Steve's unexpected Series 3 rebuild.

No rain getting in that tub

steve2286w said:

No rain getting in that tub

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Maybe I've sealed it too well. The rain that comes in the roof won't have any where to get out now.

LincolnSteve said:

Maybe I've sealed it too well. The rain that comes in the roof won't have any where to get out now.

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Making a bilge pump will keep you occupied once you've finished the Landy.

Spong said:

Making a bilge pump will keep you occupied once you've finished the Landy.

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Didn't you know, i'm never going to finish this landy.

Found this thing at the bottom of a box of bits.
When I was Gaydon earlier this year I was crawling under the landies taking photos of the body supports wondering where all mine had gone. This was a bonus then. It cleaned up ok.
It had the usual Bilt Hamber treatment and then I had to make another for the other side as this was nowhere to be found.

Not exact but not bad. Surprised myself with that twist in the middle. Considering where they are going and how often they'll be seen they're good enough.

More paint peeling done as well. The top layer of green comes off in easy but that white/grey primer underneath is solid. Going to try to avoid going back to the metal as much as I can to avoid having to use too much etch primer.

Are you sanding it by hand?

Col

Hi Col. I've got a fairly big flat sander and one of those triangle detail ones. I've got a small air DA sander as well but it's so heavy on air my little compressor gets out of puff in no time. A lot has been by hand though. Also at the moment I often only get an odd hour here of there to do anything so it's easier to just grab a bit of paper and do a bit by hand rather than try to move everything out of the garage to get at it properly.

It looks like you are doing it on your drive, are your neighours ok with the noise and dust? The paint on my 109 is flaking off, down to the metal in some places. Whilst I like it scruffy, sooner or later I'm going to have to bite the bullet and sand it down. The trouble is my neighbours are a bit fussy. I get the odd comment now and again about it being parked there and not used much. Ive wondered about using a chemical paint stripper but the fumes might cause more complaints. My main problem is I'm not very patient so the thought of spending hours sanding fills me.with dread.

Col

I can't believe how tolerant my neighbours are to be honest. One is always busy with work on the house any way so that makes a fair bit of noise which makes us equal. I think the rest are so used to seeing me out there that they have taken pity on the 'poor old soul' with the land rover addiction. I try to limit my times and always have everything away in the garage after I get finished. That's time consuming but you could go past the house and a lot of the time be pretty unaware of what i'm up to. I've used chemical strippers on some small bits and it does work really well. Maybe just tackle a small area at a time and only do as much as you have to. It is really boring though.

Next it's the hooks down the side for tethering down the hood. Mines a hardtop and I don't intend to fit a canvas top but I still want it complete. This is all that's left of mine. Every one has been snapped off and here i've started hacking at it to remove what's left. I didn't drill the spot welds as I don't want to make any holes in the tub yet.
When it comes to fixing the new ones on they should really be spot welded but I can't do that so it's got to be some kind of rivet. Normal pop rivets would look horrible so I thought about countersunk ones. They still wouldn't look great so then it was solid aluminium ones. The are only M4 size so tiny little things. Then I had to countersink holes in the very thin new hooks. I wasn't sure I would get away with this. I've got a countersink bit but actually got on better with a big drill bit. When they go on they don't look bad.
That isn't properly fitted, just loosely positioned. I thought I would etch prime them before proper fitting.
I still haven't fitted them yet and i've never done solid rivets before. Might have a go this weekend, time and weather permitting. Also I'll need my assistant to be free to hold something heavy against them while I wield the hammer. I've drilled the end of an old punch to make a sort of setting tool but the hammered ends of the rivets will be hidden inside the galvanised capping. Probably a good thing too.

I had a go at fixing them on properly now. I sanded the top bit of the tub and etch primed it with a rattle can.

This is the first go. Looks alright from this side. I'm not showing you the back as it's a bit rough but it will be covered by the capping and never seen again.

I've also put some of that Puraflex 40 on there as well so if a coating of that and three rivets won't hold it then there's no hope. When you get it primed they look a bit like spot welds.

I've made supports for the back end of the bodywork. One was missing altogether and the other was just about rusted through. You can buy new ones but they're about £30 each. Also they're britpart so they'll be as thin as tin foil and probably the wrong length. Previous owner/bodger had put a hole through the bodywork and riveted it on so I did the same. The proper place to fix them to on the bodywork was corroded anyway. One extra rivet head each side is hardly going to make a difference to this poor old thing. I did put a bit of inner tube between the steel brace and the bodywork though to stop any corrosion.

Started getting the petrol tank ready. The sender is one of those adjustable, one size fits all jobs. I've tried to adjust it to give the float it's full travel. I particularly tried to make sure it would go to it's lowest point. I'd rather know when i'm running out than exactly how full it is. Again it's britpart so it either won't work at all or it will break within a month. I used a couple of the insides of choc blocks to secure it. Not sure if I should put a blob of solder on it as well?

It doesn't fit of course. I would just blame britpart again but for once it's not really their fault. More about that later but the first job was to adjust the holes in the tub where the filler neck goes through. They had been hacked about a bit in the past anyway but here's my before and after.


Not very elegant but they fit through now.

The reason the petrol tank wouldn't fit is because the outrigger has been replaced by some previous owner with an improvised, home brewed thing. Of course what I should have done is cut the big ugly thing off and put a proper one on but at that time it was about the strongest part of the chassis, seemed to do it's job and I thought it would do as I intended to reuse the old petrol tank. With the new tank though there were problems with clearance and the rear fixing point.

I started to slice bit's out to give me more room.


Now though you can see where it's made up of two pieces of metal so needed welding back together.

That middle tube thing is where the tank fits. Previously a nut and bolt did the trick but with the new tank there's no way to get a spanner or socket to the top so it needs something captive and just a nut at the bottom. The welder was coming out for the outrigger so I bodged something together.


Here's a better look at the nut and threaded bar solution.


Here's how it looks when tightened up. No surprise that there was no trace of the rubber bits when I took it to bits so I made a couple out of some thick rubber sheet I had lying around. I'll put a nyloc on when it goes on for good.

Here's the tank in place. I've taken it out again now as it needs a better coat of paint. Something more protective. I'm thinking of hammerite stone chip paint. It would also get in the way when I eventually get round to painting the bulkhead above it. I'm getting fed up with bit's going on and off. Let's hope more can go on and stay on.

I've been putting off fitting the vent flap seals for a while. All that potential mess on the nice clean bulkhead! Then it got so cold I wasn't even sure if the adhesive would go off. I'm using Puraflex again. I saw another thread where someone was using that rather than contact adhesive as it's a sealer and adhesive and that makes sense. Only thing is the lack of instant grip. I thought about refitting the flap and using that to hold the seal in place but the lever isn't central so I could imagine one side being held properly and the other starting to come adrift. This is my solution.


So that clamps the seal in place but wouldn't keep it located properly. I used four lengths of round wooden dowel to get right into the ridge where the flap will sit.

That's been left like that since this morning so I won't know if it's worked until tomorrow at best. Fingers crossed.

Well it worked. A treat actually. Completely stuck and sealed. I did the other one and then the fly screens. Hope i've got them the right way round.