Vent Seals; Windscreen

The vent seals are proving to be a challenge all of their own. I purchased Land Rover-manufactured seals, and they are a very nicely made product, but unless I'm missing something I don't believe they work properly. There's no groove for the vent lids to settle into, and so the lids have to be jammed down in the hope they will eventually make their own groove through pressure. It requires a lot of pressure to press the lids down, and even then they don't go all the way.

A search on the web and Land Rover forums revealed a lot of frustration over vent seals, and no real answers. The seals themselves, like almost everything else on the aftermarket side of things, come with no instructions. The most common answer that I found was to keep the vent pressure on the seals by clamping or whatever, and after a few weeks or months the vents should be properly seated. This can't be right. When original Land Rover owners needed new seals, did they just have to endure rain and snow and blowing wind in the cabin for weeks until the vents sealed properly? I can't see a practical and experienced engineering company like Land Rover doing that.

It seems logical, at least to me, that the original and correct seals must have had grooves of some sort, and not have been as thick.

I tried cutting a slit in the seal for the lid edge by tracing around the vent lid, but that wasn't successful as the lid lip didn't always catch the slit.

Peter at 3 Bros. kindly sent photos of the aftermarket seals they sell, and they appeared to have the same flat-top profiles as the official current Land Rover ones. The only seals I could find on the web which appear to have some sort of shape that might be correct are part number MUC4299, as imaged on the L.R.Series website here. I'll have to look into this, preferably with Peter, even though they are apparently only for Series 3 and Defenders.

And so, I experimented with other seal types, and one which appears to work well, at least in the short term, is a self-adhering, water-proof, closed cell outdoor rubber weatherstripping available at Home Depot here. I bought a few sizes to try things out with, and this was best. For now, I think this will do.

(If you know of any other solution, leave a comment!)

Here, view of the weatherstripping. Pro's and con's: Pro: very inexpensive, easily available, and easy to remove/replace if necessary. Plus, the lid can be lowered/closed completely right away, with fair pressure on the seal. Likely good for keeping wind and light rain out, and heat in. Con: May not be good for heavy rain or trying to chip ice off of, and, don't know how long they'll last.

A view with the lid closed. (Incidentally, the weld blobs around the hinge welds, etc. are factory original, and so I sort of like them, which is why they're still there.)

On a different note, and no big deal other than it's really starting to feel like a Land Rover now, the windscreen went on today. (By the way, the high-quality Land Rover-manufactured bulkhead-to-windscreen seal, also appears to be too thick, as with with the vent seals. Even with considerable force the windscreen won't lay back at completely the correct angle. May just go back to the original 51 year old seal, as it was working just fine except for being slightly tattered at the ends.)

Doors Installed; Sill Panels

The doors are on, as are the sill panels on one side. I thought it would be pretty straight forward, just bolting things together, but noooo, it's taken a few hours of adjustment and then readjustment. There's a reason so many bolt holes on a Land Rover are oblong and not round.

Here, a view to shock the purists, perhaps! The Land Rover with her wrinkled rear panel, a souvenir from work-related activities some time in the 1960's, but also showing the doors installed plus one of the ABS plastic front outer panels, from Paddock's, that was installed to ensure everything lined up as it should. Original aluminum panels just weren't available, unfortunately. The rear vertical cappings are being held in place with clico's for the time being, but the riveting should be done soon.

The passenger-side door, showing a couple of its own small dents. Getting everything including the sill panels to fit evenly was a real challenge and took a lot of time.

Just a view of the weatherstipping, and the 3M weatherstripping glue used for attachment. The weatherstripping will also be riveted, later on.

The lower weatherstripping. I had installed the official Land Rover weatherstipping here, but it was far too robust and the door simply wouldn't close properly, even with the sill rail moved all the way in. And so, off it came, and this substituted. This segment is riveted on. The door now fits just perfectly.

A view of the passenger side door. The metal handle is a replacement from Blanchard's, as the original had been lost, otherwise everything is original. The plastic on the door handles had come off, and so they were re-dipped with three coats of Plasti-Dip. The forward door seal will be attached once the windscreen is on, so that the seal can be sure to meet up with the one on the windscreen frame.

The driver's side door. Everything here is original to this Land Rover, including the pull handle, with the exception of the outer door handle, which also needed new coats of Plasti-Dip.

Tub Exterior Painted

Another area of the gold colour applied by the previous owner some 35 years ago has disappeared. Today the tub returned completely to its colour of origin for the first time in more than three decades, with the sanding down, masking off and then painting of the exterior sides.  Now just have to be patient for a few days and then the doors and sill panels can go on - although the door seals may have to go on first.

