Land Rover Repair: Rusted Firewall, lifestyle magazine, wire harnesses

Question
Hi, I am busy reparing a 2000/2001 Defender Pick-up. It has a badly rusted firewall. I have been told that it can be replaced with an aluminium firewall. Is this correct? How big an undertaking would this be? Also does the firewall extend to the area underneath the windscreen between the door and the front fender?

Answer
The firewall is what the windshield sits on.  It's the innermost part of the body. To change it, you remove the entire front body structure, the rear body and then the cabin, and then you have to remove the wire harnesses, steering, heat, etc to pull the bulkheaad.  It is the biggest body task you can do, so be prepared.

I wrote at article in Land Rover Lifestyle magazine that showed a bulkhead-off restoration last December.  If you can find a copy the photos will show what's involved.

Best of luck to you

John Elder Robison

And check out my car blog at http://robisonservice.blogspot.com