Defender TD5 Rebuild

[grizzlychicken]

End result was a lot more air through the heater.   One day I'll enlarge the opening from the heater into the bulk head ahhahahhahahah!

The biggest restriction, by far, in the stock heating system is the lower dash vents.  They are quite a bit smaller than all of the other passages. The bulkhead hole is around 30% larger so is not a restriction unless you open the dash vents.  If you have the lower dash out, it is an easy job to enlarge the holes, the flaps and make bigger deflectors.

Great advice John. And when you have the factory ac those small holes in the heater box push the floor air into even smaller holes in the ac unit to be distributed out via the ac venting system.  Have to reengineer those too........aka cut bigger holes!




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[Red90]

And it is simple enough to add a real heater while everything is apart.

[Matt H]

It's the Rover Gods punishing you for daring to have AC.

[binch]

Get a tiger torch and send bursts of Hot flame across the air intake.   We'll call it the Binford 9000!!!!    So....how much is asbestos these days anyway!?!?! ::)

[grizzlychicken]

Ha you guys are hilarious

So have been doing some front wing body work.
Ther is a bit of a gap between the bulkhead and the front wing on the right. Not sure how it got dinged there and it's missing the little mounting bracket that attaches to the bulkhead so will have to remedy that :)

Here is the gap just behind the mirror btw the bulkhead and the outer wing panel


So pulled out the upper part.


Then had to get the contour right so made a paper template of the contour


Then traced it onto some 1/8" metal sheet


Then cut out the metal to make a dolly for the contour

Had to be thin metal to fit between the mounting bracket and the outer panel. This thickness was perfect.


And the fit up is already better


With my bodywork skills it won't be perfect but will be way better!


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[grizzlychicken]

Well it's been a while... but have been prepping for paint! Started with sanding all the bits then epoxy primer. Will have to do the painting in 4 sittings as my "paint booth" is a 10x10 pop up tent with extensions covered in poly and taped together with vapor barrier tape.


The "booth" works great. Have a furnace filter duct taped and cut into the poly wall and an extraction fan on the other end of the booth which keeps air flowing nicely. Almost a down draft booth :)

After epoxy primer I have one panel I couldn't quite get perfect by metalworking.


The corner curve is a bugger to get perfect with my hammer and dolly skills anyway!

So skimmed it with filler.

Yes I know it is a bit more than a skim. Lots of sanding ahead. I used a piece of tape on the border of the curve so I could fill upto it and sand to the line to try to keep these twisty aluminum panels straight for final paint.




Yup definitely lots of sanding but super happy with the result. So have epoxy primer then body filler.

Here is a question. What does everyone do after sanding the filler? By sanding the filler you reexpose the metal in spots so my gut feeling is to add a layer or 2 more of epoxy primer before I use the fill primer to make sure the base layer is secure.

What would you do...........


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[mike.heathcote]

The wings are a lot harder to straighten than they look - great work!  It's aluminum, so once it bends it stretches - so it's near impossible to get it perfect again without some level of filler. 

When I did my trucks, after I sanded the filler I used an etch primer on all the exposed metal.  After that, I sprayed the whole truck in 'regular' primer before the color and clear coats. 

Good luck - it's coming along really well! 
Mike 

[binch]

Spot coverage with epoxy primer or good etch primer on any bare metal.

Great job! ;)

[grizzlychicken]

Spot coverage with epoxy primer or good etch primer on any bare metal.

Great job! ;)

Great tips thanks bill

The wings are a lot harder to straighten than they look - great work!  It's aluminum, so once it bends it stretches - so it's near impossible to get it perfect again without some level of filler. 

When I did my trucks, after I sanded the filler I used an etch primer on all the exposed metal.  After that, I sprayed the whole truck in 'regular' primer before the color and clear coats. 

Good luck - it's coming along really well! 
Mike

Thanks mike!

Now I'm just toying with the idea of using a sealant in the seam. Think it will look better once painted. Something flexible like seam sealer would work.


Think I'll try this black stuff.

Flexible paintable seam sealer.


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[grizzlychicken]

Fun fact:
The more body filler you put on the more body filler you have to sand off........sigh.....


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[grizzlychicken]

Wet sanding fill coat with 600 grit. Have some small pinholes dam it!


Using a combo of hand sanding for the complex curves and blocking for the flatter bits..
Lots of sanding still to come......,,


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[Chad M]

There are some thin foam blocks that contour to the compound curves, they'd work perfect for the area you're working on there. 

Big props for your dedication to this project!

[grizzlychicken]

There are some thin foam blocks that contour to the compound curves, they'd work perfect for the area you're working on there. 

Big props for your dedication to this project!

Thanks Chad,
You're right I should be using something. I have a set of these and will likely try the thinner profile.

The hand sanding seems to work pretty well though on the curves if you are careful to even out your pressure.

I didn't realize how old my hands look until I looked back at that last wet sanding pic.....

So I spotted a nice 2004 110 in Canmore a few days ago and had a nice chat to the guy who was from Calgary. He had Kahn in the UK spruce his up before he shipped it over and it looks great. Funny when your rebuilding one that the only pics you take are of it's undercarriage
#cantremeberwheremynutsgo


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[grizzlychicken]

Painting the beast still. Shot some color but rookie mistake not having enough light. Should have done an extra 2 coats of color. Oh well wet sand and reapply! Will do this at the end now as there will be touch ups needed anyway!


A few weeks back I was fitting up this panel and there was a bit of a bump in the metalwork where the black line was.

So why not hit that with a hammer you may ask! Another rookie move as chipped off the edge of the finished paint.

Yes I know. Dumbass!

Well fixed that now anyway


And just using an asphalt undercoating for the bits I can't access well when installed.





Now off to my next paint screwup! Well at least I'm learning a lot. Having to paint multiple pieces multiple times......


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[binch]

Are you going to put some sound absorbing foam around the tranni tunnel (underneath)?