Steve's unexpected Series 3 rebuild.

Here's another problem. Seat adjuster. Rusty hole and broken stud. Other second hand ones of these on ebay seem very expensive and look about as bad.
Could maybe get away with the broken stud but it has led the seat frame to flex and get out of shape which is probably why that weld cracked. For once I have been sort of lucky. The rusty hole allows access to the back of the broken stud. I drilled it out and tapped whatever thread it was (5/16th ?) and chopped the head off a bolt to make a replacement.

Then it's try to find some decent metal in the runner.


Made a repair section but it fit a bit too well so bevelled the edges.


Before welding it in though got to get the stud secured using my new access flap.

I did clean that up a bit and covered with Bilt Hamber to fend off more rust. Then close up the flap.


Still needs cleaning, rust treating and paint of some kind. Simple enough but by the time you've waited for the right weather so that the contents of the garage can be spread out in the open on the drive to allow me to find the welder it ends up a long old job for very little progress.

Got the bottom of the seatbox primed. Hamerite special metals primer is really good. Goes on smooth and grips on a treat. Doesn't seem to react badly with any top coats so far. I know it's an etch primer but there must be a good amount of whatever acid it is as it does seem to want to eat it's own tin. My latest tin has only been open about a month but it's starting to go manky. It's not good stuff to try to keep for any length of time.

Last thing for today. Seatbelt anchorage points. Only a little job but of course when I offered them up the holes didn't line up properly and the captive bolts are too long. A quick bend of the tab on the chassis and an application of angle grinder to the bolts and we're away.
I'm trying to always have something covering steel surfaces where they go up against aluminium. Tried all sorts. Nylon washers, thin plastic sheet cut to size, sheet rubber and even bits of old inner tube. Now i'm trying this self adhesive neoprene foam. It stays in place and just squishes down. I think it should work.

Love your attention to detail. I couldn’t leave a cracked weld either .…….better check mine now, just in case . Great work again

Progress is progress

I tried solid rubber sheet between the rear crossmember tags and bodywork as I’d noticed the holes in the tub had eroded into raggy holes.
When I replaced the crossmember (for the second time) the holes had got worse with the usual white powder of death.
Seems it was the stainless bolts causing the issue. Should have stuck with galvanised.

GSF 109 said:

Love your attention to detail. I couldn’t leave a cracked weld either .…….better check mine now, just in case . Great work again

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I hate his attention to detail. Makes me all on edge and fidgety
You want to see the state of mine
Having said that I’ve just returned from Hebden Bridge. About a 50 mile round trip. No issues

Bobsticle said:

Progress is progress

I tried solid rubber sheet between the rear crossmember tags and bodywork as I’d noticed the holes in the tub had eroded into raggy holes.
When I replaced the crossmember (for the second time) the holes had got worse with the usual white powder of death.
Seems it was the stainless bolts causing the issue. Should have stuck with galvanised.

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That's interesting about the stainless bolts. I had used stainless nuts and bolts there but then decided to make some captive nut plates to make life easier in the future. When I was changing them over I decided to change to 8.8 galvanised. Glad I did now.

Bobsticle said:

I hate his attention to detail. Makes me all on edge and fidgety
You want to see the state of mine
Having said that I’ve just returned from Hebden Bridge. About a 50 mile round trip. No issues

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On one hand I enjoy the fiddly detail but on the other it is a massive pain in the arse and holds me up. It's an issue I have in life generally and it's a bit of a mental battle I have with myself. It can stop you getting anything done and even when you do get it done the perfectionist side is never happy so everything is disappointing. Many people are very kindly complimenting me on this build but at heart i'm deeply dissatisfied with it as I know where all the imperfections are. In everything I do now i'm trying to find a level that is as good as I can reasonably get it without going over the top. Good enough is the goal. I wish I was out enjoying it really. Mad isn't it?

LincolnSteve said:

On one hand I enjoy the fiddly detail but on the other it is a massive pain in the arse and holds me up. It's an issue I have in life generally and it's a bit of a mental battle I have with myself. It can stop you getting anything done and even when you do get it done the perfectionist side is never happy so everything is disappointing. Many people are very kindly complimenting me on this build but at heart i'm deeply dissatisfied with it as I know where all the imperfections are. In everything I do now i'm trying to find a level that is as good as I can reasonably get it without going over the top. Good enough is the goal. I wish I was out enjoying it really. Mad isn't it?

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I’m the same. We only see the bad bits but nobody else will even notice them.

LincolnSteve said:

On one hand I enjoy the fiddly detail but on the other it is a massive pain in the arse and holds me up. It's an issue I have in life generally and it's a bit of a mental battle I have with myself. It can stop you getting anything done and even when you do get it done the perfectionist side is never happy so everything is disappointing. Many people are very kindly complimenting me on this build but at heart i'm deeply dissatisfied with it as I know where all the imperfections are. In everything I do now i'm trying to find a level that is as good as I can reasonably get it without going over the top. Good enough is the goal. I wish I was out enjoying it really. Mad isn't it?

