Tech Modifications

Defender Folding Seats Project

landY — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 06:35:00 GMT

Problem 1: Original Defender seats were invented by the Spanish Inquisition.
Solution: Throw out the original seats and find something more comfortable.

Problem 2: The new seats are very comfortable, but do not fit into the original holes.
Solution: Build something temporary, that converts the new seats holes layout to the Defender holes layout.

Problem 3: After 2 years of ignoring the problem that the new seats did not fold, I was looking for a better solution.
Solution: That's the time to solve the problem and here is the story:

The problem was that the old temporary solution (that I used 2 years) placed the seats 4cm higher than the original. Also- every time you need to jump start yourself or a buddy or add water to the battery was uncomfortable. Last problem- remove the chair when you need to change the battery.

First thing was to place two stripes on the original holes of the seats

In this picture you can see one of the attachment stripes after the paint job.

On these stripes I have welded one side of the hinge as you can see here:

In this picture you can see the two stripes after paint - attached to the original holes:

Next step was to create a compatible "H" to the seat:

And to add one more point so it will be possible to attach the seat in more than one point (this applies only to the drivers side):

Then, I added the static ends of the clips that locks the seats- like the ones that locks the chambers under it.
The Drivers seat, in this picture you can see the locks of the seat (locked)

And now to the demo...
This it how it looks when the seat is locked:

Moving the seat maximum forward in order to lift the seat up:

Unlocking the clips and the seat is up high:

Giving us a full access to the storage box on the right side:

From this position it takes about 10 seconds to move the pins out and take the seat out of the car.

Closing the box:

And the small noise-reduction carpet:

The carpet also adds tension to the locking mechanism of the seat.

And... Locked again!

That's it!

Engine digital thermometer

eli — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 05:45:00 GMT

There is a well known problem in the defender's original thermometer. The thermometer is electrical and in order for it to work well it needs a good ground connection to the chassis. Heavy consumers of an electric current like the high headlights and the air conditioner blowers make the thermometer show a high value, that settles when the lights turned off. Those sides affects together with the fact that the original thermometer is not sensitive enough causes a situation when you can't trust the value on the original thermometer.

That was the reason that pushed me into this little project. I wanted another thermometer, more accurate and trustable. My first thoughts were to add a mechanical thermometer of a tractor. Then a temperature controller of an old retired machine rolled in to my hands. The controller has a display that I used as a thermometer, entry voltage of 12 Volts DC, entrance to thermocouple (the measuring unit) and an exit of two internal relays that can operate any electrical device- in our case I used it to operate a simple buzzer.

The temperature tracker is a thermocouple in a shape of a ring. External diameter is 15mm and the cord is 2 meters long. When you order a thermocouple, specify that it should be the kind that fits the controller, my type was "J isolated”.

Most of the thermocouples in the industry don't isolate the thermocouple. These types of thermocouples will not fit to a car where the chassis grounded.
That causes problems and actually the controller did not work and showed a fault message until I solved that isolation problem.

The thermocouple is connected to the block of the engine, using a screw in the center of the ring.

TDI-200 thermocouple installation

For the installation of the controller I made on a special bracket for all the switches that I added, as you can see in the picture above.

From electricity point of view the connection is pretty simple:

Foot #9 - gets the minus (-)
Foot # 8 - gets the plus (+) after the switch and sends the (+) also to the buzzer's positive leg.
Foot # 11 and 12 - gets the lines from the thermocouple (and if the reading doesn't make any sense – switch them)
Foots #3 connects to the buzzer's negative (relay controlled) leg.
In addition there is a bridge from the controllers minus (in our case #9) to foot # 2 - the relay's "active" foot.

The temperature measured in a usual drive is between 82 to 86 c degrees.
And this is how I adjusted the temperature in witch the buzzer is set to 95 degrees.
That already proved to alert before a real damage happened.

Defender Dual Battery Project

eli — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 20:31:00 GMT

It’s hard for me to say that it was sad to find out one morning, that the defender does not start, and the battery is dead. After a small market survey and some exact measurements, two batteries landed in my yard .the measurements showed that it will be possible to put in 2 95Ah batteries 215 m"m wide over 303m"m long over175 m"m tall. Also the measurements showed that it's going to be much pressured and very annoying.

Due to the battery booth floor underneath the chair not being straight, probably due to draining reasons by the manufacturer. I prepared a stainless steel plate with the two batteries on top of it. Two M6 vertical screw driving sticks came out of the plate .the line that sticks the batteries together is going all along with the length of the batteries, and not the wide part, as might be expected, because of the shape of the booth. Note that the plate raises the battery a little, there for its important to find out that the higher part will be the one with the negative end, because the cover of the booth is so close to battery and can touch it .

