Sill Channel Cleaning

Had wondered how the sill channels were going to be cleaned/de-rusted, as they're a bit big for what was available here, but finally had an idea: make a 'bath' using PVC pipe. And so, did the larger 'head' part in a smaller container first, and then put the long part into a bath made of 3" PVC pipe with a cap glued on the bottom. Works like a charm.

The sill channels were extremely grimy and looked very rusted, and nothing appeared to make much difference. An overnight bath in Evapo-Rust, however, did the trick, and the one that is done came out much better than expected. Still some surface rust at either end, and the inner side of the channel will need rust treatment and paint, but overall not too bad.

The four sill panel securing brackets have already been done, and are in the storage area.

Chain Covers; Kodiak Heater

Small detail, but why not? I ordered a set of four chain covers for the rear tailgate chains, from Rovers North (made by Exmoor Trim). I also have three out of the four original covers, but they are battered and have holes in them and clearly show their 51 years of existance. The four replacement covers were good quality, but very clearly not the same size as the originals on this particular vehicle, both length and diamater being too big. And so, a quick trip to a local upholsterer, and for $2.50 each, they were re-made the correct size. Not very complicated or expensive!

In this view, the original cover is at top, and next down, one of the new replacements after modification for comparison. Next down shows how much the upholsterer took off the top (they took a chunk off the end, as well, but they didn't give me that piece). At bottom are the others.

The new chain covers on the chains. If the lengths of the new covers had not been shortened, they would have been too long for the chains, in any case, it would appear. Why are the chain covers in two pieces per chain? As far as I know, it's to let any water out that may get inside, once they hang down when the tailgate is up.

Earlier this week, had a look at the Kodiak heater. It has not come through it's half century too well, especially the intake piece (far left). However, it should be salvageable, and it will probably be not to difficult to make the intake part.

Primer on the 'Breakfast'; Test Fit of Apron

Spotting a windless morning out there, I left the office and took a few minutes to put two coats of primer on the 'breakfast', steering column, and a couple of small parts. The primer, a 2k aerosol from Eastwood, went on really well, and is very nice to work with. There's an average amount of coverage in a can, one can doing the 'breakfast' and othe other parts before running out (although to be fair, it did both sides of the breakfast, twice). A pleasant if inconsequential surprize was that the primer colour is remarkably close to Limestone. Not that these parts will end up that colour in the end, but it may come in useful when doing the roof!

One note: this primer must not be applied over a self-etch primer. I had debated using a thin coat of self-etch to help adhesion, but luckily had a look at the product description download from Eastwood, here, where this is indicated. I may have missed it, but didn't see this indicated anywhere else.

Having the 'breakfast' primed means that both it and the bulkhead can receive their Pastel Green colour together, once the bulkhead is back, and then the rest of the engine-related parts plus pedals, etc., can be installed.

And, as ever, the colour looks closer to a white than Limestone in the photo....

Also did a test fitting of the apron, which will also need a new coat of primer after some shipping scratches are removed. Didn't realise that the bumper bolts would need removing in order to install the apron, but that's minor. This is a nice quality piece, with the rubbing strips already installed on the sides.

Parts Cleaning

Here are some of the parts cleaned yesterday. The ones below, which don't appear to be galvanized but rather coated in something else, came out like new with Evapo-Rust (and no, I don't work for the company!).

As seen below, galvanizing does come nicely clean, but if there's any staining it tends to stay, no matter what. The Britsh Made hose clamps turned out to be stainless steel (I think - looks like it, but does appear corroded in tiny areas). The vent opening guides (bottom) may have originally been coated as per those parts above, but if so it had worn off over time. There was some surface rust, but this came off in the overnight soak. The result is a tarnished-looking surface, but that's ok, I'm not trying to hide the vehicle's age.

Week Off

An involuntary week away from the Land Rover, due to some sort of rather intense stomach virus or something similar, and helped by the Canada Post mail strike which is preventing those parts that are being waited for from getting here. Ah well! Cleaned up the garage, and, as am now basically back to good health, this evening prepared many of the normally unpainted/galvanized parts for cleaning by soaking them overnight in Evapo-Rust, which does a fantastic job at not just removing rust but cleaning, as well.

If you check out the Evpo-Rust link, by the way, you'll learn, as I just did, that the product is now being used by the U.S. Army to maintain the Abrams M1A1 main battle tank. So it's natural that it fits right in there with a Land Rover Series 2 restoration. : )

Bulkhead Restoration: 3 Brothers Classic Rovers

(To see the finished bulkhead, click here)

When the good folks at 3 Brothers Classic Rovers (Peter, Dave and Rich) offered to restore my original bulkhead, in exchange for some things I had here (including the Ashtree bulkhead), I leapt at the offer. This would mean that that an important original part of the vehicle would be able to stay with the vehicle, plus all the mounting holes, etc., would fit exactly and be right where they should be. Nice!

It should be mentioned that Rich is a professional welder (and blacksmith), Dave has a very long history with paint and coatings, and Peter, who wears many hats including webmaster, store manager, and parts finder, is otherwise a project manager.

Peter indicated today that the bulkhead should be here in the first week of July.

The bulkhead will not be galvanized, as the non-electro-plate variety tends to leave a coating that is rough in places, plus warps many of the panels. Instead, the bulkhead will be done as follows (in their words):

After Rich has performed his miracles with the welding repairs on the bulkhead, we will have it chemically stripped to remove all traces of paint and old sealant / goo / caulking and then acid dipped to remove all rust inside and out.

