What have you done to your DEFENDER today?

[rocky]

There was a funny pseudo electrical smell I my truck the other day. I say pseudo as it wasn’t smelling quite right.
While out doing errands today, it came back. A little smoke appeared at a traffic light. Quick look under the hood, oil all over the starter, exhaust, etc.
Houston I got a problem. Bigger than I can deal with. Dropped it off at BDR one of several Rover places around here.

 

[JimC]

I got tired of the rear doors I restored and reskinned during my original restoration - it seemed like a good idea at the time - I removed the old skins, repaired and galvanized the frames, reskinned, repainted and reassembleD. Sadly they just never fit properly and I would have had to have done much more sophisticated body work and trial fitting etc during the original process. So FAIL and lesson learned.

The front doors were already new take-off new-style (2002+) doors. New take off rears aren’t really available and the quality of used (stolen?) stuff is really hit or miss nowadays. I decided to do the straightforward thing, buy new shells, and just build them up with new parts. Holy crap that’s a long list, like 6 pages.

Anyway, a door build tutorial is probably a good idea once I’ve got the other one assembled but I was able to exploit a couple days of mild weather to get this left door built and installed. I had to commit because I needed the green tinted glass from my old doors, so once I started the truck would be doorless until the new door was ready to go on.

It’s amazing how smoothly and well a bunch of new door parts work. I also added some Dynamit to the inside of the door skin to help reduce the hollow sound.

 

[John Z]

I got tired of the rear doors I restored and reskinned during my original restoration - it seemed like a good idea at the time - I removed the old skins, repaired and galvanized the frames, reskinned, repainted and reassembleD. Sadly they just never fit properly and I would have had to have done much more sophisticated body work and trial fitting etc during the original process. So FAIL and lesson learned.

The front doors were already new take-off new-style (2002+) doors. New take off rears aren’t really available and the quality of used (stolen?) stuff is really hit or miss nowadays. I decided to do the straightforward thing, buy new shells, and just build them up with new parts. Holy crap that’s a long list, like 6 pages.

Anyway, a door build tutorial is probably a good idea once I’ve got the other one assembled but I was able to exploit a couple days of mild weather to get this left door built and installed. I had to commit because I needed the green tinted glass from my old doors, so once I started the truck would be doorless until the new door was ready to go on.

It’s amazing how smoothly and well a bunch of new door parts work. I also added some Dynamit to the inside of the door skin to help reduce the hollow sound.

View attachment 22342
View attachment 22346
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Where did you get the doors?

 

[rocky]

Defender related, as it will be the tow vehicle for my Defender, this came home with me yesterday.

 

[Bostondave]

@rocky I really like the color on that F150.

 

[WreckITFrank]

Horn went inop. Swapped in 335Hz Hella from a $20 kit. (also comes with 435Hz) easy peasy. 92mm was exact size I pulled out too.

 

[JimC]

Where did you get the doors?

I bought the doors from Steven at Safari HP but I’ve bought them from Rovers North also. They’re still available new in the box from LR.

 

[LazyRabbit]

Installed Mud UK center
3 way switches for exmoor trim heated seats and a switch for Electric fan.

 

[lithium1330]

This was from Nov, but whil replacing the shocks, I found the boot on the A-frame was shot after 24yrs. Of course, one of the bolts on fulcrum didn't want to go quietly and snapped. So, had to cut the ends off and punch it out. I was able to clean up and paint the arms and installed all new hardware. While under the truck, decided to replace the sway bar links & joints.

 

[jymmiejamz]

Got my motor installed Friday and went to the MAR work weekend on Saturday. Ran it almost all day on Saturday with no issues.

 

[Z.G]

Winter romp prep tonight(and picked up a new heater for the garage)
New injectors, glow plugs, allisport cylone breather, and most importantly new valve seals. Still trying to track down the excessive exhaust smoke. With the condition of these valve seals I may not have fixed the issue, but I made a huge dent in it. They were around 40% larger ID than the new ones.

 

[Napalm00]

Winter romp prep tonight(and picked up a new heater for the garage)
New injectors, glow plugs, allisport cylone breather, and most importantly new valve seals. Still trying to track down the excessive exhaust smoke. With the condition of these valve seals I may not have fixed the issue, but I made a huge dent in it. They were around 40% larger ID than the new ones.
View attachment 22410

What seals are you using ? Next TDI head I'm milling down the guides to use ls top hat style

 

[TheOneTen]

Got my block heater wire finally hooked up in my R2.8 and got it up and running right before our arctic weather coming. I'll need to get some more shots when it's ~6F out.

Also ordered an Afterburner kit for my Chinese diesel heater installed in the cab so that I can fire things up remotely and optimize it from my "toasty" house (that lacks insulation since it was built in 1917.

 

[Z.G]

What seals are you using ? Next TDI head I'm milling down the guides to use ls top hat style

Just used the genuine ones, honestly this is mostly a last ditch effort before pulling & replacing with the M&D2.8 if this or the timing doesn't fix the smoke.

 

[Napalm00]

the stock ones suck so hard, i glue them to the guides now to keep them from moving up on the valve

no real good options

 

[jymmiejamz]

Just used the genuine ones, honestly this is mostly a last ditch effort before pulling & replacing with the M&D2.8 if this or the timing doesn't fix the smoke.

Replacing the motor in my truck fixed my smoke issue

 

[Z.G]

the stock ones suck so hard, i glue them to the guides now to keep them from moving up on the valve

no real good options

Doesnt sound ideal...

 

[John Z]

It's the little things..I installed the wiring for the heated windshield but I had no indication of when it was on or off. I felt like it was a good idea to turn it off once the fog has cleared so I wired it to the unused indicator under the rear defroster one. For some reason my rear defroster never had a picture. Now to look up how to get my fuel light to work(300tdi never had working low lights)

Also installed a leather dash pad with tweeters and new starter

 

[Mirrajumper]

Installed new headgasket and showed my son how to use a torque wrench!

 

[Mirrajumper]

There was a funny pseudo electrical smell I my truck the other day. I say pseudo as it wasn’t smelling quite right.
While out doing errands today, it came back. A little smoke appeared at a traffic light. Quick look under the hood, oil all over the starter, exhaust, etc.
Houston I got a problem. Bigger than I can deal with. Dropped it off at BDR one of several Rover places around here.

What did the BDR boyz diag as the oil leak?