Profiles in Vehicle Maintaince

Following the return trip from the OVLR Birthday Party, I emptied out everything from the Land Rover, removed the softtop and windscreen, then drove it out to the restoration shop. Once there and over the next couple weekends, I removed the doors, tailgate, wings and whatever else could be removed.

The machine seemed to be in good shape, but the previous owners had used filler putty on the upper part of the scuttle (also known as the bulkhead or firewall) which was now showing signs of bubbling. (photo above right: pink is putty after removing chunks, jagged black center section is a gaping hole.)

Nearer the floor, both door posts were in poor shape (photo left), with significant rust, and a crufty angle iron patch on the passenger side. Replacment door posts and foot boxes had been obtained, and our initial estimate was for something like 40 to 60 hours of work, but it was hard to say without the welder's inspection.

Some months passed. In the shop was a hot rod, and after that was a school bus. The hot rod ran late. The school bus was even tardier. The Rover sat out side, July came and went, as did August and September. Then I got a call and they started working on it in October.

About your frame...

The welder had started working on the scuttle, while removing the bolt which attaches the scuttle to the frame, the welds on one side of the frame outrigger broke - they were cold welds. After this occured, the welder took another look at the frame, and had Bob call to ask me how much work I wanted done on the frame, as it looked to be 'needy'.

I asked them to look it over further and figure out how much work it needed. If it was a whole lot of work, it wouldn't be worth reparing, as a new galvanized frame could be had for $1500 to $1800. Bob rang back and the work required to do some plating on the frame and to replace outriggers with questionable welds was significant enought that a new frame was an option. At this point the project went from repairing the scuttle to doing a frame-off restoration.

Preparing the New Frame

Securing a replacment frame isn't that difficult, there were three vendors nearby which normally stock Marsland Galvanised chassis, but the offical vendor had none in stock, and expected none for three weeks. Their price was inclusive of crating and shipping. The low price vendor was also out of stock, with a similar lead time, this left a vendor which was within an hours drive of the restoration shop. After the frame was procured, we scuffed the galvanized surface, and it was sprayed with a self-etching primer, followed by two coats of epoxy primer (as you can see in the photo, the first coat was brown tinted, and the second was black). Finished in chassis black, the frame was then under coated a few weeks later (after the paint had dried properly.)

Scuttle Repairs

As the suspension and axles were transferred to the new frame, the welder continued re-fabricating the scuttle. In addition to the foot boxes (photo left), a number of sections of trashed steel were replaced, along the door posts and both the inner and outer sections of the scuttle at the top corners.

The work on the scuttle alone consumed the better part of 60 hours of welding and fabrication to restore it to as good, or better than new. Once the welding was complete it was removed from the old frame, the new was brought in, and the drive train was transferred, along with the back box and the completed scuttle.

The tool box

Given that the old tool box was very good at collecting water, and rusted through in places, a galvanized replacement was obtained, painted, the seatbox was refinished and I bolted the two together.

Parts is Parts

Everything was removed from the old frame, sanded, blasted or otherwise stripped of paint. New and old parts were then primed, painted, serviced and set aside for the re-assembly.

exhaust manifold damage

Reassembly

Brakes

Bill Caloccia
Stephentown, N.Y.
December 1997

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