Land Rover Defender Tribute Build

[grib]

This week, we've been mainly working on our engine, as well as inspecting the rear tub.



It's a good idea to get the tub sat on an body painting trestle. These can be found on eBay pretty reasonably. They give you really good access to the underside and as an added bonus, fold away when not needed.



The inside of the tub has accumulated a lot of grime from the workshop and so it needed a good clean out. We used a strong road and traffic film remover to strip away any oils that might have been on the surfaces of the tub.



After cleaning, the body mappings have revealed some rust, not to worry, these are going to be blasted and then galved.

There are a lot of holes left in the tub. We'll try alloy brazing to fill them in.



This seat belt mounting bracket is corroded, fortunately YRM metal solutions produces laser cut reproduction panels that we can simply rivet on. The part isn't too expensive either!



Use a TD5 / V8 Viscous fan set from FlatDog UK we removed the viscous fan in preparation for cleaning and painting the engine.



Using a 75mm air polisher and white diamond metal polish and sealer. Why are we polishing the rocker cover? Well, we're not refitting the acoustic cover on the engine, so we want it to look as good as the rest of the vehicle.



Here's a before and part way through, the White Diamond polish is great, it takes very little effort to get to the finish on the right. A few more passes and we'll have a chrome like finish that is protected from further oxidisation thanks to the sealer in the polishing compound.



Then we moved onto cleaning the engine, which had a lot of baked on oils, carbon deposits, mud and corrosion.



First, it was given a thorough scrub down with some small stainless steel wire brushes and a degreasing detergent.



Once dry, we could then tackle the corrosion. Here we're working the corroded areas with the brush more, before switching to a dremel with a wire cup.



Areas such as the end of the block were pretty corroded so it was knocked back with a red scotchbrite pad, polished and then sealed.



Still a little more corrosion that was removed with a flapper wheel on the dremel.]

 

[andy_v]

great work

 

[awemawson]

I'm surprised that you didn't plug all the orifices of the engine then steam clean it, you'd have save hours of work and probably got it cleaner

 

[grib]

I'm surprised that you didn't plug all the orifices of the engine then steam clean it, you'd have save hours of work and probably got it cleaner

Don't have access to a steam cleaner

 

[awemawson]

On the Christmas list then

But surely there must be one locally that you can borrow, or even take the engine to. Before I got mine I used to take things to a local car valeting place that had one

 

[grib]

On the Christmas list then

But surely there must be one locally that you can borrow, or even take the engine to. Before I got mine I used to take things to a local car valeting place that had one

Afraid the workshop is well out of the way, so by the time I'd done all the above, it could be painted and put back in

 

[grib]

Recon Gearboxes LTD completed our R380 and it's looking superb! We're having the brackets blasted and galved so hope to put that back in soon!


Following a suggestion from one of the forum posts we've been running for the build, we swapped our Britpart galvanised turrets for some heavy duty
Gwynn Lewis turrets


. These replacement turrets are stronger, galvanised, easier to clean / maintain and once fitted, will make shock replacement much faster! These have been designed for challenge trucks and are extremely well made. We're also fitting matching
Gwynn Lewis turret rings


. These have 10.9 tensile bolts welded into the ring and feature a chamfered edge to stop tyres rubbing at full articulation.


Fitting these turrets is a doddle. The easiest way is to undo the lower nut on the shock, then jack the chassis up to release the spring from it's seat about an inch or two.


Then, if you unbolt the access panel in the wheel arch, and carefully undo the four nuts on the ring, the whole assembly will lift out in one piece. You may have to use a propane torch on the nuts as these can shear quite easily on corroded parts.


Then the ring can be slipped into place, the turret offered up and bolted down to 24nm or 17.7lb ft.





One key benefit of the Gwynn Lewis shock is that you can fit a shock absorber without removing the turret or spring.
Engine Painting



The TD5 rocker cover has been polished up and cleaned, so now it's the blocks turn for some attention. First off, all holes are plugged and bolts are temporarily placed back into their holes.


Look how clean that head is! Took a lot of work, but the results are worth it! Now using a bottle of brake cleaner, the block was throughly scrubbed down and agitated with brushes.


This is why it's so important! Even after 3 wash downs already, there's still dirt and oil left behind!


I'm using POR 15 Engine Enamel from
Frost.co.uk

to paint the block, it is recommended that bare aluminium surfaces should be treated with metal prep first before painting.


Then blown down with the air gun to get rid of any final bits of debris and moisture that might effect our paint.


Almost ready to paint, I keyed off the surface with a 3M scrotchbrite pad, just for a little extra adhesion!


Finally! Painting time! I'm using a good quality brush and POR 15 Engine enamel from Frost. It's designed specifically to be used on engine blocks so will withstand higher temperatures and comes in a selection of colours. I've chosen Buick Green, which is as near as makes no difference to the final build colour, Pastel Green. This colour has become ever so popular recently, however, I bought mine about a year ago. Oh well, this is one Defender that isn't just following the crowd!


