Land Rover 110 Station Wagon
[Code name: Dennis]
Week beginning Monday 10th Sept
Following a very successful cylinder head transplant [the old one was beyond repair] and test run, the Landy [Dennis] performed so well that rather than just do enough to get an MOT and then put it on the road, maybe there was enough life left in all the components to warrant a more comprehensive and complete restoration. Assessing the state of things [using the old large screwdriver and hammer technique] showed the chassis was really quite sound; two small repairs needed to the ends of the front outriggers, a new gearbox cross member, a new cross member beneath the rear passenger foot well and some slight welding to the rear most cross member. The body, although looking a bit sad, was also basically sound. Some significant repairs to the usual areas of bulkhead, front foot well floors, windscreen tie down bolt securing brackets and all four door bottoms were all that was necessary to make the whole body sound once again. The opportunity will doubtless be taken to straighten out some of Dennis's battle scars on the rear tub and roof. So the cost of bits to put all the strength back into the body is around £27 for the gearbox chassis cross member, £40 for the rear passenger foot well chassis cross member and £45 for four door bottom repair rails. As the initial assessment showed Dennis to be in a much better state than expected, it quickly became clear that a full body off restoration with chassis grit blast and paint would be rewarded at the end with a very solid vehicle with many years service ahead. And so the work commenced.
Week beginning Monday 17th Sept
Do not underestimate the quantity of nuts, bolts and screws needing to be undone in order to remove the whole dashboard assembly. It took about two days to finally get everything out and fully expose the areas needing welding. As always there ends up being more work than the initial estimate and in this case both ends of the bulkhead beneath the dashboard were found to be rotten. But with the dash out it wasn't long before the rusty areas were cut out and a start made on putting new metal in.
Total hours spent up to 3rd March = 168.
Week beginning Monday 24th Sept
With the dashboard out work started on the nearside of the bulkhead with new metal replacing the rusty stuff. As expected the door hinge posts were also showing signs of tin worm so parts were cut out and patches welded in to restore strength. The process was repeated on the offside but this area needed less metalwork replacing.
Week beginning Monday 1st Oct 2007
The nearside front foot well floor [bulkhead section] was is a very poor state, largely caused by water leaking from the holed bulkhead above, and needed completely cutting out and renewing. I have been advised that a complete repair panel is not available for the 110 [only for a Series L.R.] so decided to make up part repair panels. Although the offside was no where near as bad, whilst the vehicle was stripped this far down it makes sense to repair that side as well. The floor was cut out about 3cm below the double skinned vertical fold and just inside of the flanges holding it to the gearbox tunnel and 'A' panel. The inside double skin was then cut on the line of the fold, taking care not to cut through the outer skin beneath and spot welds drilled out from the remains of the side flanges. Unfortunately most of the side flanges were too far gone and so were cut off and repair inserts made and spot/seam welded into place. Then a new outer floor was made to fit and attached by a combination of plug and seam welding, with the 3cm length of remaining floor forming an overlap joint for added strength. With the outer skin in place a new inner skin was made up to span from the vertical fold in the bulkhead to the horizontal floor. To add strength to the floor, this skin was made approx 2cm longer so it now has an additional horizontal fold at it's junction with the floor section. Both front foot well floors have now been welded in place and the joints seam sealed to prevent water ingress, so it's on to repairing the areas which mount the windscreen clamping screws.
Week beginning Monday 8th Oct 2007
To repair the corroded areas where the windscreen clamps are mounted to the bulkhead required the windscreen frame to be hinged forward to get to the rubber seal so it could be unglued from the bulkhead and stop it catching fire during welding. This is not a simple task as the roof has to be raised almost 5cm in order to get enough clearance. To unfasten the bolts holding the roof on necessitated removing the whole head lining. Then with all the bolts removed, and there were lots [except for those over the rear door], the roof could be pushed up from inside the vehicle and wedged with wooden blocks on the door pillars. It was then just a simple job of slackening the windscreen clamps and hinging the screen forward. With the screen out of the way the full horror of rot could be clearly seen. Worse than expected, as the nearside rot extended beyond the immediate area and into the windscreen seal seating area. With the offending rust cut back to sound metal a repair panel was made up and, after cleaning the internal area of loose rust and a coat of weld through primer, the panel was fillet welded into place and then seam sealed. Using the existing mounting holes as templates it was a simple job to drill through the repaired inner panel and then bolt up the first windscreen hinge in readiness for tackling the off side. It was at this stage where the possible source of the rot became a bit clearer. The windscreen mounting hinges have a gasket between them and the bulkhead, but, close examination reveals that unless the hinge is raised to its maximum position in the mounting hole, the gasket will not completely seal the mounting hole, at its top, from the outside weather. This will result in a small amount of water getting into the bulkhead via the hinge top mounting hole each time it rains. Certainly when this area is finally bolted up I will be giving its water sealing a thorough check. With both sides repaired all the bulkhead repairs are now complete and it is back to full strength. So it was time to re-bolt the roof, gearbox tunnel and floor plates into place to maximise the whole body tub strength, in readiness for the next phase. Lifting the body off the chassis!
