Just finished bulkhead repair and galvanize

The vehicle cost me a grand about 10 years ago, the vehicle was taken all over africa by its original owner. I think he spec'd the vehicle from new to cope with his trip back in 1969. He went mad with the pop rivet gun when he got it and fabricated an aluminium bed in the back.

I restored it and put a perkins prima in back in 2006, does 40 mpg now.

The bulkhead was getting holed so I looked for a replacement and converted it for the straight 6 configuration.

I also rebuilt the gearbox as my father ran it for years with very low oil, all bearings were nos not the britpart rubbish.

Just got the bulkhead back from the galvanizers, I replaced the posts footwells and modified central section.

I'll get a pic to post but here are the bulkhead and gearbox after a fresh rebuild

both nice and shiny, excellent

other side

is that a home made jig to keep it straight when transporting?

Looking good that, out of interest how much does it cost to galvanise a bulkhead?

Marmaduke said:

Looking good that, out of interest how much does it cost to galvanise a bulkhead?

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Depends, should cost around £50 inc vat if you provide a totally bare sandblasted and repaired bulkhead.

Do not brace as this only causes them to buckle in a different way after dipping.

Some galv places will try and charge £150 when they hear the word "land rover"

Cheapest I have hear is Joseph Ash Galvanizers who said they would do £1 per kg so a bulkhead at 35kg would be £35 plus VAT

The Jig is used to rebuild the bulkhead as it is the same dimensions as the chassis outrigger setup +1/8 inch as when you weld it all up it will spring back by this much after new footwells and pillars (all spec'd by my guru pal who used to make 6 wheeler landys in the 70s direct from the factory) this means when you take them off the jig they need minimal pulling around to get them on the vehicle

If you can come to terms with the fact that you will get some flat panel distortion you will then have a panel that is spec'd to not rust in 60-120 years!!

land61 said:

I'll get a pic to post but here are the bulkhead and gearbox after a fresh rebuild

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That gearbox looks lovely. How did you go about getting it like that? I have an engine and gearbox that needs the same treatment!

Rubins4 said:

That gearbox looks lovely. How did you go about getting it like that? I have an engine and gearbox that needs the same treatment!

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Way I did this was to strip the box down, all the gears out apart from the reverse gear, then Water sand blast the casings, this is an attachment you can buy for a pressure washer so it is water and sand that gets off all the muck and crud.

If this is too messy then take the cases to a garage who have a steam cleaner as it will do the same.

I then painted all the metal parts after a sand blast with tough blck paint from Simmonz.

The internal of the box I replaced all of the bearings with New Old Stock ones from either P A Blanchards or a couple of others from ebay. The few I ordered that were Britpart were only unboxed and sent straight back in the post as they were rubbish.

Biggest tip is use "Wellseal" designed by rolls royce on all your new gaskets when assembling, the result is a leak free land box which is unheard of.

Great, thanks for that. I'm not going to rebuild the gearbox myself I don't think, so a lot of that advice may not apply. Bloody nice finish tho! 😋

With galvanising an old bulkhead, is there a way of cleaning the inside parts before dipping to ensure the galvanise sticks to all surfaces, or does the process of hot dipping ensure this anyway?

I have a mint series 3 bulkhead that's never been welded, and would like to get it dipped if I can be sure that the internals will get a coating as well.

Murtle said:

With galvanising an old bulkhead, is there a way of cleaning the inside parts before dipping to ensure the galvanise sticks to all surfaces, or does the process of hot dipping ensure this anyway?

I have a mint series 3 bulkhead that's never been welded, and would like to get it dipped if I can be sure that the internals will get a coating as well.

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Well, when I did mine I asked this, galv will not take if there is paint they said, asked at the sand blasters and they did a good job at going up into the box section from the wing top area where there is an opening.

Unless you have waxoyled the bulkhead and it is just factory paint inside the box sections you should be fine.

If you really want to get every last piece 1000% paint free then the only way is chemical dip and strip.

I have not had any problems and feel you will not get rust issues in your lifetime if you give them a blasted bulkhead to dip