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ThreePointFive

Long Term Forum Financial Supporter
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Everything posted by ThreePointFive

  1. I think you're right that it prevents chafing. It means the lamp is otherwise completely unsealed at the rear and any moisture that gets in through that hole is going to stay in and rot the connectors and reflector. It's a really carp design so I'm going to address it before it becomes a problem.
  2. Finished. Before: After: Before: After: Before: After: By no means perfect, cheating a bit with a satin surface but it is undeniably better. If you weren't looking for it, you would not notice. Really that's all I was setting out to acheive. The biggest issue with the bumper is the one that's the hardest to see in the photos - there was a huge dent next to the NS jacking hole which I was tempted to knock out but would have just ended up playing 'whack-a-dent' back and forward. The filler has solved it. I've also coated the whole inside area in Bilt Hamber rust converter (great stuff) and painted that but have no photos as there's not much to see other than it's not rusting. Now I need to finish off the indicators. I was going to fit them when I realised how the grommet isn't really doing any job and you can see right through it. I'll seal it up and while I'm at it, will seal the whole unit shut as the LED buld should last and it'll ensure no moisture gets in. I also noticed the white plastic body of the lamp shows through the smoked lense, so I definitely didn't paint it black inside to make it look better . I would never do a mod just for the sake of aesthetics, that would make me a hypocrite..... Also painted the spotlight support so I'll put it all together when it goes on the car and that's this little project finished. I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial on how to avoid doing the jobs you really needed to do.
  3. The more I see it, the more I think a UAZ has been playing with a Nissan Patrol behind the bike sheds. It is not a pretty car.
  4. Fully agree with you, I've thought exactly the same thing. And if someone likes the look, they should absolutely do it.
  5. As an alternative to the aftermarket blindspot windows in some hardtops I think the panoramic sides look much better. Even the factory station wagon windows give an untidy appearance and mess up the proportions of the car in my view compared to standard hardtop sides. Anything that increases safety and usability while retaining something similar to the original look of a hardtop "van" is a good thing, however it is entirely paintwork dependent as Snagger says and I just don't like the current products. They aren't convincing enough to pass as a hardtop when you see the light coming through the other side. Add in the practicalities as said above and you have a product that doesn't do anything particularly well. This is purely an aesthetics mod and I think on a Defender that is a dangerous road to go down
  6. This was from a few days ago, after the first guide coat went on and a fine layer of filler to address the remaining low spots. Now had the first coat of paint on but that has shown up more imperfections and areas where the filler isn't blended properly. I'm very pleased with the radius on the left hand bar and I also did the bottom of the same bar where it runs along the front, which is now invisible. I can predict the "more filler than a U2 album" comments from those better at the bodywork witchcraft but this is about the best I can do. I would love to give it a go with a welder but I lack the cognitive capacity for such complex undertakings.
  7. Is Tiger seal any good? I keep seeing it mentioned on forums but I've been using RTV for most things and seems to do the job.
  8. The more I think about it, the less I want to fit the winch. I think I'll leave it until after the car is MOTed and I've driven it a bit. It's a lot of weight over the nose for no real reason. Progressing on the bumper - filling, sanding, filling, sanding, guide coat, sanding, filling... hopefully I'll get some pictures before I paint it. It's already obvious that I am not going to get perfection but I will accept "better than it was". I'm usually pretty happy with my rattle can skills but never have been any good with the filler, so it's difficult being a perfectionist when you don't have the skills to achieve it.
  9. Thanks, so it looks like they are just moisture traps then...
  10. I am a staunch fan of the ARB and I'd agree with everything you say.
  11. The recess next to the driver side indicator is presumably for an ARB decal, but how is it meant to fit there? It appears to have bolt holes, I know these are HD bumpers but that's taking it a bit far... I'd like to find an alternative just to do something a bit different.
  12. I hope you find one that needs less work... I have to say, the winch version is a lot better looking. The front face of the bumper on this one is a big block of metal so I really hope the number plate helps break it up a bit.
