RRC Bulkhead rot/ water leaks.

hi, as the little suggest, i am trying to do some research on this subject.
can anyone direct me to a link of pictures of typical classic bulkhead rust/ holes?
i tried searching with google and the search box on here, and only come up with series LR bulkheads.

been repairing my radio wiring and noticed a small pool of water sitting in the little well at the bottom. it is raining heavily, but have never seen it pool in there before. given it has pooled in the foot wells for a fair while! so i am guessing i have a fair amount of rot in the bulkhead. i can weld, so its not a huge problem.

i would like to use the car over winter, and tackle it next summer, so without stripping out the scuttle panel, where i assume its all under there, i would like to see any pics of "typical" amount of rot. also, would the dash need to come out behind the bulkhead to stop things catching on fire?
the visible part of the bulkhead behind the engine seems fine though. it was waxed years ago.

thanks

its probably leaking from underneath the decker panel underneath the windscreen the sealant goes hard and cracks letting water in, some rot badly some don't and are able to get away with removing the sealant then reseal, only one way to find out really

yes, i guessed it was under the scuttle cover. i sorted of assumed they would rot, as they do everywhere else. must be the only place on the car i haven't yet welded.
didnt consider only seem sealer though?

has anyone on here actually done the repair, who can send me a link, or post some pix. curious see what others have needed to do

Practically Classics Forum • View topic - 1994 Range Rover

There you go. Soft dash cars seem to be prone to rust in the bulkhead.

excellent, thanks. thats just the sort of thread i was looking for! looks like it should pretty much covered everything.
never been in practical classics site before (didn't even know they had one, but good to know!

Oh boy, that looks alot of work and most of it you can't see without major dismantling.
Bulk entry to welding classes anyone?

yes, it looks like an epic amount of work. that car has gone in every possible place by the looks of it. but as the values of classics seem to be increasing, maybe more people will consider it viable now?

mine has been gradually patched up over the years of ownership, but it does generally need some sort of welding every year. this year is no exception. when will it ever stop......


i am hoping my bulkhead is not that far gone. the water is not gushing in, even in heavy rain, but there are a number of trickles. still the main thing i was trying to work out, is whether i need to remove all the dash on the inside, as thats where most of the work will be in reckon

If you have a sun roof check that the drains are clear, if possible get an air line in them and blow them through.

Yep, am aware of blocked sunroof drains issue
I have tried a number of times to clear the front two. Now the car is parked on a slope with the nose end higher, so the water drains to the rear two, that thankfully are not blocked.
I don't have any compressed air here, but its a good idea, assuming it doesn't just blow the drain tube of the sun roof area.

I actually took off the air ducts on the scuttle cover to have a look inside. Plenty of sitting water in there, but no visible rust amazingly enough. But am guessing all that horrid seam sealer with be hiding some sins. But it's good news compared to what I have seen on the soft dash models!

For some pictures to post later.

I did this job about 6 weeks ago. It was the mastik, it had gone hard and crumbly and I sorted it with some left over windscreen sealant everywhere. Also have a look at the back of the engine bay behind where the brake lines are and see what the condition is there . On mine where the two bits of metal meet there was lots of water behind.

lorri789 said:

I did this job about 6 weeks ago. It was the mastik, it had gone hard and crumbly and I sorted it with some left over windscreen sealant everywhere. Also have a look at the back of the engine bay behind where the brake lines are and see what the condition is there . On mine where the two bits of metal meet there was lots of water behind.

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Ok, will do. Sounds like a common issue.
Just a matter of deciding when is the right time to attack it.

so here are some pix.

always some damp/ water after heavy rain




probably why all that welding needed doing!!!

pooling water in the radio valley


drilled two small drain holes in it, and put some grease down there for now


bulkhead cavity through air vents.







clearly a nice old water trap as usual.
fan resister pack looks on its way again. grrrr. already replaced it once before

not long before the big 200k birthday

Yup, mine was the same. It's fine now. The gutter design is a bit silly. Also, check the rubber washers and gaskets, around screws and removable wiper motor panel.

lorri789 said:

Yup, mine was the same. It's fine now. The gutter design is a bit silly. Also, check the rubber washers and gaskets, around screws and removable wiper motor panel.

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Did you take the scuttle out or did you just seal through the vent holes? Mines wet there too

No I took the scuttle off. There are two ways to do this:

The scuttle is put over the hinges so the bonnet needs to come off...or if you cut the bits in front of the hinges you can just loosen the bonnet bolts and slide the bonnet forward.

I just took the bonnet off after i rigged up some boards as it's bloody heavy and there was nobody around to help. I then took the scuttle off and then cut the bits at the hinges so I don't need to remove the bonnet anymore.

The biggest bugger is the bolts that attach the scuttle to the wing. I just had to cut them with a cutting blade on the grinder.

You really need to clean and repair a fair bit of the gutter under the scuttle and seal it, so scuttle off, I'm afraid. Bonnet needs two people really.

Need anymore help, just ask

lorri789 said:

No I took the scuttle off. There are two ways to do this:

The scuttle is put over the hinges so the bonnet needs to come off...or if you cut the bits in front of the hinges you can just loosen the bonnet bolts and slide the bonnet forward.

I just took the bonnet off after i rigged up some boards as it's bloody heavy and there was nobody around to help. I then took the scuttle off and then cut the bits at the hinges so I don't need to remove the bonnet anymore.

The biggest bugger is the bolts that attach the scuttle to the wing. I just had to cut them with a cutting blade on the grinder.

You really need to clean and repair a fair bit of the gutter under the scuttle and seal it, so scuttle off, I'm afraid. Bonnet needs two people really.

Need anymore help, just ask

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Cheers : )

yep, scuttle off for me, but i will wait until next spring. will have to suffer the damp inside for another winter.
turning into an annual strip down this car

good man. only way to be sure