1993 Defender 90 Rebuild

looking good Tim. Have you started spraying yet?

Tirran said:

looking good Tim. Have you started spraying yet?

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Regrettably not. The bulkhead is all ready, but it's just too bloody cold and damp to attempt it at the moment. I've assembled a spray booth in the garage, but just need a dry day when I can stick a fan heater and a dehumidifier in and try to get the temperature up to something sensible.

That’s always the problem at this time of year.

You will be surprised how many reasonably warm(ish) days you will get, the skill is getting those to line up with your not busy with life days!

Tirran said:

That’s always the problem at this time of year.

You will be surprised how many reasonably warm(ish) days you will get, the skill is getting those to line up with your not busy with life days!

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Tell me about it. This weekend I'm digging the foundations for our house extension. Ironically I have to have the Landy finished (or at least driveable and weatherproof) before we start building the walls in April next year, because once they're up, they're too close to the existing garage entrance to get it out! Either that or it'll have to stay in there until we cut a new door in the end wall. It's a good way of pushing Land Rover work up the list of priorities though.

Tirran said:

That’s always the problem at this time of year.

You will be surprised how many reasonably warm(ish) days you will get, the skill is getting those to line up with your not busy with life days!

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Where there is a will(iam) there is a way

Mik, The BMW stuttered into life yesterday and came up with a Drivetrain error which could also point to water in the diesel. Both vehicles filled up at the same local garage..

Car in BMW for a recall tomorrow so, asked for this to be checked.

.

Resurgam said:

Tell me about it. This weekend I'm digging the foundations for our house extension. Ironically I have to have the Landy finished (or at least driveable and weatherproof) before we start building the walls in April next year, because once they're up, they're too close to the existing garage entrance to get it out! Either that or it'll have to stay in there until we cut a new door in the end wall. It's a good way of pushing Land Rover work up the list of priorities though.

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Send it North, Mik and I will finish it for you and you can dig foundations worry free

Tirran said:

Mik, The BMW stuttered into life yesterday and came up with a Drivetrain error which could also point to water in the diesel. Both vehicles filled up at the same local garage..

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Interesting .....

miktdish said:

Interesting .....

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Rodents , little b’stards have nested on top of the engine and eaten the foam on the engine cover and some of the wiring loom.

checked my wife’s car and exactly the same.

Now repaired, sprayed the engine bay with a peppermint spray as a repellent, they apparently don’t like it and stay clear.

Any suggestions to address the issue, both cars already have cats fitted, the landy doesn’t so interested in what you guys do.

The joys of rural life.

Resurgam said:

Tell me about it. This weekend I'm digging the foundations for our house extension. Ironically I have to have the Landy finished (or at least driveable and weatherproof) before we start building the walls in April next year, because once they're up, they're too close to the existing garage entrance to get it out! Either that or it'll have to stay in there until we cut a new door in the end wall. It's a good way of pushing Land Rover work up the list of priorities though.

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How are things going?

Just finished digging the footings. I hit bedrock at ground level and had to spend my weekends chiselling through it just to replace it with 6" of concrete. Madness!



Oh, Land Rover stuff? Regrettably, not much.

Takes me back to when we built our house, no rock thankfully.

In what might be in the running for most drawn out restoration, I've finally got some progress to report.

Home-made spray booth assembled

Remove crusty old foam seals from the vent flaps


Etch primer


Normal primer


Blue Undercoat (yikes!)


And finally, two coats of Paintman Ultraspeed Enamel in Arles Blue. I ummed and ahhed for months about what colour to paint the Land Rover before finally realising I liked the original blue! And it saves me having to repaint the interior. For some reason my phone camera insists that it's grey, but it looks blue when you get it outside.


And some fresher looking flaps...


And finally I can free up some space in the garage by attaching some of the bits I repainted a while ago. Brake tower and fuel filter back where they belong.


Insect mesh re-riveted. I had a bit of a mare with this one as the new bulkhead doesn't have the same construction as the original (I think due to the manufacturer reducing the number of skins to prevent water getting trapped and rusting out from the inside), meaning that the drilling for the rivets goes dangerously close to the vent edges. So close in fact that I managed to drill through my freshly painted bulkhead


And after a half hour battle, the heater box finally agreed to be attached.


I had to move the Landy out of the garage back in January as the house extension is too close to the original garage door to get a Land Rover out. Consequently I'm seeing which bits need improved rustproofing. In more bad news for my paint choices, the once-pristine axles are now looking awful as Buzzweld's rust encapsulating primer fails to encapsulate the rust.