Week beginning Monday 15th Oct 2007
To lift the body required a bit of thought and some serious pre-planning. So after looking at the mounting arrangements I decided to make a lifting bar, the width of the bulkhead mountings, then suspend this from an engine hoist with it's hook positioned over the gearbox within the vehicle. Short strops and shackles connected the bar and 'A' pillar bulkhead mountings. In this way the front of the body could be lifted centrally and under complete control. Arrangements for lifting the body at the rear were not so easy but a combination of trolley jack, axle stands and spacer blocks to raise it a bit at a time, blocking after each lift by placing packing pieces on the chassis, seemed the reasonably safe and sensible. With much bolt, cable and pipe undoing, most things freeing off without too much difficulty, it became clear that more storage jars for the nuts, bolts and miscellaneous bits would be necessary. Naturally I forgot to undo some bolts - the 4 in the centre of the vehicle beneath the front seat mountings but with these out of the way a trial lift at each corner showed that all was free and ready for 'The Off'. Lifting wasn't much of a problem really but I was surprised how far the body had to go up in order to make enough space to wheel the chassis out from under it. [4 bricks high in fact]. The lifting was done in four stages; Front lifted a few centimetres off the bulkhead mountings to allow the body to be free at the front. Then incrementally jack up the rear, working side to side to keep it reasonably level and position a staging across the top of the chassis resting it on two 'A' frames positioned either side of the vehicle. Then lift the front body high enough to allow a second staging and pair of 'A' frames to take the weight of the bulkhead mountings and so the chassis could be wheeled out from under. Easy really!!!!
So far the project has consumed 82 man hours, £76 in engine service items and £58 in replacement parts.
And so on to stripping the chassis ready for grit blasting, repairs and painting.
shock absorbers and suspension bolt kits. So the total now stands at almost £400.
Weeks beginning Monday 22nd Oct 29th Oct and 5th Nov 2007
The last three weeks have concentrated on removing all fittings from the chassis; engine and gearbox, brake and fuel pipes, fuel tank, steering box etc, tie rods, rear 'A' frame and mountings, shocks, springs and axles. All very time consuming and needing much use of penetrating oil and gas torch. With the chassis stripped it gave the first opportunity to give the whole unit a good sounding out with a cold chisel and hammer to establish those areas needing repair but which were not visually obvious. The repairs needed amount to: Rear cross member ends [nearside is worse than offside], main chassis rail behind gearbox cross member [water had got behind the cross member on one side] and two areas at the ends of the front side outriggers. Work has started on the worst area [nearside of rear cross member] and the rusty stuff has been removed and repair section made from 2mm sheet. Also the nearside front outrigger and main chassis rail behind the gearbox cross member flange have been treated to removal of the thinned areas and new metal welded in place. Work on the vehicle has had to slow a little due to other commitments but the current goal is to get the chassis fully repaired, strengthened and improved [i.e. water/mud traps sealed or improved] ready for grit blasting early December.
Weeks from 6th Nov 2007 to 3rd March 2008
Since the last report in November 2007 the pace of restoration has slowed considerably [but not stopped] due to other commitments and only 50 hours have been spent on the vehicle in the last 4 months. However, during this period there has been noticeable progress; weld repairs of the chassis have been completed, the chassis has been grit blasted and painted and most of the suspension components have been grit blasted or wire brushed and primed.
