Land Rover Defender Tribute Build

[grib]

The rear tub is in need of some minor repairs. The tub cappings will be removed and sent off for galvanising. Everywhere else, we have replacement repair sections.



Using a 6mm drill bit, we're drilling into the rivet head, which typically shears off.



Then the crush section of the rivet can be tapped out, this is the quickest way to remove rivets.



There are quite a number of rivets all told on the cappings



In addition to rivets, the cappings are typically held on with some mild adhesives / foam tape and can then be lifted away. Those will be going to the galvanisers along side the bulkhead and will be fitted unpainted to the 90 for that classic Land Rover appearance.



Cappings gone, you can see the Zinc Phosphate primer applied at the factory. Over the primer, the tub is currently overcoated in 2 pack (Chawton White). We'll be going to the classic (and now rather popular) Pastel Green, a Series 1 colour



These seatbelt mount brackets panels came from YRM Metal Solutions. They've been laser cut, CNC folded and galvanised. The result is excellent tolerances and a lasting repair!



Fitting is easy, the old seat belt mount bracket is removed.



And any flaky aluminium corrosion is stripped away with a wire wheel.



We applied Dinitrol cavity wax to the tub, before offering up the repair section.



It's supplied in 2 pieces (otherwise it wouldn't fit), there are a few holes that have captive nuts so bolts were installed to hold the panel in place, along with a G clamp.



Before drilling the holes for each fixing.



There are a total of 48 M8 bolts required. Once secured, these panels are very strong! There's zero movement and the whole lot will be overcoated with stone chip for further protection.



Moving onto the strike plate, this often corrodes where the tub fits to the sill rail, due to bimetallic reaction. The aluminium turns to a powder and is completely unusable.



So to repair we'll fit new strike plate sections from YRM too. These are pretty simple to fit, and once prepared and painted, it should be as good as new.



We're starting by marking off where we'd like to cut off the strike plate.



And using a spot weld drill to remove the spot welds and rivets below the line, including on the seal retainer.



Then, using a bolster chisel and a scraper, we can begin to prise the 2 skins apart



Finally, we scored a mark with a Dremel multi tool along the line. Then we were able to fracture the corroded part off, with a clean break formed along our score.

 

[grib]

I'll be fitting the new sections in another video, shown here is the exposed rear skin.



The floor too has suffered with some corrosion and needs replacing. The dome rivets need to be ground down, others will need to be drilled and others still, cut with a grinder.



The floor has adhesives applied in key areas, so it can take some time with a breaker bar & hammer to separate the floor from the supports.



After all rivets have been drilled out, the floor will lift out



Now's a good time to assess the condition of the tub supports. We can also throughly rust proof these whilst they're exposed.



Finally, my plumber wife kindly began brazing some of the redundant holes in my tub, using the excellent Lumiweld from Frost.co.uk. You can check out the results at the end of the video, it's impressive stuff! And is formulated to work on Birmabright!

 

[Mark E]

There is some love and attention to detail going into this, really impressive.

I wonder how much more expensive these vehicles would have been to produce if all the preservation steps you are doing were made on the production line. Yours will last forever! With automation etc, it might not have been that much more but the impact on longevity would have been marked.

Ten again, we wouldn't get to enjoy this work! Keep it up!

 

[grib]

One of the many brilliant things about YouTube is that we can get feedback directly from our viewers. Some of these these comments are very useful (in fact*we read and respond to every single one). One fan told us a woeful story when he had to remove his gearbox for a 2nd time after forgetting*to change the rear crankshaft oil seal on a high mileage TD5. So a replacement was sort from LR Parts.



Once the*new item was in place (see video for fitting), the spigot bush was pressed into place. This had*been soaked in engine oil for a few days. This is an old school trick I read about that helps sintered bronze bushes (which are supposedly*porous) to add extra lubrication to a material that is already self-lubricating. I've read of premature spigot bush failings and figured it was worth a shot. The rear of the engine block was cleaned up too.



