Managed to get everything that I wanted to get done, done! Only took all week, but didn't have whole days, just a few hours each morning. Not bad, feel good it's finally done.

Sanded down the rusty patched in the footwells with a grinder, was only surface rust. Just didn't want it to flake after painting.

Painted over with stone chip, gives a lovely satin black finish. Really hard wearing too, I love the stuff. Shame that it will be covered over with the carpet but it's nice knowing it's all good underneath!



Same goes for the drivers footwell.



No idea why this has taken me so long, one of those things that is easy but I keep putting off for no reason at all. Finally fitted the steering guard lol. Only paid a tenner for it, isn't the best looking of the guards as I prefer the ones that curve up at the top to cover stuff up higher up but this will at least keep everything safer for now!



Then fitted my light bar! Makes the front look a lot better I think... Always thought there was something missing from the front and now I have the steering guard and light bar it feels a lot better.



Just got to wire it in, that will be a job for another day as had to head to work. I will probably also turn them upside down, just so they don't get ripped off through trees and the likes, looks good yes, but doesn't seem that functional being up that high

All in all, great way to spend a sunny day. Feel very happy with it all

Fixed my suspension turret the other evening in the rain, hammered down as far as I could as well as clamping down on the turret to bring it as home as possible and then welded the nut in place. Don't think you'll be stripping the tread anytime soon nut!! lol Fixed the rattling sound I had which is good, means no worries elsewhere. who am i kidding.. haha

Superb build Tom, really impressive stuff.
I would love to be able to do all my work myself on my Defender, but confidence in knowing what to do and also I can't weld has stopped me in my tracks.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread

Vince

Thanks matey, trying my best!

Just get out there and buy a cheap welder bud, or even if you know someone get on and use it and practice. It's very easy to get the hang of. Now it's a skill that I have learned it gives me far more confidence in fixing cars myself. It's good fun too and seeing the final product is really satisfying!

So I got a nice delivery on Friday (haven't got round to fitting yet as awaiting bushes, apparently arriving today) I caved in and bought the castor and trailing arm set from Adrenaline 4x4. The castor arms are 6 degrees adjusted and the rear trailing arms are cranked so should all in all help with flex! Especially as I'm looking to get a set of 33's or 35's soon. (money permitting)

Anyway, i'll let the pictures do justice, they are sexy as!







The build quality on these is pretty nice! Welds are great, the are silly heavy so nothing is going to break them anytime soon. They also have been designed to kinda act as rock sliders on the front as well with the extra metal around the circular parts.

All in all, a **** ton of money it has cost me but it'll be worth it! Just gotta put the effort in to fit haha

Thought I'd pick it up so I could drive it to work, just want to put a bit of mileage as I haven't used it too much recently. Noticed a few problems..

Headlights were dim as hell, found the issue quickly enough though. Was a bad ground on the wing where I cut the old one out. Quick fix, found a bolt on the body and attached the ground to there. Sorted lol

Now, the next one is a real issue as it's getting cold out! My heater doesnt work. Hot air comes out! Just with no fan pressure. Also the lights on the heater panel don't work either. Checked the fuses and they are all good. I'm guessing it's something to do with the LHS footwell after the welding where all the relays are. Don't know what's what but I'm guessing some wires may have got hot during the welding as it was kinda close to them in some places.

Fun times.. anyone help? lol

Tomushh said:

Thought I'd pick it up so I could drive it to work, just want to put a bit of mileage as I haven't used it too much recently. Noticed a few problems..

Headlights were dim as hell, found the issue quickly enough though. Was a bad ground on the wing where I cut the old one out. Quick fix, found a bolt on the body and attached the ground to there. Sorted lol

Now, the next one is a real issue as it's getting cold out! My heater doesnt work. Hot air comes out! Just with no fan pressure. Also the lights on the heater panel don't work either. Checked the fuses and they are all good. I'm guessing it's something to do with the LHS footwell after the welding where all the relays are. Don't know what's what but I'm guessing some wires may have got hot during the welding as it was kinda close to them in some places.

Fun times.. anyone help? lol

Click to expand...

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/c/diesel-paraffin-heaters/

LUKBENPHI said:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/c/diesel-paraffin-heaters/

Click to expand...

