The Swap Shop

I cracked 25k over the weekend. I've already put 10k on this thing! I love it!

In celebration I replaced the alcantara Camaro ZL1 wheel with a funky alcantara/carbon wheel.

I have a short shifter on the way and I was thinking about a carbon knob to match.

Also...

iansane said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to iansane :

Wanna sell your stock calipers? I don't like red calipers.

Want to trade? I could send you my stockers and whenever you get around to it you could send me yours. I kind of like having some brembos around for weird projects. I have to make sure the big ones fit under the new wheels though.

Are you changing rears too? Or just fronts?

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

All 4. Which reminds me, I need to pull a wheel and make sure these V- calipers will fit.

iansane said:

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

All 4. Which reminds me, I need to pull a wheel and make sure these V- calipers will fit.

There's no rush on my end, but yes I would for sure trade your silver SS calipers for my red SS calipers. Thanks!

So, I ordered new seats for the Defender. I was told it could be up to 4 months for them just to be shipped out since they were being custom made in Germany.

Less than a month later I get them. Well, looks like I need to roll the Defender into the shop and get this installed!

Man! Those are gorgeous!

I love this thread. 

I rolled the defender into the shop for some warm air while I worked on the last of the a/c and dash. Had to slap the new bumper on it.

I grabbed a 12k Harbor Freight badlands with the synthetic lead for it but didn't get an installed picture.

The original tow hooks and bolts had seen better days,

Mounted up a winch, trimmed the grille and grille surround. Mounted the a/c fan. Need one nut for the fan bracket and everything can be bolted down for the final time. Still need to run the big cable for winch. Once this is up and running I'll need to take the girlfriend out and show her some proper winching so she doesn't get into trouble if I'm not there.

Also, on the long term Celica project. The owner and I came to the agreement that maybe all the tiny little touches that would be cool were just taking too long. One of the biggest was making the OE cluster work with new digital motors and such. I'll have time for that once I check some more projects off the list. There's an Australian company that 3d prints a gauge bezel that holds a Haltech display. Supposedly this can talk CANbus with the stock nissan ecu. We'll see how well it works!

Awesome, good to see a celica update. The 80/20 rule sometimes feels more like 90/10.

I'm simultaneously glad that a diesel defender is ridiculously simple and that I decided to go through and replace the dash/lights/switches. The previous owner obviously had NO idea how to properly repair wiring as everything is just tied together and wrap with a roll of electrical tape per joint. It's impressive this thing started and drove on it's own.

The ignition switch had speaker wiring going to it.

And was BARELY connected to the truck.

All of the electronics are LUCAS so I went ahead and just replaced every switch I could get my hands on. Also meant the labels were present and would be easy for my girlfriend to learn the nuance.

The new style dash I put it  was supposed to be attache with 3 screws across the windshield base and one on either side in the door jamb. It has a grab handle on the passenger side so I knew it was going to get yanked on when people hopped into the truck. I went overkill and nutserted the firewall for bolts while putting a metal stripe to clamp the dash down. 

I was going to mount the new seats in it but for some reason I received 4 right hand sliders unless I'm not smart enough to put the sliders together. New center console cubby too. The door panels are on the list but won't get done until after it's running/driving.

Edit; Scheel-mann emailed me first thing this morning saying they were getting the correct rails out ASAP. Fantastic service during the holiday season.

I was out on an island the other day looking for property and had to wait a bit for the ferry to come back at night.

Also grabbed a new 103mm throttle body to put on with the 4" intake tube. Eventually.

Still plugging away at the dash wiring for the Defender. Not a lot of diagrams for my specific year but not a lot changes between years. I just have to double check functions and such. I'll get a picture with the new cluster in the next few days.

Working on the defender more I finished up the rear LED light wiring and then moved to the front end. Most everything on this truck is either self tapping screws or tiny acme threaded fasteners. I'm putting in a lot of rivnuts to get real bolts and screws to hold things on. The stock fenders I ordered had no provisions for marker lights or turn signals. I want everyone to know when this thing is merging to I just decided to drill a hole and pop a generic LED trail light in the fender. That worked until I got to the driver's side and the stepbit in my drill went one step too deep. I tried with some epoxy on both the grommet and the light itself but I just wasn't convinced it would hold up long term. I then ordered some factory style turn signals from a newer defender in an LED version.

They're very bright, but require an odd cutout.

I made a crude CAD template and then spent the entire day filling away aluminum with a hand file to get the right shape for it to clip in.

Somehow I didn't get a finished picture. No surprise.

I also got around to fill the cooling system. The radiator has a weird bleed port plug at the top that I didn't want to strip so I sacrificed an extra 24mm socket to make this.

I have to get this thing fired up and out of the garage.