Chassis welding entailed repairs to both rear cross member outriggers, repair and strengthening of the two front outriggers and repair of the main chassis rail behind the gearbox cross member offside mounting plate. This last item was interesting in that the nearside main rail was totally intact with original paint still firmly attached but the offside had rotted through needing a section 100mm square cutting out and replacing with new metal. The reason for this difference in longevity was due to the fact the gearbox cross member mounting plate on the offside had a slight bow in the top edge, thereby allowing water to trickle behind it, become trapped and resulting in progressive corrosion in an area totally hidden from view. When the cross member is refitted I will be sealing around the mounting plates to prevent future water ingress.
With chassis weld repairs complete it was time for a thorough going over with a chipping hammer to remove the worst of the rust and make one last check for any more thinned areas. At this stage I took the opportunity to eliminate some of the dirt traps inherent in the Landrover chassis design. To this end the rear cross members now have their outer ends closed with a welded plate and their inner ends have the strengthening flange extended beyond the jacking point right up to the main chassis rail, leaving just a breather and drain hole in each side. The front outriggers have also had their outer ends sealed along with the attachment flange openings at the base of the join with the main chassis rail. I will be making a removable plate to fill the cut-outs in the bottoms of the outriggers to prevent dirt and water ingress from below. Again breather and drain holes have been left in each outrigger. All the duplicate hole drillings in the main chassis rails [i.e. for LHD brake and fuel lines etc] have also been welded up.
It was then time [2 months later than originally planned] for grit blasting; £80 very well spent. The work was done one morning and the chassis returned home that same afternoon looking absolutely splendid in an even grey sort of way. By 9 o'clock that evening I had applied a coat of cold galvanising paint and after a couple of days to dry off it then had two coats of smoothrite.
Time has also been spent cleaning suspension bits and pieces with the rotary wire brush and in the grit blast cabinet and to date all have now been completed and a coat of cold galvanising paint applied ready for a nice shiny coat of black smoothrite.
Expenditure has increased since Nov with £45 for paint, £80 for grit blasting, £140 for Poly bush kit/4
Land Rover 110 Station Wagon [Part 2]
[Code name: Dennis]
Period 4th March 2008 to 17th March 2008
At last!! refitting components back onto the chassis has begun. It feels really good to start assembling things into something which begins to resemble a Landrover once more.
All the rear suspension radius arms, 'A' bars and new shock absorbers have had their Metalastik bushes pressed out and replaced with Poly bushes. Pressing out the old ones caused a few problems. When pushing out the bushes from the 'A' bars [the largest diameter ones on the rear suspension] the 30 tonne press was at its maximum and still they didn't move. So a bit of gentle heat and a robust tap with a hammer and the whole press shook when suddenly the bush freed off. If that method hadn't worked then the old trick of burning out the rubber and slitting the metal bush to collapse it would have moved them.
But with all the bits now cleaned, painted, ball joints overhauled and bushes rebushed, assembly restarted.
The springs were attached to the axle and it was wheeled under the chassis. At this stage I have only cleaned and painted the axle between the rear hub back plates and will wait until all is bolted in before starting to overhaul the hubs and axle proper. Next I fitted the tie rods/radius arms. Getting the poly bushes to fit between the radius arm mountings on the axle was a tremendous struggle. I was almost convinced the poly bushes were too long but eventually managed to get things in place with the help of some thin shim plate, grease, much sweat and strong language guiding the bush into place. Fitting the tie bars to the chassis mountings wasn't possible with the chassis up so high on the springs [i.e. no weight on the chassis to compress them] so I supported the chassis from a lifting beam, removed the springs and lowered the chassis to get the tie rods horizontal and correctly aligned with the chassis mountings. It was then an easy matter to position them, bolt them up, lift the chassis and refit the springs.
Refitting the self-levelling unit also proved to be something needing to be done in a specific sequence. First thread the top ball joint mounting bolts through the flange. This can only be done by manoeuvring the ball joint to allow the bolt heads to pass [hence cannot be done with the unit in place against the chassis]. Then align the unit with the top mountings and push the long bolts right through the chassis to hold it approximately in place. With this done the bottom ball joint can now be aligned with the mounting on the axle and the taper bolt introduced through the mounting plate and secured. On this model the self levelling unit has a large reservoir attached. This must hang down below the unit and a not so sophisticated strap must be attached around the unit and to the chassis to prevent the whole thing rotating in the ball joints and the reservoir hitting the chassis.