Looks good! Need to leave this 6 days to fully cure before starting the engine, but we can be on with putting it back in over the next week!
Engine Mounts



Engine mounts have been refitted, we've replaced the tired originals for some OEM replacements. These need to be torqued to 85NM. We also took the time to shot blast the original heat shield and paint that in a high temperature spray paint.
Fuel Tank and Guard



The old fuel tank guard looks a bit sorry for itself. On the TD5 90 this is all that holds the fuel tank in place - it also offers a little protection against terrain when off-roading. We could have replaced it with an original style guard, but these were actually more expensive than an aftermarket, heavy duty galvanised guard (bought from
http://paddockspares.com
http://paddockspares.com
). So we cleaned up the tank, and fitted up the replacement item


I used a trolley jack to line it up and hold the guard in place, it's quite cumbersome to do this on your back by yourself. Once bolted up, it looks great and is very tough! I can stand on the guard and it will take all 16 stone (100kg) of me no worries.


A great value replacement / upgrade!

 

[awemawson]

Does the fuel tank guard not stop you getting at the front face of the rear cross member to fit your towing gear?

 

[grib]

Does the fuel tank guard not stop you getting at the front face of the rear cross member to fit your towing gear?

The guard won't, the tank will

 

[KimB]

The guard won't, the tank will

Looks brill, I'd say fitting those engine mounts now may make it hard to drop the engine onto them. I fitted them to the engine then tightened them
Also are you sure it clears the tow bar ? Looks like the guard bolts on the x member using the three holes for the peice of angle iron on the tow bar ?
Maybe I'm looking wrong

 

[grib]

Looks brill, I'd say fitting those engine mounts now may make it hard to drop the engine onto them. I fitted them to the engine then tightened them
Also are you sure it clears the tow bar ? Looks like the guard bolts on the x member using the three holes for the peice of angle iron on the tow bar ?
Maybe I'm looking wrong

Ah I see, It's probably meant to go on top of the bracket, though I'm not sure if I'm fitting a tow bar yet

 

[KimB]

Ah I see, It's probably meant to go on top of the bracket, though I'm not sure if I'm fitting a tow bar yet

Probably could easily fit on it I'm sure.

 

[andy_v]

must be a big up date coming

 

[grib]

This week, I've had my better half working on the bulkhead, removing the remains of the seam sealer so the bulkhead can be sent off to the shot blasters, then to the galvanisers and back to me for painting.






The filter housing corrodes on the TD5, the one we removed was unusable. I replaced it with this new part which is anodised and also took the time to spray the casting cavity with Dinitrol.






Then I fitted up this bracket, ready to accept the panhard rod.






I've chosen to use a heavy duty adjustable panhard rod from Terrafirma. It's well made and looks good. I had to tap it in place with a soft faced hammer.






To get it to fit, I had to adjust it slightly - then use a screwdriver to align the bolt hole. Both bolts then need torquing down. I'm having the Defender professionally set-up and aligned at a later date, so the steering arms e.t.c will be adjusted then.






Then I fitted the cross rod eye into the steering arm. This has a counter clockwise thread so it tightens opposite to what you're normally used to.






Then offered up the steering arm. Unfortunately, I've lost the castellated nuts that go onto the track rods so will need to replace those, along with the split pins.






Next I dropped in the new Old Man Emu steering damper. This is a very heavy duty damper, it's fairly easy to fit though I did have to file down the lower bush race slightly (mostly just the powder coat really).






Moving onto the brake callipers, we were shot blasting our old ones, which brought them up a treat. But when you have 4 callipers that need blasting, painting, the seals replacing then refitting 0 the time taken quickly adds up. So, the decision was made to replace them with 4 OEM new brake callipers. We are also swapping the standard steel piston callipers with stainless steel replacements. In the past, I've had to rebuild the brakes almost everytime I swapped brake pads - as we cover very little miles in the Land Rover, it allows the callipers to corrode. Then when you come along to replace the pads, the callipers will not retract. Lots of people say "just force them", but if your pistons are binding, this is more friction and thus a less efficient brake.






The easiest way to remove the old pistons is using an air line and blow gun. Be careful though, they fly out with tremendous force! I've had caliber pistons fly 30 feet easily! Then unbolt the calliper halves (this is not recommended by us or any brake manufacturer) but if you do so - you must have a spotlessly clean work area.






This is the stainless steel replacement, they can be picked up quite reasonably nowadays and should prevent any problems in the future!






When assembling, smear Red Rubber Grease on the piston calliper. These has numerous benefits:

• It prolongs the life of the rubber seal
• It reduces the effects of wear from moving parts
• It helps helps to resist water ingress / hydroscopic action
• It's a rust inhibitor

Once smeared in red rubber grease, the piston should slide smoothly back into place. Repeat for the remaining pistons. When doing the calliper bolts up, it's best to do these as tight as you can.






