Defender 110, a Bedford cf and a utility truck walk into a bar...

[Badger110]

I now have an obsolete aluminium roof rack as nothing is going up top.

 

i figures to put it to good use for future purposes and if I’m honest, it does look quite cool with I’ve done...

 

original;

 

I cut it down and replaced some of the rusted bolts, a few licks of paint and voila 

 

 

Its not going to have huge loads on it but it’ll come in handy for shovels n stuff and it’s recycling old items 

[Bowie69]

Could put some wires on it, a hinge along  the bottom edge, and a piece of board/stainless on the back side and turn it into a drop down table.

[Badger110]

Not a bad idea Bowie, I’ve got surplus aluminium sheet from the hole in the roof to make the table top. 
 

For securing it into a locked position I’d need some sort of locking thingymajig..

[Badger110]

Starting at the front with regards to the interior, my first thought was to mount the head unit above the windscreen.

 

its out the way and looks ok, however the wiring will be a pain as it’ll have all sorts going to it including 2 cameras, 4 speakers and relative power cables.  Routing all that up the A pillar isn’t in my list of things that ‘ feel me with a warm feeling ‘. 
 

Im happy to punt the speakers up higher so I’ve began partitioning it off.

 

 

I cut down the original head lining to go inside the visor part sticking over the bonnet and with the short bit I cut off, fixed that back onto the top of the windscreen with the sun visors ( might be a little overkill now  )

 

once I had the shape I wanted it was time to cover them.  I don’t profess to being any good at this sort of thing, but needs must.

 

the partitions are made from ply and covered in 6 layers of thin foam and then material.  All the foam and material was sourced from charity shops, so it’s a mixed bag, but I do love to recycle stuff 

 

This is one of the panels done as well as the roof of the cab;

 

 

I did toy with making a hatch to the left of the speaker to utilise the space behind, but it would affect the speaker and I wouldn’t gain a huge amount of storage.  I will, however fit a small cargo net to throw things in on that panel, as well as the one on the drivers side.
 

The black caps are screw caps and the reason for this is all panels must be able to be removed.  Down the line I don’t want to find an issue with something behind a panel and not be able to get to it. 
 

We are going to be travelling to various different continents and climates, so being able to identify and fix a problem down the line is first on my mind with regards to the interior.  All the fixings for the roof are accessible at a future date should I need to get to them.  Also it makes wiring easier if I add something down the line.

 

 

 

[Badger110]

It’s not all making roof’s fit and welding, sometimes the little bits are important.

The heater control which allows you to control the flow of air to individual areas was broken.  A small piece of plastic had snapped on the wheel in which the control knob uses to shut off windscreen de mist and allows you to select dash vents.

 

You can see the missing piece here;

 

I had a price of plastic which is from one of my track saw runners, so out with the dremel and trimmed it down

 

Once I was happy with it, I used superglue & accelerator to fix it in place

 

i trimmed off the excess plastic and used the dremel and a hot blade on the solder to shape the channel as the break was on a curve. 
 

Ive now added some super adhesive/ hardener to ‘ shore ‘ up the back of the piece i added.

 

That’s it for now, the piece is cooking in the sun to go hard and then I’ll fit it all back in a give it a test

 

[landroversforever]

There’s a company making new A pillar trims with a bit more space in them. I think it’s MUDStuff. 

[landroversforever]

It is! 
https://www.mudstuff.co.uk/products/interior-accessories-16/mud-a-pillar-trim.html

[Badger110]

It’s also about extending all the cables, I’m sure there’s a generic ISO extension somewhere but I’ve a few more than just the usual speaker set up.

 

I had the dash out to tidy up the wiring, sort the heater controls and a few bits of housekeeping. 
 

The fan has always been abit meh and since removing the air con the middle vents aren’t really needed, just the directional ones.

The heater ducting must lose a fair bit of air before it gets the vents as it’s mostly pushed on with perishable foam making a seal.

I replaced the foam at all the joints with aircon grade expanding foam strip and blocked off the centre vents with a small aluminium plate ( since cutting a great hole in the roof, there’s a fair bit of this around!) 

 

When the vents are selected it’ll only come out the directional vents now and not t middle two.  This helps when I have the iPad on the dash.

 

Fitting a double head unit caused some issues with the clock...as in it doesn’t fit as it fouls the unit. Not too much of an issue as I poked the hazard switch through the hole left by the clock. I’ll make a bezel for it 

I got rid of the rear door switches for the heater and wiper as I don’t have a rear view mirror anymore, driving vans & motorbikes most of my life I never use it anyway, it’s just wiring and weight not needed on the back door so that’ll be stripped soon for a cat flap and half door set up 

[Badger110]

The insurance company are throwing a little wobbler regarding my roof. 
 

Even though dormobile supply these roof’s as a kit, they want some form of documentation relating to it which I can’t supply as it was 2 nd hand.

Advised not to use it on a public road until they get someone to look at it or I get relevant documentation.

 

Might be worth looking into the IVA route

[FridgeFreezer]

19 minutes ago, Badger110 said:

Might be worth looking into the IVA route

Why would a bolt-on piece like the roof have anything to do with IVA? You can unbolt the entire Defender body and swap it without an IVA.

[Bowie69]

Find a difference insurance co.

[Badger110]

21 minutes ago, FridgeFreezer said:

Why would a bolt-on piece like the roof have anything to do with IVA? You can unbolt the entire Defender body and swap it without an IVA.

I thought, and perhaps wrongly, that IVA’s cover structural differences to a vehicle?

