Rust, Welding and Numpty Questions

Following on with being chuffed at painting my battery compartment .....

from this....



to this.....



I thought I'd do a bit more and remove the fuse box / coolant tank holder....



bad move

found lots of Rust in the Inner wing.... so I took off the Outer wing ( eventually)














footwell too




from above




now, obviously a bit of welding needs to be done.

I shall leave the Numpty (how to)welding questions for now ...... but....

a ) should I get the necessary replacement parts from yrm , or should I try and cut out and weld plate in. ??? what would you do?

b)Most 'Important' Question, I if I was to get replacement parts ....... how do I get the old ones off ??

c) cant seem to find any parts for footwell , or that 'square' plate at top left.

that's all for now........feeling a bit depressed ...

oh, the n/s wing looks the same ....

a grinder removes most things, then its 50/50 on the yrm or make your own. Yours looks like patches would suffice so I'd make my own

Chrisw8 said:

now, obviously a bit of welding needs to be done.

I shall leave the Numpty (how to)welding questions for now ...... but....

a ) should I get the necessary replacement parts from yrm , or should I try and cut out and weld plate in. ??? what would you do?

b)Most 'Important' Question, I if I was to get replacement parts ....... how do I get the old ones off ??

c) cant seem to find any parts for footwell , or that 'square' plate at top left.

that's all for now........feeling a bit depressed ...

oh, the n/s wing looks the same ....

Click to expand...

As Dr Evil said, the grinder removes most things.

Once you've stripped everything out both light boxes and off the wings then it does become fairly self explanatory where the parts will come apart.

This is sort of how the front light boxes come off...



You can see that the slam panel comes out with many spot welds.

What it looks like without an engine and a front wing!


And taken out in one bit, was later taken apart and patched and put back together.



I had a slight problem in that the RRC had already been "repaired" at least once before. The front wings were held on with thick mastic and sills with fibreglass, aluminium fillered in and plates over rusted metal. So I didnt have much original stuff to begin with.

Looking at yours, you could get away with patches but. and its a relatively large but depending on how patient you are. You can patch it, but its an awful lot easier to cut everything out, take it back to good metal and weld in complete inner wings, lightboxes, floors and footwells.

I can speak from expierance that unless you rather enjoy fabricating your own parts, then doing so and welding bits in here and there takes a lot longer than cutting everything out and doing it properly with entire new panels.

The obvious disadvantage is that your wallet takes a large hit very quickly if you splash out on nice shiny panels. But for peace of mind you know its been done properly.

So, if I were to do it again (do I get another RRC? ) would I patch wings, fabricate A & B pillars, bend new footwells, recreate goalpost ends, rebuild sidewalls etc?

Well I certainly had fun when it was going well, but it is time consuming and sometimes you really just want to get it done.

So with all that in mind, personally I would go with buying panels.


Few more pictures,

Would you rather rebuild this or buy new? I know what I would do next time. Don't get me wrong as I've mentioned above, its great fun if you have the time, space, skill and patience.


Bottom of light box repaired all round.


How about this? I actually really enjoyed this, it was nice in the good weather.





That was my experience. What will yours be like?

Ah, just realised how far up the rust goes.



That will not be fun. Look how high that is, compare it to this and you'll realise how high that is up inside getting close to pedal boxes/etc




If you were me, I'd take off the entire front end and see what it was like then. It gets far worse before it gets better and by the time you've removed things, hit things with hammers, used the grinder and taken back to good metal you'll be surprised how little is left of the inner wings.

Don't get too depressed, when stuff starts to look like this and you put things back together, you'll get the biggest smile ever.




Good luck!

It's all relatively simple repairs you have there. Word of warning if you have not already checked the rear end you will more than likely find a few more holes thre to.

Discos are simple to work on easy to patch or replace whole panels so don't be put off with the rust, get your self a angle grinder, flap discs, 1mm cutting discs and a welder and you will have it sorted in no time at all.

Agree on new metal against patches, much better, and you don't always need complete multi-shape panels either, often a flat panel cut into shape will do the job well.

Peter

ok, thanks for yer comments.

I think i'll go for the replacement option on the inner wing.

I need to get it out and then look at perhaps 'patching' the hole(s) in the footwell and other places.

Numpty question no. 1 ....

i'll be working on a slope.
looking at the front of the car, going downwards from left to right....

Does the car have to be completely level or will it be ok to be 'near enough' on axle stands ??


loads more questions, and piccys to come as I get further in !!!

Started to drill out spot welds, done most of them, but need to get hold of angle grinder off my brother to finish getting inner wing off.

question.

If I remove the bolt and rubber from this Mount to clean up rust . will anything 'move' , making it hard to re-insert ?

won't go too far.

where are you anyway? if you are local you can chop some bits off a 300 i have.

thanks for the offer trax, but I'm in south wales.

this is a steep learning curve for me. tools and stuff I can get my head around, but welding and panels ..... first for everything I suppose

that footwell top's gonna be a pain in the arse.






if I can offer any advise, its find everything that requires attention BEFORE you start to prep and weld the first bit you come to.

then decide if you want to prep and weld it.

best of luck!

finally got inner wing (and other bits) off, after 4 days, some brute force and disc cutting ....






so, this is the footwell rot (top) , not too near pedal box..... haven't looked at underneath yet.





and this is the side panel .....




does anyone know if these panels can be bought, or is it just a case of cut and weld.??

found 'Easy On' do a complete inner wing already welded together, just needs to fit in place.

anyone have experience of them.??


