Defender TD5 Rebuild

[grizzlychicken]

Yup still working slowly on this! Put together the front grill which I think turned out great so far.



Added the dynamat lining to the rear cargo space!  Small steps!





Questions!
How important is the rear seatbelt mount for rear quarter panel safety and strength? I'm thinking of not installing this but it connects the rear bumper with the c Pilar so looks pretty structural on the rear of he vehicle.  Thoughts?

Also for this panel that holds the older rear seats:

It won't really have a function with the exmoor rear seats so how structural is that? There is a large expanding bracket that sits behind this too.
This rear area I'm going to add draws for a camper and likely another bed......so no rear 3rd row seats.


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[binch]

My 2 door exmod doesn't have those brackets.   So I can't say if they are needed or not..

But it's looking GREAT!!!!!

[grizzlychicken]

My 2 door exmod doesn't have those brackets.   So I can't say if they are needed or not..

But it's looking GREAT!!!!!

Ok. I think it is safe to omit the seat latching housing but the post that connects the c Pilar with the rear bumper seems pretty structural.... I'll keep googling :)


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[grizzlychicken]

Ok ran out of my press fit screw clips so measured them up and 3d modeled them and printed them in ABS. Came out pretty well! Saves shipping time and cost for sure.





So then thought new handles would be good too so printed out a set of handles in ABS too. Good since one of mine is broken anyway :)



While I was at it decided to print a bonnet leg holder clip too. Have the britpart ones but they seem fragile at best. This one should be beefy and do the trick!



Baby steps.....


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[grizzlychicken]

Decided to install the rear seatbelt rail. On reflection it is pretty structural. This area usually ties into a roll cage when installed I think..




This is the support in the rear wheel well connecting the rear bumper to the seatbelt rail. Again load transferring. It is different to stock as it is the support used when installing the auxiliary fuel tank...




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[Red90]

You can't have enough structure. The bodies were never designed to take any forces. If you care, you really want a well designed cage.

[grizzlychicken]

Thanks John. I was considering a roll cage but difficult with the Icarus roof :(

Well spent a lot of time in the shop today. Mostly little fiddly bits. Want to lay some carpet but as soon as I do that you know it will get dirty and full of aliminim shavings.... Do need to get it j stalled though before I do the auxiliary tank install.

I did dynamat the Icarus roof surround for some extra noise help.



Also installed the second row seatbelt brackets. There doesn't seem like much attached these to the body.... Am I missing something here????




Installed my rear reverse and rear "fog" light. The left light has a red dot on the back so I'm assuming fog, and the right has a white dot on the back so assuming reverse. So was planning to plug the left lamp to the fog harness and the right lamp into the reverse harness. Does that sound correct? Does anyone do anything else here?




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[grizzlychicken]

Working on carpeting the tub today! Happy with how it's looking!




Checking spacing for the second row exmoor seats



Installed the stainless rear threshold seal retainer


The front is still a mess!

Also pulled out the doors to start to build them. Rear door first!


Hmm new rear door latch doesn't sit flush..... outside handle binds on the door surround. Upgraded the rear door to version with the seal. Think 2002?
Will have to do some more research :)






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[grizzlychicken]

Well got the rear door mounted. Drilled some fresh holes as the right corner is all new metal. Gaps not quite 100%. Need to drill the mount holes out a bit so can shift the door right.




Also started to build the doors. Got 4 new doors but looks like the mounting points for the inner panel don't line up. (Sigh!) the old doors have 3 brackets that attach the outer panel too. Thinking I might drill them out and rivet to the new doors. Downside is not great for the old doors which are likely salvageable for someone's build in the future....

Also looked at the door outer handles and wonder if I should change them out.....Locks definitely need changing as they are pretty seized.




These are the brackets on the old door.




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