 | Home > My Defender > Cupboard's 110: Nellie |
 
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971   
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I was fitting a set of the Gwyn Lewis mud flaps yesterday (what a palaver, write up to follow) and my boss then found this for me:
 Click image to enlarge |
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13th Jun 2016 9:22am |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971
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Gwyn Lewis rear mud flaps fitted, front still to go. Massive improvement over the stock ones, they're actually keeping the mud vaguely near the wheel and stopping it getting all over the rear crossmember.
So I've fitted the kit GL1008 but not really following the instructions. There was a write up in LRO recently and they came with instructions (linked on the website too, the ones supplied are black and white). Neither set of instructions were particularly good but it's not rocket science. My issue was that it seemed to want me to drill in to the wheel arch boxes which I didn't really want to do. I've spent ages blocking up holes that the previous owner made and I didn't want to make more if I didn't have to! So rather than do that, there happens to be a bit of top hat that reinforces the tub just where you want to put the upper shield so I attached it in to there. Meant I needed some more of what they call "speed screws" (they're big hex headed self tappers with a built in washer) and typically I could only find 3 extras in the workshop and need 4 so one side has one missing somewhere where it's not that important. Because the reinforcing bar hangs down a little lower than they're expecting it meant I needed to drill some additional holes in the upper shield to reposition it, in the picture below you can just about see a line of holes 1cm above where the screws go in: Click image to enlarge So anyway, that's the shield fitted, the mud flap mounts on two antiluce fasteners that are right behind the lower two screws on the diagonal. All seems to work quite well. Took about 8 hours in total, if I was doing it again it would probably be quicker. A lot of the time was scooping out and then blasting out with air mud that had accumulated in areas that are really difficult to clean out. I'd washed it the day before and tried to do it thoroughly but it's amazing how much I missed. That's all now properly clean and various bits painted in grease. Turns out an old toothbrush is quite good for that. Everything supplied is pleasingly solid though there was a bit of dodgy looking galv on a section and I had to drill out some of the holes too. If I bought another Defender I'd definitely make this mod to it. The stuff on my chassis that looks like rust is actually just dirt stuck to the Dinitrol, you can scrape it and exposed fresh wax. It's a bit weird. |
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20th Jun 2016 8:04pm |
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| jk84 Member Since: 17 Feb 2015 Location: Wherever my Defender takes me... Posts: 720 
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This is a great mod - on my long to do list! MY15 Aintree 110 SW - for sale - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic82781.html
MY16 Santorini 90 HT - sold |
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21st Jun 2016 12:00pm |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971
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Front flaps and shields now done too
 10AM to 2PM with a few other bits in between. Could be done a lot quicker if you didn't clean the chassis as thoroughly as I did or if you knew what you were doing. Once again, the instructions assume you've done it before and leave out bits.
The most confusing was a part of the mudflap where the hole in the mudflap goes over a nut that you've just put on, so rather than the bolt going through the flap it's a bolt with a nut on it. It's obvious you've got it right once it's finished but until you've made the connection it just makes no sense at all. Easier job than the back ones I think. I don't get why they weren't built with something like these shields from the factory, it's like Land Rover never expected them to see any mud. There's just a big gap in the wheel arch liner that lets mud built up on the outrigger (not a big deal to clean) and then further out it accumulates on the end of the outrigger and then up the door pillar (both impossible to clean). I got a huge heap of mud out of mine from areas that you can't get to with a hose but mud and rot can get to. Silly. I found that I'd only done the outside of the passenger side outrigger when I did my Dinitrol treatment so I cleaned up the rest of it and gave it a covering whilst I was at it. It's weird, where rust hasn't got in to the metalwork the non-Dinitrolled stuff looks perfect. Where I have Dinotrolled it, it gets a brown layer over the top of the Dinitrol that looks like surface rust but I think is actually just mud sticking to the Dinitrol. If you scrape it off, you just get a curl of black wax and it's perfect underneath. It was quite satisfying timing, the heavens opened 20 minutes after I got in 
Next job is a side locker from FCX. Arrived this week in a substantial box with "fragile" tape on it  I was going to buy two, but it worked out cheaper to buy them one at a time (postage for one is £10 or two for £35) so I'm only going to have one sat in my garage waiting for time and weather. It's going to pain me cutting a great hole in the side but quotes for a flow through extended fuel tank were silly money (like £900 fitted) and the lockers will be a lot more flexible in their usage. Plus the weight is kept low down between the axles where it should be. In future I may end up with a larger tank too, but two lockers for a can or two of fuel plus other random stuff will do for now. |
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2nd Jul 2016 2:44pm |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971
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The first cuts hurt the most
I've spent so long patching up the holes the previous owner left me it seems wrong to make some of my own. On the other hand some bits of it have already been sullied so maybe it's not so bad
Measure many, many times I think... |
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3rd Jul 2016 5:41pm |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10584 
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Even when you have measured so many times it is still hard to make that first hole
but once you have done the deed, there is no going back and is worth it in the end 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper.
