Steve's unexpected Series 3 rebuild.

.... Garage envy!!!!
;-)

Edlandy said:

.... Garage envy!!!!
;-)

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Thanks. I could still do with twice the space though.

Does anyone know what this little brass plate is doing stuck to the engine? There isn't an engine number where there ought to be and this is stuck down near the sump.

Bulkhead off.

These will have to go.


Footwells are goners too.

Various other rusty areas. It is possible that i've bought the worst Land Rover in the world. Just makes me more determined to keep it running.

Anyway we end up here.

I'm thinking that brass plate will relate to either a factory or military recon engine.

Land Raver said:

I'm thinking that brass plate will relate to either a factory or military recon engine.

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That's interesting. I wonder how it ended up with that. I have it's DVLA history and it was always a civvy. The plot thickens.

Land Raver said:

I'm thinking that brass plate will relate to either a factory or military recon engine.

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plate refers to an abbro recon unit(army base repair organisation) ,could be in house at mod facility or civilian ,though that one in house id think

wow..just looked thru your work..what a job eh...what you call a proper restore very pro...the fabrication and welding looks spot on , lot skill there eh...bet your well proud of this job,,,congrats

The bodges carried out on this chassis by previous owners are shocking. This hole was covered with a scrappy looking piece of 1mm steel. Worse still it wasn't even welded. I think the brass looking blobs are where it has been brazed on.

I cleaned it up and decided to plate over the whole thing.




This is the drivers side, front shock absorber mount. They had plated over the chassis around it. Most of it was welded but that gap you can see was full of filler.


Welded up and ready for primer. Not an ideal situation but strong enough I think.

Nowt wrong with brazing, it's often better than welding if it's done right......but that don't look like it's been done right

I then got the axles off and the steering relay out. I was prepared for a real battle with the relay but it came out easily. Only problem is one of the 4 small bolts underneath the front crossmember has sheared off at some time. It looks like it was done some time ago as it's all rusted over. That will have to be drilled out and tapped. Does anyone happen to know what size it is?

As I said earlier I was not going to weld overhead any more if I could help it so over she goes.

Father in law takes the strain while I take the photos.


I made up these castors so it would still be movable.


And that brings me right up to date. I'm still sorting out more bodged repairs on the underside but at least I can do it in relative comfort. With Christmas and New Year coming up I probably won't get much done for a bit so I may go quiet for a while. As soon as something interesting happens though i'll be back. Cheers. Steve.

I'm loving the welding too, I'm only a novice/beginner and mine is truely awfull. Did you use mig or stick to do it. I have a Clarke EN160 Mig welder but not sure if it is powerful enough to weld the steel your working with.

Alibro said:

I'm loving the welding too, I'm only a novice/beginner and mine is truely awfull. Did you use mig or stick to do it. I have a Clarke EN160 Mig welder but not sure if it is powerful enough to weld the steel your working with.

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Hi. It's mig. I had a go at stick welding a few years ago but I just couldn't do it. The machine I use is a Sealey automig 210. It's donkeys years old but because until recently I never used it much it seems to be lasting well (touch wood). When I bought it I thought it would be more powerful than I would ever need but it was on special offer at our local 'proper' tool shop so I got it. I'm glad of the power at times now. I'm using 2.5mm steel for the chassis patches. I don't think you can get this model anymore but there must be equivalents. Have a look at Welding Tips and Tricks. com on Youtube. You get some brilliant ideas there.

I think my welder could handle 2.5mm all right, I thought the plates looked heavier than that.
I guess just need more practice with mine so must sell the Freelander and buy me a trattor.

Very nice fabrication and welding skills, i'm looking forward to seeing how you progress with your project.

Just read all that is posted, you are a tidy worker, i think i would of scrapped the chassis if it was me, you must be well patient!!
Great job, nice to see! well done!

discodrivercumbria said:

Just read all that is posted, you are a tidy worker, i think i would of scrapped the chassis if it was me, you must be well patient!!
Great job, nice to see! well done!

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It would have probably made more sense to scrap it if i'm honest but once i'd started one thing led to another and all of a sudden you've got six months effort put into it. By then I didn't feel like giving in and now I can't let it beat me. At least it's been cheap. Total spend so far is about 25 quid for steel and 15 quids worth of red oxide paint. I use poundland, throw away paint brushes (five for a pound) and i've used a bit of wire in the welder. I've got some some chassis paint and i'll need to get some waxoyl. Maybe 150 quid total against a galv chassis at 1500. If I could get another 3 to 5 years out of the chassis I would be happy. Then it will be time for a new one.

I have to say this thread is really interesting, and like has been said before, amazing patience and skill, I love that photo of the outrigger, very nice! Will be watching this thread from now on! Good luck with the rest, and keep at it!!

Gottschalk said:

I have to say this thread is really interesting, and like has been said before, amazing patience and skill, I love that photo of the outrigger, very nice! Will be watching this thread from now on! Good luck with the rest, and keep at it!!

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Thanks for the comment. Positive feedback like this really keeps me going. At the moment i'm stuck trying to remove the front chassis suspension bushes and things feel like they've ground to a halt. It's a cow of a job but it's really a turning point. Once they are out there is not a single part fitted to the chassis and it's all rebuilding from there.

I have always had problems getting enough light into dark little corners when i'm welding. Lead lights and similar either get in the way or fall over at just the wrong moment. Also anything too bright sets off the automatic darkening of the mask. So here's my solution. The headtorch came from from poundland so no great loss if it's a disaster. It takes 3 AAA batteries so it is a little heavy. It's got about 7 LED's so it's good and bright but not bright enough to set off the mask. I haven't had chance to try it in action yet so we'll have to wait and see.