GT4 Build - Electrical hookup

I wanted to wire an easy hook up for both a battery tender and an air compressor for the GT4. This car will be stored part of the year so having a battery tender is a good idea. This car will also be tracked so having an air compressor for my air ups and air downs is needed. The GT4 battery is under a plastic fascia in the frunk and I didn’t want to have to remove that fascia each time I needed to hook up the battery tender or air compressor. So I bought an SAE battery lead that was 10 feet long, wired it to the battery, and then it passes through a hole (that preexisted) in the frunk so I can access it. The lead has a 30 amp in-line fuse to protect the battery from a short. I then had to cut the alligator clips off of the air compressor and change that to an SAE style hookup. Now I can simply open my frunk, hookup the air compressor, and air up. For the battery tender I am using the same SAE lead off of the battery, but since the battery tender requires a lower amp rated fuse I created an adapter cable which has an in-line fuse of 7 amps that fits between the main lead and the battery tender. Everything uses SAE ends so it is simple plug and play. Now I have one battery lead that can be used for two different functions.

GT4 Build - Half Cage

On past track projects I have started my upgrades with power, then went to suspension, then safety. A true “safety third” approach. I no longer do that as I have learned that approach is ass backwards. The biggest improvement on any cars’s lap times is to upgrade the nut behind the wheel (the driver). I am a decent driver but not a great racer with god given talents with endless confidence and no fear. I also am realistic that I am simply a track rat that wants to go fast and develop my race craft……I am not on the road to Le Mans. So my plan is to spend as much on professional coaches and track time as I do on car upgrades. Its a new approach for me but it seems like the right one.

Luckily the GT4 is a highly capable car out of the box so not much is needed for a driver like me. If you are a semi-pro driver I could see how heavily modifying the GT4 would make sense (upgraded suspension, more power, more aero, less weight, upgraded brakes, etc). But for my goals I feel I need to make the car a bit safer on the track, a bit more grip, and driving tools to help me develop as a driver.

So my first purchase for the GT4 was a bolt in half cage so that I could install 6 point belts and use my HANS device. In the past I have done custom weld-in and bolt-in cages but fortunately there are a couple off the shelf options for the GT4 making this upgrade cheaper and easier. I don’t want to damage the interior so out of the options out there I went with the Competition Motorsports half cage which requires less trim cutting as well as pre-cut trim pieces so you can retain your factory trim. I went with the satin black finish to match the interior design as well as sub bars for under the seats so I can have 6 points.

For the belts I went with the classic Schroth Porsche GT3 Profi 2x2. These have Porsche specific mounting tabs for the factory carbon fiber race seats making them the perfect match for the GT4. These will allow me to mount the 6 point belts along with the factory 3 points for dual street/track use. I opted for the silver belts to better match the factory silver upholstery thread and pull handles. As with all of our builds, these little decisions make all the difference in the world on the finished product.

GT4 Build - Track Wheels and Tires

Since this car is going to be a dual purpose car (street and track) we wanted a set of track wheels and tires. It also gave us the opportunity to move away from silver wheels and get some stealth black satin wheels. As we have done with other track builds we went with Apex Racing wheels. Apex recently came out with their RS line (a lighter version of their popular forged sprint line of wheels). So we went with the SM-10RS, in satin black. Not only are these light and look great, but it gives us the opportunity to down size from 20” wheels to 19” wheels. The OEM wheels are 20x9 in the front and 20x11 in the rear. By going with a 19x9 in the front and 19x10.5 in the rear we can increase the sidewall, go with less weight, clear the brakes, and stick some more rubber under the GT4 for added grip.

There are a few tire options depending on how much rubber you are trying to stuff under the GT4, but we ended up going from 245/35-20 in the front and 295/30-20 in the rear to an impressive 265/35-19 in the front and 305/30-19 in the rear. That is a material width increase in both the front and rear while keeping about the same stagger ratio. This size also comes in one of our favorite tires the r-compound Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 (180 TW). And to top off the package we will put in Porsche spec TPMS in the new wheels as well as an Apex stud kit for easy on and off applications.

No trimming or rolling will be needed for this setup, but we do need to upgrade the camber plates to allow us to dial in more negative camber. So for that we went with Targett front monoball racing camber plate designed for the 981/991/718. This should allow us to dial in -2.5 degrees which Apex recommends for this tire/wheel package.

Given the GT4 has a race car ethos, the OEM suspension is quite good. So we hope we can simply play around with the camber plates, alignment, and the wheel/tire package to get all the grip we need. Otherwise it’s going to get expensive quick and that is not the goal with this car. We will report back once we hit the track with this new setup later this summer.

