My First rebuild - 110 station wagon

Yep, good to see you back. You've done a tremendous job with the chassis. It's a great landmark to get it rolling. Keep up the good good work, as you said at the start - we like a rebuild thread on here

Thanks for the response, wish I had more time to take/post pics. Heres one of the painted bulkhead, turned out a bit brighter than expected - almost like a fire engine - but I like it anyway.


and fitted with the brake and clutch pedals

Then replaced these slightly worn uj's on the front prop


And on to the timing belt, which is in a much better state

So, another busy couple of weeks, I had all the time in the world when I bought this! The new timing belt and tensioner is in, p/s pump and alternator back on with their belts, all brakes piped up. I didn't realise when fitting the pedals that the steering coloumn needed to go in first, so the brake pedal had to come off again. all 3 pedals back in now, and onto the fuel system. Initially the tank looked ok


But on closer inspection, it was far from ok


So that's another thing for the growing list. Along with power steering pipes and oil cooler pipes, steering box seal and drop arm. So I've moved onto stuff that doesn't cost money and began stripping the seatbox. Found this under the drivers seat





Although perfectly preserved amongst the other animal feed/slugs/rusty tools the use by dates suggest that this kit is way past its best.

Great work mate, keep going!

Are you rebuilding the doors?

Cheers, as for the doors, It came fitted with some push button doors that were absolutely awful, I've bought another set of lift up handle doors which are a bit better, but I haven't looked too far into them yet. My original passenger door actually fell off when I removed just one hinge, and one of the back doors was so bad around the lock area I'm convinced only the skin held it together. The other back door has been sold already. Any reccomendations or tips for rebuilding them? I want to avoid damaging the skins because they're quite good, although the pretend 'capping' is missing from all 4. My oldest son is slso not impressed that he will have to manually open a window.

Discokids said:

Cheers, as for the doors, It came fitted with some push button doors that were absolutely awful, I've bought another set of lift up handle doors which are a bit better, but I haven't looked too far into them yet. My original passenger door actually fell off when I removed just one hinge, and one of the back doors was so bad around the lock area I'm convinced only the skin held it together. The other back door has been sold already. Any reccomendations or tips for rebuilding them? I want to avoid damaging the skins because they're quite good, although the pretend 'capping' is missing from all 4. My oldest son is slso not impressed that he will have to manually open a window.

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SP @ Liverpool might be good for all 4 and you can fit electric window and central locking to all doors without much fuss. You can get the correct metal to repair the doors off ebay but it depends on who far gone they are. I was lucky and bought 2x brand new galv doors off a new Defender which was upgraded with bullet resistant ones for the Mexican military but they cost me £700 for two plus another £50 in fuel to collect them.

wow, 10 weeks since I last posted anything! Not a lot of time through the hols though, or cash, but I have done a few bits. All the brakes are now bled and working, clutch too, engine just needs fuel pipe and coolant / turbo hoses sourcing and fitting and that can be run. I purchased a new bearmach fuel tank which came with a new guard, got this fitted but online info suggests that aftermarket tanks aren't very good and are known to leak - well mines painted and fitted now so a bit late to change! Being short of cash I turned my attention to the rear tub. As my profile pic shows, the offside panels had been replaced in the past and not the best job. 10 minutes with the battery drill sorted that;


Yes that is household silicon.



Primed and refitted



I smeared seam sealer on the faces where the panels would join then riveted it back together, forcing the sealer out which I then smothed, I figured this may be better than applying sealer to an already closed joint - we will see.

Then we were onto the manky front -






Some new aluminium sheet meeting the bender -







Fitted and primed, 3 coats of etch then 2 coats of 2k.

The underneath went well, drilled out rivets, removed steel supports which seem to be a) solid and b) galvanised. Cleaned it all, painted it all and riveted back together.


And now the whole thing is in primer inside and out, waiting for some colour.


