nugget's defender 130 build

[nugget]

Feeling guilty as I haven't been on the forum for a awhile. Lot has happened and have been on some amazing desert trips. The 110 has been a great truck but after 3 years of faithful service, it was time to trade her in for a new, younger model!

Well it is hard to image starting with a much blanker canvas than a 130. As Lee at Austral, who also sold me the 110, said when I was collecting the 130...

Shouldn't need to go through the features with you, the 5 dash buttons haven't changed!

First order of business will be to get a temporary tray on to keep plod off my tail and then fitting some of the gear I retrieved from the 110 before getting into the full build.

Once again, this is a tourer so my design criterion is to maximize fuel economy and minimise engine/suspension mods unless absolutely required. The 110 got to some amazing remote places with excellent reliability and performance or ground clearance was never an issue.

Emphasis is making touring easier, simpler, safer and more fun. Once again navigation will be a strong theme and a tray followed by a slide on with the roof top tent is the plan. I want to keep it all as aerodynamic as possible so I want the top of the roof top to be the same height as the trucks roof and the tray to be as close to the width and following the body line as possible.

Not having a roof rack and still fitting in all the features I want will be a challenge so it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

 

[Chook]

:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs: Thanks for sharing..........I nearly made it over there today to thank You, Shane & Bruce for your help with my H3 (& see the 130 in the flesh before I go to Melbourne tomorrow & Adelaide the next 2 weeks)

 

[High Five H2]

defenders are bad-A. i wish they sold them here. I had a disco for a while. it was pretty cool.

 

[ABNTROOP]

Great looking rig! Look forward to seeing what you do with it!

 

[Neo]

OMG Congrats!!! I can't wait to see what you do with this one, keep us updated Nugget :cheers:

 

[H3slate]

Wow! Another cool rig. Can't wait to see the build up and trip reports.

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[RamRod]

awsome!

I almost won an ebay auction when I was in OZ for a '96 130... instead I ended up buying a '78 Series III that broke down every 400km's

I love the Defender even still, so I hope you keep postin' updates!

 

[nugget]

Having read enough reports of tray mounts cracking, I thought the first order of business with the new truck was to beef them up a bit before starting on the tray.

Being a bit time poor at the moment I got Creative Conversions to knock this one out of the way for me and I can not see these mounts failing anytime soon with box joining the 2 mounts plus extras gussets.

 

[WillieMo]

nice rig... can't wait to see the build up

 

[3Hummers]

Has it already been 3 years?

 

[Hunner]

The older you get the faster it goes!!

What was that famous saying, "Adventure before Dementia"

Here we go again.....................lol
Glad your doin well.

 

[nugget]

Bit busy at the moment so a cool fellow forum member lent me a spare tray he had. Just takes the pressure off having to rush the build on the new one. Made up a light bar so I could use the original lights, some temporary mud flaps and tidied up the spare wheel holder which need a bit of TLC.

Gotta love the Land rover family,... thanks again Jason.

Bit of Clarke rubber strip for the flaps. Obvious from a roll but should straighten out as it hangs...I thought the cable ties were a nice touch

 

[LagunaH1]

Wow, 3 years already.... thanks for posting, can't wait to see what you turn this truck in to

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[nugget]

Thanks guys. Jeez Hunner, good to see you haven't been committed yet

Big plans and so little time but will get there eventually.

 

[alrock]

Looking forward to the build. This might be the last "new" build as it appears that they are discontinuing these Defenders in 2015. :no:

 

[nugget]

Got a small start refitting a couple of things from the110 today. First order of business was the Scan Guage. Stuck it on the steering column cover for now. Have a few ideas about where it might end up but this will do in the short term.

Will not connect straight in as the Fuse Box cover will not close so I unclip the OBD11 fitting and slid it above the speaker which means the speaker has to be unscrewed. Whilst I had it out I refitted my Alpine speakers which happen to go nicely with the new Alpine head unit.

