 | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Soft top 300Tdi |
 
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| SailingTom Member Since: 19 Nov 2013 Location: ESSEX Posts: 1720  
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Hi there its made by Purely Metal in Suffolk. Colin who runs it is on facebook and has some on ebay along with at the shows, you can have galvanized or powder coated. Looks great Mike, like you say a lot warmer than hardtops which I know some will find hard to believe! Just to make non soft top owners jealous its a lovely blue sky here today with the sides all rolled up  Defender puma dormobile camper |
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4th Nov 2014 12:59pm |
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| mikeh501 Member Since: 07 Jan 2013 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1142
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Thanks, im really happy with it how it came out. Looks great with the sides down too.
Yes, very happy with the door bottoms and would recommend. I bought from them the following:- http://www.splandrovers.com/DEFENDER_2_PIE..._s/140.htm Series style door bottoms for Defenders (so the door straps work properly) - no issues with these. they went on fine and have the lock hole already drilled. Anti burst locks (from SP) - no issues with these Lock mechanism for above which I think were seperate (from SP i think) - no issues with these series striker plates (from SP) - wouldnt buy again as the quality was rubbish. very bad casting. door bottom rubbers (from SP) - fine, but if you buy rocky mountain tops they come with the rubbers so ive a set spare! You also need to cut them down a little bit. Hardest bit is aligning the door to the striker. I used my own new door hinges which worked on both the defender doors previously and the new series ones. Mine are zine coated so offer a little more protection.
Yes, the whole thing works fine together. The AWT heavy duty hoop set fits really nice to the cappings. I had a bit of "lift" on the pass side front tub section but once bolted down it was fine. Id assume this is a tolerance on the vehicle as the hoop is properly square. I think sailingtoms is a galvanised version as mine is just powder coated. Its fairly heavy duty, but it i wouldnt rely upon it for roll over protection. I think its about 40mm tube of 2mm thickness, whereas a proper NAS hoop is about 60mm i think. Also the hoops bolt onto the cappings only (front and rr) and do not go down to the chassis. You could get this fabricated though i think without much trouble. I have a pictures of the PP NAS cage and its not exactly rocket science. From memory the fasteners provded were zinc plated not stainless so i used stainless instead and some big penny washers for the underside of the cappings. If I had more time/inclination i would have some peices of steel fabbed for the underside of the cappings to provide more robust fixings; but that being said you can hang off it and push the vehicle with it, so its not flimsy at all. One thing you need is to work out how your seatbelts will work. Mine being a hard top has the reel bolted behind the seats (i believe this is different on actual soft tops and pickups) and the upper part mounted into the hard top roof sides. One thing which caught me out is that the sleeved bolt which is used to attach the upper mount is not long enough to go through the new hoop and get bolted with a nylock the other side. You need a new bolt, but it has to be a special metric fine thread bolt of the correct length otherwise as the sleeve wont go over a std thread bolt and the seatbelt runner wont turn as you pull the seat belt towards you. Hopefully that makes sense, a picture tells a 1000 words etc. You will find out 
The kit comes with the standard door parts, so the door top and back parts. These bolt up to the heavy duty hoop set in the same way as a standard hoop and sticks kit would work. No issues here. The rocky mountain door tops and tailgate are a work of art. Highly highly recommend and fit the door bottoms perfectly They work perfectly and look that good im not even going to have them painted (they are 100% ali so wont rust). Adds a bit of industrial/aerospace finish to the vehicle. Regarding the tailgate mine is mounted like a door on the side and I think is better than hanging down for reaching inside.
Yes original paint on the vehicle and I had the doors painted professionaly and colour matches to the vehicle. Its not quite right, but good enough. Given what I do with the vehicle its fine for me. One tip is that I had the body shop drill four holes into the side and bottom channels of the door before they painted so I could dinitrol the insides when I got them back. Hopefully give it a little more longevity, but tbh at £99 ill buy a new set in 5 years if they start to go which they probably will. My doors fit and close better now than they did with the defender doors it had on previously lol. Little more leg room too given you can put your knee "inside" the door given its got no door trim. |
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4th Nov 2014 1:02pm |
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| mikeh501 Member Since: 07 Jan 2013 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1142
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One more thing.... my hood and sailing toms is different. Mine is the bog standard mohair canvas with window at rear. It was about £300. If you want windows at the sides its a little more, if you want button down fasteners and zip up windows like sailingtoms it a lot more i think. Whichever you choose you will need to drill and rivet the hood fasteners to your tub. It was easy with the normal rope type fasteners and I understand its a lot more challenging with the button ones.
but definately get mohair. dont bother with normal canvas. |
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4th Nov 2014 1:07pm |
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| Peacehill Member Since: 08 Mar 2012 Location: Fife Posts: 13 
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Cant thank you enough, great information. Ok so mike501 yours is an AWT hood also? SailingTom i have emailed purely metal so await there response. Did they fit the canvas? Or did you source that separately and fit yourself?
This is what i am starting with, picked it up at a plant auction after it had failed to make its reserve bid. Structurally pretty sound, a couple of cold start problems that ill soon get fixed. |
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4th Nov 2014 1:31pm |
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| Peacehill Member Since: 08 Mar 2012 Location: Fife Posts: 13
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Sorry tried to put photo in but hasn't worked. Its in my galley or may work this time. /Users/apple/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2014/09/15/20140915-164202/IMG_2373.JPG
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4th Nov 2014 1:35pm |
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| Peacehill Member Since: 08 Mar 2012 Location: Fife Posts: 13
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Or not sorry
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4th Nov 2014 1:35pm |
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| mikeh501 Member Since: 07 Jan 2013 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1142
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Yeah mines AWT. You can get the hood kit purely metal do (like ours) from AWT as well. You fit the canvas yourself and its straightforward. Its after all removable!
Just give AWT a call and the main guy will talk you through it. |
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4th Nov 2014 2:56pm |
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| SailingTom Member Since: 19 Nov 2013 Location: ESSEX Posts: 1720
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Just to ad further.
There are 3 main types of hood; You have the standard type fixing like mike has with ropes that go round the fasteners allready on the side body (like the series vehicles all have along with standard defender hood which works well) Then there is the push stud type fixing, where you drill holes in the body and put tennex clips in (In my experience this is rubbish, impossible to get a nice fit and preserve the side panels) Ive now got Exmoor trims Stayfast Mohair Hood (other brands do the same) Wwhich works by putting rails down the sides and the hood clips under as a long length. This is by far the best ive had out of the 3. The only disadvantages are you have to fix the runners down the side (doesnt really show) and the cost. To anyone looking Mikes hood looks like mine with solid sides and only a window in the rear, both mohair but roughly £900- £300. Hope this helps anyone after one I sourced all the parts myself as purely metal is a fabrication company whose owner has a very nice series so designs some bits for it. Speak to all wheel trim, undercover canvass or exmoor as all sell and recommend everything you will need
It took me a day with some help lifting and holding to go from a trimmed hard top to soft top have a look on my thread when i did it as will show what i mean and anything i forgot http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic27013.html Defender puma dormobile camper |
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4th Nov 2014 3:18pm |
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