Sorry its a bit of a slow boring thread, but i'm hoping to get through a bit quicker now the boring, tedious stuff is mostly done. Next thing is replacing the sills/C pillars. my B pillars are very good so im able to drill the spot welds and stick them to a length of 30 x 50 RHS and pinch the brackets from the front, like this;






Not a great pic but you can see how good the bottom of the post is, Not so good for the C pillar. Ive had 7 attempts at folding the steel to make this part but its beat me so ill be ordering the bits from YRM, along with the rear tub mount that's also missing, their stuff has good reviews so hopefully will make the job go smoothly.

And finally, although I'm a long way off needing these, when doing bodywork/painting I always get one or two more panels ahead so if I end up with a load of paint in the gun I don't have to waste it. By the way, although I am painting the whole vehicle, and making it a bit shiny, I am showing it NO bodyfiller whatsoever. I will knock in/out the worst dents but the small stuff is being left. I quite like it so far ;-) Left over primer just did these 2 panels nicely;

Superb progress, mate. Looks great too. You seem to have been lucky with corrosion. Rear floor looked sound. Rear window frame steel corner sections look ok. Chassis looks canny. Once it's finished you'll know where the bits are you have to keep an eye on, keep them treated, and it'll last for years

I didn't realise those frames rotted! Must be good. I think I have been lucky, although some bits of that chassis were pretty awful. I don't think it will take long for rust to start coming through, maybe a couple of years. Where it's reinforced seem to be the worst areas, but we will see. Costs are still well within budget anyway so if I have to replace the chassis in 4/5 years so be it. How's yours coming along? I've not been on here for ages so am yet to look.

Discokids said:

I didn't realise those frames rotted!
How's yours coming along? I've not been on here for ages so am yet to look.

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Yes, the window frames will rot. Mine had little bits of ali corrosion in a few places. The corners are reinforced with steel and the steel on mine was rusting in places.

Mines coming along slowly, but ok. I've sent the radiator surround and a few other bits off to the galvanisers this morning. Should get them back on Friday and so might get the wings on at the weekend.

Who / where are you getting your galv done? I've had 2 prices before for galv, one was double the other! I need to get my cappings done, and maybe my sills when they're finished. Only problem is getting rid of all the paint first.

Just over a year ago, when I started the strip down, I cleaned the radiator surround and many other bits. I used wire wheels, detail sanders with metal abrasive papers on etc. Then rust treated and finished with a few coats of black Rustoleum. It's good stuff Rustoleum, but the rust started coming through in places before I got the parts back on. Preparation not good enough! I mention this cos getting the Rustoleum off wasn't that easy either Took several sessions of paint stripper application. I then got them shot blast at a place by the Tyne in Newcastle, cost £30 for a box of bits (picture on my rebuild thread). I'm getting them galvanised by a place in Newcastle too, called Franklin Steel. They seem to be Northern based though, with a place in Dumfries and Whitehaven as well as Newcastle. They quoted £20 - £30, so it will be £30 at least. This is the first time I've had it done myself, rather than buying galv parts. Prices seem to vary greatly and smaller parts seem to be disproportionately more expensive.

Don't tell me that, I've painted lots of stuff with rustoleum. The prices I got were for a chassis, first place seemed to make it up, second had a price list for landrover parts! Ill see what they say when I take my cappings, I need to get the complete set first though, as its early 110 it should have the strips along all 4 doors. Not easy to find.

I think Rustoleum is ok. Like all paint, the important part of the process is the preparation. I spent ages and thought I had done a good job, I obviously hadn't. Unless the rust treatment I used didn't agree with the rustoleum, or wasn't as good as direct rustoleum.
For some reason galvanising is priced by weight of item. I've seen prices on the net as low as 50p/kg, I reckon I'll be paying over £3/kg

Not spent a great amount of time on the project this week, so started early this morning, as I knew the weather would be on my side this afternoon. Got home at 3, fired up the compressor and an hour later was left with this.

Which anybody paying attention will see it's different from my bulkhead. The reason for this is simple - my local paint shop suggested l use a RAL colour as they're cheaper, so I did the b/h in ral3001 signal red and hated it. So bought the colour I originally wanted anyway, and LOVE IT! Now it's drier it's a touch darker, and I can't wait to treat it to some galvanised cappings.