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Same here. I renovated an entire house and people told me it looked great, but all I could see were a couple of ripples in the plaster, a tiny scratch on a kitchen unit and a bathroom tile that wasn't spaced correctly (plus the patio slabs that weren't quite in line with the house). In the end I just accepted that getting a perfect finish would probably leave me more worried about damaging things in the future (and eventually moved house!).

Certainly a Land Rover was never intended to be perfectly straight and blemish-free, and honestly I think they look better for them. There is a certain satisfaction in fixing every little thing to some degree or other though. I'm gradually working my way through pretty much every component part on my rebuild, and judging by the time it's taking there's probably a healthy compromise to be had!

I really wanted a landy that had gently aged and had that patina that everyone is always on about. Soon became apparent that mine was going to need some bodywork doing that would have left it like a patchwork of patina and new bits so now it's all got to be sorted. I'll probably get mine finished and then see a lovely patina one for sale and it will all start again.

I'm also tiling the kitchen at the moment but with that i've managed to accept that good enough by eye will do and just because I know it's on the wonk here and there it won't matter. I've even managed to talk myself into a slightly short tile right behind the taps under the window sill because it will even out the others round the window and look better overall. Quite proud of myself. Pathetic isn't it?

I take it your suffering the same technical issue I seem to be encountering.

It’s ruddy freezing

The nearest I’ve got to doing anything is ordering headlights. They seem to have been held up in Christmas post. I do get to my little heated shed on occasion. This none stop rain ain’t helping either.

I'm getting absolutely nowhere at the moment. Every Friday I think to myself that i'll get such and such done this weekend. Then Mrs LincolnSteve comes along and says 'Don't forget we need to do this and this and this and be here and there and everywhere'. Then LincolnSteve junior needs his time so that generally leaves me about 2 hours to myself. But then it's raining. I'm not too bothered by the cold this year. Christine is a volunteer at a charity shop in town for a few hours each week and found a brand new pair of Dickies thermal overalls. Cost about a tenner. They are bright red though so can probably understand why the original owner got rid.

LincolnSteve said:

I'm getting absolutely nowhere at the moment. Every Friday I think to myself that i'll get such and such done this weekend. Then Mrs LincolnSteve comes along and says 'Don't forget we need to do this and this and this and be here and there and everywhere'. Then LincolnSteve junior needs his time so that generally leaves me about 2 hours to myself. But then it's raining. I'm not too bothered by the cold this year. Christine is a volunteer at a charity shop in town for a few hours each week and found a brand new pair of Dickies thermal overalls. Cost about a tenner. They are bright red though so can probably understand why the original owner got rid.

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So the old blue boiler suit will go over the top yeah ?

Dippypud said:

So the old blue boiler suit will go over the top yeah ?

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The red ones are plenty thick enough really. Any more layers on top and i'd be like a Michelin man. If I ever fall over while wearing them i'll just have to lay on the drive until somebody comes along to help me get up. Like a turtle stuck on it's back.

Just been nibbling away at the outskirts of the job again. Got the first coat of smooth hammerite satin on the underside if the seatbox.

A word of caution to my many fellow puraflex 40 users. It doesn't like hammerite. This hasn't happened before so I don't know what's different now. Temperature maybe? Primed over it with hammerite special metals primer, all ok. Put the black on the top and this happens.
Goes all sticky and horrible. Can't strip it out of all the joints (make that can't be arsed to strip it out of all the joints) so I just bunged aerosol etch primer over the top.
This didn't work terribly well.

So I lathered a load more over the top. I'm such a craftsman! It's the underneath, she'll be reet.

These things got the treatment next.

That's a bit over-patinated for my taste. This is about my level really. Scratch a bit of rust off, chase the threads back into order and get some paint back on. I really fancy getting a little setup for home electroplating. Any nut's or bolt heads are going to lose their paint as soon as you put a spanner on them and I think plated looks smart. But for the time being it's paint and an oily rag for the other bits.

They look fairly handsome when they are back on.
I soon realised though that swinging around loose like that they were sure to chip my pretty paint so some precautionary measures were implemented.

LincolnSteve said:

A word of caution to my many fellow puraflex 40 users. It doesn't like hammerite. This hasn't happened before so I don't know what's different now. Temperature maybe?

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Is it the same tube of puraflex 40 as you've used previously? Several of these pu sealants have recently (within last year or so?) changed from solvent based to solvent free (water based). In my experience the new formula is not as good, but still sold in exactly the same packaging.

tom-bex said:

Is it the same tube of puraflex 40 as you've used previously? Several of these pu sealants have recently (within last year or so?) changed from solvent based to solvent free (water based). In my experience the new formula is not as good, but still sold in exactly the same packaging.

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That's interesting to know. As it goes this is still the same old tube but i'll watch out for that in the future.