Once cleaned off, the gearbox shim plate / cover and DMF were fitted up. You can purchase a flywheel holder to fasten down the 2 stage bolts, or simply get someone else to hold it. The bolts are tightened up by*diagonal selection (star pattern).



The clutch cover (and flywheel) were*cleaned up using Brake & Clutch cleaner.



Using a clutch alignment tool (these are available on eBay at a good price), the clutch plate was offered up and correctly positioned.



And the 3/8 torque wrench broken out to secure down the clutch cover



Moving onto the transfer box, this needed to be reunited with the reconditioned R380. I toyed with the idea of fitting a Discovery transfer box, with it's preferable ratio that offers lower revs at cruising speeds. *On balance, I decided against fitting the disco box as I*rarely go on substantial motorway trips to warrant such a change. This was most easily achieved by standing the gearbox on end, then square lifting the transfer box onto the output*shaft of the gearbox.



Torque settings can be found in the manual. We'll re-finish the hand brake drum once the gearbox is in place, as it will undoubtedly get scratched during fitting.



The gearbox and transfer box are joined once more! Incidentally, I've been making use of some carpeted plywood panels as assembly mats. We removed them from the 90*on disassembly, but they've proven useful at preventing newly painted components from getting marked and scuffed*up.



We next fitted the clutch release bearing guide (of which I now have 3, thanks to ordering one part that was completely wrong and losing my original one and then finding it a few days later). The clutch fork, push rod and clips such as this one above that prevent the whole lot from*dislodging and destroying the clutch plate, were secured also. Molybdenum grease was used in appropriate areas.



The engine ready to receive the gearbox /transfer box assembly.



An engine crane is worth it's weight in gold here. A second pair of hands (thanks Phil, he always brings biscuits!) make lighter work of aligning the box, as does a high lift*trolley jack to fine tune positioning. Strap the gearbox to the crane as though the bell housing wasn't present as this weighs almost nothing. Try go diagonally across the gearbox casing and transfer box to get as level*a lift as possible.



Reconditioned gearbox meets the engine for the first time! Meshing the splines together was a little tricky and took a while, but once done, it's very satisfying! Need to fire some oil in both of those now. I'm going to run some cheap oil*through both to flush them out (just in case)

 

[grib]

Took the chance to renew the gearbox mounts whilst I had access. These are OEM replacements.



The slave cylinder and associated pipes were looking worse for wear. It was decided to replace them as the cost isn't particularly prohibitive and it's an easy job.



The only original parts saved were the bracket and the nuts (albeit,*cleaned up on the wire wheel and the bracket was sanded and painted). I've popped a pen lid on there to stop any dirt from the ceiling dropping in (there's a shop*above mine and when they walk around, tiny specs of chipboard*dust fall everywhere)



Once that's sorted, I can put my new props on. In the end, the decision came down to either reconditioning the old ones, replacing them with large and expensive HD ones or just purchasing new OEM ones. I chose OEM ones from Britpart as I've been told these are produced by Hardy Spicer (well, GKN as they bought out HS apparently). Time will tell if this was the right decision. Fitting the props is made easier if you jack up one wheel, allowing the transmission to freely rotate.



I'll grease those UJs and props again before running the vehicle, once offered up, fixings were lightly greased to prevent seizing up, and torqued down to 48nm. A propshaft socket is very handy here, you'll also need a 9/16 spanner*(some owners make a 14mm combination*work, though this isn't quite the right size and can cause nut rounding)



Props in place



I've fitted the oil cooler, however some owners have contacted me suggesting an upgrade to this area - will feature that in a coming episode.



I managed to accidentally format my SD card the other week, losing a lot of engine re-assmebly clips! And a rather humorous one of me putting the inlet manifold into a dishwasher, before the dishwasher began to spew diesel and oil*bubbles all over the kitchen. The wife, needless to say, wasn't impressed.