Next the new rear passenger foot well floor support chassis cross member was fitted and the grit blasted and painted mounting brackets bolted back into place, making sure [with a long straight edge] that the welded mountings and bolted mountings all aligned across the chassis.
And so it was done; the rear suspension assembled. So continuing my theme of rust prevention I've taken the opportunity to rust proof the internals of the three rear most chassis cross members along with the box sections of the new bolt on cross member. All of these have easily accessible access holes [with the body off] and have now benefited from a good internal spray coating of Bilt Hamber Dynax rust proofing solution. After 24 hrs the top access holes will be sealed with rubber plugs, leaving just the bottom most holes open as drainage.
Total man-hours to date 199 hrs
Expenditure since last report £78 for Bilt Hamber rust proofing materials and Etch Primer paint. The total now stands at almost £478.
LANDROVER 110 County - [Code name: Dennis]
Period 18th March 2008 to 7th April 2008
Progress over the last three weeks has been slow but steady. The front axle has been cleaned off, scraped, rotary wire brushed then pencil rotary brushed in those 'difficult to get at' areas. This was followed by a coat of Galvafroid cold galvanizing paint prior to two coats of black Smoothrite. Again, overhaul of the wheel bearings, brakes and swivels etc is being left until the axle is bolted back on the chassis.
Next the front tie rods were fitted to the axle using new Polybushes and bolts, then with the front of the chassis lifted up on the workshop hoist the axle was rolled into place, the spring support plates bolted on and new shock absorders fitted through the springs. Bolting the shock absorber turrets and positioning the shocks [with their new Polybushes] seamed easy enough, until I tried to fit the shock absorber top nuts. No way were the Polybushes going to compress enough to enable the nut to be started on the thread. Closer inspection revealed the new top mounting washers [supplied with the shocks] had a slightly larger centre upstand than the receiving hole in the turret. So that the washers would only sit on the mounting hole in the turret rather than recess into it. Off with both turrets again and the holes opened out a few thou so the washers dropped into place and the whole lot bolted up again. Success this time! I'm not sure whether the repro turrets have been made with a slightly too small a hole or the shock absorbers [Armstrong] have been supplied with top mounting washers with a slightly too larger upstand. I couldn't check them against the originals since they were long gone to the scrap bin.
With the chassis back on it's wheels it was time to think about refitting the engine/gearbox assembly. The intention is to refit the 19J & LT77 units and get the whole vehicle up and running, then start to look for a 200 or 300 TDI replacement engine with/without gearbox. [So if there is anyone out there with one of these units going spare do get in touch via the web site email address.] Whilst the engine/gearbox unit was out of the vehicle it made sense to check the clutch. Stripping out the starter motor revealed a horrible smell of burnt clutch lining coming from the flywheel housing, so things didn't seem too good at this stage. However, removing the gearbox revealed a pristine/new clutch cover plate, driven plate and release bearing, all looking as though they'd just come out of the box and there was no sign of wear or damage, or engine/gearbox oil leakage. Additionally the clutch release arm was also brand new, still gleaming bright with no signs of the remains of burnt clutch on it. I can only think the clutch was replaced by a garage just a few weeks prior the the previous owner selling the vehicle. I say garage because whilst they renewed the old clutch components they totally failed to clean any of the remains of the old clutch dust from the bell housing, it was still covered in masses of burnt lining material. This has now been rectified.
Next will be stripping each wheel hub/drive/brake assembly to assess/order parts required, then renewing the engine core plugs, refitting the fuel tank, exhaust, steering box etc.
Total man-hours to date 214 hrs
Expenditure since last report £3.53 for a set of engine block core plugs so the total now stands at almost £482.
LANDROVER 110 County - [Code name: Dennis]
Period 7th April 2008 to 26th July 2008
Since the last report only 46 hours have been spent on completing the chassis. Somehow other things just got in the way.
All four wheel hubs have now been overhauled. At the front new top pivot pins/bushes, track rod ends then all new oil seals and gaskets were fitted. CV joints and wheel bearings were found to be in good condition so were just cleaned lubricated and refitted. The rear hubs told a mostly similar story except the rear brake shoes had been incorrectly fitted at some time.
