Bulkhead works begin!

I knew my battery box was needing replaced, so ordered a replacement form YRM.
I also knew the bottom (inside) of my door posts had a hole in them, so decided to take the wing off etc and expose everything at the same time.

I think I know what I'm doing... but there are a couple bits I'm not sure what to do. Any help appreciated.

I went to town with the needle gun, so happy I've found the worst of it...

1) I see YRM sell SS foot wells. Is this not asking for problems with the SS and carbon similar to carbon and aloy? Also, I assume you'd need to rivet into place, rather than weld. Is that acceptable to an MOT? When I had my Disco 1, it failed its MOT as the boot floor was riveted in place!



2) Areas of concern to me is next to the window bolt. Cant see any repair panels for this... any suggestions? Front of bulkhead, around vents is pretty good, other than couple small holes.





3) transmission tunnel has started to rot. Can you buy replacements easily?



4) Where the sill bolts to the body work, next to the seat box. Its totally gone! Any repair suggestions here?



5) On my sill, there is some sort of edge bar... is this standard? Notice that YRM doesn't have it on their replacement sill.

Brave man. Well done for even thinking about it.

Gosh, looks like the work is long over due.

Rorie said:

I knew my battery box was needing replaced, so ordered a replacement form YRM.
I also knew the bottom (inside) of my door posts had a hole in them, so decided to take the wing off etc and expose everything at the same time.

I think I know what I'm doing... but there are a couple bits I'm not sure what to do. Any help appreciated.

I went to town with the needle gun, so happy I've found the worst of it...

1) I see YRM sell SS foot wells. Is this not asking for problems with the SS and carbon similar to carbon and aloy? Also, I assume you'd need to rivet into place, rather than weld. Is that acceptable to an MOT? When I had my Disco 1, it failed its MOT as the boot floor was riveted in place!

2) Areas of concern to me is next to the window bolt. Cant see any repair panels for this... any suggestions? Front of bulkhead, around vents is pretty good, other than couple small holes.

3) transmission tunnel has started to rot. Can you buy replacements easily?

4) Where the sill bolts to the body work, next to the seat box. Its totally gone! Any repair suggestions here?

5) On my sill, there is some sort of edge bar... is this standard? Notice that YRM doesn't have it on their replacement sill.

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Personally, I would get a new bulkhead for that, I think it will be a long project. But best of luck if you do go ahead!

sound deadening is the worst idea in landrovers lol

Turboman said:

Personally, I would get a new bulkhead for that, I think it will be a long project. But best of luck if you do go ahead!

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Nah, its not that bad! haha. The main part of the bulkhead is solid and even the door posts are solid. Looking at a couple hundred for pre-fab panels at the most and minimal further work, compared to a £1500 for a galvy chassis and a LONG job fitting (from what I have seen anyway).

That said, who knows what else I'll find haha.

Hi Rorie I replaced both of my footwells and one of the pillars on the project I've just nearly finished. I used steel foot wells as I didn't want to mix the steels, I found a firm that did heavy duty reinforced ones on ebay they were well made and fitted well I can find them out for you if you want. I'd try and find a second hand trans tunnel ebay or breakers yard would be a good place to start or the parts wanted bit on here. Is it a 90 or 110 you've got ? Best advice I can give is think about all the bits you need to replace and do one bit at a time as I think you should use a jig to repair a bulkhead that bad really, I'd leave it bolted to the chassis so as to keep it as square and true to its dimensions as possible.
cheers Ian

Rorie said:

Nah, its not that bad! haha. The main part of the bulkhead is solid and even the door posts are solid. Looking at a couple hundred for pre-fab panels at the most and minimal further work, compared to a £1500 for a galvy chassis and a LONG job fitting (from what I have seen anyway).

That said, who knows what else I'll find haha.

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Galv chassis may be £1500, but a galv bulkhead is only about £350, I think. And you might get second hand for less.

But it is up to you, your motor and your time.

Ian Maycock said:

Hi Rorie I replaced both of my footwells and one of the pillars on the project I've just nearly finished. I used steel foot wells as I didn't want to mix the steels, I found a firm that did heavy duty reinforced ones on ebay they were well made and fitted well I can find them out for you if you want. I'd try and find a second hand trans tunnel ebay or breakers yard would be a good place to start or the parts wanted bit on here. Is it a 90 or 110 you've got ? Best advice I can give is think about all the bits you need to replace and do one bit at a time as I think you should use a jig to repair a bulkhead that bad really, I'd leave it bolted to the chassis so as to keep it as square and true to its dimensions as possible.
cheers Ian

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Good suggestions.

If I was going to do it, I would use the mild steel footwells too, and paint em up thoroughly after welding them in. And I would do it on the vehicle as well!

I believe in doing once and do it properly so you don't have to come back to it. I think I would go for a new Bulkhead.

Ian Maycock said:

Hi Rorie I replaced both of my footwells and one of the pillars on the project I've just nearly finished. I used steel foot wells as I didn't want to mix the steels, I found a firm that did heavy duty reinforced ones on ebay they were well made and fitted well I can find them out for you if you want. I'd try and find a second hand trans tunnel ebay or breakers yard would be a good place to start or the parts wanted bit on here. Is it a 90 or 110 you've got ? Best advice I can give is think about all the bits you need to replace and do one bit at a time as I think you should use a jig to repair a bulkhead that bad really, I'd leave it bolted to the chassis so as to keep it as square and true to its dimensions as possible.
cheers Ian

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Thanks - I'm doing one side at a time. Planned to keep the sill in to ensure everything was aligned, but it fell out haha. If your able to give me the details of where you got your eBay bits, that would be great! My default is YRM, but happy to look at other places

Turboman said:

Galv chassis may be £1500, but a galv bulkhead is only about £350, I think. And you might get second hand for less.

