Bulkhead - here goes!

Peeling off the seal, things looking good...


so I will keep going but it looks like a small patch needed so far. Next will be the wings, but just before stopping for lunch I got some paint of the roll cage I've been stripping and priming and waiting for a bit of good weather to paint...


Lunch completed. Aim for the rest of the day is to remove the rest of the dash, final the first coat on the cage, and get the winds off.

Wish me luck.

NiallRussell said:

Peeling off the seal, things looking good...
View attachment 177640 View attachment 177641 View attachment 177642

so I will keep going but it looks like a small patch needed so far. Next will be the wings, but just before stopping for lunch I got some paint of the roll cage I've been stripping and priming and waiting for a bit of good weather to paint...
View attachment 177643 View attachment 177644

Lunch completed. Aim for the rest of the day is to remove the rest of the dash, final the first coat on the cage, and get the winds off.

Wish me luck.

Click to expand...

Looking good so far

So finished the first coat on the roll cage.

and managed to get a wing off. Didn't manage two.

I've got a lot of jobs on the go in this push, going to finish painting the cage, fit it. Going to repair the bulkhead, going to redo the dash as it's a mess.

good news is there is no rust on the side of the upper part of the dash.



no rust on the pillar as well. So that's a big relief.


rust on the foot box on the right hand side (passenger on my car) but it's been covered on the inside well. Will investigate, but don't think it needs anything now.

One issue is getting the doors off. I need to remove them for this job and others and the screwdriver needed to fit seems insanely huge! the bolts seems frozen up.

Any tips?

NiallRussell said:

So finished the first coat on the roll cage.

and managed to get a wing off. Didn't manage two.

I've got a lot of jobs on the go in this push, going to finish painting the cage, fit it. Going to repair the bulkhead, going to redo the dash as it's a mess.
View attachment 177696
good news is there is no rust on the side of the upper part of the dash.

View attachment 177699 View attachment 177700 View attachment 177702

no rust on the pillar as well. So that's a big relief.

View attachment 177704 View attachment 177705
rust on the foot box on the right hand side (passenger on my car) but it's been covered on the inside well. Will investigate, but don't think it needs anything now.

Click to expand...

The pillars tend to rust on the inside first, rather than the wing side. I would at least treat that rust on the footwell to stop it spreading as quickly. Over here, it'll spread pretty quickly as it'll get a lot of water sprayed up down there.

NiallRussell said:

One issue is getting the doors off. I need to remove them for this job and others and the screwdriver needed to fit seems insanely huge! the bolts seems frozen up.
View attachment 177707 View attachment 177708
Any tips?

Click to expand...

If you just want the doors off, there are nuts on the inside. It means taking the door cards off, which is a pain. Plus, you might still have the plastic on the inside. Taking the door cards off usually means some of the clips break
Get a big chunky bit for your driver or small socket set!

Impact driver is a handy tool to start the big star screws moving. The foot well has a double skin, once the outer starts to go like yours the inner will soon follow. Repair now or face a bigger job next year.

tottot said:

Impact driver is a handy tool to start the big star screws moving. The foot well has a double skin, once the outer starts to go like yours the inner will soon follow. Repair now or face a bigger job next year.

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rodger - i only want to do this once!

NiallRussell said:

rodger - i only want to do this once!

Click to expand...

oh how right you are!!!

Today I didn't get too much done as one of the jobs I wanted to tick off was tidying up the wiring. Managed to find lots of (hopeully) redundant wires to remove and clear away.

Also put a sort of unplug quick release to the wiring in the wing to aid removal


now that i can get a good look at the bottom of the footwell, it's not good.

the supports to the footwell panel are rusting well, and there is a hole in one corner. Amazing was you don't spot when you don't want to know. Anyway, poked around with a chisel for a while and pulled off a panel that had been riveted over the top on the inside. Must have been a repair from before. The footwell has rust across it's full width and a little on the outside side. Guessing I will have to get a new box and replace the whole thing but waiting till i can access and inspect it all.

So question....

Do I just get a footwell box repair such as...
https://yrmit.co.uk/product/rhs-footwell-repair-panel-lr-defender/

and cut out what I don't need. and leave it without support on the back? Is it important?

When done by most the footwell ends up a single skin.

Got the other wing off today. Primed the plate on the tops of each and the bonnet and will repaint them.

On inspection the other footwell is going the way of the rust, so it's both footwells that will be replaced.

It looks like its just the first 45 degree panel, the one for your toes thats gone, not the ones above, so maybe I can just cut a flat plate and weld it in.

Tomorrow the sanding and cutting disk will come out and we'll know you sure.

still haven't managed to get the doors off.

Yes just weld in a section in is what I would do and fix a rubber flap in front to keep the crud off foot well and outrigger.

tottot said:

Yes just weld in a section in is what I would do and fix a rubber flap in front to keep the crud off foot well and outrigger.

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good ideal about the rubber

will be cutting and removing the rusty sections today so I will know how much to replace, just thinking ahead, any advice on paint to use for the footwells? Something very thick?

NiallRussell said:

will be cutting and removing the rusty sections today so I will know how much to replace, just thinking ahead, any advice on paint to use for the footwells? Something very thick?

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Corroless primer is very good. Overpaint with topcoat of your choice when several coats of primer have dried.

Synthetic tractor enamel is my weapon of choice, Tough, remains a bit flexible and dry's quick. Brush's on well. Takes a few days to go hard though.
Sparex is one make [who do some of the common land rover colours.] Tractol is another make as is Vapormatic.

Red oxide and then paint. Mine is just over 2 years and no rust with the red oxide only. Tractol chassis black was the paint i used for the other steel bits after the red oxide.

Gmacz said:

Red oxide and then paint. Mine is just over 2 years and no rust with the red oxide only. Tractol chassis black was the paint i used for the other steel bits after the red oxide.

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Corroless, as in post 36, is a very high quality red oxide.

Turboman said:

Corroless, as in post 36, is a very high quality red oxide.

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good, cause thats the one I've got.