S3 109 Safari project......

Yes, as in first pic. But it's not easy to see.

After some delays due to holidays, I managed to make some progress on the internal panels. I was dreading fitting the seat box, as I could see that there was a slight bend on the rear rail. It must have happened when I riveted it together. However, after some tweaking, I managed to get the seatbox to fit. I had to open up some holes for some more clearance. I used some dum dum sealer on the base flange and made some rubber gaskets for between the seat box and the chassis brackets. I think it looks a reasonably good fit. I also bought some second hand inertia reel bulkhead brackets, repaired, blasted and painted them. You can see them fitted with the reel mounting plate on top. Making some progress now!

Happy with progress ,I moved onto the tunnel and floor panels. I fitted some wiring to the reverse light switch and fed it through into the engine bay for connection later as I think it may be a real challenge to get in to after the tunnel is fitted. I applied some dum dum on the passengers floor and on the tunnel. Not sure if it needs it but Land Rovers don’t need an excuse to leak!
It still needs a bit of tweaking, but it seems to be quite a decent fit.

I thought I would try a front door on, so fitted the hinges and gave it a try. As you can see it’s a mile out!
I expected this, but not by that much…. Anyway, it could do with the bulkhead aligning as the chassis bracket is not fitted. I’ll try and get it better next time

GSF 109 said:

I thought I would try a front door on, so fitted the hinges and gave it a try. As you can see it’s a mile out!
I expected this, but not by that much…. Anyway, it could do with the bulkhead aligning as the chassis bracket is not fitted. I’ll try and get it better next time

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That's looking amazing, and it's all really coming together now

Wagon Loon said:

That's looking amazing, and it's all really coming together now

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Thanks - still seems like a mountain of work to go, but progress is progress as they say ….

Moved over to the other side and fitted the driver’s side floor. Sounds easy, but took a fair bit of fettling to get it to sit properly! Anyway, I got it in and sealed it with dum dum the same as the other side.
After that nightmare, I thought I would brave trial fitting the driver side front door . Surprisingly, it fitted fairly well straight away. Once the seals are in place, I think it will be better again…...
I’ve got tons to do, but I think I will move onto stripping the rear body sides ready for paint along with the roof. Dreading that one!

Actually starting to look like a car

GSF 109 said:

Moved over to the other side and fitted the driver’s side floor. Sounds easy, but took a fair bit of fettling to get it to sit properly! Anyway, I got it in and sealed it with dum dum the same as the other side.
After that nightmare, I thought I would brave trial fitting the driver side front door . Surprisingly, it fitted fairly well straight away. Once the seals are in place, I think it will be better again…...
I’ve got tons to do, but I think I will move onto stripping the rear body sides ready for paint along with the roof. Dreading that one!

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Brings back memories, I rebuilt a couple of SWB series.
Looks great

Firebobby1 said:

Brings back memories, I rebuilt a couple of SWB series.
Looks great

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Cheers - hopefully your panel gaps were better than mine

Started stripping one of the rear upper body sides, and it was not a job I was looking forward to!
The first issue was that the sliding channels were so bad that I couldn’t slide the windows to get access to the fixing screws. I had to resort to bending the edge of the channel over then squeezing the window out. Nerve wracking to say the least! After getting both panes of glass out, I had to destroy the channels to remove them. Onto the drip channel, I unbolted it first then had to lever it out to unstick the sealant which has left an utter mess that I’ll have to clean off before preparing for paint.
I also started removing the rear window glazing strip screws and only a few came out before rounding the heads. Time to walk away I think…..
I’ll add some photos of it stripped when my patience returns

GSF 109 said:

Cheers - hopefully your panel gaps were better than mine

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Your rebuild is miles better

Land Rover Panel gaps,now there's a whole topic unto itself lol