This resulted in one brake doing much more work than the other. Reassembly showed how easy it was to get it wrong! It is necessary to exercise extreme caution when reassembling the rear shoes as they might look similar but believe me the two shoes in each drum are different and must be put in their correct places to enable the adjuster to work correctly.
Both prop shafts were cleaned and all joints found to be OK so were just cleaned, painted and refitted but not before a new set of handbrake shoes had been fitted.
Removing the fan and water pump allowed access for the timing belt to be renewed. Once the crankshaft pulley was removed [using a bit of gentle heat and a big spanner to break the Loctite stiction] renewal of the belt was a simple job. The opportunity was taken to clean the engine of accumulated crud then paint the cylinder block and gearbox and buff up the alloy. With things cleaned the core plugs were knocked out using the sharp screwdriver method and that revealed loads of sludge. About 2" of it in the base of the block. This was hosed out and assisted in the hard to reach places with a few flexible tools; so the cooling system should be spick and span for a few more years.
Not much to do on the power steering front except clean up and paint all the bits. I'm a bit concerned at seeing one or two dents in the power steering pump casing and signs of jointing compound around the back of it but have decided to wait and see if it all works before deciding if a new unit is required. The pump looks to be crimped together so any DIY overhaul could be a bit of a problem!
All of the exhaust system was cleaned, the only bit needing repair being the rear of the rearmost silencer. A coat of heat proof aluminium paint and it looks almost like new.
Periferals like fuel and brake lines have been refitted. All the brake lines have been renewed using cupro-nickle tubing and new flexible hoses fitted as a matter of course.
The chassis is now complete and awaits body restoration before the two can be reunited. Watch this space!
Total man-hours to date 260 hrs
Expenditure since last report Difflock gearlever gaiter [£6,] Handbrake shoes [£20], Two Tyres [£129] and 10 Litres of cellulose Conniston Green Gloss paint [£215]. The total now stands at almost £852.
LANDROVER 110 County - [Code name: Dennis]
Period 26th July to 1 Sept 2008
With chassis complete it has been all hands to the bodywork and inparticular the underside. The starting point was removal of seat and seat-belt mountings and things like fuel filler etc, in order to expose the bare bones of the panelwork. At first glance there were not too many problems but delve deeper and 'ye shall find'.
The rear load space floor is supported by 6 steel cross-members which are pop riveted to small alloy channel sections [running front to back] and also riveted to the base of the vertical inner wheelarches.
A case of dissimilar metal corrosion had taken place which has resulted in the pop rivets disintegrating and causing corrosion of the small alloy channel sections. [See picture] This was hidden by the steel cross-members and only revealed in all its glory when the cross-members were removed. To overcome the problem and put some strength back in the floor I made new alloy channel sections which slipped over the originals. When in place these only take the vertical weight of the floor directly onto the cross members so no additional fixings [other than a precautionary pop rivet] were needed as the cross-members hold them in place.
Each steel cross member was taken off [in turn] cleaned back to bare metal, cold galvanise painted and sprayed the new colour, Conniston Green. The difficulty with this job was changing the way the body was supported to enable access to each cross member and channel section.for removal. If you do this at home do be very careful and make sure there is always some backup supporting structure beneath the body, just incase you get it wrong or the wind decides to blow things around a bit. We had a few gales around during this phase of the work - just to make things interesting! With the cross-members back in place I decided to put additional strength in the floor by bolting right through the floor/alloy channels and steel cross members. This has given the load compartment floor significant additional rigidity and does away with all the panel to panel pop rivets.
With all the load compartment floor supporting structure refurbished, attention turned to the rear passenger floor. Again, a quite serious case of dissimilar metal corrosion was discovered. This time at the join between the body mounting points on the vertical sections of the rear floor. Repairs were effected by cleaning off the original moth-eaten areas prior to cleaning and painting. Then repair panels were made to sandwich the areas where metal had rotted away. In all cases the repair was secured by the normal Landrover method of 4.8mm pop rivets and in this case all the edges of the repairs were sealed with body sealant prior to spraying. Where ever bare aluminium had been exposed an etch primer was used as the base coat to primer and top coat. It's the first time I've used this etch paint coating and judging by the apparent degree of adhesion, I might be using it more often in the future.
