What a great video and great detective work, as someone has already said. I did one of the last tours of the assembly line. We were all really interested at the beginning of the line where they were putting together the transmission and engine, but by the time we'd got to the body assembly there were very few questions so we more or less just walked past. Afterwards, I wish I could have done the tour again as there was so much to take in. We weren't allowed to take pictures for some reason, which was a real pity.
I did it too. I found it so overwhelming in final assembly; I knew I wouldn't be able to take it all in. I would have preferred to just wander around for days by myself and talking to the workers
The archive photos really show how labour intensive it was to build the Defender. The new Grenadier looked like a semi monocoque like the 70 series and the Gwagen. I must save so much time.
I'm in the process (virus drama notwithstanding) of repairing the C pillars on my 110 V8 CSW. It's a real pain. Thanks for the illumination of how they went together!
Absolutely first class research chap ... I was considering dragging mine out to drop the roof on when fitting all the panels but I see it's not required to get things lined up. Another re-plan required but again, effort saved! Thank you!
G'Day Will. Its great that these images of the last lot of Defenders being built can/have been archived. Not only do they give a historical account but even today and in the future they can still assist as a guide on how one can go about "Making Land Rover's Better!" (As a mutual friend of ours loves to say) :D
Mine has a sealer between the steel and aluminium parts you can see where it has squeezed out when riveted up. It also has a sticker on each door about the cathodic process. The galvanised capping went I think with the introduction of the defender name (1991) but they kept the galvanised side sills.
Ahah! - now I see they bolted up the side panels, and the windscreen to the roof BEFORE lowering the whole lot on to the tub/bulkhead. Great if you have a huge overhead gantry... Trying to get all those wobbly bits to match up with bolt holes AND fit sealing rubbers AND then get everything square-ish so doors would fit was a nightmare with my rebuild :) six degrees of freedom and LR's 5mm tolerance on all alignments made for interesting times in my low roofed shed! - 10 litres of Sikaflex marine sealant might stop all the leaks now... but don't look at the panel gaps!
Great pitcture of a bye gone era.It also shows very well the reason they stopped making them due to the insane amount of labour that went into building one from scrach. Also you can clearly see and you've mentioned it, all those holes that got drilled AFTER the panels got painted and rivetted without painting or rust proofing the bare alu in the holes. No wonder these are such rust buckets within a few years time.Also no paint is sprayed on the panels under the cappings because why would you XDXDXD. Still i like them a lot,,despite their faults and fortunate to work on them on a daily basis. Good luck with your build,mate.
LR Workshop & Expedition Surprised how young everybody was on the production line, I had images in my head of old fellas in Engineering coats, glasses, moustaches and a pipe but really that’s more akin to where they get restored 😂
Great video Chris!! As I'm sure you are aware I am restoring my 16k miles 2011 90 and I can confirm the bulkhead - b post member is not painted. I guess some of the guys pictured in your photos are the ones who managed to miss fit all the floor screws in my 90 and get them all down the sides of the square plastic inserts?
Yes very interesting- a frame by frame picture book form start to finish would be worth it's weight in gold building a rover, especially for the home mechanic to see where the next issue will be for simple 5 min weekend job. Thanks for this
My b post got rotten away so I needed to replace them. I grinded the rest of the pillar from the sillrail but never noted the exact point where the new one needs to be welded on. Do you have any measurements?
Presumably the same as how they did the series sw as well. Silly that they stopped galving the cappings. I think it looks better but hey I’m a series man
I recall the indignation in 1996 that my Defender's 6 year old cappings were getting crustier than my Series One's which were then 40 years Old. My Series One still survives, but the Defender (sold) does not. I THINK my 1986 Ninety (StilI alive D420JRL) had galvanised cappings; certainly the bumper was galv because I remember it was ideal for opening beer bottles, whereas the plastic coated Defender bumper was effectively useless as a barbecue tool.
Did you see the video on 'The Wheel Network' from a couple of days ago, especially for a connoisseur like yourself. Obviously not new footage but interesting. ruclips.net/video/z49gYd1QKK0/видео.html
Yeah i've seen that doing the rounds again recently. It's the "B roll" footage from around when the 2 millionth production was filmed in 2015. All the RUclips videos use pretty much the same footage. I've got some factory footage that hasn't been seen in a few years and isn't on YT. I tried to edit it last year but failed. I need to think again about how best to put it together...
This channel is a real Land Rover fans dream. Always informative.
Thanks Chazni!
Some great detective work there, never thought of using assembly line images for this purpose.
What a great video and great detective work, as someone has already said.
I did one of the last tours of the assembly line. We were all really interested at the beginning of the line where they were putting together the transmission and engine, but by the time we'd got to the body assembly there were very few questions so we more or less just walked past. Afterwards, I wish I could have done the tour again as there was so much to take in. We weren't allowed to take pictures for some reason, which was a real pity.
