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Land Rover resto - new project and Sandy p25


richardthestag

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With Passenger front corner done, that I thought was going to be easy. Tackling the drivers side just got me ruthless with the cutting disc. A plasma cutter might have been useful but I don't know how it would respond to rust and silicon

 

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Brace installed and measurements from sill to inside of roof noted

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That was why the drivers door dropped a lot on its hinge then :D

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Before

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After

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Sill, bulkhead side and footwell in two chunks, the rear sill body mount was connected to the rest of the sill with a wish and a prayer

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Getting good at this now so raced through inner sill and outer sill fitting confident that the repair panels were good.

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Then welded with the increasingly frustrating SIP Migmate 130 Turbo pile of shite

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Cut out remains of bulkhead side

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Trial fitted new bulkhead side, knowing that it was in the correct place because it was bolted up to the inner wing which is an awesome pattern part but fits perfectly. Dont be so confident with the black painted inner wings, they are cheap for good reason.

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And inner a post

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And welding the outer a-post. I had trial fitted the door, tagged the a-post and then removed the door. The inner/outer abosts were at this point bolted to the bulkhead side so I was tripple sure that it was lined up

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Fatha thestag and little thestags strimming ready to put the cover over the next project, affectionately known as Redshed, It's red and it is a shed. This is even rougher but still very original than the car I am working on right now. Paradoxically It will involve the same amount of welding and cutting I reckon. Only the chassis needs work at the back end.

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This blew off again 2 months later, now it is roped on properly it will keep good old redshed dry over the winter

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Bulkhead side bolted to a post and welded to bulkhead top section. At this point and with the door in the right place I was confident to weld the bottom of the A-Post to the Sill

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Footwell was a piece of piss now that I know why the repair panel is wrong.

 

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It is a shedload easier with the inner wing and bulkhead side reference points in place, Even though I measured, checked and measured again, everything seemed to be in the right place

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This is going to be a problem though! the steering column goes through here and it is very visible when looking under the bonnet so patches wasnt going to work. Plus it is quite a complex shape

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Scrap pile is growing as the car is lifting on its springs

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pretty sure I would have been enjoying a beer at this point

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Got a chap on eBay who was breaking a 90's classic and he cut out this bit for an ayrton inc P&P, what a star

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With a little trimming and tiding of both the part and my bulkhead it fitted perfectly, aligned but the bolt holes at the top

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Strengthening plate on the inside is a standard fitment

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Half way around fuck yeah, btw this is about 120 hours in on the whole project

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Looks a great project. You can't beat these early three door models.

 

Weren't the really really early ones badged something else?

 

Can't wait to see more.

VELAR, we broke one years ago without realising what it was until most things didn't fit the rangie they were going on to...oh how I kick myself now

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First news on this section is selling the SIP Migmate with an honest description of exactly how shit it is for a £120 on eBay.

 

Then I bought one of these https://www.thewelderswarehouse.com/Welding-Supplies/Mig-Welder-BlueMig-150T.html

 

Oh yeah  8)

 

on the B Post, my big issue here that there was no enough - unbodged - for me to measure and work out how it should be. Firsdtly the a post tapers down before curving in to the bottom edge of the sill, this needs to follow the profile of the inner part of the rear wing. took me a couple of goes to get it right.

 

Firstly, empty the fuel tank, didnt fancy welding with it in place. And it had to come out anyway. I opted to use the cars electric pump connected to a battery to pump into the jerry can sat in the engine bay using the original fuel line. I got the Jerry can brimmed and a plastic can half full so there was quite a lot of fuel. I let the garage vent for an hour after I finished. Even though the fuel stank and was like varnish it still did a good job in small quantities lighting the bonfire.

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The tank itself it not Land rover OEM, it is an Alan special I think. Great welding and air tight but in no way protected. I am going to probably use it again as a reminder of the last custodian of the car.

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I then spent hours messing about, guessing what I thought the b post should look like, I decided on a two part affair, this is the inner section

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And this is Mk1 outer section

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Which when welded in looked like a banana

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So I cut it out and went Mk2

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Here you can see the inner section coming out complete, drilled out spot welds down the back of the B Post, cut along the top rail which supports the rear sliding windows and cut just in front of the spare wheel carrier because a) that bit is sound and B) not reproduced on the pattern parts

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Welding the side floor, arch and curtain in is not a huge issue. Because the top rail was good, it is a case of lining everything up. The arch section is pressed out using a sponge I think. The rear section of the arch panel doesnt line up properly with the side floor but otherwise a piece of cake. I opted to tuck the curtain section in behind the top rail as the outer wing bolts to this surface.

