Thread: Remove A/C. Replace with vents.

Ok. I have drilled out the spot welds holding in the blanking plates in the firewall. There are approx 35 to 40 welds in each plate.

It's not hard to do, you just have to be careful not to drill through the firewall outer skin. Unfortunately this is not as easy as it sounds. The skin is only 1mm or so thick. I have some holes to repair.



Once you have drilled out all the spot welds (look carefully as some are very hard to see) a light tap from the outside will soon have them out.

I have decided to just bog up the holes with some filler. I don't think there is any structural issue with a few holes in the vent surround of the firewall. I hope there isn't anyway!

Next up I fitted the flywire screens from a series 3. These fit in nicely and are secured with pop rivetts. The only thing to note is one of the mounting points on both screens will have to be removed or it will foul on the steering column support bracket. The screens are still very secure even though one mounting point is removed.



These screens are very easy to bend/damage. Be careful. One of mine was already damaged from the donor firewall. I have fitted it to the drivers side. Out of sight.......mostly.

Next on the list is mounting the series 3 vent lever support panel (fascia panel) to the 110 dash pad. Four self tapper type screws and you're done.



It fit nicely onto the underside of the 110 dash pad/top. Also I forgot to mention you will need to cut a 'keyhole' in the vent support panel. This will allow the steering column support brace to pass through.



The key hole is cut just to the left of the heater duct mount.

This is what it'll look like assembled.



More to come this arvo..........

To late Steve. It's done.

Series 3 and county dash combo.

The flaps are attached. just need to paint the brackets/pop rivets and it's completed.



So thats that. Not the best tutorial on the planet but never the less I think you get the idea.

It's a bit of a ball buster of a job but it's well worth it in the end. There would be better ways of doing a couple things, probably easier to use a complete Defender dash assembly, instead of a series 3 county combo like I have. But I went for cheaper and easier to get.

Also some people no doubt will prefer to weld the brackets onto the firewall rather than pop rivet them. I dont think it looks out of place, but it's certainly not factory.

Now onto other things..........