KeithMac
12th March 2014, 04:34 PM
My wife and I came back late last year from 3 years living in Tanzania and I decided I had to fulfill my dream of owning a Land Rover. Not long after taking possession of my ’94 110 Defender wagon we I headed up north to Geraldton and Mulawa to see the wildflowers. W.A. has had a very long and hot summer, so we got to enjoy some of that! The flowers were past their best, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.
We had a great trip and the Defender performed wonderfully – BUT, it was noisy and VERY hot. The air-con is not working and it had no sound deadening at all. I knew then that I had to do something about heat and sound proofing.
I did a lot of research here on the AULRO (so much valuable advise!) and elsewhere and I ended up finding Exmoor Trim 3 piece Moulded Matting (http://www.exmoortrim.co.uk/store/defender-products/matting-and-carpet-sets/matting/r380-moulded-matting-system-detail.html). It was expensive, but Swambo gave me the OK - she has been really great about all this!
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4779-img-4019.jpg
First thing to do was get rid of the Aluminum checker plate floors – more like a BBQ for your feet! It looked really cool – but really was not practical. There was no way you could drive with bare feet! And you could feel the heat through your shoes!
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4780-img-4022.jpg http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4772-img-4026.jpg
Of course hidden underneath was rust. I was kinda expecting that, and was pleased to find that it was only really bad on the drivers side. I got to play around with a MIG welder – never done that before (used Oxy to repair my old FC wagon and did a lot with Arc welding when I managed farms). It was not as easy as I thought, After I cutting out the rust I found the sheet metal very thin. It would not win any prizes, but it got he job done.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4781-img-4182.jpg
Looking on the forum I decided to get some Dynamat via Amazon. It was a lot easier to apply than I thought. After making templates of cardboard, marking and cutting out the sheeting, it was an easy job to apply. I covered the floor, foot wells and seat box. This really stiffened everything up, so I felt good how it was all going.
It was then a job of putting it all back together before putting the Exmoor trip matting on. A lot of work getting bolts organised (most were badly rusted).
The matting comes as a 3 piece system (you have to make sure you get the right one for your transmission). I was a fairly straight forward thing getting them in. The first piece goes behind the fuse box. Next is the seat box piece – you have to cut here for the seatbelts, hand brake and the two openings (The battery box and I have an auxiliary fuel tank under the drivers side). You also have to mark and drill out holes for the bolts. I took this all very slowly – measure twice, cut once. The Matting is heavy stuff, you really know you've been working when you have had it in and out several times!
The final piece is the floor piece – this holds everything together and stabilizes it all. It was not until I got this in that I really breathed a sigh of relief – it really did look good.
Then it was just a matter of putting everything back together again – grunting and shoving, but it all went it.
Was it worth it in the end? As far as looks go – it looks GREAT! Very happy with it. When driving it is a lot cooler (still hot here in the West) and noticeably quieter. The most important gauge though came when Swambo went for her first ride with me. “Yes”, she said, “this has made a big difference!” :)
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4782-img-4184.jpg http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4784-img-4187.jpg http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4785-img-4202.jpg http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4786-img-4203.jpg
We had a great trip and the Defender performed wonderfully – BUT, it was noisy and VERY hot. The air-con is not working and it had no sound deadening at all. I knew then that I had to do something about heat and sound proofing.
I did a lot of research here on the AULRO (so much valuable advise!) and elsewhere and I ended up finding Exmoor Trim 3 piece Moulded Matting (http://www.exmoortrim.co.uk/store/defender-products/matting-and-carpet-sets/matting/r380-moulded-matting-system-detail.html). It was expensive, but Swambo gave me the OK - she has been really great about all this!
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4779-img-4019.jpg
First thing to do was get rid of the Aluminum checker plate floors – more like a BBQ for your feet! It looked really cool – but really was not practical. There was no way you could drive with bare feet! And you could feel the heat through your shoes!
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4780-img-4022.jpg http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4772-img-4026.jpg
Of course hidden underneath was rust. I was kinda expecting that, and was pleased to find that it was only really bad on the drivers side. I got to play around with a MIG welder – never done that before (used Oxy to repair my old FC wagon and did a lot with Arc welding when I managed farms). It was not as easy as I thought, After I cutting out the rust I found the sheet metal very thin. It would not win any prizes, but it got he job done.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4781-img-4182.jpg
Looking on the forum I decided to get some Dynamat via Amazon. It was a lot easier to apply than I thought. After making templates of cardboard, marking and cutting out the sheeting, it was an easy job to apply. I covered the floor, foot wells and seat box. This really stiffened everything up, so I felt good how it was all going.
It was then a job of putting it all back together before putting the Exmoor trip matting on. A lot of work getting bolts organised (most were badly rusted).
The matting comes as a 3 piece system (you have to make sure you get the right one for your transmission). I was a fairly straight forward thing getting them in. The first piece goes behind the fuse box. Next is the seat box piece – you have to cut here for the seatbelts, hand brake and the two openings (The battery box and I have an auxiliary fuel tank under the drivers side). You also have to mark and drill out holes for the bolts. I took this all very slowly – measure twice, cut once. The Matting is heavy stuff, you really know you've been working when you have had it in and out several times!
The final piece is the floor piece – this holds everything together and stabilizes it all. It was not until I got this in that I really breathed a sigh of relief – it really did look good.
Then it was just a matter of putting everything back together again – grunting and shoving, but it all went it.
Was it worth it in the end? As far as looks go – it looks GREAT! Very happy with it. When driving it is a lot cooler (still hot here in the West) and noticeably quieter. The most important gauge though came when Swambo went for her first ride with me. “Yes”, she said, “this has made a big difference!” :)
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4782-img-4184.jpg http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4784-img-4187.jpg http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4785-img-4202.jpg http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/keithmac-albums-interior-picture4786-img-4203.jpg