Happy Holidays!!

Although this is not my image (it's from the lovely people at MUD Stuff) it's my favourite Winter image with a Defender

Happy Holidays and have a Fruitful 2015!!

Defender Diaries: Off Road Attack - XCAR

XCar went for a Land Rover Experience Day - something I'd love to do - it is interesting to see exactly what they went through on the Day, plus some good driving tips

Defender Diaries Part 1 - XCAR

So XCar has bought a Defender as a Cre Car - I'm going to throw up their Vlogs as the come out

Can and Will: Jeremy Greenwood

Land Rover: Can and Will

I like this ad campaign - but I did notice all the main characters are White - uh oh Land Rover!

A Stormy Drive

We went for a little drive to Clogherhead and Port Oriel in Louth, Ireland,  just to see some waves and have a mini picnic in the Landy.  

A view of Port Oriel, with all the boats tied up for the storm - it feels like it should be in the west of Ireland

A trip to LR Services Straffan

Due to several bits failing on the NCT -I visited Dave Feely in LR Services Straffan.  Both the first visit to see what he can do for me and today when the work was carried out, were great days.

Today I got a full service with all fluids change (Land Rover Spec Fluids used), rear shocks replaced, the unit on the steering linkage replaced and bearings on the front wheel.

The service is at a special price at the moment of €170, a great deal.


Here's the beast up on  the stand.

The rear shocks put in,

We are now discussing of option of putting in a Discovery Transfer Box.

Enjoy!!

Weekend Drive

Having failed the NCT last week, I took a trip over LR Services Straffan to see what is needed.  Met Dave and he took a great look at the vehicle.  I was very impressed by the

 enthusiasm and all round cooperative nature of the guys working there.  We spent about 40 minutes, going through any of the flaws I noticed, taking it for a spin and when I mentioned I was interested in remapping the engine - they took me on another spin in a remapped Defender to get a feel for it.

SO I'm booked in for the 7th February for new Shocks, Split Pin on Steering Linkage, a Full Service and to fix an oil leak.

It was a miserable day, but great for driving in some mud - had to take a photo when I got out at a river!

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

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!