Grenadier Build - My Configuration

Over the last year Ineos as updated the configuration options for the Grenadier. It is believed that what is posted at the moment is the final set of options. Like most Grenadier followers, I have played around with their configuration tool to narrow in on the ideal kit. Rather than listing all the options available, I will simply list out what I believe is the best configuration for my needs and thus what I intend to order.

First let’s start with color. They have some nice options and this is the one area I am not 100% sure what to do. I have seen all of the colors in person so let me tell you which ones I have knocked out for sure. Black, silver, gray, red/brown, green are all knocked out. The black does not really show off many of the design features. The silver doesn’t fit the car well. Gray is nice but a bit boring. The red/brown is not attractive. The green should have been a home run given its a British car but it doesn’t really fit the classic military green or British racing green look so its a pass for me. That leaves white, mushroom (off white), and three different blues.

If you were going for a Defender 110 vibe you should pick white. But given I would drive this daily and I am not trying to mimic a D110 I am leaning towards Shale Blue. It’s a medium blue that is metallic and light enough to really provide a contrast for the black trim while also being subtle. If I don’t go with this color I would likely go for white or mushroom.

In order to maximize its capabilities I would get the mud tires, 17” steel wheels, rock sliders, front and rear lockers, integrated front winch, checker plates, and raised air intake. For overloading comfort I would get the full roof rack, exterior utility belt, rubber floor mats, compass and altimeter, LED light bar, Aux battery, interior tie down points, tailgate table, and prewired aux switches. For a bit luxury I would get heated leather seats and the safari roof windows. At first I was going to skip the safari roof windows because they have a chance of leaking over time like all roof windows. But after sitting in a Grenadier with and without this option I have completely changed my mind. They are amazing. They provide more headroom, fit the car well, offer some breeze and light, and each side is manually controlled so no electronics to fail. They also can open with the full roof rack installed yet they can’t be removed with the roof rack in place. Here is what my Grenadier should look like.

Grenadier Build - Test Drive

It’s been about a year since I last saw a Grenadier in person, but the time has finally come to drive the Grenadier off-road. Because I have a reservation to buy a Grenadier, I was recently invited by Ineos to do an off-road test drive in Hollister (a popular off-road park near the Bay Area). Ineos put on a great event where they had about 10 Grenadiers on show, one on a ramp so you could see the underside, one parked so you could crawl around it, and a handful to drive on an off-road course. They also had tents where you could see paint samples and learn more about the car. Ineos provided off-road driving instructors along with Ineos employees to answer your tech questions.

Let’s just get this out of the way. I am even more impressed and interested in owning a Grenadier after seeing it again. While the cars here are still prototypes they seems to be final versions for the most part. From what I could tell, they are very well built and I did not feel any cheap parts or 3D printed trim pieces. The one on the ramp allowed us to get under the car and really check out the parts and design.

As you can tell from the pictures the parts are heavy duty (as you would hope) and everything is tucked up rather high to give maximum clearance. The doors have that Defender, G-wagon heavy feel and solid thud when you close them. The front seats are very comfortable and the controls feel great. I really liked the center dash display although it is a little weird to only have warning lights behind the steering wheel (no speedo cluster). All of the gauges are digital in the center display which is odd given this car focuses on an analog design principle. My preference would be to have analog gauges for the driver while still having the nice center display. My only guess as to why they didn’t go with a traditional instrument cluster is that they wanted to simplify the design to accommodate LHD and RHD markets. Regardless, it is an easy thing to get use to so I am not concerned. I loved that they didn’t try to jam in navigation and fancy media controls into the digital display. They left that to the experts, Apple and Google using their car integration tech. This means your smartphone will control things like street and off-road navigation, media, and just about anything else through apps. There is a form of breadcrumb navigation built into the center dash without the need of a smartphone I believe but I doubt I would use it much given I have a Garmin Overland device plus half a dozen apps on my iPhone for advanced navigation and route finding.

The footwell in general does feel a bit small. This is because the center console is so large but again, not an issue in my opinion. I do really like the rubber floor mat option with drain plugs. This will make cleaning the Grenadier after a long day of wheeling in the dirt a breeze. The visibility is amazing and the ergo worked well for me. While the front seats are heating they are all manual controls which I actually like. I don’t feel this kind of car needs motors in the seats for fancy adjustments so long as the seats are comfortable which I felt they were.

The only real complaint I have with the interior is the back seat. It’s enough leg room, albeit barely, yet the real issue is that the rear seat does not fold down flat. You can drop the back of the rear seat but it leaves a hump in the cargo area. In my opinion this is simply a design flaw in today’s world. I realize that this design might be to accommodate the aux battery and electronics which are located under the rear seat (which I love) but its a shame they could not find a way to allow the rear bench to fold flat. Coming from an LR4, which has the best second and third row folding mechanisms I have ever seen, I am a little bummed that if I move to the Grenadier I will not be able to have a huge flat cargo space to sleep in or haul with. But with that said I do have an Adventure Van and a Rivian SUV so I certainly can live without this benefit in the Grenadier.

