Thread: Around Australia Touring Defender Build

Continuing on...

I replaced the old rear work lamp which would fill with water and would draw about 4 amps...

with a new LED lamp. Current draw 1.4amps. MAJOR IMPROVEMENT!


I made and installed the HF radio transceiver body mounting in the rear



The dual battery tray was installed


The rear area had 5 and 20mm formsheild installed for insulation and was covered with marine carpet.



To help in keeping the car cool I had the windows tinted with the top quality heat reduction film from my local car tinting place. Before.


After.


I'm liking it so far as it's not very dark but seems to be doing its job. Car was cooler this afternoon than typical.

Onwards!........

Began lining my roof with marine carpet. I used Quick Grip gel to glue it on.


Did it in 3 sections over 3 days to make it easier to do it alone. Looks really good.




Added an LED light strip as the courtesy light.



Also began installing a few bits for the HF radio. Made a speaker mount out of some angle.



Speaker mounted. Uses 2 existing holes to mount the bracket.

Completed the new roof lining today finally after having removed the original 22 months ago!

Built a rear backing out of scrap 3mm aluminium sheet.


Added marine carpet and purchased a pair of Sony 4in speakers.


Installed along with an extra LED light bar in the rear.



A quick test of the speakers gives the rear a greater depth of sound. Looking forward to a long drive.

Ok, I've completed my dual battery set up. I used a Blue Sea Systems Automatic charging relay. This is rated up to 500 amps continous so is plenty if I need to combine batteries to jump start the vehicle or for added power during winching operations (assuming I ever get around to installing my winch ). I'm using a Full River 120 a/h deep cycle AGM battery. This is probably the largest you can fit in a defender.



All connections are 2B&S battery cable. The relay has a manual override (The yellow knob on top) so that in the event the primary battery is too low to operate the dash mounted switch, you can do so manually. Also allows for the batteries to be locked off so batteries can not be connected.


This is the dash mounted switch. Leave it on Auto and when the relay senses a charging voltage it will connect the batteries, and disconnect them again when the voltage drops below the set point. Flick to on to join batteries to jump start vehicle etc...


As the dual batteries sit too high to put the original steel cover on underneath the seat I made a rubber/foam/carpet sandwich to protect the terminals from shorting on the seat base and still add some sound proofing from the road noise coming through the battery compartment.



I added an Anderson Plug which connects to the deep cycle to power my 600w inverter. Technicaly the plug is only rated to 50amps but my inverter can draw up to 60 amps. As I only use the inverter to charge batteries etc there shouldn't be any problem with overloading the plug.



I finally installed the Engine bay lights. Used an LED strip and "P clips" pop-riveted in place.



For added safety I installed 2 Life Hammers. These are used to smash out a windscreen and cut through a seat belt should I drive off into a river or roll over etc.


Installed 1 in front



and the other in the rear

Those life hammers look like a good investment, can you buy them locally ??

LifeHammer Original Emergency Tool [LH01] - $25.90 : Fusion Gear, Your Way Beyond Professional

jc

Life Hammers also available on Ebay. I bought mine from here: Lifehammer Original Auto Emergency Escape Tool | eBay

Truck looks great Brett !!!