To the inner part of the battery booth cover, I glued a piece of pvc , that is used originally as a conveyor belt .it should provide an isolation and protection , in a situation when I'm rolling over with the car and the battery is sitting with its two ends on the hood , creating an electrical circuit and burns my butt with an acid. I think that the battery's place in the defender isn’t safe. It invites an acid to link on the driver in a case of rolling over. There for I recommend even someone who doesn't have double batteries, to make sure that the batteries are well screwed to the bottom of the booth.

The cables are attached to the ends from the top instead of the side due to lack of space.

To the batteries I attached a switch that divides 4 possibilities:

When turning down it’s turned off,

When turning right only the right is turned on,

When turning up, both the left and right are on

And when turning left only left battery is on .

The switch was bought in a yacht gear store. and its used as a double battery set for yachts . It fits electric continuous current flaw

of 230 ampere and picks of until 345 ampere, in other words it doesn't fit the work of the winch.

There was also an heavy duty switch in a double price, that can pass higher flows – but it stayed at the store. I decided to connect the switch underneath the chair so it wouldn't interfere with my legs. I wanted to connect it in the battery booth so that only the black button in the middle will stick out . Therefor I attached it on the stainless steel part, in an omega shape and the part it self I attached to the booth's wall.

In the wall of the battery booth I drilled a hall with a cup drill and I connected the carrier with 4 m4 screwdrivers. As been said before, the switch can't stand for a long time in the flow pressure of the winch, that's why the winch is attached permanently to one of the batteries . its possible to combine it to the other battery by switching to stage 3. We should make sure that only the battery that works is the one that charges that’s why I'm getting used to switch to the other battery every time I start the car , that way I'm charging both of them .

Important: don't switch from a state of right battery to the left while the engine isn't on neutral revs .

I did it and the result was : 8 burned fuses , 4 burned light bulbs , 1 overhauled alternator , and a CB radio that's been fixed and nearly totally burned. Why?

From what my electrician guy said, the reason is that when the alternator doesn't have resistance from the battery, the tension controller in the alternator raises the tension until a tension equalization, since it doesn't have a battery in the other side, because the jenious behind the wheel is "switches batteries right now " it decreases as much as it can and that what caused all the damage.

Any way "Kids don't try this at home!" . In neutral revs there isn't any problem - trust me, I 've checked it several times.

On-Board Air project to Defender TDI-300

admin — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 06:25:00 GMT

Note: In this article I will describe the process of installing an additional A/C compressor as on-board air compressor. In order to keep things simple- the original A/C

compressor will be referred as "A/C compressor", and the on-board air compressor will be referred as "Air compressor".

I looked for a solution for a fast air compressor, which will be able to operate the ARB air locks as well as fast inflation of the wheels.
One option was to buy a good electric compressor (such as Thomas) and make some changes so it will be able to operate the ARB air-locks.
The other option was to take an old A/C compressor and use it as a fast-air compressor. - The 2nd option was much more complicated, but definitely faster and

stronger compressor.
In this case I had to find a proper place to place the additional air compressor without moving out the A/C compressor.
It looks simple, but after having a look under the defender TDI-300 hood, you can see that there is no so much room.

Pictures:
In this picture you can see the original stand to the A/C compressor next to the just-built new stand that supports two compressors:

After connecting the base of the stand to the engine block with the four screws that were holding the original stand, we were able to determine the exact location of the compressors. After locating the exact spot of the compressor - using Arc Welder and attaching it to the right place.
The air compressor was located closer to the engine head, in the same level the A/C compressor was mounted before the change. The A/C compressor was lifted a little in order not to hit the injection pump.

In this picture you can see the cylinder attached to the A/C compressor, just before welding it into the base:

In the following picture we removed the Air compressor in order to weld the cylinder to the base properly:

This picture shows the final location of the compressors after the installation:

On the right side you can see the Air compressor connections- Air intake from the engine breather:

The output compressed air runs to an airline filter, that separates the water and oil from the air. passing one-way valve - to the air-tank. The one-way valve is required in order to avoid pressure loss from the air compressor:

Air tank in located under the vehicle, just below the right side chair, from there air line goes to the box under the passenger side. You can see the pressure safety valve connected to the air tank:

In this box we installed the pressostat- the pressure sensor that controls the compressor. It is connected to a "T" - where in one side there is a pressure regulator- which goes to the Arb front and rear solenoid. The other side of the "T" is connected to a quick disconnect - where we can use tools and wheel inflation.