Defender TD5 Rebuild

[grizzlychicken]

Thanks Bill.
So I’m rebuilding the rear quarter as you can see. I purchased the exterior panel and the rear panel and measured the wheel well part and had it bent up. It was pretty straight forward as all the angles are 90 degrees. The tricky part to bend was the front angled section of the wheel well. I had to have this made 3 times to get it just right!


I am riveting it all. Originally the wheel well piece was spot welded to the outer panel but for my skills rivers work great and they are very strong too!


There are various reinforcement pieces within the wheel well. The first consists of 2 brackets, one is a 90/90 bend “s” piece and the other is a 45 “L” piece. Again originally spot welded but I used rivets.





 It’s amazing how floppy the individual pieces are but how solid it gets when it’s all riveted together!
There are also 4 reinforcement brackets I will rivet in that line up with the under floor supports to make the whole rear end rigid.


I held it all together originally with a few rivets and then pre drilled all the rivet holes, then pulled it all apart to seal all the joints with sealant to make it water tight and the riveted it all together to make the completed piece. I then flipped it upside down and ran another bead of sealant around the edge of the panels. All in all I’m happy but takes a bit of time to do it right!





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[grizzlychicken]

Might not look different but all chalking done and rivets in so think this is complete!




Planning to powder coat the metal top caps black so in the end may have some aluminum rivets that will stay aluminum color. The rest gets color!
Now for the other side after I get my extra bits!


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[binch]

galvanize the capping and then paint it.    Unless you want to deal with the rust and repaint in again within 10 years.   LOL   

[grizzlychicken]

galvanize the capping and then paint it.    Unless you want to deal with the rust and repaint in again within 10 years.   LOL   

Well it’s already galvanized. Just want to get a better finish and think I will like the blue black contrast.



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[grizzlychicken]

Getting the floor supports sorted now. I think they should be flat when you place them on the ground:


I think I need to tweak mine as they have sagged at one end:

https://youtu.be/BYz1i5bi5Tg

These look aluminum so should be ok to bend


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[grizzlychicken]

Hmm actually think they are steel.....


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[Red90]

Yes. Those are steel.

[grizzlychicken]

Yes. Those are steel.

Thanks John. That’s what the magnet test told me too!
Also trying to figure out the front support. I imagine it should be flat left to right  but has a bit of an offset on it front back. Ie the front seems a material thickness shorter. And has a couple of recesses in it too.






I imagine the edge profile should be 90 degrees

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[grizzlychicken]

After looking at this piece further it is pretty bent!

I have a light behind it so you can see the banana shape.
So decided to bend up and fabricate a new support out of aluminum. It’s height is offset the material thickness to allow the rear floor to just come to the wheel well level.  I fabricated a second piece from the second row floor that goes to the edge of the wheel well.



Marked the attachment points for the floor support.


Then cut out slots for the floor supports.



The floor piece is bent to go under this piece hence the under floor support being offset in height. There will be a seam here but think it is better than what was there to start with.


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[grizzlychicken]

Got the second rear quarter rebuilt and very happy with the outcome.



Also put together the exmoor rear seat brackets to see where they would line up.

The next step is building the tub. The critical part here is to get the rear door gaps right. I’ll have to research the width. Measured my safari door and it is 36” wide and around 34” on the inside frame. Need to double check those measurements. I found a few measurements online between the rear wheel arches which is 36.4”.
Here is my rough sketch


Think I will build it off the body and square it all up then install it. Need to figure out what fasteners to use to attach the cross member supports.

Still a work in progress!


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[binch]

Looking good Shane!!!!

Those exmoor trim seat bases are interesting looking too.....

[grizzlychicken]

Flipped back to the infamous defender heater rebuild. I know there is a few options here in strategies to deal with the woeful defender heater performance. I think I mentioned my strategy earlier which is:
-Open the bulkhead aperture an additional 3 square inches
-install a new allisport heater core which is quite a bit beefier
-replace the current fan with a new heater fan
-upgrade the heater fan control to the Dutch system.

I did need to repaint it to help with corrosion resistance and of course to make it look pretty:)


 




I ordered a new heater seal but didn’t realize there is a big difference between left hand drive seals and right hand drive seals.



So just ordered a new seal. Have to see if it fits!
Pretty happy with how the heater plan is coming.


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[grizzlychicken]

Looking good Shane!!!!

Those exmoor trim seat bases are interesting looking too.....

Thanks Bill,
Yes they are. So they only fold down and don’t tilt forward like the original seats do so see If I like it like that or not


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[Matt H]

Heater fan control to the Dutch system?

Pray tell us more about of this strange magic???

[grizzlychicken]

Heater fan control to the Dutch system?

Pray tell us more about of this strange magic???

It’s nothing really fancy. Just changes the 2 speed heater fan control into a variable speed fan. It won’t change the fan top end but should have more adjustability in the middle range.

https://shop.landreiziger.nl/elektronische-ventilator-aansturing.html


I like it for the OEM look and feel. Ie it’s not just a knob it’s still a slider

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