Bankz's Defender TD5 90

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Hole in the rear roof had been sealed! So *should* be leak free now, which is shocking for a Defender but hey its true lol.

Also attempted to fit the rear headling, now due to my cage its extremley difficult. I've had to cut away quite a lot of it but it should fit. Once the Sikaflex has dried ill try again and get some pics up
 
Rear lining is in! This was bitch, had to keep removing it and cutting bits away so it fit properly







It's by no means perfect but it cost me £20 in total so I think thats pretty good! Should get started on the new speaker shelf on Saturday which will sit in front of the roll cage. It will hold up the headlining where its sagging and hide the cut outs I had to make. Will be covered in the same material but be slightly slimmer and tougher than the previous one which started to sag.
 
:D:D:D Yeah! Got a pair of leather forward facing rear seats for £100! Nothing fancy like the Puma ones but will do the trick and make it far nicer in the rear. Should get them Thursday.

Got started on the new shelf, design is far better but the execution wasnt the best... Will get pics up tomorrow. Going to be wrapped in some closed cell foam to make it all look a more flush and smooth against the headlining, then wrapped in alcantara. Also made a fitting for an LED rear light which will be powered off the original LR wireing (which I just found after 3 years haha)
 
The past few days have been attempting to replace the A-Frame bushes and ball joint. Rather difficult job!

30mm Bolts had seized and the threads corroded. Not even 30 mins with a buzz gun helped!
So attempted to remove the chassis brackets instead. One bolt came out, 3 sheered two had to be grinded off. I love angle grinders.

But success in the end!


Took a while to get it all apart, one of the bolts was stuck solid inside the balljoint fulcrum. I was like primitive man trying to get it out, banging it on the floor and smacking it with a hammer haha



Then to burn out the hold bushes, took a lot more heat than I expected



New bushes are in, Britpart polybush :eek: but they should be alright. Went in nice and easy. Bracket is back together, hopefully my new bolts arrive soon....

Tonights job will be cleaning up the A-Frame chassis brackets ready to paint! They are a tad rusty.
 
I love my new grinder a wire brush attachment. Makes jobs 100x faster and 100x better


All painted now and refitted with stainless 8.9 A2 bolts and PLENTY of copper slip.

New forward facing rear seats arrived, bit of an ass to fit but Ill get em in. Started to repaint the frames and ran out of paint :(
 
Speaker shelf built -


Covered and fitted. Looks rather nice if I do say so myself -


Has the lovely feature of actually holding my headlining up.... Ran the cable for the old courtesy light which will be wired into a nice LED strip light when I buy one that is...

Rear seats are in!






Much more comfortable but they have presented a slight safety concern. If I have to brake hard who ever is in the back may well be flung forward and smack their head on the speaker shelf... This is because the seats are fitted with inertia lap belts, better than before yes but still. Plan is to try and fit 3-point harnesses to each side, with snap hooks for easy removal.

Yes it also is going to be a bit of a pain getting people in and out + gear (go shooting a lot so usually stuffed with guns, ammo and tools. May be a squeeze!

A-Frame has been refitted as well, much happier, even if it did take 2 weeks!

Next is to build a storage box over the left wheel arch that will house my Halfords tool kit, jump leads, recovery strop, shackles, tow rope, gloves and the Hi-Lift bits n bobs. As well as adding a few tie down loops to keep the seats stowed when not in use.

Also fitted a 12v socket for the rear to power a coolbox, nice cold drinks for France :D Got to adjust the wiring though. I want to add a switched live linked into a relay, which in turn will switch a few other things. Got heated seats, Aux power which arnt on a switched live that I would like to have switched for peace of mind.

Over all very happy with the past 5 weeks work. The Defender is a considerably nicer place to be, *almost* feels luxury! Drive ability is better too since the intercooler and turbo tweaks. Can't wait to see what it can do off road now :D

Got a few things lined up -
France weekend laning trip
LRO Show
London2Brighton
Suffolk/Norfolk weekend laning trip
 
That looks really good, you have done a massive amount of work. I still haven't decided what I am going to do with my speakers, I was going to build a sub into the draw I made, but seemed like a waste of space...
 
Cheers :) The sub ive got is one of those Phillips underseat ones, I fitted it behind the cubby box bolted into the bulkhead. Tiny but makes really good bass!

Was going to fit these in the front, with the tweeters up on the dash. Apparently they are excellent and bolt straight into a Fender

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161391068393?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Is the cably thing so that they have less depth?

Best stereo mod I have is some tweeters on top of the dash, Vibe Black Air IIRC.

I think I will probably end up with one of the space saving subs, though I have used most of the space behind the seats for the amp for the rear speakers (which are JBL house ones and are kind of just sliding around at the moment)
 
I think so yes, cably things are actually the tweeters! . Yours is a TDI right? If so you could mount the sub under your seat, if the seatbox is empty that is. Or on the other side of the bulkhead maybe
 
I think so yes, cably things are actually the tweeters! . Yours is a TDI right? If so you could mount the sub under your seat, if the seatbox is empty that is. Or on the other side of the bulkhead maybe
Got the tank under one seat and loads of batteries under the other!
I think there should still be space for something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vibe-Slic...er-Bass-Box-/281059830033?hash=item417078a911 behind the seats...once I have some spare cash...i.e. never
 
So attepted the storage box this evening. Did not go well...
#1 im **** with woodwork
#2 I realised when fitted it obstructed the removal of the hi-lift jack
#3 Couldnt get the tool kit in or out of where I wanted it



So changed the 'design' around. Toolkit was supposed to sit against the cage/tub but makes it near impossible to slide in. Still working on where I can actually store it... I know its not exactly needed but its nice to have just incase. Id hate to have to wait 3 hours for recovery just because i was lacking a 10mm spanner..

Any storage ideas would be great at this point! Current idea is to have it under the seat on the right wheel arch and secure with some shock cord.

The box will be cut down and sit in the same place just without the toolkit.
 
Cut the box down, sanded it to ****. It fits. It holds what i need. Needs carpeting and the lid attaching.

Still working on where to store me wretched tool kit
 
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Well thats it. Everything done I wanted done for the France trip/upcoming laning trips. Probably be quiet on here for a month or two while I save up for some new suspension. Sick of the HD springs and noticed a few of the shock bushes are cracked plus the landys on 81k now and read its suggested to renew around now.

Plan is to go for the Terrafirma Medium Load shocks & springs at £225 can't really argue. Not read anything bad about them except the paint is terrible but that I do not care about. Should be able to cope with the extra weight added, slightly improve road/off road handling and hopefully get rid of this knock I have!

After that it will be the Masai rear windows, fitted sooner rather than later as I would like a rear demister for the winter.

Then will come more saving for the Line-X paint for the ancillaries/add ons going to have the following Line-Ex'd

Roof
Roll Cage
Front Bumper
Rock Sliders
Snorkel
Wing Top Chequer Plate
Snow Cowl
Steering Guard - Need to replace mine has its pretty bent
Window Guards - Yet to buy these to protect the new windows + the look cool
NAS Rear Step - Yet to buy this, finish off the tubular all round protection
Supercharger Bonnet - Looks brilliant imo

May well have the headlight surrounds and front grill done as well, looks pretty smart.

Reason for Line-X is
- almost indestructible
- can't really be scratched
- looks smart
- Adds grip, as the paint is textured so crawling over the landy when cover in mud is easier
- Adds strength
- 100% water tight, especially good for the roof

The main body work will stay the very dark grey almost black colour, I will just tidy it up with some T-Cut then colour match where the paint is pretty lacking/missing.
 
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