Thread: Saving the defender

Originally Posted by Andy130

Thanks Daz,

What do you guys do for dent removal ? There is a lot of hail damage on this truck, I was thinking about getting a glue puller, but then read that it can do more damage and warp the panels.

Any advice appreciated mate.

Sorry for the delay in replying, I came back to see how ur progress is going!

Plenty of owners leave the character in the panels so to speak, on the odd ones I send it to the local panel shop, the guy is old school and can work aluminum correctly (as in not just bog it up).

But honestly none have been hail damage, the trouble with hail damage is it stretches the base panel all over. Taking it to a good panel guy is going to cost a pretty penny or so, I figure thats not what ur about with this project so....

If it was my own personal project then I'd google, search, get some tools and learn all about how to heat n shrink alloy etc etc... surely its like mechanical repairs when the odd person says "it cant be that hard a mechanic does it" .... right?

Hell even if u get in the ball park n need to do a bit of bog work, thats going to be more than expectable...

Regards
Daz

She will hold together those welds are fine, a bit thick but nothing is going to let go
DC is the way to go for easy welding, I just got (actually won) a dc welder and welding is so much easier.
Chris

Originally Posted by Andy130

haha, those welds were fat and ugly, but unbreakable. I tried to destroy them and bent the metal instead.

Finally got my new welder working tonight so I spend an hour laying beads on a sheet of 3mm. More practice tomorrow and I might weld up the rear cross member I'm making too.

haha welding is only practice!!
I'm really crap at it and never use my own welding skills on a customers vehicle, but thankfully my brother inlaw is some sort of welding freak god and does mig, tig whatever is needed and is spot on...... not that I tell him that pfft

Regards
Daz

'Epic' is the only word I can use to describe this, as I am enjoying the process, but its just a way bigger task than I had anticipated.

Sunrise to sunset every day since the 28th December and Im not even 30% done on the chassis.

I have completed the welding on the rear cross member ( under the rear cab) and all the brackets have been sanded, cleaned, rust converted and painted.Once i get a few more coats of paint on that section of chassis the cross member will go back in.

I've also got most of the rear cab section of chassis stripped and painted. Painting is on hold at the moment due to the rain.

I've used KBS coatings rust and chassis paint - putting it on is the easy bit, its the prep that takes so long.

Hoping to have this process done prior to the Australia day long weekend, when I hope to spray the floor pans, seat boxes and the stripped cab frame and roof.

Between rust conversion processes, I've also redone the sikaflex in the roof channel, as the old stuff was cactus. Funnily enough though, a section about 3 inches long of the new stuff failed to bond into the channel, so I've cut that out, re-sanded and once the rain clears i will relay it.

What else.....windscreen frame is now out, as the top seal was cactus and needs replacing - which reminds me, the air vent hinge plates are rusted out, now that the window frame is out, I can get the angel grinder onto those easily now.

Oh yes,I also finally got the oversprayed rubber underbody gunk off the rear panel of the cab ( that really was a nightmare) and I have sanded all parts of the cab in preparation for a respray.

Here are a few photos of the work so far - I will get some of the painted chassis once its done.

so, after stuffing around with 2 degreasers that did not budge the underbody tar spray one bit , I decided to give oven cleaner a go. Bingo, it works a charm.

left it on for 90 minutes and the tar underbody coating just peels off. Got more done today than in the last 3 days.

Now I know not everyone thinks this should be done, but i'm stripping the chassis back to bare metal beofre the KBS coating goes on, and as far as IM concerned, the faster and easier I can get this done, the better.

Conversation at the R and D dept. at JLR.
"Hey Jerry, there's a few dozen Defender nuts on the AULRO site who want to be able to hose out the replacement Defender, do home servicing and pass the vehicle onto their grand children.
On the other hand there are a couple of hundred thousand potential purchasers who want to look as if they are going to cross the Simpson in the vehicle, generally pay to have the vehicle valeted and want to upgrade it every 18 months.
What market are we going to go for?"
No wonder JLR are taking their time to come up with a replacement

Saving the Defender you reckon spudfan? JLR already have four separate models that cater to the wannabe valet parking set! Why move Defender into that market too? when the only work vehicles on the market now are dual cab clone utes which are also softening for the family market.

Rather than saving the Defender, Jerry will preside over the death of the Defender if he goes that way.
2018 line up: RR, RRS, Disco, Disco Sport, LR Pretender, LR Pretender dual cab ute, RR 2WD mini moke.

There's another whole market being ignored: HD work vehicles. My tip is Isuzu will build a new vehicle to fill the gap between SUV and truck, to replace the demise of Defender and Land Cruiser 70 series - as both Land Rover and Toyota become solely passenger vehicle manufacturers.

The only way to save the Defender will be to do as OP Andy130 is doing. Defender nuts rejoice!

Originally Posted by MrLandy

There's another whole market being ignored: HD work vehicles. My tip is Isuzu will build a new vehicle to fill the gap between SUV and truck, to replace the demise of Defender and Land Cruiser 70 series - as both Land Rover and Toyota become solely passenger vehicle manufacturers.

I agree MrLandy - both defender and LC70 simply fail the new safety standards, which is why they are on the way out- but in all other respects and for all practical purposes they are ideal HD work vehicles.

Personally I would have loved to have seen landrover come out with a 130 with a v8 Diesel as standard - would have really given the LC70 some serious competition in the mines, and would have pumped a huge amount of spares etc back to the defender nuts here on AULRO once the mines were done thrashing them