Everywhere I asked everyone makes a joke out of it looks like it will be a cold winter

man up ya soft southern poofter

I doubt you'll even see minus figures this winter where you are!

more than likely your fan speed resistor, something that old will have hints of mg/rover and as they also fail on them more than likely thats your culprit if no wiring issues are found

Oh I'll be fine in the winter, it's the misses will be in my ear that's all! haha

It's just weird that this happened directly after the welding has been done. The fan used to work beforehand.

buy her a coat for christmas then

my mrs moans when its cold but she wears these bloody stupid thin jackets a tshirt and them daft dolly shoes without socks then wonders why she's cold, fashion over function as always with the female of the species

Funny you should say that, she wants a very specific and expensive one for Christmas!! Wouldn't want that covered in mud haha

buy her a barbour and be done with it, can hose her off if she gets muddy then lol

Fellow DarrenHS3 turned up to work, always great to see how good condition his is kept! Truly lovely example. Makes mine look a mess



Wired up my boost gauge lights finally, should look good in the dark! Used an idea that Foz had with the fuse box, mainly as mine has so many electrical issues with the wiring look I'm using this to bypass some items that have issues and redo them myself and this seemed like the perfect option. 10 way fuse box up to 100amps with a negative bus bar as well so it will keep everything tidy under the dash. Will power my light bar, hopefully radio soon (posted in the discovery sub forum for help haha) and a few other bits, including my boost gauge!

This was just testing that the power works before I routed the cables and connected them all properly, will get a better picture soon.



Like that the green is fairly similar to the dash green so it keeps it all looking nice!



Will remember to clean the dash eventually..

and you still cant afford a pack of dash wipes to clean the mud off

I think it makes it look more land rover-y

Hipster....

So finally sorted a few electrical 'issues'. Thanks to everyone who helped on the help section, I had no idea that a fuse on satellite 2 would affect the workings of the stereo which has it's main fuse on the main board!

So I plugged the fuse back in and bam all sorts happend. Clock worked, interior light work and I heard the stereo come on, sigh of relief. Feels like a car again!

Also sorted out a proper annoying issue, my drivers door barrel would keep spinning so there was clearly an issue with a part inside that had broke. It was the plastic door cam! Knew what the part was for ages but I couldn't justify spending 25 quid on it (the part cost about 12 quid, the rest was postage!) In the end I had a big order of stuff and I emailed Island4x4 as it wasn't listed on their website and they added it to my order.

I can now open the drivers door with the key which is great, obviously.

I replaced the interior bulb with a 48 LED board that I had left over from another car build I had in the past. They are great and only cost a fiver or so on the e of the bay. Super bright so will make finding stuff in the dark much easier in theory haha.



My radio finally started too, picked it up cheap so I am happy with it! Has phone connectivity and all that so no more quiet drives.





Ignore the no signal, someone in the past has cut through the FM aerial cable and it was about 15cm long, so I removed it and have ordered a proper 5m DAB radio aerial that I plan to route through to the back rear window.

Don't look half bad at night in my cockpit



Thinking of getting a new battery as well, the one that I currently have installed is a hallfrauds battery that's about 515 CCA so it's not nearly enough that the minimum a discovery needs. Plus with some of the bits I'm adding I'm thinking I need a slightly larger Ah rating. Currently it's about 50Ah lol, starts the car fine but as it's getting colder I think it's best to get a new one.

The one I am looking at is the correct size for the space, 1000CCA and 85Ah. Has dual terminals at the top as well which is a help for any additional hardware that I want to connect. The plan is to get a second battery in the future with a dual charging system and have the other battery powering my winch.



Thoughts?

ive always fitted the biggest battery i could afford that would fit the tray with largest amp hour number so cant really go wrong with that one.

if engines running wont really need 2nd battery as will be run off alternator

only really need second battery if your running fridges / camping gear from what i understand

Awesome, I ordered it anyway and it's arriving today so hopefully it'll fit, a lot of the reviews said it fits very snug in the battery tray so should be good for the job. Love the dual terminals on it, make things a bit neater!

Ah okay, I didn't know that! I just found a few people tend to have a second battery to isolate any problems as I know winches draw a lot of current.