When it comes to how it drives I have to say it is pretty amazing. We took the Grenadier to an off-road obstacle course that I have done before in the 2016 LR4 and the 1994 Defender 90. Not only did the Grenadier handle this course extremely well, I would say it did better than the LR4 or D90. Yes my 1994 Defender 90 is more capable given its size, but the Grenadier is 1000% more comfortable. So when I think about the total experience the Grenadier is a nicer off-roader even if it is technically not as capable. The Grenadier is extremely quite off-road with little to no squeaks. The BMW drivetrain provides plenty of power. The ground clearance was excellent and the skid plates are not for show they are the real deal. We had the center diff locked and the transfer case in low but we did not need the front or rear lockers engaged. The side angle for the Grenadier is rated at 45 degrees which is insane and not something I would want to do anyway. There are not a bunch of terrain programs controlling the traction so there’s no cheating. They did say they are going to add a single terrain program when in off-road mode for the production cars but that is still far simpler than other OEMs who have 3-7 programs to choose from. If you are looking for a rock crawler I would suggest looking elsewhere, but if you are looking for a trail, overland, light rock crawler the Grenadier is simply excellent. I did find the accelerator and brake felt light, meaning a bit unresponsive but again that is something you would get use to quickly.

I was not able to test drive the car on the streets as it is not road legal yet (airbags are not activated on these prototypes). The invite for a street test drive will come later this summer and assuming I can make that event I will share my thoughts. At the moment I am 90% sure I will place an order when they officially take US orders.

Next Steps:

  • Spring the US MSRP and final configuration options will be posted

  • Spring/Summer orders can be placed for those that have a reservation

  • Test drive #2 (street) this summer

  • Orders start to deliver in December or January

  • They are only brining 5,500 cars to the US in the first year

  • They have over 7,000 reservations for the US so unless you are high on the list you wont get a Grenadier in 2023

  • There will be a dealer/service center for the Bay Area, final dealer decision will be announced later in spring

  • No final US price is announced yet but the guess is $90k - $100k

Grenadier Build - First Impressions

Just like everyone else who knows about the Grenadier, I first learned about the car online through social media. That was back in 2019 when there was little known about the car. I read as much as I could find and decided to put my name on the early registration list to buy one. I was able to do that within hours of the list opening up so I have to believe I am rather high on the list.

That put me on Ineos’s mailing list for viewings. In December 2021 I was contacted with the opportunity to view (not drive) a prototype Grenadier in San Francisco. So on January 27th 2022 I went to the Mission District to check out the Grenadier in an art gallery during a private showing. Here are the photos from that event along with some first impressions.

This particular car did not run and many of the trim pieces were 3D printed so this was a good example of the Grenadier but far from the final product. Overall I was very impressed….here are my initial thoughts:

  • in person it looks fantastic if you appreciate the boxy old school look of the Defender or G-wagon

  • I think the footprint (wheelbase) is perfect, any bigger and the capabilities would be diminished and any smaller it becomes less practical for a do everything car

  • the back seat leg room is ok not great

  • the cargo area is ok for gear but given the back seat does not lay down flat you can forget about sleeping in the car when you overload

  • the seats are comfortable and the driving position is great (nice visibility and access to controls)

  • the ground clearance is great for a car this size

  • the utility nature of the design was well thought out by Ineos, analog switches, fewer sensors and less electronics to break down, spray down interior floors with drain plugs, pre-wired for aux power, etc

  • clearly the designers have spent a lot of time with Defenders when they designed the Grenadier…..case in point many of the electronics are under the back seat protected from weather and water crossings

  • while there is a strong resemblance of a Defender it is NOT a copy, Ineos really blended a few cars together to create something new, you can see elements of the G-wagon the Land Cruiser, and Jeeps here and there

  • it is refreshing to see an old school approach to the construction, one that has been time tested for reliability, capabilities, and strength…..bolt on body to a ladder chassis, sold axels, triple locked, coil suspension, two speed transfer case

After spending about an hour with the car and talking to the Ineos crew I walked away more confident that it was a car I was interested in buying. The real test will be when I can drive it off-road as well as on-road to see how the chassis, suspension, and drivetrain perform. But at least at the time of this initial viewing I left extremely impressed at what Ineos was building.

