Fuel Tank Installed (Again)

Jason at BGM Metalworks did a nice job moving the tank intake tube rearwards (even re-painted the weld area), and now the tank fits as it should. The setup requires a new breather tube, as the old one is now too short, but that's not a big problem.

Tubes now fit, but the forward-extending of the holes in the tub are still necessary.

Tank re-installed, with filler tube attached (Land Rover has a plastic tarp cover on, to protect during painting other parts). Breather tube will go on once it has ben obtained. Triangular brackets sitting on the tank are the lower seatbelt mounts, which will be test fitted and be used to drill the new holes they require in the sills.

Seat belt brackets are just waiting for the seatbox paint to dry for a day or two.

Door Interiors Painted

Door interiors are now painted, and will now wait a few days for a couple of touch ups in areas that somehow only a glossy paint surface can reveal.

Exteriors have been sanded, and are almost ready to paint. It was interesting, in that after a while the outlines of a large losenge-shaped decal began to appear on the outer surface of each door - not the sticker itself, as far as I can see, but a faint remnant of the adhesive. This is most likely from the first owner (1960-1973), who probably used the Land Rover as a commercial vehicle. Given that I'm trying to keep the history of this particular Land Rover alive, in not bringing every single part back to factory-new (many non-painted metal parts, including the galvanizing, have kept their very nice original 'patina', for example, and some areas of original factory paint, even with the nibs and occasional run, have just been given a protective new coat and that's all), plus that the body panels have far too many indications of the Land Rover's extensive life as a hard-working vehicle to be worth stripping completely, I've decided to leave the evidence of the decals as is. Very faint, but there.

On the Ground at Last

After just about a year of work, for a couple of hours almost every day, today the Land Rover stood on its own four wheels again for the first time. There was sufficient weight on the springs so that, when one corner of the vehicle was jacked up, the springs would compress enough to allow the shock absorber to be attached. Once they were all on, down she came for a landing.

This also enabled me to reposition the Land Rover to make working on the left side a little easier.

Once that was done, on went the iconic headlights and a few more items, including the 'bean can'.

Seat Box Test Fit

Today's task was to test fit the seat box and floorboards. No problems, except to discover the handbrake lever will need to be adjusted as it is presently too low and strikes the bottom of the seat box opening.

Fuel tank is out at BGM Metalworks to have the intake tubes moved rearwards as much as possible. The central outriggers on the new chassis appear to be too far forward (by about 3/4 inch) and the fuel tank can't be moved rearwards enough to install correctly within the tub openings. I had already elongated the tub holes forward in an attempt to let the tank intake tubes pass upwards, but it wasn't enough - it would have required modifying the seat box as well, which I'm not willing to do.

Seatbox and floorboards are in primer only. Steering wheel isn't all the way on, as it was just being used to center the steering arms and test movement along the system.

Pedals

Installed the pedal boxes this evening, and adjusted the pedal heights as per the manual. All fairly straight forward.

Here, shiny new bolts set off reflections of light similar to water. Original bolts are darker. Pedal return springs not yet installed. Not too happy with the quality of the rubber pedal pads on the brake and clutch pedals. I purchased a second set after a tab snapped off after being bent just a few degrees on the first set, and then tabs broke off on both the new ones! Plus, I can't say I really like the distortion that occurrs when a tab is sucessfully bent. Have installed them for now. Hopefully a better brand can be found.

'Breakfast', Radiator Installed

Starting to look like a Land Rover more and more. Today the 'breakfast' front panel and radiator were installed. Not too much to it. First placed the shroud over the fan and let it hang there, by itself, as there didn't appear to be too much room if it was included with the 'breakfast' and radiator assembly. Them bolted the 'breakfast' to the radiator, then lifted those units onto the frame and bolted them on. Then attached the shroud to the back of the radiator. Once in place, it was clear the radiator hoses would need to be trimmed to fit!

Prior to that, however, the steering box drop arm and rod ends were all adjusted and finished up, which is why the steering wheel is temporarily installed. This was used to find the center of run.

A few other pieces have been added here and there, too, such as the regulator and fuse boxes, and some of the throttle linkages.

Tailgate; Door Welds; Logos

Finished changing the Defender tailgate fittings to the sturdier ones of the Series 2, and everything has gone together very well (see previous post for what it looked like before). Had to drill one new hole for the center bolt on the hinges, and new holes for the capping rivets. The last thing to do will be the galvanised 'rub strips' that attach to the top surface (when gate is open). These should be riveted on, but as the Defender is double-walled, with a gap in between, as opposed to the Series 2 being just a single sheet, this will take some experimentation. Worse comes to worse they can be attached via screw - but rivets would be nice. Then it'll be time for some Pastel Green paint there, too.

Doors are back from welding at BGM Metalworks. They did a great job, and even voluntarily rebuilt the severely rusted part of the driver's side door frame. Nice service! Now it's on to refining the weld surfaces, treating the remaining surface rust, and then paint.

Last but not least, have re-painted the logos. There was enough of the original black paint to follow the original demarkation lines very closely. The black stops just short of the top surface, not right at the edge.