Bulkhead confessional...

People of a nervous disposition...look away now. No welding rods were harmed in the repairing of this bulkhead!

This is what my three grand eBay 1986 110 looked like the day I picked it up six months ago. OK, a bit sheddy, but amazingly under there is a rot free, unpatched chassis, a 200Tdi engine, and a Disco transfer box. I've been doing it bit of tinkering, bolting the usual Bearmach and Britpart bits to it and getting it looking a bit prettier, whilst using it a fair bit too.



However the one thing that really let her down was the bulkhead. Lots of black mastic had been forced into the usual holes by a blindfolded man with a spade...you can see it on the above shot. I know that really she needs repair panels, but if I'm going to do that I want the dash out, screen off, wings off, shot blasting etc etc, and as this is more of a rolling restoration I didn't want to lose the use of her for months on end. And if I'm going that far I might as well have all the body off and do a complete respray, and besides we're off camping in her in a few weeks.

So a bit of angle grinding got the worst of it off. Actually it really wasn't that bad in terms of advancement along the bulkhead, however the holes on the edges were pretty numerous and I could get my fingers in some of them! I gave any rusty bits a good blast with Fertan (seems to be very good stuff) and a splodge of P40 and P38 fillers. I know it's a bit of a bodge, but if it buys me 1-2 years that's good, and at some point in that time I'll do a full rebuild.





I've now rattle can primed it, ready for the top coat. It'll do for now!







More to follow as I do it...

Excellent, I like your approach! If it were me I'd have the body off before the kettle had clicked and sod the holiday!

Aint no overspray getting on that body!!

You got skirting boArds in the garage or is the patio doors very wide and the wife on holiday.

pete1987RRC said:

You got skirting boArds in the garage or is the patio doors very wide and the wife on holiday.

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Yep, skirting boards indeedy. Built a house which we moved into earlier this year complete with dream "man-cave". Plasterboarded throughout, rubber floor, etc etc. Original plan was it was going to be a surgically clean shrine of all things automotive and cycling, perhaps with a bike turbo trainer and a plastic office plant in the corner and a retro Playstation set up too. Reality is the floor and workbench are now covered in oil and there's spare Land Rover wheels stacked up in the corner instead of the plastic plant! Still, I do keep looking for a second hand beer fridge on eBay but keep getting beaten!

How the other half live.......

Good fix, should as you say buy you some time until you spends thousands on a rebuild

pete1987RRC said:

How the other half live.......

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Mate it was a very long time coming and an awful lot of pain along the way. In fairness we'd been living in our previous teeny 2 bed bungalow semi for 15 years...I work from home and with the arrival of a little one it was a bit of a squeeze. Bedroom 2, my office, was also his nursery so trying to make sure that changing time didn't clash with any work Skype calls became a bit of an art form!

pete1987RRC said:

You got skirting boArds in the garage or is the patio doors very wide and the wife on holiday.

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Looks like a ram raid in progress. Good job done though, dont see why it shouldnt last as youve treated the rusty bits.

My first thought was ......... how the f*ck did you get it into your front room

mick the builder said:

Looks like a ram raid in progress. Good job done though, dont see why it shouldnt last as youve treated the rusty bits.

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Well I treated the rusty bits I could see. And I got the Fertan nozzle in the front holes and gave it a good squirt around in 360 degrees, plus the same from the holes that had opened up from the back, behind the door rubbers. But there's bound to be bits I couldn't get to! But if it buys a few more years then great!

Well, that's the bulkhead finished...for now...and the vehicle pretty much as I wanted to get her (although I will be ordering a Southdown snorkel soon). At some point in a few years I will do a full rebuild (paint chassis, repair the bulkhead properly, fix any leaks, re-skin the nsf door, full repsray, suspension refresh, soundproof, and add a subtle winch bumper & winch), but I'm happy for now.

It's the same paint as per the original picture, just cut back and polished and touched up here and there. The Boosts came from Gumtree, the tyres are new (265/75/16 Cooper Discoverer STT Pro), the seats are what was lurking under some nasty covers (although I think they are SIII seats, not 110). The steering wheel is an eBay job, the chequer plate is Bearmach and does a nice job of hiding some corner damage, and the A-bar and spots are all that remains of my departed Disco (yes I know they are originally off a Defender and I bodged them onto the Disco!). The floor matting is workshop matting from Halfords, cut to fit (sort of..) all in for a tenner.

So we're off to Wales soon camping...it's a thirty year old three grand Land Rover, a twenty two year old trailer tent, and a seven month old baby. What could possibly go wrong?

Happy days! Looks the part! Enjoy the camping

Nice job... what a turn around from your first picture...thought the paintwork was badly oxidised, but I guess a good wash and polish has brought her up nicely....

Happy camping

I can't think of anything to go wrong. Other than the rain in Wales Having said that, I've had some fine days camping in Wales. Great fun.