Grenadier Build - Why Its Special

In a world where car companies are using more tech and designing cars to maximize sales, we are ending up with cars that are trying to serve many purposes and thus serve none well. As a driver I too have been part of the problem, always wanting the latest and greatest. What I have learned after owning more cars than I can remember is that when you chase the future you often end up with an overly complicated car that only a computer engineer can fix.

A few years ago I wanted to go back to the simple design of older cars, so I bought one of my all time favorite dream cars…..a 1994 Defender 90 NAS. With virtually no sensors and very little electronics, the D90 is about as analog as you can get before you enter the truly vintage and ancient car era. Unfortunately, Land Rover does not have the best reliability record so keeping the D90 running perfectly nearly 30 years later takes patience and deep pockets. We finally got there but it was a journey…..read about our D90 here.

When Land Rover pulled the Defender out of the US in 1997 and then disconnected the iconic design worldwide in 2016, it marked the end (at least for me) of a purpose build off-roader with a simple and classic design ethos. I guess I was not the only one who felt this way. Sir James Ratcliffe of Ineos was also a Defender fan and clearly appreciated what the Defender stood for because he decided to fill the void Land Rover created by building the Grenadier.

The design philosophy is simple. Ladder chassis, solid axels, coil over suspension, 2 speed transfer case, lockers everywhere, boxy design, and utility over luxury. In essence….build a reliable and highly capable car that can take you all over the world to explore and have adventures. Yes a Wrangler has a similar focus, but where the Wrangler embodies the Red White and Blue, the Grenadier embodies the Union Jack. I look at the Wrangler as a great platform to build an extreme rock crawler, but if you are looking for a true replacement to the Defender it falls short on the “cool” factor. All other modern “off-roaders” like the G-wagon, Bronco, Land Rovers, Land Cruisers, are all highly compromised blends of mall crawlers and trail rigs.

So hats off to you Sir Ratcliffe, you have the means and more importantly the passion to fill the void that others left. The Grenadier could have never been built by a traditional car company and so you did what other couldn’t……you took a simple and forgotten design and brought it back to life. I look forward to owning one of your creations.

GT4 Build - Cleaning Past Sins

If you have ever owned a modern Porsche sports car you know all about the horrible cup holders. They are so bad in my opinion they should simply not have them. If you are not going to do it well don’t do it at all Porsche.

When we took delivery of our GT4 what was not explained to us, or addressed by the seller, was that the prior owner had a soda explosion at some point. Our guess is that he had a coke in the cup holder and he must have slammed on his brakes or hit a pot hole and that coke went all over the dash and center console. We came to this conclusion when we noticed small stains on the dash leather and that a couple buttons on the center console were sticking. Upon closer inspection we found soda residue that was not properly cleaned up.

At first we thought we would have to simply replace the air control module to fix the sticking buttons but after some internet searches we attempted to fix it ourselves. After taking off some center console trim pieces we were able to remove the air button module and from there we could take it apart and separate the electronics from the moving parts. We could clean the buttons with mild soap and water and then let everything dry. Luckily the electronics are protected by a rubber barrier, so no issues with the electronics. Next we did a deep detail to remove the stains. I am not a fan of 6 hour detail jobs so I did my usual 2 hour detail and then had a pro come in and do another 6 hours.

Now everything works, it looks great, and we have a strict no food or drink policy for this car. It’s a Porsche GT car after all….there is no need to eat or drink while you are focused on the craft of driving.

GT4 Build - PPF

I would never pay $13k extra to have a Porsche individual color, but our GT4 came with it (Laurel Oak) so we felt we might as well protect it. In the past we have only clear wrapped the front or all leading faces, but for this build we decided to go all in and wrap the entire car. In the Bay Area that would normally cost $7k - $9k but since we bought this GT4 in Georgia we found a local shop to wrap the car before it was shipped to CA. That meant it only cost $4.7k, still a lot but a great deal all things considered. We went with Llumar Platinum laser cut for a GT4 as this has self healing properties and a long warranty. The shop took over a week to install the PPF as it first had to get a deep clean, then paint correction in a couple of places, then a detail, then the wrap applied. I am very happy with the result although like most laser cut wraps there are a couple seams that can be seen if you hunt for them. But with that said I am happy with the level of protection this provides and the wrap does enhance the appearance of the paint by providing some additional depth.

Defender 90 Build - AC Unit

My 94 D90 NAS came with the original 94 AC unit but after living with it for over a year I decided to replace it. The AC unit worked but there were a few things I didn’t like about it. 1) the design is horrible in that it takes up a large amount of the passenger footwell 2) the controls are located in the center dash which mean you can not mount any of the stereo or switch panels in the center dash 3) my unit was missing the front facia in the passenger footwell which meant it exposed some wire and tubing 4) it had a leak which meant it had to be charged regularly to keep cold.

