Series doors in a Defender.

[anonymous-user]

So, t'other day I discovered the lower edge of the passenger door on my 90 has finally given up and, at the front corner, has rusted away to nothing.
Driver's door isn't far behind.
Looking at replacements, new take-off Defender doors come in at around £800-1000 which strikes me as silly money for what they are.
Series doors with upgraded aluminium tops are less than £400 and would seem to do away with many of the Defender's short comings in the door department, namely too many water traps, rattley window mechanisms, crappy plastic push-button handles and so on.
Or would it look rubbish?

[budrover]

Series or military doors look alright on a defender ...all military defenders are fitted with them.

I find them better than a defender door as the door card does not intrude into elbow space and you have more room for your leg rather than the window winder handle sticking into it !!

[BLUETHUNDER]

budrover said:

Series or military doors look alright on a defender ...all military defenders are fitted with them.

I find them better than a defender door as the door card does not intrude into elbow space and you have more room for your leg rather than the window winder handle sticking into it !!

that looks a very smart and tidy 90.

[anonymous-user]

budrover said:

Series or military doors look alright on a defender ...all military defenders are fitted with them.

I find them better than a defender door as the door card does not intrude into elbow space and you have more room for your leg rather than the window winder handle sticking into it !!

Ooooh, I like that.

[anonymous-user]

The other option is replacement GRP doors which seem to be increasingly popular.
Anyone any experience of them?

[xuy]

Series 3 bottoms with military tops, they are much better than the series 3 door tops.

The glass opens from both ends

[anonymous-user]

xuy said:

Series 3 bottoms with military tops, they are much better than the series 3 door tops.

The glass opens from both ends

That's my plan but Wolf door tops currently cost as much as an entire Series door

[xuy]

They always have done, but are worth the extra.

[g7jtk]

Also when the weather is right you can easily take the door tops off and the roof and fit the windscreen hinges to lay it on the bonnet.

[anonymous-user]

g7jtk said:

Also when the weather is right you can easily take the door tops off and the roof and fit the windscreen hinges to lay it on the bonnet.

Mine's a hardtop

[xuy]

The Hard top can be removed in under an hour, you just need a rear door

[softtop]

xuy said:

The Hard top can be removed in under an hour, you just need a rear door

Maybe I have not looked hard enough but how do you anchor the seatbelts then to the bulkhead?

[anonymous-user]

softtop said:

xuy said:

The Hard top can be removed in under an hour, you just need a rear door

Maybe I have not looked hard enough but how do you anchor the seatbelts then to the bulkhead?

You can't. A hardtop to soft top conversion is possible and massively easlier than normal vehicles, but a ten minute job with an adjustable spanner it ain't
Requires a roll bar (for the upper seat belt mount), door frames, different windscreen that can receive a hood along the top edge, hood sticks and obviously the hood/tilt itself, assuming the conversion is meant as permanent which, given the actual work involved, it would have to be.
Older trucks are a bit easier as they were conceived as soft tops with a hard top added later, as opposed to later models which left the factory as a hard top with the option to reverse engineer them.

[anonymous-user]

xuy said:

The Hard top can be removed in under an hour, you just need a rear door

What about all the wiring routed through the roof lining?

[Zelda Pinwheel]

i have them on my 90 although they're wolf, not series, and i think they work well.


IMG_4874 by katy_nicolson, on Flickr

[anonymous-user]

Zelda Pinwheel said:

i have them on my 90 although they're wolf, not series, and i think they work well.


IMG_4874 by katy_nicolson, on Flickr

Nicely done.
Wolf v Series? The actual skin and window frame is the same, it's the glass and fixtures that differ so I guess a Series door could be upgraded to Wolf spec pretty easily.

[Zelda Pinwheel]

thank you!

the biggest hurdle to overcome was to stop smacking my forehead on the glass when leaning out of the window, it only takes a few bruises to remember that the aperture is a LOT smaller with sliders than it is with winders!