Thread: 130 Station Wagon with side fold pop top build

Originally Posted by TeamFA

Congratulations! That's a big step.

Thanks. It was a bit of an anticlimax in the the end somehow. I guess this build has been going for almost a year and it just merged into that. Getting the thing valued and the insurance changed was bigger. While I have never had a car accident, I had nightmares about someone crashing into it or it getting seriously damaged. It would have destroyed me...

So I had to get it valued, which is a very rubbery sort of business, and while the value is now much higher, it certainly wouldn't allow me to get someone else to rebuild this vehicle from scratch. His value was influenced by the low red book price of Defenders and the custom nature of this conversion (ie not a brand name).

Updating the insurance was painless. I recommend everyone with a camper or slide-on to join the CMCA (Campervan and Motorhome Club) for their cheap insurance - Insurance My premium stayed at just over $400 a year, plus they have alot of extra benefits.

I also just reposted the photos in the last post as they didn't seem to all come through?

Think I saw you driving around on Saturday . It looked great getting around. And yeah I did wave even though I was in another brand of car.
Matt

Hey thanks Matt. If you were up in the Mackay area you would have seen us camped at Smalleys Beach at Cape Hillsborough and at Captains Crossing in the Pioneer Valley.

We are on our way North now, heading up the Cape. The vehicle has a bit of disguise though, after we copped some heavy rain on the Suttor Developmental Road.

I really need to update this thread as I've done a lot of work in the last few weeks.

Yeah on dirt road heading into Seaforth. It looked good to see on the road. Shame I didn't get to look at it up close.
Matt

Originally Posted by danialan

I also think I finally found the maximum wattage thin semi flexible solar panel to fit the bonnet indent. It is a 75 Watt panel that only required minimal trimming of the front edge to fit. It is sikaflexed and riveted on. The wires go through to the underside of the bonnet where there are quick disconnects to allow the bonnet to be removed. The panel is only 2mm thick, and looks like 2 layers of acrylic plastic with silicone in the centre. Only weighs 2kg.

danialan - I've taken inspiration from your work and a dented Puma bonnet thanks to Peter (POD) and his flying jerry can and am planning on covering the dent with one of these panels which I got from ebay. If all goes well, I'll use the second panel on my td5 bonnet.

A few questions if you have a moment....
1. Did you remove the eyelets from the panel before riveting it to the bonnet? What method did you use to remove them?
2. What did you use to trim down the panel?
3. Is sikaflex 291 the go to stick it down. Did you cover the whole back of the panel, or just the edges? I've never worked with it before so any tips appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Tim

Hi Tim, glad I could help in some way.
1. Yes I removed the eyelets. They are really thin copper. I just bent them with a flat blade screw driver/knife and pulled them out with some side cutters. Remove them before you start laying the panel on the bonnet as they scratch the paint.
2. I used a hacksaw to trim the one on the bonnet. It gave a really rough edge which I filed and sanded. For the one on the side of the car I trimmed off the corners with a pair of scissors which went pretty well. I guess a stanley knife and a straight edge would probably be best.
3. I used Sikaflex 11FC as that is what I had. I gave the bonnet a light sand with 400 wet and dry, and then cleaned the surfaces with shellite. I drilled the rivet holes first and cleaned the shavings first before gluing it down. I sikaflexed all around the edges and also in a zig zag down the middle. I am not sure this is the best way to go though, as I now seem to have air pockets under the panel. I dont know how the air got in there - maybe the sikaflex gassed as it went off??? Anyways the 11FC has bonded really well, and the air pockets have quite a bit of pressure. I have tried to take a picture but it doesn't show up well in the photos. The panel still seems to be working, and I haven't decided whether to try and lance it to let the air out or just leave it alone. The rivets hold it on really well, and probably just a bit of silicone/sikaflex along the front edge and maybe a couple of dobs in the middle to stop any vibration would be enough.

I dismantled the wiring plugs to feed the wires through holes in the bonnet and reused them under the bonnet with the ends I chopped off the other panel, so I could still unplug and remove the bonnet for those "fun" jobs that need more access. An Anderson plug would do the same job.

Another thing to think of is that any aerial on the bullbar will cause a shadow over the panel significantly reducing its output. I mounted my phone and UHF aerial on the guard close to windscreen on the opposite side to the normal radio aerial. You can see the spring bases in one of the photos.

We had a great time up the cape. The car went really well. We went up and down the Telegraph track, and the roof and rear bodywork allowed everything to twist nicely with no groaning or other noises. The suspension flexes really well (there was a bit more travel left in the photos below). The camper was quick to set up with heaps of room. The camper survived 6 weeks of destruction testing by my kids (2 and 3), and ensured every component was was swung off, jumped on, pulled, pushed, twisted, poked, bumped, knocked etc. They had a great time, with plenty of crystal clear water up there to swim in (and a disgraceful amount of rubbish).

We only saw 5 Defenders north of Cairns (and not one single Discovery or Rangie of any age) which was a bit boring. Heaps of others up there. A couple of 100 series owners were interested in my "big roof top tent" ha ha.

Now we are headed South to Cooloola, Sunshine Coast, and possibly Moreton over the next couple of weeks.

If anyone wants to have a look at the car etc send me a PM and we might be able to meet up while we are down there.

Awesome job danielan, very impressed.

David