Defender 110 Rear Tub

[uninformed]

Hey all,

 

Im custom building my 1998 Defender 110 300Tdi Cab Chassis. It came as a truck cab, no rear tub etc, the body finishes at rear bulkhead. I have a series 2 109 Hard Top rear tub that im going to use to convert it to Truck Cab Pick Up.

 

A few things before suggestions are fired off.

 

109/110 hard Top tubs are not growing on trees here in Australia.110 Hard Tops are as rare as rocking horse.....110 Pick ups even more rare. While a series tub will pretty much bolt up to a 110 (As I understand it) The wheel arches are a different shape and in a different postions. Fuel filler presents a problems also. It seems in Australia (at least) We did not go rear fuel filler until Stage 1 V8. NOTHING is standard on my 110 except wheelbase. I am making the cab and doors longer. I will be shortening the rear overhang to somewhere between 90 and 110.

 

Looking at my factory rear bulkhead (when compared to a series tub), it has a 3mm steel angle plate, full width, bolted to the underside, at the mounting points. This has 2 welded tabs with a single hole in each, these pick up a flat bar gusset that bolts back to the chassis. These are located very close to the seatbelt retainer mount brackets. Ignore the flared holes as I put those in. My rear bulkhead also has a little more strengthening at the door latch. It has more holes in the inside bottom section for the seat belts and has some stays behind the seats that go up to the underside of windows, under the gal capping.

 

I saw a pic in another thread of a Td5 110 2 door tub. Underside looked more like the series without the steel angle plate. Series and the Td5 tub would not be able to use the steel angle plate as they have the triangle gussest spot welded from the vertical mounting section to underside of tub....

 

So what thoughts on which rear bulkead to use? Even if I use the series 2 one I have, ill have to remove and reinstall it into its new location....

 

Ive added some pics to hopefully help.