The rear passenger floor didn't put up any more problems other than having to destroy the securing screws and clips to get it out. This has now had the clean and paint treatment and been refitted with fresh sealing tape applied to the edges in order to try and give some degree of water tightness to the floor. [Having seen how many mechanical joints there are in the whole floor pan, it'll be a miracle if it's ever anywhere near waterproof.] 10mm set screws were used, rather than the self taping screws, to refit the floor into position.
I decided to remove the driver and passenger seat box/cross-member assembly, rather than try to clean and paint in-situ. This has now provided extremely good access to the side rails of the body [below the door openings] and I have decided to wait until the body is bolted back on the chassis before doing anything with the side rails.
Wherever possible I've replaced the pop rivets which have been drilled out with 10mm set screws. And, in order to try and reduce future dissimilar metal corrosion, each bolt has been sleeved with insulation tape and plastic washers used at both ends to try and electrically isolate the steel bolts from the alloy body panels. Additionally, plastic insulating gaskets [building DPC] have been fabricated and fitted to all joints between alloy and steel, in an attempt to reduce future dissimilar metal corrosion in these areas.
I've started to plan refitting the body onto the chassis and after a few careful measurements am a little concerned at whether there is enough clearance for the bolt heads which are replacing pop rivets. I'll let you know the outcome.
The front bulkhead [engine and interior sides] has been cleaned, degreased and painted so things are looking good to try and refit the body to the chassis in the not too distant future.
Total man-hours to date 319 hrs
Expenditure since last report " tubes of body sealant [£14.08] and some 10 mm nuts, bolts and washers to replenish stocks. So the total now stands at around £866.
LANDROVER 110 County - [Code name: Dennis]
Period 2nd Sept 2008 to 25th Oct 2008
Refitting the body. Ah yes that would be the easy job then! Well not too difficult actually. With the body still supported on the 'A' frames and cross boards it was a case of raising the whole thing sufficiently to allow the rolling chassis to be wheeled underneath.
Lifting was accomplished much more easily than when the body was removed, largely because the fuel tank was not in position; this enabled a more central lift at the rear. As can be seen from the pictures the special lifting beam made for body removal was once again attached by short strops to the body rails [after removing the front doors], just to the rear of the front body mountings below the door pillars.
With the engine crane attached centrally to the lifting beam and the crane jib positioned through a front door aperture it was a simple task to lift the front of the body using the crane and reposition the cross boards to allow the body to rest at the higher level on something positive, whilst the rear was elevated to the same height.
Raising the rear was achieved by placing a large trolley jack centrally beneath the area vacated by the fuel tank. Then with an axle stand and a large board on top of the jack it was jacked up gradually with a helping hand from two colleagues, just steadying and preventing any unwanted sideways movement.. With everything up at the correct height the lifting crane again took the weight of the front of the body whilst the cross boards were removed and the chassis rolled into place.
Lowering the body and aligning it to all its mountings went easily and without any problems. I had thought that after so much work and lifting, that things might not have lined up too well but aligning all the mounting bolts proved a simple job.
All too easy I thought as the body was lowered into position; and I was right!!
Instead of using the original short self tapping screws to refit the rear passenger floor I had dispensed with them and their rusty spring clip thread in favour of 10mm set screws and nuts. Unfortunately two of the bolt heads coincided with two of the heads of bolts holding the new chassis cross member in place. So it was up with the body, remove the cross member then recess and weld a nut into the cross member to eliminate the interference. Refit the cross member and lower the body once again.
Then 'Presto', the body was down, aligned and ready to be bolted in place.
With all of that done it was time to wheel the whole vehicle into the garage. But what I hadn't bargained for was it being 100mm too high to go through the door. Never mind - the roof needed to come off anyway, so with that done and the vehicle in the garage out of the weather for the first time, work could now start on the rear body tub.
The panel beside the rear door had seen a hard life so removal and replacement with a new one was the only sensible thing to do. The nearside window section above the rear tub was likewise removed along with both nearside doors. The main reason for all of this dismantling was the need to remove the whole side door frame assembly for repair. Drilling out the pop rivets holding the small triangular cover panel in front of the rear wheel arch, rear wing top strengtheners and rear seat mounting bracket in place allowed them to be removed and access to unbolt and remove the side frame. With some minor weld repair of the frame all was ready for rubbing down and preparation for spraying.
