Going Strong

I Havent Written A Shed Update On My Defender Since November Last Year, And A Lot Has Happened In That Time. Ive Tinkered, Ive Driven, Ive Fixed, Ive Driven, Ive Spent, Ive Driven And Ive Spent Some More.

- Dean Mellor

TINKERING

I FITTED a new rear seat manufactured by a company in England called Exmoor Trim. It provides a far more solid base and proper bucket seat comfort for my rear-seat passenger, who deserves something much safer than the rattly, old standard pew.

The Exmoor Trim seat wasn’t cheap (just over $1000) but it’s superbly engineered and nicely made.

The old roof lining has gone back in, but not until I stripped it of its saggy, stained material covering. I cleaned off all the old foam, spraypainted it grey, and voila; it looks great and it’ll never sag again.

I’ve upgraded the sound system by fitting a Sony head unit with Apple CarPlay. I initially enlisted the services of a local car audio mob to do this job, but the result was so shoddy I ripped it all out and started again from scratch. I’ve retained the front speakers, fitted some rear speakers in boxes, built a subwoofer box and wired up an old sub and amplifier I used to have fitted in a previous vehicle. There’s now enough sound to hear a tune at freeway speeds, which is really saying something in an old Defender.

To match the flash new subwoofer box, I decided to tidy up the rear cargo area. To do this I screwed down some marine ply behind the rear seat and attached another piece using hinges; this gives me an under-floor area to stow gear and a nice, flat floor area. It’s all working quite well so far, but I’ll probably fit a drawer down the track.