It's Icy

Christmas Time at the In-laws! Early Morning drive when it's icy - much Fun!

Spot Lights

I bought two LED spot lights from Tune My Defender and added them to my Roof Rack.  I haven't wired them yet.  

Now I definitely need to get my Roof Rack, shot blasted and powder coated - it's very rusty in places and Needs some lovin' before it becomes a permanent fixture.

Soundproofing - Stage 2

I haven't been too happy with the original soundproofing I did - especially on Motorways, so I thought newer, better and more of it was needed. Dynamat seemed to be the thing to go for, according to forums and a few TV shows I saw.

I got a combined set for £160(ish) off Ebay - here it arrived! It's a great product - It is sort of malleable to the curves and contours but it's so sticky, once one it's hard to take off.  I did cut my hands up with the aluminium in the sheets as I cut and shaped them.

I decided that to do this properly, it couldn't be rushed.  So on a Monday I stripped all interior panels and carpeting from the doors and floor.  

I did the front doors first.  I didn't strip off the window mechanism, which probably made work for me in the long run, but I got 90% of the door covered.

Then I completed the back door, which was much easier than the front ones.

Next I worked on the driver's footwell and under the seat.  I completely unbolted the seat to lay down the dynamat sheets fully.  The

I continued with the passenger side footwell and under the seat.

I finished off with under the centre box, and also kept the original Noise Killer above it.

At the end I still had some left over for the side panels of the vehicle, where the windows are, so I bought another box of Dynamat so I can do the roof also.  I'm thinking of covering the front foot wells with one of these from Exmoor Trim,

Defender Hardura Insulation Front Matting Kit

R380 Moulded Matting System BLACK £330.00+vat

General Grabber AT 235/85/R16 120/116Q

Spending more and more in Belfast - I discovered some places to use instead of buying in REpublic of Ireland.  I got my tyres from Vulcamac, I decided to keep the same tyres as what was on it - General Grabber AT 235/85/R16 120/116Q.  I got them for a good price of £125 each, plus £25 for an alignment.

Enjoy!!

Photo of the old tyres,

Here's the new ones on, all in all I was impressed with the service - and I really liked that they took off all the old weights, cleaned that part of the rims and put new ones on.  I know it makes sense but I've been to places where they just add to the old weights.

New Headlamps and a Sump Guard

I got a sump guard and new headlamps.  Although I would like to get LED headlamps, I don't have that kind of cash knocking around at the moment - so I got Angel Eyes headlamps from Powerful UK, these have a ring of small LEDs around the headlamp, I also bought Ultra Bright bulbs in Halfords. 

All lights in place, before I start

Front axle without Sump Guard

Sump Guard and Brackets - fairly easy to fit - but it appears not to align correctly, it's on the Defender and does not move, but I've contacted the manufacturers to be sure.

The headlamps prior to being put in

Taking off the Headlamp surround - one little trick we did to make sure the lamps were still aligned, was to mark white paint on the screws so everything went back in place, but we double checked!

These were the bulbs I bought - it was also a 2 for 1 offer, so even better!

TA DAA - Angel lights and Sump guards, now I need to get LED side lights etc!

Enjoy!!

New Brake Discs, Calipers and Pads - all round

Went to get Brake Pads and discovered all the calipers were seized up, along with some damage to the Brake Discs on the rear.

I went to a place in Lisburn Northern Ireland; White Mountain Land Rover centre

Now I have great stopping power - but I'm thinking of upgrading the rear to disc brakes, and maybe ABS

Enjoy!

Moving Office and taking everything but the kitchen sink

We moved office recently and I crammed as much in the load area as possible - underneath the mess are 5 computers and 10 monitors, also Wacom Cintiqs.  It may not look like it but I could still see out the rear view mirror.

Enjoy

As the Beast stands

 After doing a bit of work - cleaned her up a bit - some more to do, that Bumper really stands out now!

 

 

 Think a proper polish is in order shortly!

Here's the list of to do and Done

Done

• Add NoiseKiller Defender 90 kit 
• Add Wind Deflectors 
• Take off Light Guards and Bull bar, repair them, sand blast   
• Added new Windscreen Jet Washer  
• Added new Radio 
• Fixed Wiper Park Switch 
• Added Tubular side steps 
• Added rear Mudflaps 

To do Near Future

• Egg Box to completely insulate and sound proof it.
• Add Forward facing rear seats, in black.
• Upgrade front seats and add heated seats in black.
• Add Black checker plating all round
• Add Wolf front air Intakes
• Take off current Headlining and Interior paneling and replace with La Salle Interior Trim 

 
To do Distant Future

• Increase HBP
• Upgrade Brakes (TD5's are weak!!)
• Upgrade to Defender SVX Headlight Surrounds and Grill
• Add Twin Snorkels with a High Volume Dual entry air box.
• Upgrade bonnet to Puma Bonnet
• Galvanise the Chasis
• Add NAS rear bumper
• Upgrade front bumper
• Upgrade to Exmoor Trim spare tire holder
• Upgrade to Clear LED Nas spec lights.
• Add spots front and back
• Add New Light guards
• Possibly add Masai Land Rover Defender Dark Tinted Panoramic Windows
• Add a winch at some stage
• Add a 2" lift
• Upgrade Rims in size and also get black ones

Clutch Modification

So I ordered the 4 parts for the clutch modification to "soften" the TD5 clutch - a well worth job to do.