This will leave the steel with a black oxide layer which is slightly corrosion resistant on it's own. After that it will go intoa dip tank just wider than the top of the bulkhead and about 12", which we will then fill with between 5 and 8 gallons of really good red oxide primer. Then we will dip the upside down top into this vat as well as the door posts and allow the excess to drain out. The exterior parts will be wiped down to leave it bare metal, but we'll allow the primer to flow into all the welded seams first where spray paint won't penetrate. After drying, we'll spray apply 2 coats of 2 pack epoxy automotive primer with an HVLP sprayer. After that we can apply 2-part seam sealer to all exposed seams. Then the topcoat can be applied anytime after that by first solvent wiping with MEK solvent and allowing it to "flash off" before painting.

This results in a very long term bulkhead that is much better than original, as they tend to rust from the inside - out.

This also means the surface will be smooth, as per the original, without the sometimes unpleasant roughness that galvanizing can bring. Rich is also making sure the Series 2 door hinge mounting holes, with nutplates, are retained in the new pillars, which is something I really wanted to keep. Here are some photos, provided by 3 Bros., of the bulkhead in its initial stages of restoration:

In the custom jig.

All those holes for the bulkhead-mounted parts, right where they should be (obviously).

New footwell and pillar being test fitted.

Fan Cowl; Odds and Ends

Today the cooling fan cowl was stripped and hammered back into a reasonable shape. This was something I'd been putting off due to the very soft nature of the black paint it had originally, but after several unsuccessful attempts to clean it I just decided to strip it and give it new paint. So now it joins the list of items waiting for the two-stage epoxy primer.

In this view, the fan cowl, temporarily placed on the radiator in the storage area, looking much better than it did this morning. Managed to get most of the dents to look more respectable. Now I'll just have to source a fan shroud.

Something else waiting for primer is the 'breakfast', which has been temporarily attached to the chassis while it's coat of Eastwood Rust Converter (to eliminate the effect of any last surface rust left, however invisible, hopefully) dries, and which also enables a check that the steering relay arm doesn't foul the 'breakfast' at full right lock. The rubber buffers between 'breakfast' and chassis have also been fabricated and are getting their test fitting, as well. In the background, under the tub, the old chassis serving as a handy place to put things, while it waits to be removed so that work can start on the body panels.

The outer bezel for the speedometer is now dry, and everything should be back together in the next couple of days. Behind that, in company of the newly restored oil and water gauge, some bulkhead-mounted parts waiting for their 2k primer; and behind them, sitting on a piece of rubber hose, the 'bean can', whose paint is now cured and so the unit can be reinstalled whenever the rest is ready.

Just some of the restored odds and ends awaiting the return of the bulkhead for re-attachment. Grey parts are primed and are waiting for their Pastel Green paint.

Oil and Water Gauge Returns

The oil pressure and water temperature gauge returned from Nisonger today. Looks as if it just left the Jaeger factory.

Freshly cleaned, repaired and calibrated, complete with rubber grommet for the bulkhead:

....And what it looked like before:

Speedometer

While waiting for a host of small parts to finish up other areas of the Land Rover, decided to work on the speedometer. This was seized solid, so much so it may have accounted for the snapped speedometer cable. Thanks to a very good tutorial on speedometer overhaul, available here, it turned out to be fairly easy to do, as long as one is comfortable handling some very delicate parts and assemblies.

It turned out the speedometer wasn't moving due to the grease that had been used previously, which by its dark grey colour may have been graphite or something similar. It had turned very sticky and almost solid, enough to stop the magnet wheel from turning completely. Other than that, all parts are in fine shape.

I should also add that there was also a small dead spider in there. How that got in, is anyone's guess. Mine is that perhaps the rear opening for the light bulb had been left (or come) open for a while, as it's just a press fit.

In this view, the speedometer's basic components (without the case). You can just make out the spring that holds the pawl to the odometer cog, below the gauge pointer. The wire it's made of appears to be the thickness of a human hair. Magnet wheel is at the bottom.

In the foreground here is the odometer assembly, which is also supporting the drag cup on its rear face. Very critical to make sure this is supported carefully, so the drag cup stays in the position you see here, otherwise the extremely delicate return spring can stretch out and get damaged. In the background at left is the magnet wheel, whose shaft had seized. The brass part on the shaft is the screw that turns the odometer. On the right is the basic frame for the gauge.

Basic assembly back together. You can just see the coiled return spring in the middle.

Assembly with the gauge face and pointer back on.

The speedometer back in it's case, with the inner bezel, glass and outer bezel waiting to go back on. There are hollow rubber o-rings (split but not shrunk - perhaps were never complete loops?)  on both sides of the glass. The outer bezel (upper right) was sanded and repainted after this photo was taken, and so the gauge won't be completely back together until the paint is completely cured, which will be in a week.

Brake Line Update

(Part 1 is here)
(Part 2 is here)

Completed installing the brake lines behind the cross member, and although probabaly a bit tighter than the original factory installation, it appears to have come through without a problem. The lines don't actually touch the cross member flanges, but are close enough, I think, to still warrant the anti-chafing cover. Elsewhere, not all clips are installed yet, but it's getting there slowly.

In these views: line and cover installed (in case you notice, prop shaft is just being temporarily held inplace while waiting for correct bolts....)

In this view, the clip attaching the line to the battery holder. The drive screw repeatedly sheared here, and so in the end it was a screw/nut that got the job. The screws appear to shear fairly easily, even with a 1/8" hole drilled, which is frustrating (there's that word again) as then another hole has to be drilled as I can't get the piece of screw in the hole to come out. Are different grades of steel being used these days, than were used originally?