This a job that was planned for early 2020 but got out on hold……..
The Perentie 110 has its fuel tank under the drivers seat as in a 90, rather than at the rear like a standard UK made 110. This was to enable the installation of the spare wheel under the deck at the rear which was a requirement of the Australian Forces, when the vehicles were commissioned.
So, to increase fuel capacity, a second tank could be installed under the passenger seat; to make way for this, the battery had to be relocated, see previous post.
Installing the tank was well beyond my skills and I had already discussed this with Neil Reid at Reid Performance in New Milton. The car was booked in during September for the work to be done. At the same time, I asked Neil to cut out and replace a section in drivers footwell which had corroded.
In preparation, I removed the passenger seat and frame and removed the carpet and some of the soundproofing from the front seat boxes. The plan is to strip the seat boxes completely, add soundproofing and insulate them before adding new heavy duty carpet. The issue here is that you have to careful on the total thickness, as there is not that much room around the seat bases.
As usual Neil did a fantastic job and made up the brackets needed to install the tank to the bespoke chassis, after cutting out the seat-box on the passenger side.
Regular readers will know that the Perentie has a galvanised chassis, however the bulkhead is not galvanised. This is not usually a problem with imported Perentie’s as they come from a warm country. However, we are not 100% sure of the history of ours, apart from the fact that is was used by the Australian Air Force and may well have been used in tropical climates. Also, after purchasing, we discovered that is was a non runner at auction. During the restoration was have notes a number of issues, and believe that at some point the vehicle may have stood in water for some time.
It is worth noting that mud collects on top of the chassis member under the footwell and rots the floor – I will be keeping this clean.
As with all things Land Rover, the corrosion on the drivers side was worse than expected, but a plate was made up, welded in and rustproofed. There remains a leak on the drivers side which I need to resolve before fitting soundproofing, insulation and the carpets.
The seat box covers which allow access to the fuel tanks (battery when is was under the seat) were very bent and did not fit properly. For some reason these were not easy to get hold of as a Land Rover part, but I managed to source a couple of aftermarket parts from e-bay. There were really well made but still needed a trim with an angle grinder to get them to fit properly. A fault of the seat boxes rather than the manufacture of the part. I also had to fit the clips that kept the covers in place, as these were missing.
After that a coat of paint to tidy things up, some 4mm Silent Coat Deadening Mat was added over which I added some 4mm Dodo Super Liner for insulation.
I replaced the seat frame on the passenger side and as it was in fairly bad condition, but re-painted the drivers side; they are expensive!
I have some cill trims and corner protects to fit later on, once the carpet has been fitted.
48 States of Gray 