Inlet manifold and fuel cooler in position.



The painted turbo and exhaust manifold, we used grey POR 15 high temperature*manifold paint from Frost.co.uk.



You might*remember that our manifold had warped and snapped studs. This is a common issue on Td5's. The easiest fix (and most cost effective) is to remove the manifold and have it skimmed true and dewebbed. The theory is that the casting*has warped and shouldn't warp again. Once it's been engineered back to acceptable tolerances, you can fit longer studs from AliveTuning or similar with spacers to help prevent the studs from snapping again. We purchased a set of 16mm stainless steel spacers from eBay, along with an extended stud kit and then painted the whole lot*to match the turbo. It shouldn't ever shift*again and the cost was preferential to that of a custom stainless or ceramic coated manifold.



Removing broken studs: you can try stud extractors (didn't work for me), drilling and retapping, drilling and helicoiling or welding a nut onto the end of the stud and removing that way.



This works well as the heat from welding helps*free up*the threads*and the whole stud*should simply*wind out.



The manifold skimming*cost £90 in the end from a local machine shop. This was considerably cheaper than £500+ for a stainless part.



These M8 16mm spacers were purchased from eBay and match our Wurth extended studs nicely.



The kit also includes a washer and copper flashed nut, helping avoid*corrosion issues.



Here's the manifold in place, complete with it's spacers. It certainly looks the part and shouldn't warp again. I also fitted 2 gaskets because when I removed it, there were 2 gaskets - probably a service bulletin fix from a dealer!



Next time, we can fit up our stainless exhaust system, weld the bulkhead and sort out the brake pipes.

 

[paulmitchell1984]

good thread, im looking at buying my 1st defender (but not my 1st landy) fairly soon, really wish i had the space to do something like this (maybe one day)

 

[grib]

Check for a double gasket service bulletin - it wouldn't be the first time I've seen multiple gaskets whacked onto something to try and compensate for distortion/damage...

Will look into it, thanks PDG.

Latest video is out, will write up later:

 

[grib]

Latest video, write up to come:

 

[andy_v]

nice, wont be long now had nothing to do with opie oils but i dont find them very competitive, as i can get oil and filter from a dealer, cheaper than they can supply oil for,

 

[grib]

Latest video is here:

First job of the week was removing old waxoyl and factory applied stone chipping material. When perusing the workshop manual, I noticed that Land Rover recommend dealers use an air powered scraper. These things are superb! Probably my favourite tool at the moment, the whole tub was stripped in under an hour, ready for a reapplication of stone chipping.



With that done, I moved my attention to the injector loom harness. On the TD5, oil eventually wicks along the wiring into the ECM - this had happened with our vehicle. Hopefully, we've caught it in time. The ECM has been drained and cleaned.



After removing the rocker cover, it's simply a case of removing the electrical connects for each injector.



And then prizing out the main connector for the harness. The new harness drops into place in the same manner. All told, with no body on the vehicle - this takes around 5 minutes.



Dropping the rocker cover back onto a new gasket.



One of the great things about building a Land Rover in the manner we have, involving a huge community of Land Rover owners, is that we can get real time feedback. One viewer asked us to show how to replace this cylinder head coolant plug. So the exhaust manifold was removed again, and a 12mm allen key sourced.



A set of hex sockets are useful to have in the toolbox.



As you can apply more force to the socket handle than a humble allen key. The new plug winds in quite nicely.



Following the advice of another viewer, we removed the oil cooler housing to replace the internal cooling block. The rotor oil filter housing needed to be removed.

 

[grib]

And the whole thing is lifted clean off.



After stripping it down, we found ours to be in good condition, if not slightly tarnished from coolant / rust.



The cooling block is secured by 2 banjo bolts (internally relieved fixings). Thee are not overly tight and so easy to undo.



The old coolant block.



And the new one dropped in



Along with the 2 supplied replacement banjo bolts. An internally rubberised washer sits under the head.