Also refitted the door catches that don't rip your jeans off....a day late I might add as I ripped a loop off my shorts yesterday!

Also started doing some tidy up work on my roof console as the electrics was a bit of a mish mash. HAve fitted a couple of power studs so I can add things later if I have the need.

Another issue was that the original sunvisors are screwed back onto the roof console but they just screw into the fiberglass. After a couple of fit and refits, the screws get pretty slack so I have fiberglassed tapped ally blocks in so I can now bolt the sunvisors in.

I can now run a 15 amp run for the UHF and a 5 amp run for the TPMS and the lights on the vanity mirror on Wendy's side and have the fuses down low where I can get tot he without nhaving to drop the roof console.

Just filling in time whilst waiting to sort out the tray mounting!

 

[nugget]

Been a bit busy so progress on the tray is very slow. Taking the opportunity to fit some of the stuff I saved from the 110 for a Fraser Trip nexy week.

Scan Guage has found a temporary new home

ABR dual battery controller and 50 amp hr battery back under the seat

Roof console in

and very very importantly the wifes favourite mod from the 110, her illuminated mirror fitted into the original visor.

Laso ripped the back seats out....struth, almost won't need a slide on there is so much room!!!

Gives somewhere for the fridge for the trip

Also got some new Mulgo wing tops fitted...get some pics later.

 

[nugget]

Fitted black wing tops..pretty standard stuff but a great place to put tools, beers etc

These have probably been covered somewhere else before but I have just come across them and they are brilliant...piggy back fuse blocks....saves cutting to wires when fitting accessories. I used this one for the roof console. Sorry about the crook photo"!

When I removed the rear seats and fitted the Engel for the Fraser trip, I found this a great and simple way to tied stuff down. piggy backed onto existing bolts with female eyelets.

Tray is being held up due to work pressures but I hope to have the mounting system done in the next week. Plan is then to throw on a very temporary "tray" just to keep it legal and get the design done over the Xmas break

 

[nugget]

Pretty disappointed to find this when I returned newhue's tray on the weekend..thanks again Jason by the way!!!

The guys who did this specialise in body conversions and chassis extension and told me how they would rust proof the welds etc etc

4 days on Fraser for my son's buck show and I reckon I pulled up better than the welds!!

They are currently having another go...reckon I'll be keeping a bit of an eye on it ???!!

 

[nugget]

Finally got a few minutes to knock over the sub frame.
LR didn't get around to changing the spec sheet but my dealer has their recommendation on file in case I have a future problem. Basically they recommended using the load bearing point closest to the cab as the front mount, the rear cross member as the rear mounting point and the 3 points in between as load bearing points. All should have a minimum of 5mm rubber bushes impregnated with canvas.

A 30mm build up block is required at the front mounting point. I had some spare ally around that was perfect for the job and I used some 5mm rubber I had left over from making the mud flaps which I cut to size.

A business across the road from mine has a new tray mounting system so I used what I could from their existing parts rather than re-invent the wheel. As they use a folded “C” style channel I used some 6mm ally flat bar to spread the load evenly on the rubber bush.

On the rear cross member O ran a strip and also the ally plate right across and then the channel.

the 3 other cross members are bolted to the 2 main centre beams

 

[RamRod]

Post up some pics of Fraser!!! I love that place, I have been lucky enough to have done two trips on the island so far and it is 100% without question my fav place to wheel EVER!!!

The 130 is coming along nice! I wish we could get then here for a reasonable price!!

 

[nugget]

This was quite a trip that is for sure. A 4 days blokes trip incorporating my sons's bucks show......I'll post as soon as I get a chance..cheers

 

[Big Mike]

What is the rig in the overhead console, Icom ?

nice ride !! :thumbs:

 

[RamRod]

It looks like UHF

 

[LagunaH1]

What is the rig in the overhead console, Icom ?

nice ride !! :thumbs:

X2 on guessing that it's an ICOM radio. -Probably on those cool Aussie UHF CB frequencies