[Badger110]

25 minutes ago, Bowie69 said:

Find a difference insurance co.

NFU have been great in the past, I know there’s only one in the office and she’s unsure, hence the current situation.

I’m not driving it at the moment as I’m at home for another 8 weeks, so it’s not an inconvenience, more that it’s going to cost to get a report done.

[Bowie69]

18 minutes ago, Badger110 said:

I thought, and perhaps wrongly, that IVA’s cover structural differences to a vehicle?

Not on a body on frame vehicle, in this case it covers alterations to the chassis.

Body can have anything you want done to it.

[Turbocharger]

Evidently they're not fussed about IVA,v they just want to see some docs or calcs to show it won't all end up in the road when you brake really hard.

I'd be inclined to write up your design with any strength/materials calcs, aiming to show that the weakest point is "as good as" what went before. Comparative numbers vs the LR original design should be enough. Consider simple load cases (lateral, longitudinal, vertical), throw in a few section diagrams and work it up to about ten pages, put anything else as appendices.

[miketomcat]

Try a different NFU office. I don't use them but I couldn't insure my ibex with them yet I know other ibex insured with them. It transpires you just phone different office's till you get someone helpful.

Mike

[landroversforever]

A friends partner used to work for NFU, they apparently don't like home built stuff, LRs included. Hopefully thats not all offices.

[Badger110]

The insurance is still on going, i'll update as it progress's.

 

In the meantime, it was time to work on the interior layout.

 

Most trucks have a bench seat down one side and the cupboards, sink,cooker down the other.  In a van this works as it utilises the most amount of space, however it's terribly boring and if you do sit down for something to eat, you're staring at a wall of cupboards.

I got my thinking cap on and came up with a few ideas.

First one was to swap out the standard front seats for a bench seat.  This would also make up part of the bed for the rear once it was folded down.  If you fold the back rest down onto the base, you could create a seat base for the rear seats...

Second idea was to replace the standard front seats with a swivel mechanism.  It would've been a fair bit of work as i would need to re arrange the seat box itself, but not impossible.  The downside to this was the height issue.  The front seats are low on the seat box and turned 180 degree's meant you would have to sit with your legs out in front of you rather than like a proper seat.

Those 2 ideas were ditched.  The first because i came up with a different idea for a bed in the back and the second idea because the seating position wouldn't have been comfortable.

 

The third option is the one i went with.

 

Firstly i had to do a little job to the front seats.  They lean back and lock and will lean to an upright position to lock but won't lean forwards and lock.  The reason is there is a small pin on the seat base which moves out of alignment after the upright position.  It allows the seat to ' flip ' forward.  The design, i think, is due to having rear seats and no rear door in some 90 models.  You gain access by flipping the front seat forward.  I could be wrong.  Anyway i needed to remedy this.  Whipping out the welder, it was a case of welding a spot on the seat base which allowed the pin to stay in a position so you could lock the seat using the standard grooves.  So i went from a maximum position of this;

 

 

to be able to lock it in this position;

 

 

Once that was done to both seats, i was able to make up a seat box in the rear which had movable tops to allow it to be in ' travel ' mode and in ' stopped for the night ' mode.  The seat box also had a sub fitted into cause i like loud music when i drive

For the rear seat, i needed a back rest, scratching my head i went with something simple.

I took a dog pen panel;

 

and cut it down by 6 inchs and re welded it to produce 2 panels which were then hinged at the bottom and fitted to the truck floor just behind the front seats;

 

 

 

together look like this;

 

 

Both panels are independant of each other and can be moved when each of the 2 front seats are forward or back.

 

In the below picture you can see the difference in the seat base's being in ' travel ' mode ( behind the driver ) and ' stopped for the night ' ) mode behind the passenger.

 

Overall view of the seating in the rear of the truck looking in from the rear.  When we stop, the front seats get pulled forward, flipped and locked in position, seat base moved back and voila, we have a seat for the rear.  Access is via the side doors and it's fairly easy to get in and out.  The width of the seating is fully across the truck at 1400 and these cushions will double up as a bed base, which i'll cover later on in the build.

 

 

Lastly it's a picture of dog number 1 helping out again....

 

 

...it's a hard life being a Basset Hound

[Arjan]

poor dog....

[Badger110]

Also today my tube arrived for the extension down the side of the wing from the bull bar.

 

I had a rough idea of how i wanted it to look, and it was a simple case of cut it and see.

 

 

So i did and this is what i came up with;

 

A few spot welds

I shall weld it onto the bull bar.  The other end is bolted to the rock slider.  It does mean if i ever remove the bullbar, the 2 side bars are attached, but it's not the end of the world, i simply place the entire thing on the floor in situ.  I couldn't come up with a neat feature to have the entire extra bar seperate.

 

Looking level;

 

 

 

Tomorrow i will make up the other side then weld them both up.

 

[Stellaghost]

Looking good make sure you slide some thin plate between welding and paintwork or the weld spatter will burn /stick to paintwork also if you weld up all sections except where it attatches to vehicle off the car it will be easier to give full coverage welds and also easier to blend with flap disc regards Stephen

[elbekko]

8 hours ago, Badger110 said:

I couldn't come up with a neat feature to have the entire extra bar seperate.

Something like this maybe?

[landroversforever]

Or these work well for that kind of bar:

[Badger110]

2 hours ago, landroversforever said:

Or these work well for that kind of bar:

Roll cage saddle. 
 

I've ordered 2 from the guy who sold me the tube, cheers Lrf

[Retroanaconda]

What’s the purpose of the steel along the wing there?