Defender 90 rotten trunk

Hello,

I have just taken the rear seats out of my 90 and have found that the seatbelt load spreading plates have cause the aluminium to disintegrate.

Any tips on how to repair the area? I’m thinking aluminium patch, but any tips even with this appreciated.

Cheers

Yes, it does, galvanic corrosion it is...
Sandwiching alluminium between steel has that effect.

I used/cut up an old roadsign to do mine with lashings of paint on both surfaces and waterproof grease to keep out the electrolyte.

This is what it looked like on my 90 behind the drivers seat (where the seatbelt mounting is)..

Yes, that’s the one! Not a great afternoon when I was all ready to start sound proofing! What did you use to glue it?

VeraTheLandy said:

Yes, that’s the one! Not a great afternoon when I was all ready to start sound proofing! What did you use to glue it?

Click to expand...

I had a similar issue with the station wagon body I rebuilt. I riveted an aluminium patch over the top of the hole and used tiger seal as a glue., then painted everything to give it a Protective layer, and I then used neoprene foam tape on the underside of the steel parts to act as a barrier between them.

Unfortunately it is just one of those things you have to deal with when owning a Land Rover. I have to do the same with the front of my hardtop tub where the seatbelts mount similar to what @miktdish pictured. But I am going to take the expensive route for this and use the yrm replacement panels. The rear tub patches I just used some 3mm aluminium sheet I already had.

VeraTheLandy said:

Yes, that’s the one! Not a great afternoon when I was all ready to start sound proofing! What did you use to glue it?

Click to expand...

I used Sikaflex (similar to tiger seal) and a rivet in each corner (avoiding the fuel tank).