Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Well everyone who owns a Defender or County will know (or will know soon) that the instrument panel and the cradle behind it likes to crack and fall apart once it gets exposed to a bit of UV or heat.

Mine old one looked like this... - this panel runs from the instrument panel to the firewall, and is a bugger to remove. It had been patched up with some sort of glass reinforced glue before but still cracked in about 10 places and the LHS was broken off completely. Fortunately the instrument panel was still pretty good.

The plastic is ABS. A couple of minor cracks in the instrument panel and the rest of the dash were patched up with ABS glue, and then dyed black again with "satin black" plastic dye - great stuff made by VHT (also makes the plastic grill look like new). However the instrument panel support cradle needed to be completely replaced.

I could have bought one from Land Rover - but eventually it would just break again. So I decided to make my own from 3mm aluminium sheet using the broken one as a pattern. It was pretty simple, just mark out (account for bent corners when marking), cut (I used a jigsaw and then neatened the cuts with a file), then bend. There is one join that needs to be welded or riveted - no big deal since I had a MIG to use with Al wire.

Once finished (but unpainted) the panel looked like the picture below. Only a very small part of it is visible once installed, and that section was painted in textured coat and then satin black spray aint, so looks like the original textured ABS item.

I guess the pictures on this site still aren't working...

ISUZUROVER wrote:I guess the pictures on this site still aren't working...

looks like it mate, but I am keen to see what you have done !

Tom

ben, i can't see those pics yet but it must be an improvement!
i was thinking of doing the same thing when mine discombobulated outback.
since the fender is my second vehicle i had the luxury of pulling the dash out and inspecting all the parts (i could find )
there are a few screw bosses not filled from the factory and the foam support on top of the steering column cover is too thin.
when i drilled the holes out and put new screws all through with washers then replaced the foam with thicker stuff it went back together fine
oh i used new plastic as well.
seems to be a lot more stable, i recently inspected the lot when the speedo head was replaced and all is good.
david

ben, this looks good and is an improvement over the original, but did you think about redoing the dash a differentj way? I pose this question because in my defender the dash is SHIT HOUSE . there is no tacho, and this on a turbo diesel. when you have the sun behind you you can not see any of the waring/signal lights. e.g difflock in or out, low oil etc. if any one has seen LRM June 1999, theres an artical by Tom Sheppard " Through the looking glass" which discusses the then future of the defender, if only bmw/ford/rover had listened to this bloke! anyway he has retrofitted a SI disco binnacle into his 90 and changed the hole dash well set up very nice and very practical. his whole point of view and mods to his own vehicle seem spot on. so any thoughts on improving/changing the defender set up

cheers, Serg

I have seen Tacho's placed in the corner or the windscreen on top of the dash and it looks portty good. Another option is to get a 2" tacho and fit it in place of the fuel guage - you can relocate that to the centre of the dash as the fuel warning light lets you know when you need to look at it.

To make the warning lights better - fit brighter bulbs and/or make a rectangular box to go around them (without top and bottom), paint it black and attach it. This will minimise light interference.

I built a custom dash for my IIA (in front of the driver) from .8mm al sheet and it works very well.

Place tacho where the clock is in the insrument panel. this is an option from LR. i replaced my clock with a VDO tacho which was a perfect fit, my defender ( 96 300tdi ) and my fathers have never suffered from this problem. both trucks cop a flogging. hope the dash stays that way!

Drew.

My county has the clock right over on the passenger side so this isn't an option.

It usually takes about 10 years for the dash cradle to fall apart - and it takes a while to happen - it just gradually starts to crack.

Good bit of pratical tech, Ben. Thanks.

I can really relate to it as mine is a Nov. '98 build, I bought it in Dec, '01, and it was cracked. The actual dash was/is held by one screw and the bit of adhesive on the steering column.
I've added an EGT readout in a box on top of the dash, and this now holds the whole kibbosh together, as it spans the dash pad and instrument binnacle.

BTW, I've got a VDO boost gauge where the clock usd to be.

Rick.

Just added the pics to this thread again now that they are back.

ISUZUROVER,
Looks good, I would like to do this for my County. How do you go bending 3mm Al, in the past I have had a bit of trouble with anything over 2mm. Any bending tips would be good. Cheers,
Pullsy

Pullsy wrote:ISUZUROVER,
Looks good, I would like to do this for my County. How do you go bending 3mm Al, in the past I have had a bit of trouble with anything over 2mm. Any bending tips would be good. Cheers,
Pullsy

I have never had any problems, I make sure I bend it slowly. I usually clamp the piece I am bending in a large vice.

If you look at the second pic, there are only 2 small bends, one on each side, from the blue line forward. For the rest, the 2 pieces are joined by a series of spotwelds (but you could also rivet them together - if you leave a small tongue when you cut the pieces out.

Some grades of aluminium don't bend easily. I used marine grade (5XXX), which is not too bad, but 6XXX or 7XXX don't bend very well, especially if they have already been hardened.