Total man-hours to date 336 hrs
Expenditure since last report £0.00 So the total remains at £866.
LANDROVER 110 County - [Code name: Dennis]
Period 26th Oct 2008 to 1st Feb 2009
As usual progress has not been as rapid as I would have liked, largely attributable to the cold weather and 'other things' getting in the way. But none the less as can be seen from the pictures Dennis has started to look like a Landrover once again.
With the nearside door/sill frame repaired and prepared for painting, along with the remainder of the bulkhead and nearside rear wing, it was time to spray. Approx 6 coats of cellulose on the bulkhead and door/sill frame and then 2 on the rear wing. At this time the rear wing has been panel beaten straight, lightly skimmed with filler at the rear corner, sanded and primed, so the top coat, at this stage, is just to keep the moisture out of the primer until its time to spray the whole side in one go.
With the bulkhead suitably top coated the lonely business of sorting out, refurbishing and refitting all the bits got started. Brake and clutch master cylinders were checked and found to be leak free so were cleaned and refitted along with a cleaned out, flushed and resprayed heater box.
The steering column was a bit of a puzzler. The bracket which secures it where it passes through the bulkhead has 6 mounting holes but the corresponding area of bulkhead has only two. Drilling 4 extra holes and securing it with 6 bolts has made the steering column a very secure fit. However, one of the new bolts had to be recessed into the rear of the air distribution box at the base of the dashboard, as otherwise it protrudes just too far to allow the box to sit flat with the dash.
Wiper mechanism and motor, air vents and seals were fitted prior to tackling the dashboard. Ah yes the dashboard!!; a jigsaw puzzle if ever I saw one. My advice is take your time and don't be tempted to fit the dashboard top [with bit with the windscreen demister vents] until the very last. I pity the poor chaps on the production line who had to assemble these things day after day.
But the dash is complete now complete and the pedal boxes installed all ready for the next step - repair, spray and fit the nearside doors.
Re-assembling the bulkhead caused me to ponder why all Landrovers rot at specific points on this item. They all seem to rot from the inside out. Water must be getting inside the panels and looking around its not hard to see why. The area around the top door hinge is a notorius rot spot. There seems to be a couple of potential water entry points; [1] under the windscreen hinges, as the gaskets are not big or thick enough to cover the mounting holes and [2] through the the holes where the top wing mounting plates are secured to the bulkhead [there is an elongated hole which is in just the right position to capture all the water draining off the gutter at the base of the windscreen]. Another major rot area is the double skinned footwells. Its difficult to see how water gets between the skins but I've assumed it gets past some of the bolts securing things like pedal boxes and floor to chassis mounting brackets. All of these areas have been addressed by ensuring they are adequately sealed with seam sealer during assembly. So hopefully no more rot!!
Total man-hours to date 435 hrs
Expenditure since last report £0.00 So the total remains at £866.
Below is the 15th report of the Landrover 110 County rebuild.
LANDROVER 110 County - [Code name: Dennis]
Period 1st Feb to 3rd March 2009
So it's on with the door and front wing repairs.
Stripping the nearside front door gave me a good idea of how bad all four are likely to be. And the answer is 'they couldn't be much worse. The window channels and horizontal weather strip are all past their prime and, as expected, the door frame bottom rail is completely rotten.
Once the glass and winder mechanism was out of the way it didn't take much effort to bend back the alloy door skin to reveal the rotten frame. Cutting out the bulk of it was straight forward as the metal was almost non existent and the ends just needed careful teasing with a die grinder to eliminate the remaining rusty bits. The bottom ends of the vertical frame sections were repaired using the off cut of the new bottom repair rail, then the bottom rail was welded to these and the door skin crimped back over the bottom edge.
After that I decided garage space had become a premium commodity and so it was time to get some big bits cleaned, painted and refitted. So, nearside front door, front seat box, front floor plates and gearbox tunnel covers have all been derusted, primed and had two coats of gloss. The door has been refitted and other items are next.
The front wing was next inline and the alloy outer was separated from the steel inner, both have been cleaned, primed and are ready for top coat. The galvanizing on the inner wing has suffered so I'll just apply a coat of cold galvanising and then a silver top coat to seal it.