We sold our 90's old wheels. These were aftermarket & oversized alloys that wouldn't suit our build, to a fellow Land Rover enthusiast and FunRover fan. In their place, we're fitting Wolf steel rims. We're trying to stick very closely to Land Rover factory fitment options so these suit our build perfectly, whilst still giving us a more vintage Land Rover appearance. Wolf rims are also impressively strong with a high load ratings per corner. These need painting though to match our concept drawings. We've chosen the classic Land Rover wheel colour: Limestone.

Throughly keying off our wheels with a 3M red scotchbrite pad, and blowing away the resulting dust. Anywhere that isn't keyed off will likely not adhere correctly with the paint.

The whole rim was degreased. After the degreaser evaporated, it was then tack clothed.






Finally, onto painting. We're using a single pack, matt finish acrylic enamel. This one uses Xylene industrial thinners, at a ratio of around 10 / 15%. However, since it's so cold in the workshop, I had to add more to suit. A light coat of paint was added for the first layer. Subsequent layers were medium wet. We;d been firing up the space heater prior to painting to raise the ambient temperature and burn off some of the humidity. Paints work best when applied around 20 degrees, so the closer to this mark you get, the better.






The wheels will then be left to cure for a week at least before mounting the tyres. The coat here is still drying, hence the high gloss appearance.

 

[Mark E]

I love this build. Great work and thanks for all the pictures and updates!

 

[grib]

This is Spray booth MK2 which I'll show in a future episode, it's working very well, cutting humidity to the low 30s and upping the air temp to a solid 20+ celsius. It means that I can get the whole car painted even if it's freezing outside and the workshop is only 1 or 2 degrees warmer.



Once the wheels had been cured in the booth I took them along to a local tyre fitters



I've chosen the Wolf HD rims (as seen on Heritage edition Defenders). These are tough, strong and quite cheap.



Along with tubeless Goodyear MTR tyres, another factory fit option.



The tyre fitter used a product known as Rim Seal that has anti-corrosion properties as well as adding lubrication for the next step



The tyre fitting machine has a large guide that eases the tyre bead of the lip of the wheel.



Finally, the tyres are inflated to manufacturer specifications, this helps to seat them too (watch the video too see how loud this stage is!)



Here they are mounted up in daylight, the colour and*finish is perfect! The SIP HVLP gun I used works well for the money!



The tyre fitting guide can score the lips of the wheel, which is no real problem!

[img:510:287]http://funrover.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Screen-Shot-2015-12-14-at-08.42.38-510x287.png[/img]

I simply wiped it clean with alcohol then used an artist brush to touch in the scrapes.



Whilst the repairs are drying, I dropped in the pads - EBC Green stuff to match the EBC performance disks. This Land Rover will stop on a penny if needs be!



Not keen on the colour, but the wheels will cover them up!



Lifting the wheels onto the longer Wolf*FRC7577 extended wheel studs - expensive but*designed to work with the Wolf rim



Nipping the nuts up, they need to be torqued to 170NM after lowering the Landy of it's jacks.



All 4 wheels fitted!



Fitting up the alternator / vacuum pump whilst the engine is still on the stand



This has been painted with a high temp paint to match the rest of the engine



Now it's time to finally drop the engine back in the 90! This feels like it's finally getting somewhere!



The engine needs to*be lifted over the front crossmember between the dumb irons. The engine crane is an extremely useful tool, I love it! It's also useful to have 2 people here, one to jack and watch the near side, whilst the other guides in the engine from the other.



Fitting an engine to a rolling chassis is great, there's nothing in the way! Takes about a minute!



And that's it for this week, need to get cracking now as I would still like to hit my deadline of January 1st XD

 

[Shox Dr]

Coming on nicely. I had MTR's fitted to my 90. Great tyres, little road noise, and good in wet or dry. Be warned though they are very skittish in damp conditions.

 

[grib]

Coming on nicely. I had MTR's fitted to my 90. Great tyres, little road noise, and good in wet or dry. Be warned though they are very skittish in damp conditions.

The outgoing tyres I had (Cooper STT) were the same, if it had been dry (like summer used to be) with loads of rubber laid down on the roads, then a heavy summer shower would make the road like a skid pan. Interesting at times. Did you manage to try them in snow Shox?

 

[Shox Dr]

The outgoing tyres I had (Cooper STT) were the same, if it had been dry (like summer used to be) with loads of rubber laid down on the roads, then a heavy summer shower would make the road like a skid pan. Interesting at times. Did you manage to try them in snow Shox?

Yes, They weren't as good as when I had a set on a D22 Navara before that. They tended to understeer, if you pushed them too far.

So long as you understand the limits they are very very good tyres. Tread depth new is 19mm I did 38k in the D22. On and off road, and they still had 12mm when I sold it. I bloke I know gets over 130k [over 3yrs] out of a set; but then he does drive like an old fart.

 

[Rustandoil]

Having read this thread and Kim's makes me with I had stuck with Land Rovers instead of drifting back to mini's. I am watching with interest, good luck with your project