Defender TD5 Rebuild

Started by grizzlychicken, April 18, 2020, 06:14 PM

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grizzlychicken

Well now onto door gaps! Or is it still working on my door gaps. Maybe scratching my head about door gaps?....?

My constantly evolving strategy is relatively simple. The b Pilar has to first be square to the sill rail (mine isn't yet :()


Then I'll adjust the shims on the bulkhead and use my stick gauge to make sure width is right.


That should sort out the front.
Then hoping the door gap on the c Pilar will just fall into place!
Here is my b Pilar gaps without the b Pilar square:

A Pilar pretty good gap


And c Pilar is bad but will change when I adjust the b Pilar. This is with the correct gap between the door and the b Pilar (not like the photo above)

Like this:



I am hoping I don't have to drill the spot welds out on the c Pilar and move it forward for door gap.
I think this is pretty much the fussiest part of the build and will be the most obvious if i balls
It up!


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ugly_90

It looks like you're missing the rubber/foam door seal for final adjustments. You're best to reuse old door seal until after painting.

grizzlychicken

Quote from: ugly_90 on January 13, 2021, 06:52 AM
It looks like you're missing the rubber/foam door seal for final adjustments. You're best to reuse old door seal until after painting.
Yup I still have those and using them to help with the gaps! Good tip


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grizzlychicken

Small things! Couldn't find one of my door hinge nut plates in my super organized filing system ;)
So decided to weld one up rather than paying for the replacement. Made it from some scraps I had lying around.

Used the other nut plate and some m8 bolts to align the nuts on the plate for welding so it will line up with the hinge.


Ugly welds but will work a treat :)



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grizzlychicken

So I worked a bit more on my door gaps tonight. From my last post you can see the main issue here was the b Pilar wasn't square. The bulkhead is now square to the sill rail so have to fix the b pilar.  I don't have a porta power so just set up a come along to nudge the Pilar straight



I set this up and decided I wanted to reinforce the sill rail to stop it flexing too much so clamped another piece of steel to it.


Looking at this setup I wasn't happy with the line of pull of the come along or where the fulcrum of force would be so added an outrigger piece of steel that I bolted to the come along to make the pull more horizontal in the b Pilar. With the end of it sitting next to the b Pilar at the base that would create the force fulcrum I need.


And success!
Good door gaps now on the right!





Next I need to tackle the left side!


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binch

ahhhhh, she's coming together nicely  ;)
Cheers, Bill

grizzlychicken

Did some work in the left door gaps.






Door gaps not great on this side either.

So started by checking the b Pilar again and it looks nice and square.


The issue on this side looks like the bulkhead not being square to the rail.

So took out a shim and adjusted the bulkhead bracket bit that didn't quite do it. So decided to tweak the bulkhead with the come along again.


That worked a treat!




Doors are square front to back and just have to get the doors square laterally now but think that can be handled with shims after I paint.




Will check the rear safari door gap next then tear it down for paint.


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grizzlychicken

Ok it has been awhile since I updated. Have been working on a few things. Most recently need to get my hitch mounted and sorted before I install the auxiliary fuel tank as the mounting bolts for the seatbelt support are going to be buried.
So if you haven't read my earlier posts the new chassis have some significant design differences that didn't allow me to use my current hitch in its stock configuration. I'll have to do a little review on the chassis sometime to identify the differences.
Anyway had to chop the threaded locating pins off:



It then could fit flush on the rear crossbeam member:


Here you can see the mounting hole difference in the new chassis:


I had some rear corner protectors that I decided to incoperate into the bumper mount.
As you see I cut the bumper tube then notched it and fitted it up each end.

Then it was a matter of tig welding it all together. Not the prettiest of welds as still building the tig skills but it will be structural and work!


It actually looks pretty bad ass! Next is off to the powder coater!


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binch

THAT....is going to be one substantial rear step! ;)
Cheers, Bill

grizzlychicken

#204
So started working in the heater box and from an engineering standpoint what a mess.
I have the factory AC option and I think my 12 year old son could have done a better job!
I was wondering why the passenger was always cooking in the winter and the driver freezes their butt off. Turns out they put the speaker hole in the dash from the factory but didn't bother to plug the hole when they installed the AC. So all the air blows out the speaker hole. No wonder it didn't demist very well!

So with the factory AC they try to duct the floor heat air through that rectangular opening into the square opening. And in the left the speaker hole is wide open to the heating box. So which is the easier path for air here???
Once I get this sorted it will be way better heat. Going to widen the AC intake for the heater too so air can be directed a little by the AC vents.

You can see the speaker hole opening here.


Will be much more efficient when I'm done :)


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Matt H

Quote from: grizzlychicken on April 04, 2021, 07:42 PM
So started working in the heater box and from an engineering standpoint what a mess.

That is Priceless  :D
No Road Except For Land-Rover.

binch

And that's why they got paid the big bucks!  Or...was it the accountants trying to save a penny.....?
Cheers, Bill

grizzlychicken

#207
So the hip bone is connected to the knee bone...

Before I connect the heater box back to the bulkhead I am revisiting the bulkhead for its long term corrosion resistance.

And you may remember I stripped my own bulkhead down, repaired all the rust sections and had it galvanized by the local galvanizer in Calgary. It is hot dipped so lots of heat is apples to the bulkhead during this process.




I am still super happy with the way it turned out by a few things to consider when you contemplating this.

The heat does affect the thinner sheet metal and it does warp in places. For me it didn't really warp anywhere you will notice it once it is all back together. There was a bit in the footwells and a bit around the heater outlet opening in the firewall.

Once the seal is installed with the heater box installed it will have a good seal and you won't see the mild warping.

The other issue with hot dip galvanizing the bulkhead is that the galv doesn't get into all the cavities. In fact the heat can burn the paint off leaving Unprotected surfaces in critical corrosion prone areas like the top of the a-Pilar at the junction with the window, the upper cavity that lies between the window and the vents where the wiper arms emerge and the lower cavity just below the vents.

So I decided to cold galv treat these areas using an extension nossle. I got a new inspection cam so put together a rather dull video which shows these areas pre and post galv treatment. You can see some black areas and flaking where the hot dip didn't quite penetrate deep enough. Particularly right at the top of the interior of theA-Pilar. Lots of prep!

You can see across the bulkhead I just pierce the tape with the nozzle to galv the cavities.

Upper cavity galv treatment


Lower cavity galv treatment. This pic is the inside cab part of the lower cavity behind the heater box.


I am super happy with the result and think it will really helps with corrosion resistance!

https://youtu.be/zjBbnvMLgX4

Next stop.....fix the heater box......and so that saga continues :)


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GR8PMKN

If only every defender could be so lucky!  Nice work!

grizzlychicken

I love working on stuff that you can only see in the future and you will only see the results if you screw up. If you do a good job.... nothing happens..............
The before and after pictures don't really do it all justice


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