Rovers North makes a replacement unit that is more efficient, smaller, with the controls built into the unit. Not only does it work much better but it cleans up the center dash and the passenger gets more leg room. Its not a cheap replacement at $4k plus about $2k worth of labor….but if you plan on driving your truck regularly, AC is nice to have since there is zero heat insulation from the engine.

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Defender 90 Build - LED Dash Lights

I would classify my D90 project as a resto-mod in that I want to keep as much stock as I can while making improvements along the way that are easily reversible but that improve the driving experience. Virtually everything I have done is either restoring original parts, replacing parts with Land Rover OEM parts, or when required using high-end aftermarket parts. One of the most frustrating things about original Defenders is the dim dash cluster lights. The original lights are incandescent bulbs which burn out but even when they are not dead they might as well be as they are incredibly dim. So dim that at times you can’t see anything on the dash at night.

The solve is to replace those bulbs with bright LEDs that fit into the original bulb housings for the gauges. But to get the right bulbs that fit, that don’t cause electrical issues, and are the correct color (green) can be challenging. I found a shop in the UK that specializes in LED kits for classic cars (Classic Car LEDs). They have two kits for Defenders but in the end you really need to buy both if you want to replace all of the lights in a NAS Defender. The NAS Defender needs 5 bulbs for the gauges and one bulb for the clock. One of the kits includes 5 dash bulbs and the other kit includes 4 dash bulbs + 1 clock bulb. So what I did was buy both kits which gives me 4 spare dash bulbs for the future. You can order these in different colors but if you want the original look get the green version. Installation is easy it just takes time as you need to remove the binnacle to get behind the gauges and then you need to replace the bulbs with the LEDs. One tip….check that the LEDs work before reinstalling the binnacle because the LEDs are +/- sensitive. I also replaced the dome light to be LED (white) which is brighter than the traditional bulb.

The improvement is dramatic. The dash lights are rather bright in the normal dimmer position and very bright in the high dimmer position. So while the purists out there might hate my resto-mod project at least I can read my dash at night.

Defender 90 Build - Dash Plates

Sometimes it is the small things that matter. While this mod is not needed it is certainly nice. The OEM dash has a center plate that holds the hazard light switch, clock, and cigarette socket. But over the years those things get loose. Also by the driver side dash is a small switch area where a dash dimmer switch is and space for two other aux switches. Problem is that space does not take Carling switches and the dash dimmer switch is an outdated design and tends to go bad.

Series Defender is a small shop that creates some nice bespoke parts for Land Rovers. One of the things they make are metal switch plates and custom wiring harnesses to change the hazard switch and dash dimmer switch to Carling switches. They have lots of plate configurations to choose from. I decided I like the OEM analog clock so I picked up the center plate that changes out the hazard switch, keeps the clock, but converts the cigarette sock to a USB power port. But just to be safe I also picked up a six slot Carling plate as well in case I want to change my configuration. For the driver side switch plate I changed out the dimmer switch to a Carling unit and will use the other two slots for future aux equipment (off-road fog lights and roof rack lights).

While certainly not necessary it creates a clean look, is more robust than the OEM plate, and allows you to use the industry standard Carling switches. Like I said, it’s the small things that matter.

Defender 90 Build - Wheels

The original Defender 90 NAS tornado wheels are a great representation of 90’s design. They are alloy, rather strong for their era, and look pretty decent. However for my build I wanted a black wheel that fit the bumble bee look. I also didn’t want alloy as I wanted a more utilitarian look and a more practical off-road wheel…so steel was the way to go. The original “wolf” military Landy wheel looks amazing but they are incredibly expensive, heavy, and a bit narrow. I found that Terrafirma makes a wolf like black steel wheel that is a touch wider to accommodate my wide pillow top tires.

I think they look the part, are stronger than the OEM tornado wheels, and allow me to store my tornado wheels to keep them near perfect for the next owner. I had already installed Terrafirma 30mm spacers but I quickly found out that the spacers can be seen on the new wheels which is not ideal so I will be changing out the spacers to black versions. Also the installer of the wheels put the weights on the outside which look, well terrible. So I will have to move those to the inside at some point. Finally, with the new wheels I had to get new black lugs which do away with the weird Landy lugs which have metal cosmetic caps (another addition to the OEM parts bin for the next owner). Overall I would highly recommend these wheels if you are looking for a military, utilitarian, clean black, steel look for your Defender.