As I haven't welded before, I intend to chop bits off the old wing and practice my welding on it.

piccysto be posted as I progress.......

good on you for giving it a go.

it doesn't look too bad tbh, get the grinder on and see how much metal is good.

looks like you might get away with fabricating some of your own panels.

thanks for your comments Trax.


I cut out my first bit today............from this ...




to this.......





also took out soggy floor soundproofer, and some other stuck on stuff.

all rust seems just surface rust, so should come off with some light rubbing, and a dose of Fertan.........

except ............these lifted bits here, with screwdriver in.

haven't looked underneath yet to see if is all the way through.




so, numpty questions.........

1. is that round hole in top of first picky there to let water through?

2. how do I stop all them wires from burning, when I weld the new bit in? would I get away with placing a metal plate in from the inside to shield them?

3. should I put primer on the bits I've already cleaned off, and grind it off again when i'm ready to weld?

4. there's a lot of seam putty stuff i'm finding........is this normal?
3.

Chrisw8 said:

1. is that round hole in top of first picky there to let water through?

2. how do I stop all them wires from burning, when I weld the new bit in? would I get away with placing a metal plate in from the inside to shield them?

3. should I put primer on the bits I've already cleaned off, and grind it off again when i'm ready to weld?

4. there's a lot of seam putty stuff i'm finding........is this normal?
3.

Click to expand...

1. dunno i drive a tratter
2. thick metal shield will be fine.. mightn't need it..have a touch every now and again if you are concerned. you can also get welding aprons.
3. if you are talking days to weeks before you weld, then don't bother, just grind when you are ready to weld. it won't rust that quickly. if longer, then you can use oil and cover it up.
4. seam sealer is used whenever two panels overlap to stop water getting in-between and rusting. so if you are finding a lot of it around overlapping panels, then that's good

buy a wire brush for your grinder though, it'll show up all the thin pieces..

Chrisw8 said:

1. is that round hole in top of first picky there to let water through?

2. how do I stop all them wires from burning, when I weld the new bit in? would I get away with placing a metal plate in from the inside to shield them?

3. should I put primer on the bits I've already cleaned off, and grind it off again when i'm ready to weld?

4. there's a lot of seam putty stuff i'm finding........is this normal?
3.

Click to expand...

1. Not sure, probably!

2. YES! Shield EVERYTHING from the welding sparks etc. Either strip out the inside or put something in there to protect the inside, you really don't want to start a fire under the dash and until you've had it happen you won't believe how easy it is for one little spark to start something. I would even cover up your windscreen on the outside, stop welding splatter getting on there as well.

3. Depends how long its going to take you between cutting things off and welding. I generally strip back an entire area to bare metal when I weld in something so I know I'm going back to good metal. Which means if I have to stop for some reason (read: rain) then I end up covering everything in red oxide to stop it rusting. Using oil I find is a pain as it doesn't clean off very well. At least with some primer you can strip it back with a flap disc. Entirely up to you but I wouldn't prep areas for welding until you're ready to weld things in. It might be worth stripping back to good metal and covering the lot, even inside. You wouldn't want to paint just the top and outside edge and find the rust worm is hiding inside and creeps under the paint.

4. trax answered. But what I will add, is after you've welded and primed, then seam sealer over any welds is also a good idea if the welding isnt the smoothest. The red oxide / cold galv will get into the holes, but then seam sealer will cover everything and stop any bits of damp or silt getting in and ruining your hard work. Then your favourite black coat on top.

The wire brush is an excellent recommendation, I won't say go gentle because you will want to find any pin holes or anything now, rather than later.

Keep up the excellent work! It'll be worth it when you've finished.

Chrisw8 said:

http://s102.photobucket.com/user/ChrisWaite_2006/media/insidefloor.jpg.html


so, numpty questions.........

1. is that round hole in top of first picky there to let water through?

2. how do I stop all them wires from burning, when I weld the new bit in? would I get away with placing a metal plate in from the inside to shield them?

3. should I put primer on the bits I've already cleaned off, and grind it off again when i'm ready to weld?

4. there's a lot of seam putty stuff i'm finding........is this normal?

Click to expand...

trax said:

1. dunno i drive a tratter
2. thick metal shield will be fine.. mightn't need it..have a touch every now and again if you are concerned. you can also get welding aprons.
3. if you are talking days to weeks before you weld, then don't bother, just grind when you are ready to weld. it won't rust that quickly. if longer, then you can use oil and cover it up.
4. seam sealer is used whenever two panels overlap to stop water getting in-between and rusting. so if you are finding a lot of it around overlapping panels, then that's good

buy a wire brush for your grinder though, it'll show up all the thin pieces..

Click to expand...

1 - yes. from the scuttle under the windscreen. ****e design allows water to run onto the inner wing brace and rust everything. paint and underseal this bit well. also make sure the seal thru the hole cant allow water into the footwell as its directly above a fusebox, and creates a world of ****.

2 - remove them.

3 - as trax sez.

4 - due to landrover's unique quality control, and the limit of gap size, seam sealer is used-
by the bucket full.
remove it all where welding needs to be done.

thanks for all your replies......

todays question......

I ground / cut the remains of the inner wing that was attached to the body mount.......which revealed this.



a few holes in the mount !!

is it permissible to chop the mount and re weld or must/should I replace it ?


This rust repair job is getting a bit much now.......I think I need a mentor !!

...............and an overdraft !!!!