109 bulkhead fitting

Has anyone had a new bulkhead fitted recently. I am never going to get time to do it myself and don't want a half finished job on the drive for ages, who is recommended for a good job.

I think the problem is the hours and labour cost. A lot of it is simple unbolting and bolting and there will be many small parts that turn out to be better replaced while you are there so the job will have a lot of delays while you wait on parts. I doubt anyone wants this in their workshop as it will either run up a very large labour bill, out of proportion to the job, or take up floor space that could be used for jobs that turn round quicker. The labour on a chassis change is about £2-3000 and if you look at the work the bulkhead change would be about 1/3 to 1/2 that so labour could be £1000.
You could give this guy a call to discuss options. He use to work for Land Rover and I've had him weld outriggers on my S2A, did a good job.
https://radnage.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/lpme-lee-perry-motor-engineers-19340797.html

rob1miles said:

there will be many small parts that turn out to be better replaced while you are there

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I had exactly this issue. I found that a lot of the small brackets that hold everything together were rusty.

It took a lot longer while I grit blasted and repainted all of the small bits.

There is also the issue of having to disconnect all of the wiring and deal with corroded connectors and possible past bad repairs.

I must have been very lucky when I did mine. I did it over the Easter bank holiday and started Thursday evening and worked late. I expected it to take the full four days and I drove it out to of the warehouse (done at work) on the Saturday evening. Although from an hours of labour point of view that was probably 36 hours working on it.
I labeled every electrical connector with masking tape and pen (both what and where it went) which made refitting quick and easy, I also had spares with me for if anything went wrong (lucas bullet connectors, little plastic bulkhead inserts, etc.) most of which I did not need in the end.
The biggist delay issue I had was both sills had rusted so I needed to weld repair pieces onto the end of them bevore refitting the bulkhead. Whereas I agree if you do a couple of hours in an evening it will take an age, if you can get 2-3 days solidly working on it and doing nothing else it should be easily achiavable and on your own as well. I only required assistance twice, for lifting the old one off and for lifting the new one back on, but I did both of those things with a fully built up bulkhead so i could sit them next to each other on the floor to build things from the old to the new.

Agreed, at 36 hours its best part of £2000 labour, but getting a few mates, plenty of beers and blitzing the worst of it makes a lot more sense. There a video on youtube of a S3 chassis change in under 24 hours - OK its 4 guys and mid-summer Scandinavia but it shows what can be done.

rob1miles said:

Agreed, at 36 hours its best part of £2000 labour, but getting a few mates, plenty of beers and blitzing the worst of it makes a lot more sense. There a video on youtube of a S3 chassis change in under 24 hours - OK its 4 guys and mid-summer Scandinavia but it shows what can be done.

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Hmmm. It's taken me about 2 years! I have cleaned/repaired/repainted/rebuilt most of the parts in the process, however. MoT test next week...

Here it is:

That's impressive. But also kinda depressing that it took me as long as it did!
I did take take it down to it's component pieces, however, and replaced nearly all the nuts and bolts on it. I wonder if they had as many seized nuts to deal with as I did!

Curious removing the bulkhead with the wings still attached. I found taking the wings off relatively easy, and made access to everything else so much easier.

I've watched it a couple of times, its oddly fascinating. Some things are clear:
They are well organised, they have boxes of parts ready.so they've planned ahead.
Everything unbolts and the wires all come off easily, I suspect it was re-built a few years before and everything has already been apart. (Getting the front panel off and rad out could take 2 hours, the wings several more)
The speed they do the brake lines is impressive, so its the cabling up.
It really shows the benefit of blitzing a job and of course they only loose 1 days driving!

You can remove and renew lots of bolts before you start.
Inner wing mudshield and steering guard can be removed and still driveable,
Wing to slam panel fixings clean and loosen then nip up again.
Door hinge bolts can be checked to make sure they are not seized,
Floor plate and tunnel can all be removed and just refitted with a couple of bolts.
Steel sill bolts can be removed and new ones fitted so when you came to do the job you know they will not delay you.
Same with brake pipes to master cylinder and clutch spray with penetrating fluid wire brush and test to see if they will loosen no need to rebleed as your not taking them out.

Blackburn said:

Floor plate and tunnel can all be removed and just refitted with a couple of bolts.

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I thought the same before I did mine, but it was actually a lot more difficult. I found that the floor and tunnel screws were often rusted into the clips. The originals were slotted for a screwdriver, which would often slip out of the slot before actually turning the screw head. This seemed worse the more rusted the heads were as the screwdriver slots were not made very deep.

Webley1991 said:

I thought the same before I did mine, but it was actually a lot more difficult. I found that the floor and tunnel screws were often rusted into the clips. The originals were slotted for a screwdriver, which would often slip out of the slot before actually turning the screw head. This seemed worse the more rusted the heads were as the screwdriver slots were not made very deep.

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Sounds familiar...makes a simple job take a lot longer than it should. But as @Blackburn says, if you're going for a speed record, that's the kind of thing you need to resolve before you start the timer.

Wrench the floor screws out. .Buy all the floor screws new (they don't cost much) and a big box off assorted spire nuts off e-bay. The worst ones are at the front and that's going in the bin as its part of the bulkhead. You'll need to hammer the flange flat and fit new spire nuts anyway. Don't waste time re-using the floor screws, holes could be anything up to 1/2" off when you start pulling it into place and only new fixings will cope. I used the old hex head ones to pull it together then swapped one at a time for the new slotted heads. A big pry bar really helps. After a coupe of years took the floor out last week to do the hand brake - all the holes lined up no force, must have "settled".

Webley1991 said:

I thought the same before I did mine, but it was actually a lot more difficult. I found that the floor and tunnel screws were often rusted into the clips. The originals were slotted for a screwdriver, which would often slip out of the slot before actually turning the screw head. This seemed worse the more rusted the heads were as the screwdriver slots were not made very deep.

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Things like that are removed with an angle grinder and replaces with new on refitting. The only ones you cannot do that with on a bulkhead change are the wing to bulkhead bolts, and the wing to front panel bolts. Everything else is cut off and replaced, and if it is not load bearing replaced with stainless so you do not have the same issue next time.

rob1miles said:

Wrench the floor screws out. .Buy all the floor screws new (they don't cost much) and a big box off assorted spire nuts off e-bay. The worst ones are at the front and that's going in the bin as its part of the bulkhead. You'll need to hammer the flange flat and fit new spire nuts anyway. Don't waste time re-using the floor screws, holes could be anything up to 1/2" off when you start pulling it into place and only new fixings will cope. I used the old hex head ones to pull it together then swapped one at a time for the new slotted heads. A big pry bar really helps. After a coupe of years took the floor out last week to do the hand brake - all the holes lined up no force, must have "settled".

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I didn't bother with the replacing them with screws on either of mine and use stainless m8 flange head bolts on both the 110 and the series. The head may sit a little higher than the original dome head screws but by the time you have a rubber mat over the top I do not notice. Although this takes a little more time to fit/remove than the screws I have not had a problem removing them since and I would always favour a head you can get a spanner on rather than requiring a screw driver for anything that is larger than a small self tapper.

dag019 said:

Things like that are removed with an angle grinder and replaces with new on refitting. The only ones you cannot do that with on a bulkhead change are the wing to bulkhead bolts, and the wing to front panel bolts. Everything else is cut off and replaced, and if it is not load bearing replaced with stainless so you do not have the same issue next time.

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That's exactly what I did in the end. What I was trying to say is that it isn't ever as straightforward as simply undoing screws.