DEFENDER 200TDI Time to ditch the ear muffs and hot waterbottle

Well it'd been six months since the completion of my 1992 Defender 200tdi
All in all, it's been great to drive it to work every day, but the main issue is the front cab is not only noisy but due to the recent weather, it's bloody freezing!
So I feel it's time to get the front insulated and either carpeted or covered with a suitable alternative.

The front section of the roof has been insulated with 15mm flat profile foam from NK Group
it's good stuff but not cheap at £50 delivered,basically x4 pieces!
I have not ordered the rear section yet as I'm thinking of closing off the cab area, from the back.

I'M going to cover the floor panels and seat box with Dynamat extreme (ordered) x7 sheets £99

I have been looking at the front carpet sets from Exmoor Trim, they look good value for money
and would finish the front of the cab off nicely
The only thought I have is would the floor screws show from underneath?

More to follow over the coming weeks

The interior looks fantastic and the colour is the best.

Personally Ant if you want something that cuts noise I would forget the carpet and would be looking at rubber matting instead.
Although the Dynamat should make a difference alone.
I fitted the Wright off-road matting and found it made a good reduction in sound, general road or vehicle noises entering the cab.
Albeit not cheap, and I was dubious about spending the money the first time around, but would definitely buy again after seeing/experiencing the quality and the fact it actually works.

Go double bubble. Carpet on top of rubber!

If you want a cheaper alternative to the dynamat look at fatmat, same stuff jist cheaper. Closed cell foam is also useful for insulation and soundproofing.

greyhair said:

Well it'd been six months since the completion of my 1992 Defender 200tdi
All in all, it's been great to drive it to work every day, but the main issue is the front cab is not only noisy but due to the recent weather, it's bloody freezing!
So I feel it's time to get the front insulated and either carpeted or covered with a suitable alternative.

The front section of the roof has been insulated with 15mm flat profile foam from NK Group
it's good stuff but not cheap at £50 delivered,basically x4 pieces!
I have not ordered the rear section yet as I'm thinking of closing off the cab area, from the back.

I'M going to cover the floor panels and seat box with Dynamat extreme (ordered) x7 sheets £99

I have been looking at the front carpet sets from Exmoor Trim, they look good value for money
and would finish the front of the cab off nicely
The only thought I have is would the floor screws show from underneath?View attachment 117293

Click to expand...

Bloody hell that's a tidy interior!

greyhair said:

More to follow over the coming weeks

Click to expand...

Ooooo, that looks nice
I did the floor, footwells and seat box in closed cell foam. Got the original front carpets on top as they were in decent nick, then genuine LR defender rubber mats on top. Has made it pretty quiet. I probably should have stuck something like dynamat on the bulkhead inside the engine bay, but I'm pretty happy with the sound level.
It's still cold though!

On another note. Did you ever put a load of your rebuild pictures on photobucket

aaronmorris said:

Personally Ant if you want something that cuts noise I would forget the carpet and would be looking at rubber matting instead.
Although the Dynamat should make a difference alone.
I fitted the Wright off-road matting and found it made a good reduction in sound, general road or vehicle noises entering the cab.
Albeit not cheap, and I was dubious about spending the money the first time around, but would definitely buy again after seeing/experiencing the quality and the fact it actually works.

Click to expand...

+1 on this, I brought the full mat set and it made the most difference. Bit of a faff to fit and easier with 2. It very worth it.

aaronmorris said:

Personally Ant if you want something that cuts noise I would forget the carpet and would be looking at rubber matting instead.
Although the Dynamat should make a difference alone.
I fitted the Wright off-road matting and found it made a good reduction in sound, general road or vehicle noises entering the cab.
Albeit not cheap, and I was dubious about spending the money the first time around, but would definitely buy again after seeing/experiencing the quality and the fact it actually works.

Click to expand...

Cheers Aaron
will look at the rubber matting
Do you have any pics of the rubber matting fitted?

Al2O3 said:

Ooooo, that looks nice
I did the floor, footwells and seat box in closed cell foam. Got the original front carpets on top as they were in decent nick, then genuine LR defender rubber mats on top. Has made it pretty quiet. I probably should have stuck something like dynamat on the bulkhead inside the engine bay, but I'm pretty happy with the sound level.
It's still cold though!

On another note. Did you ever put a load of your rebuild pictures on photobucket

Click to expand...

Not yet
still not got around to it but will get it done soon

Fit heated seats. You can easily retrofit them to your standard seats...Exmoor do a kit. I redid mine...(leather in the front no less!) and added seat heaters and wow they are great at this time of year. With a warm bum and back, you don't even notice the cold!

If you can't be bothered with heated seats, throw a sheepskin over the seat - warms up in seconds, and cooler than vinyl in summer.

I've got the Wright off road/Exmoor rubber matting kit in mine and as I re-upholstered my seats I fitted heated pads at the same time. The Rubber kit is great as you won't have to stick anything to your beautiful paint work but as said a bit of a faff to fit. Is that an x-eng pedal lock I can see? if so I have one and I fitted mine on top of the rubber floor and just cut a bit off a corner to stop it catching.

Buy all the floor stuff you need from someone breaking a newish Defender.
If you want to go to Exmoor, plan on selling your wife and kids to a slave trader and re-mortgaging your house.

MsFire said:

I've got the Wright off road/Exmoor rubber matting kit in mine and as I re-upholstered my seats I fitted heated pads at the same time. The Rubber kit is great as you won't have to stick anything to your beautiful paint work but as said a bit of a faff to fit. Is that an x-eng pedal lock I can see? if so I have
one and I fitted mine on top of the rubber floor and just cut a bit off a corner to stop it catching.

Click to expand...

Yes, its a great bit of kit simple to fit and easy to use

Cab Flashing tape, covered by wright mat, flashing tape anywhere else I could fit it, fixed partition behind the driver, removable behind the cubby / passenger, foam headrests glued to partition.. rear body and floor has flashing tape, closed cell matting the body was then covered in wooden cladding. .
Bonnet soundproofed, genuine rocker cover sound cover.
My 200tdi is much quieter, radio is set low, conversations are easy.

I wish my cab looked as neat as yours, I need new door liners and the seats require recovering.

zeaphod said:

If you can't be bothered with heated seats, throw a sheepskin over the seat - warms up in seconds, and cooler than vinyl in summer.

Click to expand...

Heated seat will be fitted and maybe a diesel cab heater later, but the penny jar was well and truly emptied doing a full rebuild

TheQ said:

Cab Flashing tape, covered by wright mat, flashing tape anywhere else I could fit it, fixed partition behind the driver, removable behind the cubby / passenger, foam headrests glued to partition.. rear body and floor has flashing tape, closed cell matting the body was then covered in wooden cladding. .
Bonnet soundproofed, genuine rocker cover sound cover.
My 200tdi is much quieter, radio is set low, conversations are easy.

I wish my cab looked as neat as yours, I need new door liners and the seats require recovering.

Click to expand...

Hi Q, did you close off the front cab from the rear?

Will get some measurements done over the weekend if I get chance as I really fancy boarding off the front Cab from the back
and maybe fitting a fixed piece of glass in the middle so i can still see out the back

A wise man once said " It's never over with a rover " How true!

I was out on Saturday, freezing, even though the heater is pretty good now. Cutting the cab off crossed my mind the, because I've read quite a few people on here with 90 truck cabs say they get nice and warm in the front. I was thinking of a simple roller system, like the roller pull cover over the boot of my Mondeo Estate or a window roller blind. I think it would have to have a plastic panel stuck in for the rear view mirror?