Parts ordered;
CLP3180 (Kit Bearing)
DCP3212L (Bushes) x2
EDP7510L (Torsion spring)

I ordered them from Rimmer Bros and cost me less than €40 including postage. Firstly I took out all the lining of the Driver's foot well - in hindsight I didn't need to do all that but, I fixed a few things along the way.

Floor mats removed with a NoiseKiller mat remaining, and wow it really does hold water!  It was soaking, I'm going to take it out and let drive the next good day we have and then seal the rim of it, hopefully that will work in future.

All lining removed and a close up of the pedal and Spring.  Think I'll need to paint the pedal at some stage! Also noticed some nasty rust which will need some looking after.

Next I removed the original spring - not to hard, just use your favourite prying tool!

The next thing was fitting the Kit Bearing, it hooks into the latch behind the pedal.  A good bit of force and WD40 needed here. 

 

Next was fitting the two Bearings each side of the pedal.  Again a good bit of force and WD40 - you can't really see them in the second image, but they are fitted!

Lastly was fitting the spring - firstly I snap it into the Kit Bearing then I got a plank of wood and wedge it so the pedal was full pressed down, then I fit each side into the Bushes.  One side doesn't fit perfectly, but according to others online this is a common occurance.

I put everything back in place and then wedge the lining in place with some wood and a hammer! :D

Fixed my Wiper Park Switch

The wipers on my windsreen stopped working.  Well they worked but woudn't go back to the park position. So to the forums I went!!

According to the forums it was a handy job, I just needed to buy a wiper park motor switch.  Good old ebay sorted me out and got one delivered and all for about €15.

According to the forums, I needed to take out the passenger side speaker.  Did that but didn't understand why, never needed to go through it.

Took off the dash and unscrewed the bottom part of the dash - this I found to be really useful.

Here we have the Wiper Park Switch, first things first, unplug it

Unplugged, fairly easy pinch and squeeze!

The old park switch came out easy, lift up and out.  A bit of force needed but nothing major!

The new one in.  This was the hardest part and probably took me the longest to do.  I ended up using a scredriver to open up (slightly) the clip on the park switch as it was too tight.  I finally got it on after several attempts.

Now wipers are fine!

Fit a New Radio and a New Aerial

So I go a new radio, only cost me €70 including postage from Pixmania,  I didn't want a lit up crazy looking thing, but something that had a proper connection for my Ipod/Iphone.

Like a kid in a sweet shop, I dived in and started to fit the radio, when I discovered a few annoying things.  Serves me right, it is a Land Rover after all.

 

Here is the original radio in the consol.  At the bottom of the radio there is are two holes with screws with star like heads.  I discovered that these heads were striped.  So I had to take out the entire consol to take the radio out.

 I took these two photos to remind me how to put it back together.
 

Radio and consol out - with plugs handing out.  I had to take off the top of the Dash to take out the consol, which was fine as you can do it in 3 minutes!

Took old radio out and the housing it was in.  The new radio was slightly wider, so I had to pear back some of the housing on the inside - but out on front it still looks fine!

Used the metal casing to wedge the new radio into the plastic housing, it works fine.

New Radio in the plastic housing

New Radio back in consol

Here's where I started getting annoyed.  I amanaged to fit the radio perfectly, but the connections were not going to fit.  The above connection for my speakers etc was a DIN, and the new radio had an ISO connection (Sigh!) So I know I could cut it and jimmy fix it together, but I thought I do some research first!

The next thing was the aerial connection - I needed to get a converter jack for the original Aerial plug and the socket of the new radio.

So I went forum hunting and Haynes manual reading.  I discovered I needed a DIN to ISO cable/adapter.  Found one on a audio car shop website which was going to cost me £35, nearly the price of the radio (eh no!!). So went to good old trusty Ebay with the part number and got one delivered for less than €20.

 Looked for a converter for the original aerial and it was going to cost me €4, then saw this aerial and correct jack for €8 in Maplins, as my original aerial was broken also - I thought feck it, I'll get this rubber one.

Radio fitted back with DIN to ISO adapter - tested and worked, next Aerial!

Old aerial - although I liked it, it was bent/snapped off at the top.  So had to go.

Unhitched the aerual from the clip under the panel and then unscrewed it.

New aerial partly taken apart so the wire would fit through the hole behind the engine.

Still had the original aerial wire through the car, and thought I'd join both and pull though.  Worked like a charm.  Although some forums said they'd add an extra jack in the engine bay, so in future one could just plug and play - makes sens but I wanted my radio now and it will be a few more years before I change it!

Fixed up the coaxe cable of the new aerial after I took the tape off it.

All plugged in and ready to go

Works like a charm!!  I fogot to take a photo with my Iphone in it, will add that later!

Here we go with the new aerial!

I would like to get rid of the aerial altogether on the front!  Then I'd add a long spring like aerial on the back, mounted to a swing away wheel carrier, something that is military looking and high enough to go over the top of the roof.