Defender 90 Build - Dash Dock

Defenders don’t have a lot of space and the dash is very utilitarian. This makes it difficult to find a way to mount things like cell phones or GPS devices without doing damage to the dash. I wanted an easy way to mount a few things while keeping a utilitarian look but not do any damage to the dash. That led me to a Dash Dock designed specifically for defenders. It’s basically a bar that mounts to the dash using two existing screw holes and the ashtray in the center. Once in place you can use Ram Mounts to attach all sorts of gear. I have it set up to mount a cell phone, a Garmin Overland GPS device, a GoPro, and if needed two drink holders. The only damage done is to the ash tray where you drill one hole into the ash tray but I was ok with that as you can easily replace the ash tray with an OEM replacement.

Defender 90 Build - Seating

My truck came with the original OEM front seats but aftermarket rear side facing seats. The front seats where in rather good condition but the foam was getting compressed, the sliding mechanism was no longer smooth, and the plastic end cap was cracked. All in all, exactly what you would expect from a 1994 car. At first I was going to simply reupholster the seats but the cost of doing that was not that much cheaper than simply buying new seats. So I decided to replace the front seats with Exmoor factory spec seats. This would keep the original look while making the seats more comfortable. I decided to add Exmoor seat risers to give the driver and passenger a more comfortable seating position. The new seats also come with seat heaters which is a nice feature but not really necessary if you ask me given the truck runs warm due to the fact there is zero heat shielding from the engine bay.

The side facing seats are a classic option for Defenders but not very practical or safe. The passengers sit very high since the seats mount to the wheel wells and the seats only have lap belts so in an accident the passengers would most certainly get hurt. They were also not a factory option for a NAS due to US DOT regulations, so if you are going for a period correct build these seats do not match. The trucks came stock with no rear seat but you could get a rear bench as an option from the dealer. These benches are no longer made but many people who have them sell them in order to put in the side facing jump seats. Another option for rear seats on Defenders is to get modern bucket fold down seats by Exmoor. These are very functional and safer than the side facing seats but are not period correct so for my build they were not a contender.

I decided my kids were worth the money and effort to get a proper rear seat that was safe(ish) but would also be in the spirit of my build. I found an original bench seat a local Defender owner was selling. It was not in the best shape but it functioned and I figured I could refurbish it. My truck did not come with rear seat belt mounts or the bench brackets. The bench brackets that came with the bench I bought were bent and rusted so I bought a new set offered by Rovers North. I also bought OEM seat belts and mounts as well as a reupholstery kit from Exmoor to match the OEM fabric and to match the front seats.

Unfortunately my NAS truck has one unexplained oddity and that is the rear roll cage hoop. NAS Defenders originally were trucks which means the standard roll cage ended at the B pillar. That roll cage had some foam padding molded onto the metal bars. An option was to buy a safari roll cage which added the back half of the roll cage from the B pillar to the rear of the truck. That also had foam padding molded onto the bars. My truck has the original NAS padded roll cage to the B pillar along with the padded horizontal bars from the B pillar to the rear hoop, but the rear hoop itself is not padded. I have no record of why my truck does not have a padded rear hoop and what is even more perplexing is that the rear hoop fabrication looks factory. The seam, the mounts, the specs, the finish, everything looks too perfect to be a custom fabrication job. It looks factory yet is not since it does not have the padding and I don’t believe it ever had the padding. I have reached out to Safety Devices who is the manufacture of the roll cages and they said my rear hoop was not built by them (although I am not totally convinced as it looks like their work). Regardless, what this means is that my rear hoop did not have a seat belt mounting point for the shoulder strap so I had to get a mount fabricated.

I had a metal fabricator weld on bolt mounts to the rear roll cage (similar to the factory) as well as mount the seat belt mounts and bench mounts to the floor. I picked a metal fabricator that builds race cars and is certified as a roll cage builder to ensure the work was safe and adhered to standards. I then took apart the bench in order to refurbish some parts and re-weld some components. I then had an upholstery shop install the upholstery kit.

The end result is a truck with OEM seating that is period correct. My kids have a safer seating option in the rear and the front seats are much more comfortable. As with all projects like this it ended up being much more expensive than I anticipated due to all of the custom fabricated work needed for the rear bench. If you are looking for a quick, easy, and cheap option don’t do what I did. But if you are looking for a period correct, factory spec, stick to the spirit of the design, but have some safety for your passengers then my project hits the mark.

Defender 90 Build - Binnacle Upgrade

Defenders are known to be tough off-roaders, but that doesn’t mean all of their parts are tough. Land Rover put too much plastic into these otherwise simple metal boxes. Now age that plastic nearly 30 years and you end up with cracked plastics pieces….especially around the dash. I have replaced a few of these plastic pieces over the last 1-2 years but the one that was always a bit intimidating was the binnacle (the gauge cluster for those who only speak American). My binnacle was in good shape compared to many Defenders but that still meant it was cracked. I could replace it with an OEM plastic piece but then you are simply going to have the same problem over time.

