S3 109 Safari project......

I will tidy the welds a bit as they are looking a bit snotty although they are strong enough..

It's all begining to look like it was ment to be like that.
Will your new rad sit in the original position, and the new cross member slightly further forward - be covered by the front valance panel. Leaving everything looking original ?
Also may I ask where you got your air rivet gun and rivets from..
Your chassis is really starting to come together now (•‿•)

Cheers! The two steel plates I welded on the front of the chassis will support the front panel in exactly the same position as before, as they are in the same place as the original mounts. The valence panel will cover them after I install brackets. I installed these first to keep chassis alignment.
The whole front crossmember had to be removed and the new one I will fabricate off the two plates.This has been pulled forward to accommodate the steering box position . I still have to finish the fabrication of the crossmember, but wanted to complete some other jobs on the chassis first. I will put the engine and axles with steering rods etc on to check what space I have to play with.
The rivet gun was an eBay purchase although you can get the same one from RS Components, albeit more expensive. Think I paid £25 for it new, delivered! The rivets you can get from eBay too as there are several suppliers on there selling them. I used 4.8 csk rivets on the back body floor, which are aluminium. I used dome head on most other areas. These are aluminium with stainless stems. On the outer body, I use aluminium sealed stem rivets to prevent water ingress and corrosion. Check out this item number 291243503036 on eBay.
I wanted to be finished with the chassis by now, but as usual you always find more that needs doing. Plus the added complication of doing a power steering installation! Many thanks for the positive comments!

Thanks, they are still listed and your Tub looks great, I will have some of mine to do
But at a later date.
I am expecting the chassis to take many hours so I will devote all my time to it until I am happy I have a lovely strong durable one. After all everything goes on the chassis, so it's at the heart of everything.
I'm actually quite exited to do this after restoring an oil immersion 1964 Oxford Stick welder, which is a peasure to use.
I think you will be finished before long before me lol

Decided to try the bump stop on the chassis leg and I had to tweak the mountings either side of the chassis to fit it. I must have measured the height wrong. Fixed now though... Drilled the holes and fitted some slave bolts. Looking good now.

Thought I would make up the brake pipe bracket since I had the welder out anyway. Tried to match the size and mounting height to make sure it’s in the right place.

Thought I would park the welder and try changing the rear spring bushes. Not a pretty sight!

Made up a puller to see if the bush would come out...

Needed a bit more persuasion, but you can see it was working, but it was a battle just the same

Got it out, and compared against the new one. Looked okay so cleaned up the hole, greased everything up and went for it

Top Job. I dreaded doing my bushes , but in the end they all came out without much of a struggle, same on the springs . It made life a wee bit easier on the chassis bush removal to hacksaw through the bush . That wee gap left by the blade relaxed the bush and they come out without a fight . Used a threaded M12 rod and an assortment of sockets and tube to get the new ones in.. Turned out not to be such a bad job in the end .

Bet your bushed lol,
Will be needing to replace all of mine and refurbish the leaf springs by stripping and cleaning them up and reassembling with new straps.
But that can wait to another day.
That's a satisfying job to get done, and looking good too.

You could say that! I got some new springs for the front, but the rears are in good condition. They will need stripped, cleaned and greased with new bushes installed. Going to tackle the axles first. I have ordered everything I think I will need from paddock, so once that arrives, I’ll get started on them. Going to finish off the main part of the chassis. Tidy up some minor repairs, prime and then topcoat with black corroless. I will fit the other 3 chassis bushes when they arrive. Can’t wait to get the chassis mobile again, but probably a couple of months away from that. Still got the front crossmember to complete, but I want to do that when the engine is trial fitted to see how much space I will have. Next week, I will get the angry grinder out and clean up the rest of the chassis.

Yes, I suppose your engine will sit further forward, is that a 300Tdi.

It’s a 200tdi from a discovery that I have. I’m not sure how much space I will need, so rather than build it and have to change it again, I will just wait, despite me being desperate to finish it!

Looking forward to seeing her progress

Decided to buy a repair panel from paddock to sort my front panel rather than repair it.
Looks reasonable quality. I will need to try it up against the rotten one. Should save some time too.

Looks like a good fix, was it expensive ?

Not to bad - £38.00 delivered. I think it should be a good result

Reckon it will, once welded n painted, just like new