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Lightly loaded it's a hoot I agree - very perky engine and pretty light compared to most 4wds
Lightly loaded it is not on most of our trips though - 80 L water, 40 L fuel in Jerry cans, second spare wheel, tools, food, beer (lots of this), firewood. The only reason we got stuck was because we bottomed out in the ruts thanks to all the weight sacrificing us about four inches of clearance. Nothing a bit of digging and a bit more right foot on the second attempt didn't solve though. But, despite that, the only thing we used to get us out that wasn't carried by us was a second spade and some muscles to use it. So I guess it's self-sufficiency with a safety net, which really, in properly remote conditions you need. I have no intention of dying a horrendous death from dehydration due to bravado and travelling alone in places like that.
You got any pics from the Morocco trip? I do like Defenders, but possibly one too many compromises as a day-to-day car for me, and definitely too many compromises for my wife! They're considerably cheaper than a disco though, so I may well come round to one. Pity they don't have a bit more oomph under the bonnet though - it's a de-tuned Freelander engine is it not these days?
More fun around the camp fire if you're with a mate anyway. I've got a few photo's from Morocco, but as always not from the real interesting stuff as I was too busy not getting stuck / lost to take pics. - I'll try and learn how to post them when I get chance. There may even be 1 in next months LRO. My defender's a 2010 with a 'transit van engine' and is pretty comfy for distance. I'm about 5'11 and routinely drive 500 - 600 miles in the day either with work or sometimes pleasure without feeling too frazzled at the end. Wife and 2 kids dont complain either. The only time its felt 'underpowered' is when laden and with 3 tonne on the back, which I can live with for the better mpg than a disco. The latter is probably not a issue for you in Aus where they virtually give the fuel away.
Stoner, we need pics of the ongoing bulkhead project.
has come to a halt for a few days. The Bulkhead is free, but it appears I need to remove the sills as well to be able to lift it clear, so I'll climb back under one morning soon. Of course all thaty will happen then is I'll look at the sills and reckon they'll need replacing too 🙄
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Just take the sills off.
6 brackets either side I think.
Only decorative, throw them away and put some tree sliders on.
(not for tree sliding but to add some side impact protection)
not that simple, the sills hold the b pillar up too dont they?
Those little sill like things are decorative at best. Bloody bolts will be solid though.
we're not talking about the sill capping, its the box section rail. I thought that held up the rear door hinge pillar. Im expecting the bolts to be siezed though 🙂
Im going to pop out and have a crack at it now.
doh, Im a div, of course the sills dont hold the door. the second bulkhead does
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...but the sills are joined to the B pillars 👿
Ah well, out it all comes, and just as well, because they're shot too...
2 steps forward, 3 steps back.
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https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aasoK7sF4ek/UfZzIK3viQI/AAAAAAAAGdY/hUmRLUqpCFw/s640/IMG_20130729_140712.jp g"/> [/img]
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Save this link
Great company!
cheers.
Im going to be getting the bulkhead from these guys so will be talking to them about other parts too like outriggers and those sills.
http://www.ashtreelandrover.com/About_Us.html
Why not repair the one you've got and get it dipped yourself?
Is it that shot?
Save £800
http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic22028.html
Ill take a pic of it when it's out, but "shot" would be kind. "Absolutely rotten away" is closer 🙂
And Im not too shy of spending a little bit of cash on this thing (just got paid for last year too). I'm hoping to keep it for many, many years so want to makesure I have the key parts in very good nick before I start gluing it all back together again as I wont want to be doing this again.
Fair point, heard very good stuff about Ashtree and like you say it will last for years.
Impressive stuff 🙂 I want one of these.
[url= http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5461/9378544564_bd9a6803f4_c.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexleigh/9378544564/ ]Welland Steam Fair[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/alexleigh/ ]Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr
for a brief moment on Saturday morning you could have found my crawling underneath that exact same landy looking at the bulkhead fixings, Alex. 😳
🙂 I fancied it more for the machine guns. Would liven up the commute no end!
Slightly more modern version:
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Tiger6791, I have taken both the sills off now and got help to lift the bulkhead out.
Not sure if this is rust or just a sticker?...
Needed a video to take in all the horror 🙂
I will get ashtree to weld the b pillars on to some new sills. Maybe see if they can hot dip them too.
I often see old landies & wonder about them, sort of fancy one myself, well I did, then I watched that video, all the cheap ones must be axactly the same... For that reason I am out.
Keep the thread up though its nice to see one getting a decent makeover.
Yikes!
When you get your new galvanized bulkhead pump it full of Waxoyl or Bodyline cavity wax.
It's hard to believe Land Rover have ignored the corrosion issues that have plagued all their products. The costs of installing a galvanizing facility at Solihull would have repaid themselves in repeat custom many times over.
I saw some chassis rust on a Disco 3 the other day that would write off any economic repair. The car was five years old 😯
will do. Everything will be well coated/painted.
Since this has turned into a bit more of a full refurb Im going to take the seat box off the chassis mounts and treat those too before refitting all the floors and sills. It just seems a pity that when the chassis swap was done three years ago, they just moved everything else over locks stock. The chassis is obviously impeccable, but the 25yr old body is all shot where' it's steel . The Al stuff is pretty sound still though.
One day I shall treat it to 5 new doors though, but at £400 ish each that might have to wait a bit...