Here, the doors are in the tub to stay out of the way, and continue their own drying process. Note the backs of the Exmoor Trim seats, which are pretty ugly and un-finished looking compared to the originals. May have to see if I can do something there. Planks on the garage floor remind my feet not to come too close to drying paint.

Not the best lighting, as I was just on my way out, but she certainly seems to be coming along. Angle grinder is on the bumper as there is a small bit of metal that must come off the bulkhead where it meets the floor on the driver's side, as it's impeding the placing of the final spire nut: tomorrow's job.

Seats

After some trial and error, have the seats installed: fun to sit in the Land Rover again! Seats are by Exmoor Trim, supplied by Rovers North.

I found the wooden strips on the bottoms to be too narrow to keep the seats in place, and the first time I sat on one of the seats it came off the rails, with the staples that hold the fabric on making some good scratches in the rail paint. Not very pleased with that. Solution I came up with was to purchase some wooden strips myself, cut them to fit, then glue and screw them to the seat bottoms. Had the whole family in the vehicle afterwards, wriggling around, and the seats now stayed in place.

The seats: firm but comfortable. Of course, in a stationary vehicle is not the best place to judge, but at least for now they're quite nice. I have the rubber bumpers and leather straps for them, but as usual, there are no instructions, and so it'll take some guess work. Seat construction is completely unlike the originals.

The new strips, carefully measured, glued and screwed into place.

Looking back: the original seats. May still get these re-uphostered one day, as their basic frames and springs are in excellent shape.

Original seat bottoms and backs. How did the bottoms stay on the rails? Just with the leather straps at the forward end (of which there is just the one remaining, bottom right)?

The interior is slowly coming together, with various items being fitted and tested. The lever knobs are all original.

My daughter, Land Rover dreaming.... : ) Note also a test fit of a vent seal.

Did I mention the door exteriors are now painted, as well? : )

Automec Brake Line Kit (Part 2)

(Part 1 is here)
(Part 1 update is here)

Finally installed the last of the Automec brake and clutch lines. As with the chassis and axle lines, it's a bit hard to know exactly what to do, but thankfully my Land Rover was a relatively un-messed with example (meaning everything was thankfully more-or-less as it was when it left the factory), and it was more-or-less possible to see what might have been original line routing and what was just an ad-hoc repair job later.

As well, Peter at 3 Brothers Classic Rovers very kindly took some photos of the pedal box areas in some of his LHD Land Rovers, which enabled some cross referencing.

I don't know if the end result is accurate or not, but it does follow most of the available evidence I could find, and just tried to be logical and safe when in doubt. The brake pipe, as it exits the m/c, could have curved over and gone below the steering shaft (as it does on the clutch m/c), but it would have meant a very tight bend, plus I don't have a wheel that small on my bending tool! The only part that is definitely not standard is the aircraft rubber-cushioned clamp used to hold the clutch slave hose to the bukhead - it was just the right size, and a very high quality part, and does the job perfectly. Also routed the pipes along the curved edge of that part of the bulkhead, to give maximum access to the area behind the engine and things like the flywheel opening.

Not knowing how the pipe lengths would work out, the clutch line was done first, starting from the clutch master cylinder and working towards the rubber hose connection (as there's more flexibility with dimensions at that end), and then the brake line was done starting from the 5-way connection and ending at the brake master cylinder (as I estimated the most excess length would come in useful there).

The two lines are also clamped to the bulkhead at two places between the master cylinders and the clamps visible here. The direction of the brake line clamp, seen on the right, here, was reversed from the original as it was somewhat of an awkward fit as it overlapped the bend in the bulkhead; it also enabled a slightly more direct entry into the 5-way connector (just visible below).

How they were attached (or not!) before:

Seat Box Installed

I imagine it may have to come out again before this project is over, but for now have installed the seat box and some of the other parts. This gives an opportunity to work out what bolts are needed, and test fit whatever else needs to be adjusted.

One change has been to replace the steel fuel line with a nylon one, as I just couldn't find a way to satisfactorily brace the steel version against vibration (and hence wear and cracking, etc.). New fuel tank breather hose is also installed.

With luck the floor panels will be painted this weekend. It's starting to get cooler these days (4 degrees C this morning), but I hope there will be enough warmer days in the next few weeks to finally start to get rid of the well-worn exterior gold colour. Looks as if complete external panel painting may have to wait until next spring, although I hope not.

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.