Now with a bit more space in the garage I can start digging out more bits to be restored. I've almost finished the accelerator and clutch pedal, then I'll start looking at the loom.

To be continued. But don't hold your breath.

tu as beaucoup de choses à faire pour ta voiture
i hope that you can ride with it again

Resurgam said:

<snip>

I had to move the Landy out of the garage back in January as the house extension is too close to the original garage door to get a Land Rover out. Consequently I'm seeing which bits need improved rustproofing. In more bad news for my paint choices, the once-pristine axles are now looking awful as Buzzweld's rust encapsulating primer fails to encapsulate the rust.

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Primer is porous, all primers, not just Buzzy Wuzzys. The rust encapsulation will occure because there is a small amount on tannic acid that turns FeO3 (red rust) into FeO2 (black oxide compound) that stops Iron rusting further.
That's porous too so the water and oxygen will leach though it and rust (FeO3) forms again.
The way to stop this is to seal the coating with a bonding, non porous layer ie a topcoat or oil (or better still, both).

Note: Water based topcoats exist too.

miktdish said:

Primer is porous, all primers, not just Buzzy Wuzzys. The rust encapsulation will occure because there is a small amount on tannic acid that turns FeO3 (red rust) into FeO2 (black oxide compound) that stops Iron rusting further.
That's porous too so the water and oxygen will leach though it and rust (FeO3) forms again.
The way to stop this is to seal the coating with a bonding, non porous layer ie a topcoat or oil (or better still, both).

Note: Water based topcoats exist too.

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Interesting to know how the rust encapsulation works. It was actually top coated with Buzzweld's CIO paint - I hadn't just left it in primer, but pretty much everything I used this on has now rusted through. There was only a couple of days between applying the primer and the topcoat so it can't have absorbed that much moisture kept indoors. CIO in itself is supposed to be an all-in-one paint, and the Rust Encapsulator was supposed to be a belt and braces approach to deal with any remaining rust. I'm willing to accept that some of that may be down to poor preparation/inexperience, but having had issues with Buzzweld's high-temperature paint too I'm going to be looking elsewhere in future. If I could go back and do it again I'd use a zinc-rich primer and a 2K paint, but you live and learn! Luckily the Buzzweld Galv-in-One that I used on the chassis does seem to be alright.

Any suggestions for a paint that will overcoat the sorry looking axles (and radius arms etc.) without having to strip everything back to bare metal again would be very helpful.

A rust eater/convertor coating is always better than a 'mixed' paint with a little convertor added.

This stuff is very good (IMO) -

Attack the metal with a hammer (to loosen the flakey bits), floss over with a wire wheel/brush and (after pouring some into a separate container) paint it into the effected area with vigour. Leave it to go black and dry (takes a few hours), rub over lightly with some sandpaper/emery cloth and give it a second coat.
If a spec of rust gets into the bottle, the whole lot will be ruined in less than 12 hours as a chemical reaction takes place, always pour a bit into a separate cointainer (I use a spray can lid).

Primer/undercoat and top coat.
I'm a big fan of Coach Enamel paint these days, Tractol (Smith and Allen) or Paint Man stuff.

miktdish said:

A rust eater/convertor coating is always better than a 'mixed' paint with a little convertor added.

This stuff is very good (IMO) -

REJEL RC800 RUST CONVERTER 1Litre PLASTIC BOTTLE

REJEL RC800 RUST CONVERTER 1Litre PLASTIC BOTTLE

rejel.com

Attack the metal with a hammer (to loosen the flakey bits), floss over with a wire wheel/brush and (after pouring some into a separate container) paint it into the effected area with vigour. Leave it to go black and dry (takes a few hours), rub over lightly with some sandpaper/emery cloth and give it a second coat.
If a spec of rust gets into the bottle, the whole lot will be ruined in less than 12 hours as a chemical reaction takes place, always pour a bit into a separate cointainer (I use a spray can lid).

Primer/undercoat and top coat.
I'm a big fan of Coach Enamel paint these days, Tractol (Smith and Allen) or Paint Man stuff.

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Wow, that's a bit pricey, but if it works then it's probably worth it. I've had a look at the Paint Man Underframe Black, which sounds like it might be suitable.

This is the current state of the axles. We live a mile or so from the sea, so perhaps there's a bit more salt in the air than in some places which might account for it. Ignore the dubious routing of the brake line - it's just temporary - or at least it was a couple of years ago!