Rust on bulkhead

[kmanderson62]

Hey guys,

Today I noticed some rust showing through on the paint of my bulkhead, in the corners on my drivers side, and then the paint easily flakes away, and on the passenger side, the paint is in abysmal condition, I posted a thread before regarding painting, do you think this is treatable or do I have to do a dreaded bulkhead repair with panel repair kits?

I can barely take apart the console area never mind the entire cabin for a bulkhead repair

But the bulkhead looks in reasonable condition, it's just the corners, because of the crap paint, I plan to strip it all down and repaint soon,

so my 3 questions,

1) Will this be repairable
2) Has anyone tried this? The seller says it would work for the bulkhead Rust Converter Rust Treatment 500ml Metalmorphosis Land Rover Blogger Products | eBay
3) Whats the best way of stripping the paint?

Pics to large to embed so here is the dropbox links

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28473944/lr/DSCN0542.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28473944/lr/DSCN0543.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28473944/lr/DSCN0547.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28473944/lr/DSCN0548.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28473944/lr/DSCN0549.JPG


Many thanks in advance

 

[jackmac]

That looks to me like it's already been repaired, and by repaired I mean bodged.
Hard to see without a slightly more zoomed out photo of the area, but it looks like someone has pop riveted metal plates over the bulkhead corners to cover up rust? If so, then the bulkhead itself is probably rotten.

3rd photo looks pretty bad to me

 

[fanatic]

It's knackered

 

[fanatic]

Anything is repairable but looks seriously chrispy

 

[kmanderson62]

It's just the corners that seem bad to me, if i did get the replacement panels how would i fit them? and could I just try taking it down to bare metal and hammerite priming them first of all? they still seem absolutely solid, as in can take a hammer blow no problems

 

[jackmac]

I think you're focusing on the wrong bit here, on the corner that's just a bit of paint bubbling.
The metal in third picture won't stand up to a gentle prod from a screwdriver, no need for a hammer.

The paint bubbling on the corners looks to be on existing repair panels to me that have been riveted on, when they should have been welded in. So a bit of surface rust on them isn't a problem, but the bulkhead that they are riveted to is probably buggered which is a problem.

 

[cornish rattler]

Defo looks like a bodge up job

 

[kmanderson62]

Yeah The paint on the entire landy is peeling off, and cracking up, and is full of air bubbles, could I weld repair panels over the old? I really can't disassemble everything I would need to to actually replace those parts, i was hoping i could grind back to bare metal, fill it with waxoyl, fill the holes with body filler, and prime it all with red oxide then give it a top coat, would that work or? I'm pretty sure those parts arnet load bearing so will it matter? I really lack the skill and money to do it professionally, so looking for good alternatives

 

[jackmac]

Urgh. No.

According to Mr. MOT man, bulkhead is very much structural. Don't start doing **** repairs like filling rust holes with body filler, you will just end up with some piece of crap deathtrap land rover.

You should drill the rivets out of those repair panels and see what is behind them, put some photos up here if you like. Then hopefully you can do a proper repair, get the rust cut out and new metal welded in.
If you weld over those panels it's going to look crap because of how far out your repair panels will be from the existing bulkhead, and you're still going to have a rotten bulkhead.

I'm afraid part and parcel of owning and old land rover is that it's going to need welding doing. You'll sort the bulkhead, and then find you need a patch on the chassis somewhere as well. For your sake I hope the previous owner hasn't been 'repairing' the chassis by riveting metal over holes in it

 

[kmanderson62]

Hmm do you think this is something repair shops could do? because I have never welded in my life, and have no knowledge of how to get the bulkhead off

In terms of MOT, it passed a few months ago with no advisory's, in the same condition

 

[jackmac]

At the end of the day it depends on whether you want a decent land rover or not. You could quite easily cover every rust hole on it in body filler, paint over and breeze through MOTs.

Repair shops will be able to do it, depending on how bad it is the bulkhead doesn't necessarily need to come off either. You'll be able to drill the rivets out yourself so you at least know what you're dealing with.

 

[fanatic]

Yrm sell repair panels from memory

 

[kmanderson62]

Ah right, well, I plan to paint her soon, so when i strip her down to bare metal ill take pics, ill remove all the repair pannels too, and hopefully, I pray to god i dont need to take the bulkhead off, and I can see what damage there is, hopefully its not too bad, this is my first landrover, and first car, so all this is new to me haha

 

[kmanderson62]

Is it a like, high priority issue, or will it be alright if I leave it for a month or two? waiting on getting everything I need to paint her first, will that be okay, or do I need to take action ASAP?

 

[Thor1950]

It's just the corners that seem bad to me, if i did get the replacement panels how would i fit them? and could I just try taking it down to bare metal and hammerite priming them first of all? they still seem absolutely solid, as in can take a hammer blow no problems

Fooked up looks like alot of bondo, body putty to cover up the sin. Expect the worst hope for the best

 

[Thor1950]

Yeah The paint on the entire landy is peeling off, and cracking up, and is full of air bubbles, could I weld repair panels over the old? I really can't disassemble everything I would need to to actually replace those parts, i was hoping i could grind back to bare metal, fill it with waxoyl, fill the holes with body filler, and prime it all with red oxide then give it a top coat, would that work or? I'm pretty sure those parts arnet load bearing so will it matter? I really lack the skill and money to do it professionally, so looking for good alternatives

Cut out the crap, and replace with new metal. never lay replacement panels over rusty metal

 

[kmanderson62]

How do I replace it though? spot weld gun and a arc welder? do I need to remove the bulkhead?

 

[Thor1950]

How do I replace it though? spot weld gun and a arc welder? do I need to remove the bulkhead?

first you need to remove all the crud back to good metal that will help to design a plan of attack

 

[kmanderson62]

Alright, whats the best way of removing paint, and removing rust/crud?

 

[Rusty Spanner]

Where you from if your anywhere near me in Liverpool I'll sort them corners, for a mug of tea and a bacon butty only if you've got brown sauce though