130 Dual cab for me

A little more to ad since last posts.

As the Defender is notorious for leaks I paid careful attention where the leaks in mine were before pulling it apart completely.

I found it odd the places LR didn't bother to put sealant and here are some of my efforts to assemble a non leaking Defer.

The rear Bulkhead panels had dust and water streaming in around the skin, it also had nearly 1/2 inch gaps between the floor and side panels too, so used body sealer at those points and fitted simple grommet plugs if I ever need to easily wash it out.

Attachment 66191

Attachment 66192


I removed all the old sealer from the roof and gutters and then resealed the seams. There were several areas that were simply missed from the factory.
Particularly where the pinchweld frame attaches to the roof.

Attachment 66193

My front bulkhead leaked through this seam after the main EPDM foam seal became tired. Seam sealer and obviously a new EPDM foam seal has that permanently sorted.

Attachment 66195

Lots of gaps in the front bulkhead were found with a torch and hose so lots of extra sealer applications particularly around the foot wells.
Body deadener was applied to the majority of the engine side of the front bulkhead and inside of the rear bulkhead. This will help a little with noise but will also get into any remaining leaky seams.

Attachment 66196

As the main Cab panels are assembled, I have now also fish oiled all the internal channels etc.

I thought prepping the front guards would cause the most headaches, but they have come up great and it is the doors that threatened my sanity.

The house move has played havoc with every aspect of life at the moment,
with the 130 getting least attention. But, having been forced to "clean up" it has helped me get a lot of "surplus to requirements" gear in a pile to sell off. I didn't realise just how much stuff I accumulated.
Now the remaining panels are all taking up space in the garage and beckoning re fit as soon as time allows.

The original plan for mid August failed and then end of Sept is now evolving into before Christmas......;)

Looking good!
Have you considered adding chassis black on the engine bay side of the bulk head? And also all the under-neath panels facing the ground?

I'll be doing that to mine, hopefully cut out alot of noise with that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chewy7

Looking good!
Have you considered adding chassis black on the engine bay side of the bulk head? And also all the under-neath panels facing the ground?

I'll be doing that to mine, hopefully cut out alot of noise with that.

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Not chassis black but Body Deadener front and rear bulkheads and underside all floor panels.
The colour coat is over the top of this giving a "stippled" finish.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by strangy

Not chassis black but Body Deadener front and rear bulkheads and underside all floor panels.
The colour coat is over the top of this giving a "stippled" finish.

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That's a good idea! I gotta do that for mine too!

So an overdue update.
After much reading/discussion and almost agonising til the very last moment, I reached an engine decision with a TD5 and auto being the choice.
Thanks to Marko66 for contacts on a 4BD1 but I just couldn't bring all the bits together the way I wanted an Isuzu setup in my time and budget.:(

Even as I had a very low km Td5 and auto on hand the decision was still tough.

So the 300tdi long range tank came out and was swapped with TD5 unit.
Some said this couldn't be done but it was very straight forward.
The triangular gusset ( fuel tank bracket) in the tdi chassis had to be removed and the front mount bracket on the cross member also.
A reciprocating saw made fast and light work of the job with quick clean up with flap disc. Apparently the TD5 chassis has no gusset but I wanted to ensure the rear cross member had as much strength as original so welded in a flat gusset to replace the triangular type.
As the TD5 tank sits so close in the cross members I also made up captive nuts for the towbar.
The front cross member then needed to be drilled and some big washers fitted to spread the load.
The tank came with bolts per fitted with a long strip of steel to thread through the cross member and allow the nuts to be fitted and tightened.
All up it took 2 hrs including a coat of paint on the tank. But ... I had no body work in the way.


Attachment 69908


Surprisingly the fuel pump etc wiring from the donor D2 fits up perfectly to the 130. I know I won't be that fortunate with the front section but so far so good and have a chunk of loom to graft in to let me mount all the ECUs in a water proof box under the centre console.:cool:

A new (2nd hand) "minecorp" steel tray is ready for a few mods to the mount brackets to let me fit spare underneath and an access hatch for the fuel pump if ever it's needed.

More pics to come when the tray is sorted.

Watching with interest. Keep up the good work Strangy!

James.

Fantastic Job!

So today was psychological win for the rebuild. With the tray mods and paint finally completed.
Attachment 72670


Attachment 72671


I have modded the tray to accept the fuel fill points to the opposite side and the rear section and mounts to fit the spare underneath. It's pretty easy to see the mod for fuel pump access hatch. 40+ temps and then consistent (welcome) rain destroyed the schedule for welding and painting outside. Lots of smaller tedious jobs have been completed and next few days off will see the tray fitted and the engine and box go in.T


The paint on the tray is just "septone" charcoal hammertone.
Its pretty tough stuff and will be easy to tidy up as work and years take their toll.

I managed to get a good run the last few days off and made some significant progress fitting the tray.

Attachment 73218

Engine given the usual checks, oil pump bolt, new front and rear seals, injector harness, injector seals and washers, fuel reg and rocker cover gasket. Inspection with the boroscope also revealed a motor in near new cond. As expected for 49 km.:)


Attachment 73221

The transmission too was in the same condition with new seals and an Ashcroft HD Torque Converter fitted also. Then mated to the motor.


Attachment 73222

Original engine chassis mounts were grafted in from a wrecked TD5Defer and the motor & box went in perfectly.
The defer gearbox bracket and mount are different to the D2 but simply swap over and bolt up.

Attachment 73225

The new Harmonic Balancer should arrive this week and next lot of days off will see the Transfer Case sorted and driveline connected.
Then comes the wiring and modifications to the Air Con.

It's a great way to get to know every inch of your defender. Well done Mark, it's looking good.

But I suggest you think about noise insulation for the engine side of the firewall while it's still very accessible. The TD5 is not as noise as the Isuzu so may not be necessary.