Clayton. |
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3rd Jul 2016 9:13pm |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971
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The deed is done!
In the picture about you can see two things of note. Thing one is that the box fouls the fuel filter housing, so that needed a large chunk removing. Thing two is that I initially put the support outrigger on top of the bracket. That was wrong and it didn't fit properly so it's now bolted underneath. Click image to enlarge It's very tight on the nearest pipe. In all, the job was very frustrating. The instructions are nothing more than the measurements of the hole you have to cut (which in fairness were correct and were useful). The don't tell you where the brackets go or anything. They don't tell you that you need to trim one of the bracket that attach the tub on to the body. The kit came short a handful of rivets and a handful of washers, neither of which was a massive issue because I have spares, but that shouldn't happen. Finally, the hole in the door doesn't line up very well with the antiluce catch. I thought maybe I'd misaligned it so I took it off and wiggle it but even forcing it to line up as you rivet it, it still doesn't line up. There's also a rivet hole that manages to line up with the seam between the side panel and the bar at the bottom so you can't actually get a rivet in. There are two useful videos on YouTube, an old one from Fraser Barsby and a more recent one that's useful: 2PM to 7PM basically, with a break to go and wash the chassis whilst I was at it Edit: I just thought I'd add something about jerry cans and stuff. I have two NATO water containers from 4x4 Overlander, these things: They're a snug fit when empty, but you can't fit two of them in full. The issue is that they're not quite the full height of the box and they're slightly fatter than then normal cans so you end up with them not fitting as snugly as they should vertically, then trying to spill out of the door. Any suggestions as to a good source of standard sized cans that are good quality at a not silly price would be appreciated. I'm after two for water and I'll probably get two for fuel whilst I'm at it, though might just have the one for fuel. |
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17th Jul 2016 7:57pm |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971
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Well I did the other side locket but didn't take any pictures. They're useful! If you're thinking about getting them, do.
No updates for a while because I've been 1) using my Defender and 2) extremely bust at work and seeing friends all over the place (which is great but doesn't leave much tinkering time). Anyway. A month or so ago I fitted the cruise control, that's great too. I used the kit from Mobile Centre along with a bit of help from one of the threads on this forum and it was fairly straightforward. I didn't take much in the way of pictures: Click image to enlarge I got a new diagnostics doodah because I was getting fed up of removing my Ultragauge to read codes on other cars, it's an Autel MD802 and will do Defenders from TD5 onwards (I've tried in our 2005) as well as pretty much everything else going. That's only reading and resetting faults, so you can't code new keys with it or anything. It comes up with this amusing message for my Defender: Click image to enlarge Earlier this week I went down one of my regular local lanes and had to do a bit of tree removal. No idea how it had got there as it had come from half a mile up the track and there were no tyre prints so it can't have been moved by a tractor. Probably just someone being an arse. Anyway a chap walking his dog came up as I was moving it and we had a long chat. He was grateful it was being dealt with, apparently it had been there about a week and lots of people had come across it and just turned round. Click image to enlarge The reason for today's update is a bit of a work in progress. I've moved my compressor from next to the battery so I've got room to put a second battery in. After much umming and erring I decided not to put the compressor in the other seat box and put it in the engine bay where it could get a bit more cooling whilst running. The battery box was fine because I always took the lid off to run it, but I want the option of not doing that. So the only place I could find to put it was behind the driver's headlamp and in front of the air box. The airbox is a sod to get out! But I did it. Not quite like this though! Click image to enlarge But it genuinely does fit in there and you can get the airbox back in and the headlamp all together. Next job on that front is to make a mounting bracket then wire it back to the battery, but I can't do that until I've finished doing the batteries. Which brings me neatly to the dual battery install. I measured the space and picked a Varta F18 battery which only gives away 5Ah capacity to the main battery but is only 175mm high instead of 190mm (I thought that was going to be significant when I measure it but I think I was actually wrong), it's a bit shorter and the same width. I didn't go for an AGM battery because the main one isn't an AGM (which I originally thought it was) and I didn't see the point in spending the extra cash on one. This was £78 all in from Tayna and is closely related to the batteries recommended here http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/battery-technology.php - from reading the spec sheets it's the same internal design. So I took the starter battery out, screwed two bits of 1/2" ply together and filled the standard battery tray (makes them pretty much level, the outer one is slightly tilting in), put the two batteries in and marked the lines you can see on the picture, drilled an 8mm hole through them and the black tray below, M8 nut on a magnetic stick underneath the tray, short bit of M8 threaded rod through the lower tray and wood, washer then a stud joiner to hold it all in place. There's a second bit of threaded rod that goes in to the top of the stud joiner and holds the two batteries in. It's nice and secure. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge And it all goes together like this, as you can see there probably was room for the 190mm high battery which seems to be the slightly more common size. There's probably room for two identical 019 (standard) batteries rather than the 019 and the 110 (new smaller one) battery if you tried hard. Click image to enlarge For a split charge relay I'm using the Victron Cyrix CT 230A which has "start assist" and a short term rating of 500A. It's dual sensing (so doesn't matter which battery is receiving charge) and seems to not draw any noticeable current whilst off, my bench power supply just reads 0mA which is good. I looks at the Blue Sea ones but they're so expensive to have one that can manually combine the batteries and the Cyrix seems to tick all the boxes. It won't combine unless it detects a battery on both sides. My only niggle so far is that there's no way of extending the status LED somewhere that you can see it which is quite annoying. I haven't wired it in yet, that's a job for tomorrow. Finally for today's update is a winge about jump leads. When I bought my first car I also bought some jump leads, and then when I bought the Defender I bought another set the same. I've since sold my car so had a spare set of jump leads and I'm sure when I bought them they said they were 35mm2. They certainly advertised lots of amps and suggested using them for tractors and lorries. Anyway, seeing as I already had a set of what I thought were beefy cables in stock I thought there wasn't much point in buying some more cable for the dual batteries, I might was well just chop up a spare set of jump leads. I did that, and 35mm2 my arse! The insulation is comically thick, but the cable inside might be 16mm2 if you're lucky. Anway, I've done the earth connection and they'll have to do for now seeing as they're all I've got. I might upgrade at some point but the cable runs are so short it probably won't be worth it. Click image to enlarge Tomorrow I'm doing the positive side, then adding some fuses and running a feed (10mm2) to the compressor. It draws up to 50A and I want to be able to supply it without too much of a voltage drop. |
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1st Sep 2016 10:16pm |
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| mk1collector Member Since: 17 Sep 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 6769 
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Any pics of the side lockers in place ? Ray
My build thread http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic17615.html |
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1st Sep 2016 10:42pm |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971
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Not many actually.
The sequins weren't my addition, I visited a couple of friends for the weekend and found they got added along with a sequin heart and some ribbons on the back... Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge My Defender drives through stuff that you couldn't get other vehicles through (and when I was moving the tree the other day it actually got stuck-ish in that it couldn't pull the tree through a muddy patch) but it just doesn't get muddy. It's great 
I've been out with a friend's Range Rover and he's come back with the car covered in mud and mine just looks clean as it always does. |
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2nd Sep 2016 12:40pm |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971
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I've had a bit of time in the workshop this week, and been making myself a waffle board holder to go on the rear wheel carrier. It's not finished and there is some room for improvement, I'm thinking of reversing the T piece to make a sort of fork.
Click image to enlarge not entirely sure why there are a heap of colouring in pencils on the welding bench... Click image to enlarge ^^At this point I tacked it together wrong. I seem to be a master at tacking stuff together incredibly well when I've laid it out wrong, and if I actually want the tacks to hold then it all falls to bits... more practice required! Click image to enlarge ^^This is correct. The bits of flat are 2", and the lower one was trimmed down a bit to 40mm. If you had a load of 45mm flat that would be ideal, but sadly the offcuts heap wasn't that bounteous! So I cut one down and put the other two at an angle. The first one I just clamped on the bench, the second and third I used the carrier as a jig so I got them properly lined up. It's completely removable in about 10 minutes if you want to. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge There's a gap there at the moment. The bit that's actually holding the waffles is a T with droopy bits on the ends of the arms _____ | | | . | . | Like that if that loads properly. that stops everything wobbling. I was fortunate to find some bits of box that all fits nicely together in the offcuts heap. I think the smaller stuff (which makes the T) is 30mm and the "receiver" is 40mm. The arms on the Mantec/Land Rover carrier that hold the wheel are 1" and I found some welded 1" ID pipe that with a bit of tweaking with a 1" drill on the lathe slid over nicely. There's an M16 nut welded at the door end of the rocket thing so that I can put some threaded rod down and clamp the whole lot up tight. At the moment the shaft of the T is too long but as I say that's probably going to be tweaked a bit. The idea is that it's not resting on the tyre so I don't create any spots on that, but is as close as possible so it's not putting too much torque on the rear door. Bit more fettling tomorrow |
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8th Oct 2016 9:28pm |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971
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I've built a box today.
It's as long as the bits of 1/2" ply that I had left over from something and as high as a fridge I'm hoping to get if that's sat on the floor behind the passenger seat. The box is attached with a couple of bolts in to the side rail picking up a couple of factory holes. Not sure why there are so many random holes there but hey ho! It's solid enough that when you wobble the box the whole Defender wobbles with it so that's good enough for me. I'm planning on making a taller set of shelves in a similar style to fill in the gap up to the door. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge The head of the bed (the platform on the right of the picture) is going to be completely redesigned to take the fridge. I've made a cardboard mock-up to make sure it all works. |
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29th Oct 2016 10:50pm |
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