Series 3 Newly galvanized bulkhead

Hi folks,
I picked up my Bulkhead, radiator panel and sills from the galving people.
£115 complete. I thought the guy quoted me £150 plus vat.
Issues...A few spots look not done. probably the shot blasting.

Next...Where I had butt welded some panels together, they stand out where I had welded. These will be visible above the bonnet.
After the shotblasting they were smooth. The galvanize process must do something to it.
I think I will have to resort to a bit of filler to smooth it out a bit.

My intentions were to twash and hand coat epoxy primer before topcoat.
Any thoughts on the primer being thick enough to smooth out any slight imperfections to avoid filler?

I dont see any panel rippling at all so no complaint there.

cheere peter

catman275 said:

My intentions were to twash and hand coat epoxy primer before topcoat.

Click to expand...

T-wash / mordant wash is very old school. Modern way is to use an etch primer.

I used just an etch primer on my bulkhead 9 years on paint lifting stick with t-wash in my opinion wish I had.
You can get a very fine filling paste the name escapes me but I have a tube in garage.
This is the product
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-X-FINI...766994?hash=item2a90f78512:g:hUYAAOSwvflZTQg9

I had the same issue with the galvanising building up differently on the weld material but decided to just live with it.

I guess you could just keep adding coats of the epoxy until its thick enough to flat back. Epoxy shouldn't sink if you let each coat cure off. Or you could get the epoxy on and cured and use some high build primer in the areas of concern.

That seems like mine. After the welding and cleaning up, I gave them a couple of quick coats of primer and they looked good. After the shotblast I cold see the welds again but after galving they stand out like a sore thumb.
I'll get some pics up later. cheers all

My galv bulkhead was the same - looks like the welds weren't ground down where the top corner pieces were put in. Apparently galv sticks thicker to welded bits. I suppose it's just thick galv that could be ground back but I chose to live with mine on the mindset that thicker galv is better than thin galv as rubbing back could take it too far.

Any areas missed could be touched in with Zinga or Galvafroid before painting as a precaution.

That is what I should have said ...it looks like the welds were not ground down

Wimblowdriver said:

T-wash / mordant wash is very old school. Modern way is to use an etch primer.

Click to expand...

Old school is a good school. I used mordant on mine, followed by zinc 182 primer. Same issue with the welds, but I am not going for a concourse example so just left them alone.

Couple of pics of the weld areas. They were flush after welding and looked good with a couple of coats of primer

catman275 said:

Couple of pics of the weld areas. They were flush after welding and looked good with a couple of coats of primer

Click to expand...

Ok they are far worse than my weld were. Maybe a thin skim of filler to smooth out before priming. But it depends how straight you want it.

I think I will try a couple of (hidden) places with the air disc sander and gently reduce it.
If it it improves it good. If not then I will leave it, give it a t wash and hand brush epoxy primer.

To be honest I'd just live with that. Grind slightly too far and the galv is gone exposing the weld.

+1 don’t grind/sand it will remove the galv.
Skim of filler is safer

I have a lot of cleaning to do before I make any final decision. Holes to drill and tap etc and cleaning out dirt which is trapped in some places.
As I am refitting a kitchen as well it may take some time.

I'm guessing the following comment won't be very popular =>

I really don't get why everyone in the Land Rover world is so keen on galvanising everything - Land Rover didn't go to the extents "people do these days"

As you have gone down this route and have dodgy bits on the parts where you've been welding (which isn't a surprise from what I've read) then I reckon you're better off patching with Zinga

Personally I like Zinga between spot welded parts and not all over the place but hey ho

The other (often reported) aspect of hot galvanising sheet metal parts is that the process tends to cause warping. Look very carefully at the rest of the bulkhead there may be trouble ahead

(but whilst there's music and moonlight...)

Stretch said:

I'm guessing the following comment won't be very popular =>

I really don't get why everyone in the Land Rover world is so keen on galvanising everything - Land Rover didn't go to the extents "people do these days"

As you have gone down this route and have dodgy bits on the parts where you've been welding (which isn't a surprise from what I've read) then I reckon you're better off patching with Zinga

Personally I like Zinga between spot welded parts and not all over the place but hey ho

The other (often reported) aspect of hot galvanising sheet metal parts is that the process tends to cause warping. Look very carefully at the rest of the bulkhead there may be trouble ahead

(but whilst there's music and moonlight...)

Click to expand...

Land Rover used to galvanise a lot more, they abandoned it as a cost saving exercise.

Bulkheads warping is not usually a problem if you brace them with some strategically placed steels first, and remove after dipping.

Stretch said:

I'm guessing the following comment won't be very popular =>

I really don't get why everyone in the Land Rover world is so keen on galvanising everything - Land Rover didn't go to the extents "people do these days"

As you have gone down this route and have dodgy bits on the parts where you've been welding (which isn't a surprise from what I've read) then I reckon you're better off patching with Zinga

Personally I like Zinga between spot welded parts and not all over the place but hey ho

The other (often reported) aspect of hot galvanising sheet metal parts is that the process tends to cause warping. Look very carefully at the rest of the bulkhead there may be trouble ahead

(but whilst there's music and moonlight...)

Click to expand...

I think the main benefits are it's a mental antidote to the sometime horror of restoring a bulkhead and knowing it's not going to happen again in your lifetime (or the next) and that molten zinc blasting through all the cavities and hollow sections is something that can't be got to with blasting or conventional anti rust treatments. It's not expensive either.

I will say that the photographs look worse than the actual finish.
It must be the flash.
There are a few sharp spikes of zinc which do need filing down, but where I welded down the outsides of the footwell near the back of the engine I did not clean up the welds, and the zinc seems to have smoothed them down.

I had it braced with two pieces of angle welded together and that is still straight.
There is slight warping on the panels from the inside but that will be covered up by the lower dash.
I am happy with the £115 for the whole job, escpecially when I was thinking of £200.

Stretch said:

I'm guessing the following comment won't be very popular =>

I really don't get why everyone in the Land Rover world is so keen on galvanising everything - Land Rover didn't go to the extents "people do these days"

As you have gone down this route and have dodgy bits on the parts where you've been welding (which isn't a surprise from what I've read) then I reckon you're better off patching with Zinga

Personally I like Zinga between spot welded parts and not all over the place but hey ho

The other (often reported) aspect of hot galvanising sheet metal parts is that the process tends to cause warping. Look very carefully at the rest of the bulkhead there may be trouble ahead

(but whilst there's music and moonlight...)

Click to expand...

Exactly as @Turboman has said. Early series 1 had chassis and bulkhead and capping galvanised. Slowly over time led and less was, defenders didn’t even have the capping galvanised. I have slowly worked through getting nearly everything steel on both of mine galvanised. It doesn't cost any more than an equivalent paint job and is far easier to get into all the inaccessible parts.

The glav bulkhead on my series also has a couple of very gentle ripples on the inner panels but the exterior is fine and is a small price to pay for the protection gained. With suitable bracing I had no problems with the bottom brackets. I just need to find a decent bulkhead for the 110 and I will then be doing the same to that. But it is a more involved job than on a series!