 

A fair bit of room to work with, The section rear of the spare wheel support it NOT replicated on the pattern and the holes are unique to earlier Rangies so I opted to keep them

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I am pleased that I chose to rip this lot out now, what a fucking mess

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Replacement panels slot together so it was a case of clamping them in place, checking and aligning a couple of times, pop riveting the arch to the side floor and checking again! :D

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This is the arch welded to the side floor, ready for more checks

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And the curtain welded in

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And tidied up

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rear outer wing fits perfectly

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I found out why the Rangie sits lop sided. I had an idea it would be something like this

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Now for the closing panel, my mk2 b post isnt going to work, but it is only the rear section

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So I cut it out and welded a flush piece to create a box section of the lower b post without a flange (snigger)

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there is a wheel arch extension panel which protects the chassis from road debris. This fits like a glove - not holding my breath. The triangular section fitted into the gap between the curtain and the sill in front of the wheel arch section

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this is the only bit I need to salvage from the old inner wing. It is the captive nuts for the rear seat back catches

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Took a break at this point in October for my 3 lads birthdays but also because Fathathastag had the lecky overhauled in the barn

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Earlier this month I managed to get a few days in Devon to move the project forward a little

 

New lighting is awesome, 

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Next step for the passenger side is to remake the small box section that sits between the arch and the back of the b-post which the seat mounts fix to

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I made up a small angled section to connect the curtain and floor to give a little more strength

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trial fit the box section

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Made up a small repair for the inside of the b-post where I have gone a bit mad with the cutting disc

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And with it all welded in trial fitted the rear seat. Checking seat alignment and rear seat catches. Very happy with this

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Welded a small angle in at the base of the curtain where the spare wheel carrier sits. This will all be seam sealed and properly protected before paint but for now 3/4 done yay

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Last update in this marathon posting to bring us up to date, drivers side rear quarter and b post. after this I will be done with structural body frame work and probably a snip under 150 hours. Now I have done it once I can probably shave a fair few hours off for the next time hahahahahahaha

 

As you can see a fair few patches but overall this side is better than the passenger side. still going though

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I originally thought that I would try save as much as I could. But why bother when I have replaced just about everything upwards within 8 inchs of the sills !! Triggers new broom lives on I say

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so I cut the whole loy out. I will try reproduce the holes at the back into the replacement curtain

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Initially I struggled to get the floor and curtain to meet properly at the back but some hammers and mr Grinder soon fixed that

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the back of the b-post was as nasty as it looks, lots of rust and silicon

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these patches are going too

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The debris pile is slightly larger than it looks

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More confident of the proile of the b-post I was able bend the rear section and weld it into place

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Clamped and welded to the sill after quadruple checking door alignment

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Reinforcer added to the rear because the repair warped ever so slightly on welding. Is not going anywhere and out of sight when finished

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Inside edge 

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this will be a repair for the new year

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Satisfied that I have got this far.

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So that is it until Jan 17.

 

next steps are to finish this body work, then lift the body clear of the chassis. remove engine/gearbox for stripdown. remove and recon axles. Sandblast chassis then build up a rolling chassis with refurb parts. The body will need to be lifted high so I can get underneath with Mr Seamsealer and mr Spraygun before it sits back down on the mounts, Then I can finish painting the body frame but that will most likely be April/May. Lots of work to do before then :D

 

 

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Inspiring work, looks like a lot more than 150 hours too. Previous owners really worked to keep it going with all that bodgery.

Seeing it all come apart and go back together reveals why they rot like they do. When they were new I often heard things like "last forever with that proper chassis and alloy body"

 

How are you going to stop it all disolving again?

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Inspiring work, looks like a lot more than 150 hours too. Previous owners really worked to keep it going with all that bodgery.

Seeing it all come apart and go back together reveals why they rot like they do. When they were new I often heard things like "last forever with that proper chassis and alloy body"

 

How are you going to stop it all disolving again?

 

stopping it dissolving will be a struggle, there are so many natural rust traps in the design. Tougher paints are available these days which I will be exploring. I shall be using modern sem sealants and no heavy duty underseal. 

 

i looked at cold galv but that has to be done on bare metal with seam sealer over the top. Painting over cold galv is a pain.

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Awesome! A good welder is a joy to use, except when you are so used to your old fucked one that when your neighbour lends you his brand new all singing and dancing thing, you can't make a decent, tidy weld for love nor money!

 

But, you seem to do fantastic work with anything at hand. I am waiting for the next instalment with baited breath - do you need to break over Christmas? It's over rated anyway and we will all be bored and need to read about this to keep us going! :)

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Superb.

 

I did wonder what you were doing with the chassis - but fully repairing the body first before you remove it makes complete sense.

 

Chassis has a very pleasing ring to it when tapped with Land Rover special tool #1. I genuinely have high hopes for it. Looking forwards to getting spannering rather than bloody welding to be honest

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