1998 300 tdi Chassis swap

Been a while since I posted, so thought I'd share some photos of the 1st leg of work on my 110 chassis swap, rebuild, repair and spray job. Myself plus old man did this over the course of 2.5 days; we're waitng on a Richards Chassis to come next week, and we'll pick up another 2 or 3 days work come back end of August (next update September..? TBD).

This all sparked off from a rotten rear body cross-member. Chassis is ok, but need an excuse to spend some money, so new galv chassis, galv cross-member, new suspension (incl, shock, spring, polys, turrets, seats etc.), recondition fuel tank, galv bumper. (oh I also cross-meshed the transfer box at 70mph down the M6, so have bought a second hand LT230 and reconditioned it, just needs going in). Also will be looking to buy an Ashcroft R380 in the next week or so.

Before (ish), removed seats, props, handbrake disconnected (ish), bonnet off, grill and A-bar off.

Front end, radiator frame and LHS front wing removed (thanks Buster).
Found that my heater blower casing was full of water - drainage hole fixed that.

Same on t'other side, now wingless.
Seats removed, roof trim, side trim and doors.

Rolled it into the garage, and removed the roof next (drinking Ukranian Kvas kept me going).
Fr floors removed along with the tranny tunnel, seat box, handbrake drum out, anti-roll bars off.


Quarter panels off the back, rear door off, spare wheel carrier off, tow hitch and step off, tub bolts undone.
rear seat mounts off, and clear up around the middle row seatbelt area, floor plate etc (lot of corrosion around these areas for some reason, out of balance with the rest of the car.)


C-pillars off - had to cut out the LHS one as fasteners rotted off. Repair section required.. but good to have an excuse to weld again. Can see the rot around the middle row seatbelt and seat mount points here:


Tub off, fuel tank re-conditioned. Chassis look ok actually, definately re-usable (I will have this up for sale if anyone is interested - no major holes, lots of material all round, but need sand blasting to be sure as has been regularly waxoyled all it's life).


Finally at the culprit part that kicked off this re-work; one mega b*llock'sed rear body cross member. I "cosmetically" re-welded on the outrigger sections in order to get through it's MOT a couple months ago (amazing what gets through the "test"....). This is obviously not for sale!

Making a start on repairing the one bad bit of body work - a crumple rear tub panel (new one over £200!!!):



After beating out. Turns out this has been goudged out already by previous owner and patched. There's something like 4mm/5mm of filler applied across the panel - but it was finished by a pro, so a tip of the hat to you sir. I still have a ways to go (yellow is a marker, so that I can judge high/low points and keep the finish level and true):


Some more updates later this year when I get a run of 3-4 days off. Should be enough to finish off the rebuilt providing I get my hands on an engine crane. Based near Tonks 4x4 in Notts if anyone fancies lending a hand/engine crane/elbow grease/entertainment.

Next update in a few months time when back from Cape Town...

Almonds.


_________________________________________________________________________

So haven't updated in forever - some work:

Chassis painted:



Tub removed:



Some Tub rot



Did myself this little exhaust hanger mod - no more wiggling those annoying hanger tabs.

Had to cut the rot of the tub spats:


As is obvious, previous shocks/springs was buggered (shocks were like rain sticks).




Rear Diff off (needs TLC):




Rear axle, new springs and shocks on:


New GB arrived:


Refurbed rear hubs, and wheels can go on (check out my reconditioned boge unit!!):


Fr axles receiving similar clean up:


Fixed up the tow bar on the back (was missing some parts + v.rusty):


New ally box section to replace the "top hat" stuff which was wafer thin...and new floor.


Bulkhead coming off...


BH Off - welded the usual areas, bad bit under the DR footwell (the reinforcement disintegrated):




Galv BH attached!
















Updates: Nov 2017

Repaired, re-welded, blasted and galvanised C-Pillars...



Galvanised inner wings assembled:



600mm deep, twin-pass intercooler fitted (some pretty serious re-forming of pipework required...)



Tub seam sealed:



Front end rebuilt, lights going back on (now has a 600mm twin pass intercooler):



C-Pillars and tub fitted (tub painted with polyurethane paint):
-I actually took the tub spats off, and had them blasted and galvanised as well. Replace the standard top-hat section running the length of the tub with thick wall ally box section of the same envelope.









Have started re-wiring now, turns out there was a retrofitted immobiliser jumped of the horn's +12v; and the old OEM alarm sounder loom was fried (actually burnt to a crisp).
Next update in December....

Sounds loads better than mine was, consider a galved bulkhead too, you won't regret that.
Rear floors- I got some Ali sheet and cut out all new ones, local friendly engineering place put in the folds where needed. You'll probably find ally rot all over the floor where the stiffeners are rivited on.
Recon the fuel tank? If it's leaking or damp around the guard plate it'll be rotten under that, 100% guaranteed.
Buy a new one.

Fuel tanks ok, replaced it a year ago. Turns out there was the usual scruff rust between cradle and tank. I've wire brushed, primed and used marine paint. I'll stick a thin layer of SBR between tank and cradle to fix the built-in ****e "catching" design.

I did think about the bulkhead, but it's fine. I have the dash on/off fairly frequently. The only area of grubbiness is where the footwell meets the vertical on the in-board side. Bit of flaky crud there, but that's it.

The weird thing is that some very local parts of the underside are really rusty, and in other places it's like new. Like the tub braces (the wavey cross-members under the main plate). I suspect it was well waxoyl'ed for a couple years then (after bits wore thin in certain areas), it was a bit mistreated.

Fixing the tub up with YRM parts. I've drafted up the tub parts and sent for quote, but have found the difference in pics to be negligible. It'll save me faffing time if I can rivet n forget, instead of fabricating myself senseless. Got a lot to do, and limited time...

Most entertaining thing I've found so far, other than shed loads of .22 casings wedged everywhere, is a where someone has patched an reinforcement box-section with what looks like an unrolled steel can - "yeah, that'll fix it..." Also previous owner randomly installed 2 trailer take-offs, one driven by a split charge relay (in caravan battery charging off alternator...???)

Alm.

The floors etc weren't available when I did mine, I think 90 and 110 van were but as you know the 110 SW is different. I made the whole lot including the heel board and wheel box sides out of 3mm. Outlive me that will!
That's why I got a company to fold it for me.

Updates added in OP.

Updates added in original post.

Got the A/B/C Pillar Assembly and wheel arch inners at the galvanisers along with tub cappings and other random steel parts.
So close to doing a big reassembling session....but struggling to find time at the mo.

Next update in a couple months' time.

Alm.

Updates in original post, enjoy.

Alm.