Turrets and Tracks

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.
 
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 it's maximum position in the mounting hole, the gasket will not completely seal the mounting hole, at it's 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 it's 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 rebolt 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.

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.
 
Man hours spent to date are 112hrs.

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 crossmember 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 shock absorbers and suspension bolt kits. So the total now stands at almost £400.
 
Total  hours spent up to 3rd March = 168.