I did it too. I found it so overwhelming in final assembly; I knew I wouldn't be able to take it all in. I would have preferred to just wander around for days by myself and talking to the workers
And thanks for doing all the research - your website was my go-to place when locating and matching parts to diagrams.
You're welcome!
The archive photos really show how labour intensive it was to build the Defender.
The new Grenadier looked like a semi monocoque like the 70 series and the Gwagen. I must save so much time.
I'm in the process (virus drama notwithstanding) of repairing the C pillars on my 110 V8 CSW. It's a real pain. Thanks for the illumination of how they went together!
Absolutely first class research chap ... I was considering dragging mine out to drop the roof on when fitting all the panels but I see it's not required to get things lined up. Another re-plan required but again, effort saved! Thank you!
I love production line pictures 👍
G'Day Will.
Its great that these images of the last lot of Defenders being built can/have been archived. Not only do they give a historical account but even today and in the future they can still assist as a guide on how one can go about "Making Land Rover's Better!" (As a mutual friend of ours loves to say) :D
Mine has a sealer between the steel and aluminium parts you can see where it has squeezed out when riveted up. It also has a sticker on each door about the cathodic process. The galvanised capping went I think with the introduction of the defender name (1991) but they kept the galvanised side sills.
Ahah! - now I see they bolted up the side panels, and the windscreen to the roof BEFORE lowering the whole lot on to the tub/bulkhead. Great if you have a huge overhead gantry... Trying to get all those wobbly bits to match up with bolt holes AND fit sealing rubbers AND then get everything square-ish so doors would fit was a nightmare with my rebuild :) six degrees of freedom and LR's 5mm tolerance on all alignments made for interesting times in my low roofed shed! - 10 litres of Sikaflex marine sealant might stop all the leaks now... but don't look at the panel gaps!
Great pitcture of a bye gone era.It also shows very well the reason they stopped making them due to the insane amount of labour that went into building one from scrach.
Also you can clearly see and you've mentioned it, all those holes that got drilled AFTER the panels got painted and rivetted without painting or rust proofing the bare alu in the holes.
No wonder these are such rust buckets within a few years time.Also no paint is sprayed on the panels under the cappings because why would you XDXDXD.
Still i like them a lot,,despite their faults and fortunate to work on them on a daily basis.
Good luck with your build,mate.
Thanks for this interesting Video. It will helps me by assembling the b and c Posts on my TDI.
Sad these photos are to confined to the history books! Gone but not forgotten!
I kinda wish I'd given up a year of my career to go work there! Rose-tinted glasses and all that 😂
LR Workshop & Expedition Surprised how young everybody was on the production line, I had images in my head of old fellas in Engineering coats, glasses, moustaches and a pipe but really that’s more akin to where they get restored 😂
Great video Chris!! As I'm sure you are aware I am restoring my 16k miles 2011 90 and I can confirm the bulkhead - b post member is not painted. I guess some of the guys pictured in your photos are the ones who managed to miss fit all the floor screws in my 90 and get them all down the sides of the square plastic inserts?
Lol, great quality from Solihull! I saw your bulkhead and it looked horrendous. Luckily i've never owned a Defender from new...
Yes very interesting- a frame by frame picture book form start to finish would be worth it's weight in gold building a rover, especially for the home mechanic to see where the next issue will be for simple 5 min weekend job. Thanks for this
My b post got rotten away so I needed to replace them. I grinded the rest of the pillar from the sillrail but never noted the exact point where the new one needs to be welded on. Do you have any measurements?
Presumably the same as how they did the series sw as well. Silly that they stopped galving the cappings. I think it looks better but hey I’m a series man
I recall the indignation in 1996 that my Defender's 6 year old cappings were getting crustier than my Series One's which were then 40 years Old. My Series One still survives, but the Defender (sold) does not. I THINK my 1986 Ninety (StilI alive D420JRL) had galvanised cappings; certainly the bumper was galv because I remember it was ideal for opening beer bottles, whereas the plastic coated Defender bumper was effectively useless as a barbecue tool.
Phil Healey sounds about right I have a few mates who still daily series 2/2a as they are nice and simple
How strange, you would have thought the body would have been built before it was painted.
The manufacturing and assembly procedure really didn't change much through the decades
Did you see the video on 'The Wheel Network' from a couple of days ago, especially for a connoisseur like yourself. Obviously not new footage but interesting.
ruclips.net/video/z49gYd1QKK0/видео.html
Yeah i've seen that doing the rounds again recently. It's the "B roll" footage from around when the 2 millionth production was filmed in 2015. All the RUclips videos use pretty much the same footage. I've got some factory footage that hasn't been seen in a few years and isn't on YT. I tried to edit it last year but failed. I need to think again about how best to put it together...
@@lrworkshop sounds good, looking forward to seeing it sometime.