Thread: Defender Bulkhead swap TDI to TD5 ?

Hi, physically it will fit but you may have to re-use your original tunnel section as these are different (in the later TD5). Also you may have issues with the wiper holes which are round in the TD1's and elongated in the TD5's (the later ones anyhow). I also had to make new brackets to hold on the dash section near the windscreen. There are other holes which have to be altered, such as the A/C drain, new mount for the inertia relay, ....

also, any earthing onto the firewall, run an earth strap from each point back to the main earth adjacent to the rear of the gearbox.

At the end of the day, I have a TDi firewall in my 06 Defender, but I don't know how much changed from your Defender to mine - could be a whole lot less.

What what ever you do, prepare the new firewall properly to stop it from ever rusting again - I used a product called POR 15 (but there are similar products) - at $70 per litre this is an excellent investment.

Erich

The 06 Defender dash is different to the Tdi and early Td5,s , so that shouldnt be a worry
What if one supplied the Tdi wiper spindles with the Tdi firewall

The wiper spindles from earlier models to the later ones have a different gear ratio and finish up wiping outside the windscreen boundaries - not possible to adjust. I have been there. The TDi wiper motor is in a different position to the 06 wiper motor, but I don't know when this changed - either in 99 or in 03

Erich