Good stuff. How are you planning to apply the paint? I'll be interested to see how you get on with the RE. To spray it with the Schultz gun I had to warm it and add thinners. For what it's worth, you can apply the GIO directly to the galvanised metal. Otherwise you might as well just use CIO on...

They've messed me around for over four months now trying to get hold of a centre seat retrim kit. Serves me right for trying to save £20 over the Bearmach price, and apparently TerrainTech order the kit from Bearmach anyway, which seems like an additional complicated step given that they're made...

Yes, for better or worse. Currently at £4963.98! Hoping to keep it under £8000. Still got a bulkhead to buy though!

Quite possibly! I did think that myself, but it's held fine and it's hidden under the foam anyway. A tenner reasonably well spent.

Ah well, there's plenty of paint left to touch up the inevitable scratches.

I can't lie - they weren't cheap! They're Black Span/Mondus covers from Exmoor Trim - they're leather on the back with cloth on the front. Buying the retrim kit (which includes new foams) directly from Exmoor Trim is silly money - you'd pay over £400. I got them from BritCar for £280. I'm...

It's fair to say that there hasn't been much progress over the last few months. As I've been doing the rebuild at a friend's house, the lockdown meant that all I could do was grab a few bits to do at home and entertain my children for what seems like an eternity. I've got a few photos of bits...

I'm calling in a favour as we speak. I think I'll leave learning welding until I'm doing the door frames.

Thanks, good advice, and that's a really helpful site. A course will be a bit tricky at the moment though!

I've been refurbishing my seats as part of my Defender 90 rebuild and have run into a small issue. The metal pans in the bottom of both front seat bases have cracked where they were welded to the frame (you can see in the photo below where I've scoured the paint off fully in preparation for some...

Looks pretty spot-on to me. A restored rear tub is a distant dream for me at the moment!

Good use of self isolation - that looks like you're making great progress there! Unfortunately I've been using a mate's garage so any hope of getting a rolling chassis by April has gone out of the window. And as I've got a job where I can work from home I've actually got less spare time as I'm...

I'm fairly sure it's together in the right order. I didn't dismantle the CV joint when I took it all apart. The complete shaft has just been sat to one side so there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. I'll have a look next time I'm self isolating in the garage.

Thanks everyone. It's a 1993 200Tdi if that's relevant. I'll check the position of the CV joint. I'd tested out the right combination of shims before I fitted the bits to the axle, but I'd also fitted the stub axle in advance which might have been a mistake. I'll have to take it all off and try...

They're not symmetrical - the bolt hole at the top is to one side, and although there was a 50:50 chance of it being right, my luck wasn't in.

I've just spent a frustrating evening reassembling a swivel. First I forgot to put the seal on before bolting the swivel to the axle, then got the seal plate the wrong way around so had to take it off a second time, then destroyed the swivel to axle gasket by misaligning the holes. Finally I...

I went with Richards chassis. It looks well made but as it's still sitting in the corner of the garage I haven't taken any measurements or tried to fit anything to it yet. They have a good reputation though.

That's right. We can retreat to the castle if the natives get too rowdy.

Cheers. I'm over the other side in Beaumaris.

Thanks, I'll give the flap wheel a whirl and see what happens.