 3 88". Following on from the 110 One Ten the 90 was offered with various body styles, soft top, utility hard top, truck cab and stationwagon. Engine options were also the same as the 110, 2.5 petrol or diesel, or the lively 3,5 litre V8.

1987 saw a change though, for Land Rover offered the diesel turbo 2.5 engine in the 90 or 110. Although it was never a strong engine, it did offer more power than the normally aspirated engine, but it was prone to overheating and smoking, with adverse bore wear. Only saving grace I can say about this engine is that Land Rover decided not to fit the Italian VM Motori diesel engine which had even more problems, which was fitted in the Range Rover. For a good reliable diesel engine the Land Rover owner of the 1980's would have to wait a few more years.

1984 LAND ROVER 110 V8 Stationwagon. On this nice original example, the early County badging and stripes are still in place. Also the lift up door handles can clearly be seen, together with the early sliding window glass. The 2 piece split doors were replaced by one piece with roll up windows in 1985, but still with lift up handles. Then in 1987, the doors became more or less as they look on the current Defender with plastic handles and push button opening. To this day, the more serious offroader prefers the earlier doors because the handles being recessed could not get caught and ripped off when greenlaning.

1989 LAND ROVER 90 2.5 diesel turbo LHD.

1988 LAND ROVER 90 stationwagon 2.5 diesel turbo from Italy.

1988 LAND ROVER 90 stationwagon front passenger compartment.

1988 Land Rover 90 stationwagon 2.5 diesel turbo rear shot.

1986 LAND ROVER DEFENDER 110 HARD TOP 2.5 DIESEL fitted with a snorkel.

1987 Land Rover 110 Hard top V8 with stationwagon roof with alpine windows. The heat shield as fitted to the safari-stationwagon roof on the series Land Rover disappeared on the 90, 110 and Defenders.

Land Rover 110 Camper with pop up roof.

1989 LAND ROVER 110 2.5 diesel turbo LHD hardtop.

1986 Land Rover 90 2.5 n/a diesel LHD utility hardtop. On this rough example you can see the roll up windows, but with lift up door handles.

1986 LAND ROVER DEFENDER 110 HARD TOP 2.5 DIESEL

1987 Land Rover 110 V8 LHD Hi-Capacity pick up - Ex Switzerland. Switzerland seems to be a very good source for all sorts of Land Rovers, especially 90 and 110. This example was equiped with a heavy duty compressor operated trailer braking system, together with the heavy duty roofrack and rather natty home made drain pipe snorkel.

Land Rover V8 3528cc engine as fitted in 1986 110.

1989 LAND ROVER 110 2.5 DIESEL TURBO - FRENCH REGISTERED

1986 LAND ROVER 90 HARDTOP 2.5 NORMALLY ASPIRATED DIESEL

Camel Trophy Land Rover 110 stationwagon.

1984 Land Rover 110 stationwagon. The above car was fitted with a Nissan 3.3 liter n/a diesel engine.

1986 LAND ROVER 110 V8 STATIONWAGON - EX SWITZERLAND

1989 Land Rover 110 diesel turbo hardtop utility - Fitted with a Ramsey winch.

1989 Land Rover 110 diesel turbo hardtop utility with side window.

This is a picture of one of the notorious rust areas on the 90, 110 & Defender, the outer bulkhead. Normally it can be successfully repaired, but with extreme rust, it can be replaced. Like all panels and body sections on the 90, 110 and Defender, it is held in place with nuts and bolts, (all be it a lot of them).

This also is a picture of one of the notorious rust areas on the 90, 110 & Defender. The a-post as it known, forms the outer part of the bulkhead. Rust is normally found in the lower section, below the hinge, but rust can sometimes be found be all the way up the post in extreme cases. All is repairable thankfully, depending on your financial well being, or if you are keen and proficient at DIY, how good your welding skills are.

This again is a picture of one of the notorious rust areas on the 90, 110 & Defender. The footwells. Again easyish to repair.

1989 Land Rover 110 hardtop utility - This example was fitted with a Range Rover 3.9 liter V8 engine with fuel injection and went like stink.

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The information on this website is derived from my own knowledge base and experiences as encountered over several years of dealing in Land Rovers. If there are any mistakes or errors, I apologise. I will add more information as and when I get time.