  13. That's exactly what I did. Mine does have about a kilo of filler on it now, though. Wanted to get stuck in.
  14. Many of you will know that I recently discovered my starter motor had broken off in a fairly dramatic way and I now urgenty need to address this before I can move on with any element of my build. It absolutely has to take priority as the car is completely undrivable until I sort it. I now have my replacement unit and all the tools to do it, I just need to get on with it. ...so I'm going to work on the ARB bullbar. I bought this about 10 years ago when one came up, I've always loved the look but they ddn't seem to come up very often. This one was a bit crusty but solid, though not the winch-specific version I really wanted, it had been used with one and hadn't caused the previous owner any issues. Seeing that it was covered in surface rust, I had it shot blasted and powder coated as it seemed superficial, and ended up with this: Not bad for having been stored many, many years ago, just a few light scratches in the coating. Looks can be deceiving though. Far from just minimal surface rust, the front face is quite pitted and the rear is far worse. It's also pretty dented. Three major dents in the driver side bar: Here's the mountings for the winch, drilled into the top plate. Unsure how a fairlead was attached though: The mountings are also bent all over the place. Either it was dropped at some point or hit a tree because both sides are like this and I won't be able to fit it with the lower plate kicked up like this - it's a smaller gap than the dumb iron will fit into. All in all, it's a passable bumper from a distance but close up it's had a hard life. While I'm all for using the car properly and not tarting it up to make it unusable, I want to start it out with something fairly straight. I'm not worried about the physical structure, it's more than tough enough so any repair is cosmetic. It's a shame as the coating is in good condition, but I'm going to have to rough it up, use metal filler on the pitted areas, prime and paint. I have a filler, I'm hoping I don't need to get it down to bare metal for it to stick properly. I have a plan for smoothing out the dents on the bar, too. Clearly I need to fully address these significant cosmetic issues before I try to move on with fitting any of the extras/accessories to the bumper, which would be a distraction. So naturally I started looking at how I could mount two spotlights. I bought these in the group buy on here, also about 10 years ago. I'm sure newer generations will blow them out of the water for performance, but they will light up and weren't expensive, so meet my two main criteria. Here's the standard light mounts: No good for me. The lights have two legs so can't mount like this. I neded to create a strap to mount each light to, bolting centrally through the bar's intended mounting hole. The mounts are this annoying profile though, so I can't mount it below without some kind of spacer or it would bend upwards. I did have a plan for bending a strip of ali using two blocks of wood with this shape cut into the join between them and then use a vice to press it into that shape, extending each side to give the legs something to bolt to. Then I realised this was over complicated and boring. Another problem is the rotation that each light would be prone to - I would have to bolt them very tightly to stop side-to-side turning. So I decided a top-mounted strap joining both sides together was simple and prevented individual light movements: This provides a conduit to run the wire across as well, so invisible from most angles. Bolted loosely up, it looks a bit like this: The lights sit nice and high so not obstructing the airflow to the radiator and they're forward enough as to not light up the bar and be visible from the interior. They're also set back to avoid any contact off road. As you can see though, it all is essential that I spend the time smartening it up, painting and correct sized bolts and washers before I can say it's a finished and move on to the next job. So I started looking at the indicators. Even these tabs are bent slightly to make fitting awkward and I'm not sure what the fittings for the lights are even meant to be. I have some indicators that were listed as suitable for VWs and ARB bumpers so must be generic. They have screws but undoing them takes out the whole unit rather than just the lens, which is pretty annoying. I took out the lokut things from the light fittings and pushed them into the tabs which seems to hold them in place but it doesn't seem right, yet googling shows nothing. Anyone know what's meant to be here? Having smoked lenses and amber LED bulbs meant I could disepense with the amber lens insert so I think they fit in well and the bulbs are very bright so won't have any issues in the day. All assembled, the bumper looks something like this: I'm interested in mounting the winch. It could sit on top as the holes suggest, but I'm wondering if I could do something different. Is there anything to stop a winch from being mounted upside down? So it would sit inside the section of the bumper with a fairlead cut in the middle, making it a hidden install. I understand it's better to be able to see the rope but not essential and this won't be a challenge truck, most of the time it won't even have the rope on the drum. Interested in thoughts on this. I intend on updating this as I go, I don't know if anyone will really care but if nothing else it can serve as a 'lessons learned' for filling, sanding, priming and painting over an existing powder coated surface.
  15. Are you connected to the sale of this truck?
  16. It's a big shame that you won't profit from all the work you've done, especially as that dash looks like it'll turn out really nice, but fully understand your decision. It can feel like these cars make work for you to do after a while.
  17. Maybe my recent problems have made me see starter motors everywhere... But is it powered by a starter motor attached to a flywheel?!
  18. Hard to see why an exhaust would limit revs, that sounds like something else and either the installation of the pipe is a coincidence or disturbed something and while being fitted. The back pressure that's often quoted as being essential for proper running has been proven to be a myth (though cylinder scavenging is a real thing and can be effected by manifold lengths and various other things) so I don't think this is the source of your issue. Best thing to do would be to refit the original exhaust and test the running, if it runs better then you know the replacement is at fault. Otherwise, it's back to basics with the old air/fuel/spark. When were the filters and plugs last changed? I just can't see how it would limit revs; you say specifically in neutral, what's it doing in-gear?
  19. I have nothing of any value to add other than to say that is a really nice wagon.
  20. Far more than the price, the execution or the fact they would only acheive the 'illusion' from one angle, it's just that they're fake that really irks me. These are like those flesh tunnel earings that yoof wear.
  21. Well, bidding ended. Better be sat down when you see what people thought it was worth. In other news, I find these to be a charming addition to any Defender and most definitely in keeping with the whole ethos of the vehicle and its heritage: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184692684351
  22. Is there any reasonable prevention for swollen nuts? Like soaking them in a corrosion inhibitor or similar?
  23. I have bought a set of ATs* on 265/75 despite the fact that I thought the size was 'all show'. The reason is that the size of the contact patch and the tyre section are not the same thing, the measurement is for the latter. So the sidewalls do stick out a fair whack but the actual tread footprint in contact with the road is less than my old 235/85 MTs and at least an inch less diameter. On the other hand, the BFG ATs in 265 are a wide tyre. Also take into account that a 255/85 BFG mud on a Wolf rim is an incredibly heavy package (though no doubting the best combination for 50/50 road/off road use). That diameter of tyre might be perfect for a 1.4 or 1.6 transfer box but on my 1.2, I'd be changing down on hills and taking a hit on fuel economy I imagine. Not sure how you'd tell the difference with the V8 though. *I am not saying the tyre maker name as I haven't run them, have no way to know how they perform and don't want to misadvise. I did a LOT of research before I finally committed but I can't stand by it until I've tried them out.
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