bulkhead replacement

well i started wednesdays forecast was 5 days of cloud so i got one of the wings off and some other bits loose. Thursdays forecast was 5 days of rain and it seems to be proving more accurate than wednesdays.

only had two bolts snap so far, progress is slow due partly to the weather but more to due to my lack of experience i.e. not knowing what the fook i am doing and my tendency to procrastinate




the bit around the pedal housiing with the clutch and brake master cylinders looks a little daunting, i hope there is a way of getting all that off the bulkhead and keeping it intact.

Is it easiest to disconnect the wiring at the instrument panel and pull it through or do all the bits in the engine bay and pull it back please?

the haynes resto manual seems to be seriously lacking in detail.

There's not too many bolts, the bolts that hold on the brake and clutch are accessed from the footwell and are captive so are easy on your own, the steering box and bulkhead mounts are the filthiest/trickiest. The wiring should be disconnected at the engine side and pushed through. There's nothing tricky about it otherwise, although I didn't enjoy it at all I'll admit, and that was with all round access!

An idea for when you come to put stuff back together: smear copper grease on all the bolts, so in the future, if anything needs to come off again you know that the bolts will come out Okay.

thanks for the info rattlegun, hopefully i can do a bit more tomorrow.

i have a big tub of castrol lm grease samc88 - god knows how old it is, it was the wife's old mans' and he has been dead 20 years - i was going to use that, if copper grease is better i can get some.

Copper grease tends to stay where its put. Where my granddad had put it on bolts before (around 6 years ago) has made them so easy to take out this time when stripping the vehicle down

The bodywork looks pretty straight on your landy

yes body is quite good, chassis is fairly solid but needs a paint or an oil, will try and do the front whilst its in bits. its just the bulkhead that is a problem, next to nothing left holding the drivers door on and the footwells have had several patches welded and riveted ones by po's but the middle of it and all round the vents is fine

Looks like a nice straight landy, you'll be surprised how easily it'll all come off just work thorugh it steadily and logically. The pedal boxes are fairly straight forward just 6 bolts in each.

well i'm game, i can see where the garage got the £1,300 labour quote for them to do it, although i am sure they would be much quicker.

getting the dash off was a major pita though.

Still found out why my heater wasn't working, the fan isn't connected to anything and the drivers side demister hose was lost in the instrument panel wiring, guess whoever fiddled with it last couldn't be bothered to hook it back up or couldn't remember where it went.

drivers wing now off, i am glad i did the other side first since getting this one off would have put me off the whole thing.

Seems a po repaired the footwell by rivetting patches over the existing well, including covering up boltheads so i had to cut a few bolts off, total pita that was.

I hope this will go back together quicker than it is coming apart

i notice on the wings that two of the bolt holes in the upright of the wing are slotted, i assume this allows one to put those bolts into the bulkhead and slide the wing on then tighten them up.

also the chassis seems to be in very good condition for a 40 year old, it might be that its just because the engine bay so covered in oil and grease etc.

if its a replacement i assume it will not be stamped with the number, is there a usual spot for the stamp so i can determine whether it is the original one.

looking good, be back on road for mid week then

yer wont find a "chassis number" as such or anything "stamped" on chassis, its plated on the bulkhead, thats the only id the series had, number plate, vin on bulkhead or seat box and engine number ( but usualy been in 27 others )

90truckcab said:

looking good, be back on road for mid week then

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well i hope so, i want it usable by thursday if poss.

vin plate is on the bh, my s1 has the number stamped as well as a plate, i just thought the s3 would be the same, maybe by then they were making too many to bother stamping them.

I'll be needing to do my bulkhead later this year. The replacement has been welded up and repaired but still needs painting.

What is the easiest way to go about getting the wings off?

Webley1991 said:

I'll be needing to do my bulkhead later this year. The replacement has been welded up and repaired but still needs painting.

What is the easiest way to go about getting the wings off?

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row of bolts eitherside of radiator, 3 or 4 down either side of bulkhead, lights out, easy as that, might be some wiring or expansion tank bolted inside inner wings, but easy enough

Thanks for the reply. How do you get at the ones holding the wings to the bulkhead?

Webley1991 said:

Thanks for the reply. How do you get at the ones holding the wings to the bulkhead?

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take a wheel off and pop your head up in side the wing like a meerkat

You can do it if you turn the wheel and use a long socket as well as a few extension bars then just rummage, IIRC they're a 13mm or 1/2" depending on who's done them last and if they replaced them with the new metric ones

i did mine with the wheels on but it would have been a bit easier with them off, i just couldn't be faffed jacking it up and taking the wheel off.

if you have the passenger side vent hole you can get at the middle two that go into the bulkhead fairly easily, drivers side is harder, i went from underneath but wear something over your eyes and keep yer mouth shut cos bits of dirt and other crap drop down on you

next time i will use a groundseet too lying on wet concrete isn't too pleasant either.

the one i found hardest was the one connected to the metal bit that comes up from the chassis to almost the base of the steering column because that base the air filter is on does a good job of getting in the way

well good progress made this morning but it got too cold in the afternoon, only the steering column, wiring and bulkhead bolts to do now.



i undid this bolt on the steering column hoping i would be able to pull the column up but it wont budge, do i just need to pull harder or do i leave the box on and undo the drop arm please?

i assume i will need to put it on stands if i have to take off the drop arm.