But it is up to you, your motor and your time.

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Sorry, my typo. Quotes I've got for bulkhead are £1295+VAT for a galvy bulkhead, plus £145 shipping. If you know somewhere thats doing them at £350, then it absolutely makes sense to consider! Link please haha. Most my damage is outwit the bulkhead though. Two new footwells and a wee tidy up at the door post. Assuming other side is the same, looking at £200 max + my time.

Rorie said:

Sorry, my typo. Quotes I've got for bulkhead are £1295+VAT for a galvy bulkhead, plus £145 shipping. If you know somewhere thats doing them at £350, then it absolutely makes sense to consider! Link please haha. Most my damage is outwit the bulkhead though. Two new footwells and a wee tidy up at the door post. Assuming other side is the same, looking at £200 max + my time.

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It may be my info is out of date. Prices are going silly for old landy stuff now. But a quick Google, I picked up this one. You could repair in a few hours, send it off for galv. A good one for about £500. Could be you could get a better deal with an hours research.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/land-rove...259973?hash=item3ae17e6445:g:cI4AAOSwSypY~O5q

Try these footwells £55 but they may be able to help with all the work
http://www.classicbulkheads.com/
cheers Ian

I went to paddocks for my footwells.
Rust does not look too bad, a lot of people would be happy to have that small amount of repairs.
I take it the seat base sides are also gone at the corner and are needing replaced.
I used the old seat base sides to repair the missing or melted aluminium parts.
Some rivets and job done.
The strength comes from the sill and seat belt brackets.
Transmission tunnel is repaired with little patches and carpet covers it.
I bolted a strong plate across the bulkhead ends after measuring the proper distance and it went back easily and of course the bolts were a perfect fit.
Rest is grind clean and patch.

Turboman said:

It may be my info is out of date. Prices are going silly for old landy stuff now. But a quick Google, I picked up this one. You could repair in a few hours, send it off for galv. A good one for about £500. Could be you could get a better deal with an hours research.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/land-rove...259973?hash=item3ae17e6445:g:cI4AAOSwSypY~O5q

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That bulkhead is way overpriced.

The one that is going on my defender was £200, and that was too much. Costs worked out as -

Bulkhead - £200
Blasting - £75
YRM corners - £cant remember
Weldng - DIY, but still gas and wire cost
Galv - I have a bad wedge plant down the road. They charge too much, and do a bad job (until you complain, and they dip it again) - £180 i think (probably £60 somewhere else)
I think the 2k paint job was about £125 - just less than i could have bought the filters for to diy...

So, youre looking at about £600

I have another bulkhead that i purchased after, for £80, i think. Ill do this up when i have time, and send it to a different plant for galv, and then 2k it myself - should work out a lot cheaper

julianf said:

That bulkhead is way overpriced.

The one that is going on my defender was £200, and that was too much. Costs worked out as -

Bulkhead - £200
Blasting - £75
YRM corners - £cant remember
Weldng - DIY, but still gas and wire cost
Galv - I have a bad wedge plant down the road. They charge too much, and do a bad job (until you complain, and they dip it again) - £180 i think (probably £60 somewhere else)
I think the 2k paint job was about £125 - just less than i could have bought the filters for to diy...

So, youre looking at about £600

I have another bulkhead that i purchased after, for £80, i think. Ill do this up when i have time, and send it to a different plant for galv, and then 2k it myself - should work out a lot cheaper

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Good info, julian! My bulkhead is fine. I was just pointing out to OP that cheaper are available than the £1500 he has been quoted.

The photos in the original post -

The footwells are ****ed
The A post is ****ed, along with its foot.
The corners are done for
The sill seems to be a bit invisible

There will be a load of rot behind the heater duct, im sure.

The bulkhead is in a worse condition than the one i paid £80 for. If you take it off to weld, then you might want to save yourself time by replacing it.
If its not coming off for welding, then, sadly, id suggest not really spending too much time or effort on it, as it will be an ongoing repair job into the future.

(which isnt terminal - my disco is like that - constant repairs - but then im not looking for anything more there)

Sure, its repairable, but its the whole time money thing - a whole new bulkhead requiring less repair work than that one might work out cheaper than the panels for that one.

My unit after try #1 by wedge -






In fairness, i did not have to argue hard for them to re-dip it though

Try 2 photos -

Not disagreeing that a new bulkhead would be the best end game. I'm all for doing things properly - hence needle gun gets used in anger.
However, due to my location (NE Scotland), there is little in the way of 2nd hand bulkheads, so I'd probably be going for a new one. The money is one thing (granted, I'm getting an 'end of life repair'), but I'm also thinking of the time it'll take.

Anybody give me some advise on how long the replacement would take? It took me a day to get to where I am. I'd have to do the other side, take everything off the bulkhead and then also strip out everything on the inside too! Concerned that this will become a project of many months...

Just weld what you have if you can weld. It looks pretty good, when welded it will be like a new bulkhead. If you cannot weld then costs will rise and replacement will make more sense.