I found a metal replacement out of the UK that simply bolts into place. This way I solve the design problem, don’t run into future crack issues, but retain the ability to revert back to OEM stock. Its a theme of the truck….upgrade where it makes sense but don’t damage the truck in the process and always retain an easy way to revert back. The metal binnacle is made by Raptor Engineering and they also sell a metal binnacle mounting bracket which is a must as that mounting bracket is also plastic and actually the source of many cracks. For the end plate you can go with the OEM plastic, or Raptor also makes a metal end plate. I bought the end plate but ended up not using it as I had a hard time fitting it plus my plastic OEM piece was not broken. They also make a fantastic center dash console that is far superior to the OEM plastic one many people use, but installing this requires cutting so I passed on this upgrade. If you have a ROW Defender or don’t feel compelled to be able to revert back to stock Raptor’s center dash is the way to go if you want lots of space for switches and a modern stereo.

The first step in the project is to remove the original binnacle and gauges. There is a great video on Raptor’s website that walks you through this. Just remember to mark or take pictures of the wires before you unplug them so that you know how they plug back in. I found it easier to remove the steering wheel before taking apart the dash so you have space to work. You then install the mounting plate, then you move the gauges from the old binnacle to the new one. You then install the new binnacle. During this process you can decide to replace the bulbs of the gauges or upgrade the old bulbs to LED to make them brighter. I decided to keep the old bulbs so I have the original hard to read the gauge experience (keeping it real).

The end result is a binnacle of the exact same shape but in metal versus plastic. It looks great, wont break, and doesn’t take away your ability to go back to stock. I took my time during this project as I wanted to make sure it went smoothly plus I wanted to remove some abandon wires in my dash that came from an old set of fog lights that have since been removed. I can’t say enough about the quality of Raptor’s product, I highly recommend them.

Sprinter Build - Fan Fix

Our van has two Maxxfan Deluxe 7500k ceiling fans that have worked rather well…..until recently. As soon as we replaced our AGM battery to a Lithium battery one of our fans would shut down as soon as you tried to use it. We would get an alarm and a flashing green light from the fan and then it would go dead. After looking online I found others complaining about the “green light of death”. Turns out the fan can’t handle the voltage increase of a lithium which is usually in the high 13 to low 14 range compared to an AGM that is in the 12-13 range. Apparently Maxxfan’s don’t come with a voltage regulator built in and have a very tight tolerance on what voltage it will accept before it simply shuts itself down. This is a poor design choice by Maxxfan since many people are upgrading to Lithium batteries these days.

Some people online say you simply need to order a new control board for the fan which costs about $70. Others say you only need to do that if the board is fried and that many people with the green light of death don’t have a fried control board its just that you need to drop the voltage down. In order to bring the voltage down you need to install a voltage regulator or voltage step down device. A regulator will step up and step down the voltage to keep the output voltage at a set level. A step down simply makes the output no more than a set level. I decided to get a step down as my issue is not having too low of voltage. I was able to find an adjustable DC voltage step down circuit board for the correct amperage (10 amps) on Amazon for around $12.

This board is small enough to install it in the fan housing but I decided to install it by my fuse box as I have an easy space to access it in case I need to adjust it or remove it from my system. This also allows me to have the board in close proximity to the fuse controlling the power to the fan in case there was a short in the step down circuit board (this was bought on Amazon after all do you never know what the quality is). The setup is easy, simply have positive and negative coming out of the fuse box (with a fuse on the positive side) and going into the “input” side of the step down circuit board. Then have a positive and negative coming out of the “output” of the step down circuit board and connect that to your positive and negative of the ceiling fan. To set the voltage you have a voltage reader on the output of the board and then turn a small screw on the board and watch the voltage reading change until you get to the level you want, in my case around 12 volts.

Boom, no green light of death for the fan and I am back in business. I have not noticed any heat build up on the circuit but that is something you should monitor in the beginning. But considering it is dropping down only 1.5-2 volts on a 7-10 amp draw I would not expect much (if any) heat build up.

Defender 90 Build - Soft Top

I bought the D90 sight unseen which in the best of cases is risky, but when buying an old NAS is down right crazy. It all worked out in the end but I would not recommend this to anyone if you can help it. I had lots of pictures and I did a FaceTime call with the dealer down in LA so he could walk me through the car live. Even with all that there were a couple of surprises when the car showed up. The first surprise was that the rear hoop of the roll cage was not a NAS padded bar. Honestly, I should have noticed that from the photos and FaceTime so that one is on me. The rest of the cage is an original NAS but that one hoop is not the stock NAS bar. I reached out to the OEM manufacture (Safety Devices) and they don’t believe it was made by them however I am not convinced because it has the correct dimensions, fit, and finish…..basically it is too perfect of a match if you ask me. If this was made by someone other than Safety Devices I have to say they did a perfect job. The only real issue is that it does not have the NAS padding. The second surprise is that while the car ran it did not run very well. It was a classic example of prior owners not doing proactive service and a dealer doing just enough to sell the car. I have since done a lot of work to resolve this and now the car runs great (for a Defender). The last surprise was the soft top.

