Gearing a Pre-Heroic, PVP Leveled 80 for tanking?Follow

I am about 4 or 5 hours from hitting 80 using AV through the 70s.

This means I have a few pieces of PVP gear, but there is no DEF on any of them.

I do have a level 80 that I can use to purchase some gear though.

I'd like to get up to being able to tank heroics as quickly as possible, which to me means not relying too much on the vagaries of the random item drops in instances, and the luck of the /roll for the item.

Is it possible to gear up a tank paladin to entry level heroic tanking gear using the AH and quests available to someone who hasn't done ANY questing in Northrend yet?

I can't find a list that lists what specifically I should try to get, and most every list I am finding contains a lot of instance drops.

Too add to this, Wyrmrest chest piece is the best for a long time. HUGE Defense boost which will put you to 540 faster.

Since you've PvP'd your skills(I assume) are well under cap too. Get defense to 400 BEFORE you enter an instance.
Aside that, Aurelius is dead on. Personally I recommend doing whatever you have to for Tempered Titansteel boots as they will last a while, do NOT buy the helm as T8.5 will replace it. If you push hard in a few days you can have T8.5 body/helm, then work on other Conquest pieces and the Triumph Libram.