Sometimes after driving my 90 on wet salty roads I could actually smell the corrosion happening when I was working around it. It's a distinct metallic/electric smell that you never forget.
Still, are Landies any worse than any other car? My Dad owned one of the first BMWs ever imported into the UK, an early 2002. It was an exciting car but the ventilation was dire and within two years the front wings had rusted right through in front of the A pillars.
globalti, a good point, all old cars rust, even early fully galvanised ars are now getting rusty.
Throw in the odd river crossing & dumping a boat into the sea into the mix & its no supprise Landies are getting a bit rusty, good job Stoner is there to fix em.. (well one at least)
she's looking a little naked now...
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Good work 🙂
Updates?
wings, bonnet and roof back from the painters. Looks ace.
I got a salvaged rear tub from a breakers yard off an '01 TDI that had been rolled, so I can re use the rear floor and the cappings (thats £500 quids worth new! 😯 )
Ive stripped the donor tub, just got to break down my tub and then rivet panels together and get it to my painter.
This evening I have been working on fitting my eberspacher diesel heater into a new central cubby box. It looks sweet and it runs perfectly. Ive tapped into the diesel line under the drivers seat.
I have some pics on the phone, but the phone is downstairs and the missus is downstairs with some frump from the school governors so you'll have to wait 🙂
Ive also had a delivery of all the wiring stuff I need to re-wire all the lighting systems so that all circuits are relay driven with dedicated earths.
It appears I have some crap photos. I need to do some good ones. Will do as soon as Ive rebuilt the wings and their looms.
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Which Eberspaecher have you bought ? Did you factor in getting a remote control - there's nothing like the smug feeling of getting out of the shower on a cold winter's morning, pressing a button on the remote and knowing that your Defender is starting to warm up and de-ice all the windows.
🙂
Nice work and well done.
I'd planned on fitting a extra heater to our 110 for the winter but the clutch and flywheel thought they would eat my money instead lol
Just read on the BBC that production of Defenders is to end in about 18 months time.
I wish the EU would look at 'whole life' emissions - I'm sure these vehicles would come out fine due to their longevity.
Got a brand news 200 tdi pas pump to box pipe cluttering my garage if you need one
cranberry - it's a D2 that I had in the camper van. It was put in the camper van 6 years ago and Ive used it about 6 times since then so think it's going to be far more use in the landy. The heater in the landy is notoriously crap, where as the D2 with 2200W will do the whole car from one outlet. The louvred outlet can be aimed at the windscreen or down into foot wells.
I might fit a remote control but I have a timed controller for mine so can program it to come on for the skool run 🙂
I had to put a cowl on the back of the cubby to be able to mount the D2 far enough back in the box so that I can get a flexy hose on the outlet. It's come out quite well - I just need to fit a tidy protecting plate above the cowl so the boys dont climb on it.
orangeboy - a lot of people put an eberspacher in the drives stowage box, with a duct that bridges the seatbox gap so that it is sucking air in from the second row footwell.
cheers Tiger - mine already has PAS. Not sure when it got put in though...
I was fortunate that I bought my Defender ( LHD TD5 van back ) 2nd hand and all the work was already done - The heater is under the driver's seat and that means that the battery has been moved to a newly created stowage bin in the back in the wheel arch - this also allowed for the fitting of a 2nd battery, ideal for camping and running the Eberspaecher - all in all a lot of work and all done to a good standard.
You'll *love* that heater when the weather turns cold.
They are great heaters, I will be very chuffed when it's running this winter.
Im guessing that the yellow wire to the controller harness is suitable for a remote switch, bypassing the controller itself. WIll have to test it out and then I reckon I can stick a £10 12v remote switch from chinesebay on it. It saves having to run out into the cold morning to push a button 🙂
Im going to keep my battery box under the passenger seat - there's a big one in there, and Im going to put some relays and bus bars in there, as well as a distributed earth.
The louvred outlet can be aimed at the windscreen
Don't do this!!!!
I learn't the hard way 😥
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Its all right. Ive already broken my windscreen - trying to fit the ****** back in to the frame! Grrrr.
But in my defence there was a big chip right in front of the steering wheel from which the cracks all propagated so it probably wasnt long for this world in the first place.
How much heat were you hitting your windscreen with? Mines more likely to be a warm wash of air, rather than a blast from a blow torch.
Just warm air did that 🙄
There a reason the Defender heater is rubbish, it's to save the screen 😯
If you've bust your screen already put a heated one in. There's a few surplus stock factory ones kicking around at the moment. Check eblag
I was toying with it, but once youve taken the £100 for the screen and another £100 for the switch & relay and timer and wiring etc, it gets a bit much.
"Gets a bit much"... Stoner + Landy refurb..... Sentence does not compute 🙂
£100 + £100 = gets a bit much.
That's only 2 tanks of Diesel which is about 750 miles 😯
Get the heated screen put in and stop fanny'ing man
(*your gonna have to buy a screen anyway)
bastards. The pair of you.
I will look in to it further then...
Just order a pair of replacement headlamp bowls today.
Had a pile of electrical stuff turn up.
Hopefully start rebuilding the wings & looms later this week.
At least Ive saved £20 by hammering back into shape two rear quarter protectors salvaged from the crashed CSW. That's something. Isnt it? 🙂