Hand Throttle

Simple but effective hand throttle. Very easy to clean, strip and paint. The grey body colour came off in a soaking of Evapo-Rust, not because of any rust, but I think because the coating on the body (zinc?) had developed an oxidized layer which had already separated the paint somewhat.

In this view, the unit after a night in Evapo-Rust to remove corrosion on the bolts, etc.. A very light brushing with a brass wire wheel and sandpaper, barely touching the surface, took off the grey paint plus the black on the other parts.

The undersides. The black paint on the arm, rod, etc, really just peeled off after the soaking, except for a couple of spots.

After further stripping and application of paint. The body was given a self etch primer, to hopefully prevent future lifting of paint. The 'face', from which the handle protrudes, was given a very light overspray of zinc paint on its outer surface only, which looks a lot like the original coating and may, according to some sources, help prevent future corrosion in the same way that galvanizing does.

A pretty simple unit, but it does the job and is definitely built to last!

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.