The gaskets on the oil rotor to sump pipe are also replace



As we're nearing the point where I'd like to drop the main belt on, I decided to bolt up the power steering pump. This had been reconditioned.



Now it's time to fit the exhaust. As we're fitting a few tasteful performance upgrades, we've gone for a stainless steel straight through exhaust (with an end silencer). When combined with the Td5, this produces a lovely, throaty burble - with the added benefit of long term corrosion resistance.



Starting at the turbo, we dropped a new gasket onto the down pipe and bolted the exhaust to the lower face of the turbo outlet. The 10P Td5 doesn't have a CAT or DPF, instead it has a braided flexi joint.



I took the time to replace all the exhaust mounts. Unfortunately, one of them was only available as a genuine part - pricey stuff! This is the mount for the mid pipe.



The rear silencer section can be carefully rotated into place without the need for removing any parts



Time to bust out the welder. I've been using Hobby Weld 5, it's a superb gas to weld with for, well, hobby welders! There's no canister fees to pay and there are dealers all over the country. Hobby Weld 5 is perfectly suited to MIG welding thin metal, which we are about to do, when we repair the bulkhead.



If you are hobby welder, or weld infrequently, Hobbyweld shielding gases are very cost effective. I also spent a bit of time replacing the torch wire liner, fitted some new tips and shrouds and it's transformed my welds!



The bulkhead had some pitting that was revealed after blasting. I also stored this in the workshop for a while, which isn't the driest environment, so further rust formed on the surface. Only slightly worse than mill scale though.



This area too had some corroded metal. Fortunately, there are companies who now produce replacement sections for commonly rusted out areas. Namely YRM Metal Solutions. In this case, I decided to have a go at localised repairs, using pieces that I'll fabricate myself.



First, the corroding areas were marked and cut out

 

[grib]

I wanted to get back to sound metal to weld my repairs to



Then I made a cardboard template, this works really well for getting a perfect outline of the repair section to be made



I picked up a Clarke sheet metal folder to use in matching our repair piece to the form lines of the bulkhead.



Then MIG welded the repair section in. I tacked the panel every inch or two, to try prevent warp, before filling in sections randomly.



The end result is a sound repair piece, even if my welds required a lot of grinding. Then, we shipped the whole lot off to the galvanisers.

 

[andy_v]

ya last vid is very very very similar to the one in post 88

 

[KimB]

Oh how I wish my bulkhead was in the condition yours is haha. What a pain mine was to fix. Good job Ben

 

[grib]

Latest video here:

 

[grib]

Oh how I wish my bulkhead was in the condition yours is haha. What a pain mine was to fix. Good job Ben

I got off quite lightly I think

 

[KimB]

I got off quite lightly I think

Most certainly have haha.

 

[awemawson]

Coming on nicely !

I'm rather surprised that you are using stainless rivets in the rear tub. Stainless steel and Birmabright are a long way apart in the electrochemical series and cause galvanic corrosion

 

[grib]

Coming on nicely !

I'm rather surprised that you are using stainless rivets in the rear tub. Stainless steel and Birmabright are a long way apart in the electrochemical series and cause galvanic corrosion

As these aren't going to be in a marine environment & the tub holes are isolated with layers of primer and paint, I felt the risk was low. From the British Stainless Steel Association:

====

A large area of 'cathode' relative to 'anode' will accelerate the anodic corrosion. Although aluminium is anodic to stainless steel, large relative surface areas of aluminium to stainless steel can be acceptable, dependant on local conditions.
Stainless steel fasteners in aluminium plates or sheets are normally considered safe, whereas aluminium rivets or bolts holding stainless steel parts together is an unwise combination, as there is a practical risk of corrosion.

====

Additionally, these will be covered by the flaps of the soft top, so moisture is further cut down.

 

[awemawson]

Let's just hope that they don't salt the roads in your area then !