Badger soft top

The soft top that came with the truck is made by Badger Coachworks and is considered by many as superior to the standard replacement made by Exmoor. Mine was Badger’s gutter kit version II which is their nicest model. It uses the UK gutter kit versus the 5 stub bar to get a tighter seal around the front doors. The Badger was in decent shape (perhaps a 7 out of 10) but it did not fit all that well. There was a gap around the exterior roll cage, a gap around the driver door, and a gap above the rear tailgate. So while it was functional and looked good it was not overly water tight.

Door alignment issues

I tried hard to resolve these issues but the top must have shrunk over the years making small gaps larger over time. I almost bought a hard top to replace the soft top but determined my front door alignment issues (more on that in a bit) would prevent a good fit with a hard top. I then thought I would simply order a new Badger but that company is run by a guy back east who seems to be extremely backed up all the time and would never return my emails or calls. So I decided to get a brand new Exmoor and take it back to the original top configuration. That meant I would also get a 5 stub bar and remove my gutter kit (at least that is what I thought).

The quality of the Exmoor’s soft top is great and I can’t say the Badger uses better materials. I like the side windows of the Exmoor better and I like that the Exmoor can use the 5 stub bar or the gutter kit. I first installed the Exmoor using the 5 stub bar but I found the fit around the doors a bit weak. Also, there is very little adjustment you can do to get a tighter fit with the 5 stub bar. I then switched back to the gutter kit but took them apart and replaced all the hardware. This allowed me to use spacers and washers to make small adjustments in the frame which resulted in a much tighter fit around the front doors.

I have the normal Defender door alignment issue where that side panels don’t perfectly match up to the doors. This is normal and doesn’t impact how the door functions. After a lot of research I found that the solution requires adjusting the bulkhead which is a big project so I am going to live with it until the day comes that I pull the motor to rebuild it. The larger issue I have is that the driver door (the top half actually) sits too far away from the gutter kit. I am not sure if this is because the top half of the door is warped or my body panels are off. But with the spacers and washers added to the gutter kit I was able to pull the gutter kit out to meet up with the door and I have an excellent fit now. The Exmoor fits nearly perfect around the external roll cage bars whereas the Badger had gaps.

Exmoor tight fit

The only remaining issue is the gap above the tailgate. That I can not resolve this with the Exmoor or Badger soft top. For some reason my soft top rear retaining bar is about 3/4 - 1 inch higher than the mounting points. At first I thought it was because my rear hoop is not an original NAS, but I measured a friend’s NAS and it is the same height. Also the soft top fits the side and rear channels perfectly so the gap is just with the rear retaining bar. It doesn’t create a visible gap but it means the retainer bar in the rear can not mount properly. The solution is to create a block or riser for the retaining bar mounting points to bring the mounts up 3/4 - 1 inch. I have not done this yet as the retaining bar is not critical and often gets in the way if you ask me.

Overall my Exmoor fits significantly better than the Badger and I like the original design and features more than the Badger. I will keep the Badger and put it in my spare parts bin in case I ever need a backup soft top. With this new soft top I will give up on the hard top idea because I just don’t think I can get it to fit with my front doors without significant adjustments…..plus the soft top NAS tends to have a higher resell value than the hard top NAS. Let’s be honest, living in CA there is only one way to go and that is with a soft top.

Sprinter Build - Battery Monitor

When I bought my Trail Kitchens power and water cabinet it came with a very nice Balmar SG200 battery monitor. This uses a shunt to measure all the input and output power consumption to give you various readings on the status of your battery. But over the last 2 years I have made many changes to my electrical system such as a bluetooth controlled lithium battery and a bluetooth controlled DC-DC charger. This meant that I didn’t need many of the features of the Balmar. All I really needed was a simple display showing me the basic info about my battery for those times when I am not using the battery and charger app.

I decided to go with a Renogy 500 amp shunt battery monitor. Its a simple design, easy to install, and doesn’t complicate my system yet it does everything I need it to do. I rarely downgrade my gear but sometimes it is better to have simple gear that does only what you need it to do versus having gear with all the bells and whistles yet falls sort on some of the basics. In the case of the Balmar where it fell sort for me was that to see all of the stats you care about you need to flip through various screens versus the Renogy that shows all the important stats on a single screen.