Started Resto work on my S3

Bought ma Series 3 a few weeks ago, and started pulling it apart the second it rolled off the trailer.

List so far:
Bulkhead 90% sound - which shocked the hell out of me TBH - i was expecting worse.
Driver side upper bulkhead rotted and badly repaired with lots of bodge.
Passenger side footwell was rotted out...and a plate had been GLUED...yes GLUED over the hole.
ALL seals ****ed...windows, doors, bulkhead seals...floor seals....anything rubber is basically ****ed.
Water pump ****ed, due to no anti-freeze i suspect.
3 x Injectors missing sealing washers...****ing diesel out of two cylinders, all leakoff selas fubar'd.
Engine is smoking...suspect rings or Stem seals.....
Injector pump was leaking a bit from the control arms.
Upper door sections are split in the usual place...
Safari roof needs attention. Rear tub sides are mis-matched - one series, and one defender side panel.

It was a petrol, but was changed to a diesel, so Comedy wiring throughout the truck... gaffer tape and twisted ends a-plenty, plus random cable extensions with no crimps etc. It's amazing the poor chap didn't burst into flames TBH.

I'm sure there's more to come. I'll post some pics tomorrow once i can find the camera that I think i've thrown in the waste bin while clearing up the workshop....:doh::doh:

Mind you, when you find this in the heater matrix, it's time to call it a night.......or get the workbench...a drift, and my lump hammer....

dirtyrhino said:

Mind you, when you find this in the heater matrix, it's time to call it a night.......or get the workbench...a drift, and my lump hammer....

Click to expand...

when i got my series 3 i found about 30, 12 and 20 bore cartridges a bag of clothes in the under seat locker and some spent .22 rimfire cases...... they were all over the place, i found a pair of no.6 hull cartridges sitting on top of the wiper motor

PMSL ! Fook me

I've just got visions of some red cheeked farmer bouncing along in a field cussing the air blue, chasing a fox while trying to load up.... kinda like a rural version of a BMW driving salesman...

can you dissolve the gunpowder in the petrol to get more mpg ?

lol! When removing the tub from my 2A this weekend I found 20 empty shotgun shells in there! Thankfully I also found bits of clay, rather than any body parts!

Please keep this updated with plenty of pics My 2A project is in very similar condition besides the engine problems so will be interesting to compare All the best!

Tom

Nice

Ok, found ma camera - it was in the scrap metal bin

After I mooched him in the workshop, i started pulling bits off him....


Drivers bulkhead was a mass of filler and not much else....




Passenger side isn't too bad up top....


Dashboard needs some attention, the chasm in the drivers side bulkhead was basically ****ing water in and welling up behind..the airbox has rotted out, too. I'm going to repair rather than replace this part. Easy enough to do.


Engine:
When I collected him he was smoking quite a bit, which i thought was probably down to either stem seals, piston rings or....comedy ingress injector seals and missing seal washers....

More digging led me to find.... Comedy Wiring....
Obviously crimps and solder were in short supply





more digging on the pass side revealed a plate that was glued over a hole.....which seems to be a theme with the repairs on my truck...




On to the repairs...



I love my grinder


And I love my Joggler....



Needs a thin skim of filler

Quick coat of 10 year old Primer to keep the damp out while I switch to the other side........

ibulkhead in overall good condition...

Nice job on the bulkhead...did lol at the wiring!!

Nice & solid repair to the bulkhead - not to mention neat! Skim of filler - it's what fillers designed for. Filling over good metal is perfectly reasnable, and it looks good.

Good old wiring - people never seem to understand how dangerous auto electrics can be!

Matt

i love that wiring the loom in mine wasn't quite that bad but i chopped it out anyway

and as said a thin skim of filler is perfectly acceptable its the half inch thick to cover holes that is wrong

Excellent repair on the bulkhead there mate, looks a top job. And again, it's what fillers are for The wiring is very similar to what's on mine, there are some jokers about I tell you. I did lol at the glued on panels though!:doh:

bodge tastic . at least your wiring is the same colour in and out. mine was rewired by a plumber, so all the wires are either brown, blue or yello'n'green stripy. absolute nightmare attempting to wire in a trailerboard light socket...

nice job on the bulkhead

Cheers lads
I was contemplating loading the repair panels with lead rather than filler, but the bulkhead will be replaced along with the chassis for a galvanized ones in a year or two, so filler will do for now.

Forgot to mention the Dumb irons need doing aswell....they've been patched in the past...badly....Cream cheese springs to mind. i can't wait to cut all this **** off and get some decent steel on there.


More pics soon, as soon as I've started the Passenger side.

I've been in there today wrapping the ageing loom in amalgamating tape and putting some self sealing crimps in place of the "Twist-and-Bodge" connectors It seems when the Petrol lump was oicked out, and the diesel shoved in, that there were some....erm...."issues" with the cabling.......

If anyone has a Truck Cab and roof they'd like to flog me, feel free, BTW. I'm going for a Canvas back

storm99 said:

Nice job on the bulkhead...did lol at the wiring!!

Click to expand...

de ja vu???

Hay dirtyrhino, Great job of the bulk head. Just wondering if you have started on the footwells yet ?

If not, would you mind putting a pic walk through of how to go about it ?

UK_Akita said:

Hay dirtyrhino, Great job of the bulk head. Just wondering if you have started on the footwells yet ?

If not, would you mind putting a pic walk through of how to go about it ?

Click to expand...

I'm hopefully making a start tomorrow on the passenger side, so i'll post some extra piccies

yeah its looking good rhino, looks very familiar to mine, bulkhead full off filler about 6" thick and loads and loads of black tar or something hiding it all, not quiet a fast a worker as you but would be good to see progress with pictures and write up as you go along, plus a holiday in yorkshire would do you the world of good (you can share room with step daughter lol).

dirtyrhino said:

I'm hopefully making a start tomorrow on the passenger side, so i'll post some extra piccies

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, got to do both side on mine. Have not got a DIY bone in my body. Done have the first clue were to start.

b20wnx said:

yeah its looking good rhino, looks very familiar to mine, bulkhead full off filler about 6" thick and loads and loads of black tar or something hiding it all, not quiet a fast a worker as you but would be good to see progress with pictures and write up as you go along, plus a holiday in yorkshire would do you the world of good (you can share room with step daughter lol).

Click to expand...

I agree with the holiday to Yorkshire , Isn't it great when you have some were proper to work