Whilst waiting for the paint to dry I've cleaned and reconnected the wiring in the engine bay. An interesting take on multipin plugs from Mr Landrover. One male/female pair were as expected but the other two were interesting in as much as several individual plugs, ranging from single to 4 pin connectors, had to be fitted to a single multipin.
Total man-hours to date 481 hrs
Expenditure since last report is £63 on various stock supplies for welding, painting and filling along with nuts and bolts for wings and doors. So the total is now £929.
Below is the 16th report of the Landrover 110 County rebuild.
LANDROVER 110 County - [Code name: Dennis]
Period 3rd March to 8th July 2009
With the front floors and transmission tunnel covers primed, two passenger side doors and body door frame repaired, rear wing straightened and front wings/front panel having all had their dents panel beaten out it was time for a major rub down and spray session. I've only ever used cellulose so it was two top coats [wet on wet] then allow 24 hrs to dry before another rub down and two more wet on wet coats. This gave a surface suitable, after a 72 hour drying period, for lightly compounding with 'T' Cut on a powered mop and has resulted in an acceptable finish. Care was needed around pop rivets to avoid taking the paint off them and local hand compounding had to be used in these areas.The body door frame was bolted into place and then both doors refitted to the body before new window channels were secured into within the frames. The rear door went back together without a hitch but the front gave a few problems. The door handle [push button type] securing screws were both seized in the brass inserts within the handle and these twisted out when trying to remove them during strip down. Rather than buy a whole new door handle I tried Araldite and glued new brass nuts into the handle. It worked a treat. Not so lucky with the window winder mechanism though! The track, which is crimped onto the bottom of the glass, was so rusty it simply fell away in pieces as I removed the glass from the frame. I'll have to source a second-hand replacement. [On checking the other doors I now find the offside rear door window has a similar problem!]
Then it was in with the front seat support box assembly. Wherever I've found an alloy to steel interface [E.g. seat support box or floor panel to door frame] I've tried to electrically isolate one from the other using some form of barrier tape and in this case have used a 25mm x 2mm strip of self adhesive waterproof polymer foam tape. This has the added advantage of providing a compressible gasket to seal the panel joint and any irregularities and help provide some form of water barrier.
Front wing reassembly and fitting came next with panel sealing tape along the 'A' post joint. I tried to fit the wings with the inner wing already attached. This was OK for the offside but proved a little tricky with the nearside. The air intake for the engine air filter is via this wing and having previously fitted the heater assembly on the bulkhead, placing and securing the top two wing to 'A' post securing bolts was rather difficult and needed a number of 1/4 drive extensions, torches and patience.
After this things have begun to repeat themselves. The two offside doors were removed along with the body door frame. The frame was rotten in the same places as the other side so a similar repair of replacing the rusty metal and cladding the vulnerable areas with a second layer was performed, before derusting, spraying and refitting the frame.
Now it was time to repair the offside rear window panel and frame so the pop rivets were drilled and the window assembly removed, stripped and the channels and glass cleaned. Fortunately the felt channels were in good enough condition for reassembly. The window body panel then had its dents beaten out and sprayed to make it ready for reassembly. Don't underestimate how difficult it is to get the window frame and two glass pieces back together!!
This side of the vehicle had suffered a bit of a bash to the rear corner which damaged the steel corner post and alloy rear panel beyond repair. I removed both of theses in the early days of the restoration and having obtained new replacements, and sprayed them, were ready for refitting. The rear quarter panel is secured by a combination of pop rivets and spot welds but I had never tried spot welding aluminium before. Having taken some advice [which was that I needed a special pulsed spot welder] I gave it a trial run on a bit of scrap with my normal unit, pulsing each weld for half a second about 6 times. It seemed to work, the welds looked OK and were strong as well.
So armed with all these bits I positioned the rear panel and spot welded/pop riveted it in place. Using a thin strip of self amalgamating tape on the mating faces I pop riveted the wing top strengtheners in place and followed this with the window panel. Taking time to check alignments at each stage and during the pop riveting process proved the whole thing was relatively straight forward and I now have the nearside of the vehicle looking almost complete.
Total man-hours to date 705 hrs
Expenditure since last report is £105 on a full set of side, indicator, reverse and fog lights plus body sealant and a few consumables. So the total is now £1068.