ajh

I did epoxy but it doesn't really last, I think I will do industrial tile next at about 30p/sqft.

The diesel fired ones will have a limited lifespan compared to the passive ones and running them will use it up, so it depends on how you want to approach things I guess, it will also depend on how well I can get things insulated, it's quite remarkable how quickly things get very cold at -45C. You have people in the UK who complain about the heater and it's not like it ever gets cold there.

One of those 4-output ones from above in that location might just be an excellent idea. I've got at least this summer to think about it since I don't expect to have things back on the road for at least a few months (waiting for parts sucks, I envy you guys who can just get them down the road.. not to mention harass vendors like Safari Equip who fail to ship things and then ignore email in person.)

Or, just buy a boot and stick that one when you're not using it.

You are better off putting a couple really big bolts into the concrete and securing it around the chassis with a nice half-inch thick cable.

Nice, I would consider using one of those. My plan was to build it into the passenger seat-box so that vents could be run to allow hot air to blow out the front and back of both seat boxes. This is important for me as I don't plan on putting footwell vents into the custom dash Well, not to mention we get -45C.

Being able to build on the new chassis is key, not sure how many times you've done it, but if it's your first one it pays to be able to see both at once. I'm still trying to remember where everything goes.

Oh and on the chassis, they're cheap enough to just get one really in the long run. To compare.... Sandblast and galvanize existing chassis plus welding repairs, I'd guess probably 600-800GBP on average with one that is in visibly good condition and you still don't know if you got good interior coverage since you can't sandblast there. Someone who's had this done in the UK can probably give a better estimate. New chassis, what 1200GBP and a trailer? No brainer really. You're also lucky, mine cost nearly 2000GBP after shipping.

If possible electro galvanize the bulkhead and you avoid all the potential warping issues. It's fully painted anyway and it takes a LOT more time to prep something galvanized to get the paint right than something that has been 'electro galvanized'. If you do hot dip it, brace it in 3 locations, front and back of the outrigger mounts (I did one side, and the wrong one and ended up with a warp, symetric and fixable but still a pain) and across the windshield mount holes and you should be good. I would also do it plenty in advance so you can spend hours sanding it smooth again and the paint shop will charge you a whole lot less.

Those are supplemental heaters, not aux heaters. An aux heater is just another heater box in a package you install somewhere else, also called bus heaters sometimes. I'm likely just going to dismantle the RHD heater box I pulled out and fabricate a new housing for the core and fan and stick some hydraulic 'quick disconnects' in the back so I can hang it from the roof during the winter if needed etc. Not that fitting a supplemental heater is a bad idea, certainly going to do a set of them since I expect to sleep in the back in -30C

Consider lockwire in addition to setting the torque correctly. Drilling is not that difficult and wire them up so they cannot turn, there is a good reason why this is a requirement on race vehicles.

Summit racing has a whole pile of aux heater boxes on their site. Probably a good place to start.

Neill, you're clearly not familiar with security films, it's also why windscreens have a laminated layer of plastic in them it makes them a LOT safer. You might want to look at some of the demonstration videos. A local company does it for residential/commercial windows called ACE Clear Defence and it makes a window quite difficult to break, you basically have to knock the pane out of the surround and that takes a whole lot of force.

So, it turns out that the normal way to install the FirstFour close-fitting Shadow tubular bumper puts the winch right up against the radiator, leaving not enough roof for the FMIC. Had anyone come up with a solution for this they could share? I 'think' that a combination of drilling new mounting holes for the winch to move it as far forward as possible and making new brackets for the FMIC to move it upwards as much as possible 'might' get them to clear, but I don't have the winch yet which makes testing this theory a little tricky. Now I've converted to a Kenlowe and it's a 200TDI so there is lots of room to move the Radiator backwards and fabricating a new rad-mount is the likely next step. Am I the only one who is constantly feeling like they're the first person every to put together any particular combination of aftermarket accessory? It's like they're all intentionally designed to conflict.

Ordered mine when I thought the drum was seized, it now looks like I just had no experience with drums and did not know to slack off the adjuster screw before trying to remove the drum, of course the other 4 I'd removed drums on came off pretty easily even without this... Now that I've ordered mine, what is the downside of ordering the PTO compatible version vs the normal Defender one? I am not sure if I'll add a PTO drive later but an Overdrive is likely and I figured it's better to be safe than sorry when forking out this much.

If you can't do localized sand blasting you NEED to wire wheel it and then apply a phosphoric acid rust converter or it will come back, and quickly.

Still can't be as bad as mine, I put the stiffener bar on the wrong side before galvanizing, for future reference if you do just one put it on the back side , I would be more inclined to use 3 bars next time, one on each side on the bottom and one across the front bolted through the windshield bolt holes on top. Got it mounted on the chassis and with a hand-winch pulled it more or less back into alignment though. A bit more to do but I don't get my window frame until tomorrow night and then I can work on the top section.

OK, figured it out, it was a bias spring from inside the pivot ball of the shifter lever itself. I'd wondered why there was a hole in it but I didn't see it when taking it apart.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=11149348&l=001423e2f5&id=544610503 is a photo of the part.

Ok, this likely to be related, just found a small (25-30mm) very heavy spring with a nylon bumper on one end under where I was working. Ideas? About to search the parts database to figure it out.

OK, not solid. The existing sludge looks like it got water contamination in it, likely from the MTF (but who knows) so enough to prevent upsplash and not so much it gets forced out. I suspect a clogged breather could result in a huge mess if it is too full

So, clean it to remove the sludge and pack it solid with wheel bearing grease then?

OK, yes I'm looking into the top of them and they look pretty bad. So I can just flush them out with some solvent and stick some one-shot swivel grease in there? (I have a couple extra packages of it) The manual does not mention anything about the shifter housing. Looks like at some point somehow water got in and mixed with the grease. There's even a small amount of rust around the shifter ball.

How are the two levers/balls in the shifter housing on an R380 lubricated? Both have some pretty sludgy ugly green gloop in them (new to me R380, has not been run with clean oil). Are they part of the pump driven manual transmission loop or do they need to be mantained?

So, anyone fitted a accellerator pedal from something else to their Defender? You know, one that does not look/feel like it was lifted from an amusement park bumper car?