Thread: What to do to a brand new defender?

If I had my time again I think the order wouldnt be any different.
Seat Rails
Shocks and Springs really changed the car to awesome.
Drawers.

Then the Bonnet Checker Plate

If you want to prolong the life of your Defender I found a great thread on the defender2. Net site about rust proofing as well as advice from this site.

Admittedly I went to a professional place to do the majority of the work but I then used a few cans of lanox and sprayed everywhere could find a join or anything that moved.

Not sure if the product really matters that much to be honest. My dad has spayed CRC on everything for years and it does seem to help as our early and mid 1990s Defenders on the farm are all still going strong and had no rust proofing at all. A side benefit (for me at any rate) is I quite like the smell!

Ours had only done 53,000 km when we bought it, so virtually new.
First thing I added was the Mulgo seat rail extenders so I could slide the front seats further back and get more legroom. Very good move. I also fitted the Mulgo extenders for opening the rear doors to 90 degrees to make access easier.
Ours came with a Long Ranger 110 litre tank which has proven a great thing as we can do 1000kms between fills.
We will be adding rear drawers and a cargo barrier soon.
We fitted a Mantec rear wheel carrier to get the spare off the rear door, which was rattling and starting to bend. It has proven to be a very good thing and I recommend you do the same. Its not difficult as the holes in the bumper are already there.
Re noise insulation, before spending lots of money I recommend you buy some carpet squares and lay them all over the floor and up the firewall and see what effect it has. You might be surprised. I got mine for $1.50 each from a second hand store and even got a colour to match the vehicle. You can either just leave them loose to make cleaning easy or turn them over so the carpet is down and rubber up and Velcro the carpet to the floor, so they can still be removed.
The wheel arch noise I think is because the guard in the wheel cavity is steel. I plan to make a template and glue some rubber sheeting to mine when I get a chance to cut down the noise.
Eventually I plan to buy a locking Mulgo Exbox and move the electrics from under the driver's seat to the Ex-box under the centre console, which will make the electrics more waterproof, empty the space under the driver's seat and the Ex-box being locking can be used to hide valuables.
I wouldn't worry about changing the supspension if I were you as the standard is quite capable and has plenty of height already. I might add rear airbags just to assist with towing our camper.
I bought a $70 wireless reversing camera from Aldi which I am about to fit to make reversing easier. The camera just connects to the reversing light and the mirror clips over the standard mirror and you run power to it.
The good thing about these trucks is they are like Meccano kits and there is plenty of opportunity to fiddle with them.

Thanks for the tips folks. The wheel carrier upgrade sounds most popular - shame LR haven't developed it as a stock system.

Hi,
If starting again, I think the first thing would be to sort a 12V source and wire it in properly.
e.g.
Take 12V via a 30A fuse from the battery to a fuse box for 'anytime' usage, and then via a relay switched via the ign circuit to another fuse box for 'driving time' usage.

As I have a ute, I put the fuse box behind the driver's seat on the panel where I can access it easily. It is 'always on' and I find I would like a switched fuse box for other things like my gps logger, cause I'm always forgetting to turn it on or off.

Things I did (in order)

Longer mirror arms for using slide-on.
Raised air intake.
Bull bar.
Bought a slide-on.
Dual battery kit from traxide.
Fuse box behind driver's seat.
Headlight and spotlight relay kit from traxide.
Engine saver.

Bought but yet to install, Ashcroft ATB for center diff, Winch.

cheers

Another little cheap idea. I have just been to Clark Rubber and bought some self-adhesive door rubber strips for $9.95 a metre and run strips along the door bottoms on the body (not on the doors) where there is no standard rubber. It seems to have made a difference to wind noise. Five metres should be enough stripping to do the job.

Can you post a pic and the Clark P/n pls

Pick a profile and "call them today!"

Rubber Extrusions - Rubber and Flooring

I imagine DiscoMick used one of the "block profile" extrusion?

Cheers,

Lou