S3 109 Safari project......

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After some delays due to holidays, I managed to make some progress on the internal panels. I was dreading fitting the seat box, as I could see that there was a slight bend on the rear rail. It must have happened when I riveted it together. However, after some tweaking, I managed to get the seatbox to fit. I had to open up some holes for some more clearance. I used some dum dum sealer on the base flange and made some rubber gaskets for between the seat box and the chassis brackets. I think it looks a reasonably good fit. I also bought some second hand inertia reel bulkhead brackets, repaired, blasted and painted them. You can see them fitted with the reel mounting plate on top. Making some progress now!
 

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Happy with progress ,I moved onto the tunnel and floor panels. I fitted some wiring to the reverse light switch and fed it through into the engine bay for connection later as I think it may be a real challenge to get in to after the tunnel is fitted. I applied some dum dum on the passengers floor and on the tunnel. Not sure if it needs it but Land Rovers don’t need an excuse to leak!
It still needs a bit of tweaking, but it seems to be quite a decent fit.
 

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I thought I would try a front door on, so fitted the hinges and gave it a try. As you can see it’s a mile out!
I expected this, but not by that much…. Anyway, it could do with the bulkhead aligning as the chassis bracket is not fitted. I’ll try and get it better next time 😊
 

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I thought I would try a front door on, so fitted the hinges and gave it a try. As you can see it’s a mile out!
I expected this, but not by that much…. Anyway, it could do with the bulkhead aligning as the chassis bracket is not fitted. I’ll try and get it better next time 😊
That's looking amazing, and it's all really coming together now 👍
 
Moved over to the other side and fitted the driver’s side floor. Sounds easy, but took a fair bit of fettling to get it to sit properly! Anyway, I got it in and sealed it with dum dum the same as the other side.
After that nightmare, I thought I would brave trial fitting the driver side front door 😀. Surprisingly, it fitted fairly well straight away. Once the seals are in place, I think it will be better again…..🤞.
I’ve got tons to do, but I think I will move onto stripping the rear body sides ready for paint along with the roof. Dreading that one!
 

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Moved over to the other side and fitted the driver’s side floor. Sounds easy, but took a fair bit of fettling to get it to sit properly! Anyway, I got it in and sealed it with dum dum the same as the other side.
After that nightmare, I thought I would brave trial fitting the driver side front door 😀. Surprisingly, it fitted fairly well straight away. Once the seals are in place, I think it will be better again…..🤞.
I’ve got tons to do, but I think I will move onto stripping the rear body sides ready for paint along with the roof. Dreading that one!
Brings back memories, I rebuilt a couple of SWB series.
Looks great
 
Started stripping one of the rear upper body sides, and it was not a job I was looking forward to!
The first issue was that the sliding channels were so bad that I couldn’t slide the windows to get access to the fixing screws. I had to resort to bending the edge of the channel over then squeezing the window out. Nerve wracking to say the least! After getting both panes of glass out, I had to destroy the channels to remove them. Onto the drip channel, I unbolted it first then had to lever it out to unstick the sealant which has left an utter mess that I’ll have to clean off before preparing for paint.
I also started removing the rear window glazing strip screws and only a few came out before rounding the heads. Time to walk away I think…..😂
I’ll add some photos of it stripped when my patience returns 👍
 

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After walking away from the strip down yesterday, I went back for more today….😀. Next up, I removed all the mounting brackets, then tried the the rear window glazing strips again. The tiny cross head screws were burred over and were impossible to remove, so I had to drill the heads off then unscrew the remains with a pair of pliers. Oh joy, but that’s it done, on that one anyway! The glass came out fine as it was only in with dum dum…
After this one was stripped, I moved to the opposite side and after learning the lessons from the first attempt, it all came apart not too bad. 👍. It just needs some prep work, cleaning and shipping off for paint. Sounds easy if you say it quick enough…
 

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Next up, I had a look at the radiator front panel, and it’s a lot more ropey that I remembered. Not sure where I can go with this! I have a repair section for it, so I guess that would be a start!
 

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Okay, made a start on the front panel today. I had a look at others for sale and mine didn’t seem too bad considering. I also had a repair panel, so it was definitely viable.
After drilling the bonnet landing strip rivets and unbolting everything else, I could see the challenge ahead!
 

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After carefully measuring the new repair panel, I cut the old remnants of the lower panel off. Incidentally, I never realised that there was a reinforcement on the old panel but not on the new one….
 

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I carefully drilled off the old section, then chiselled it off using a slitting chisel. After a tidy up I drilled the new metal ready for plug welds. After a few tweaks, I welded the rear and front. It looks easy, but I can guarantee it was not! It was twisting all over the place 😀
 

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Luckily I had some steel angle leftover from chassis repairs. It was perfect to recreate the original strengthener with some trimming and drilling. Unfortunately the original was too far gone for reuse, otherwise it would have made sense to try and refit it.
After drilling plug weld holes on both faces I welded it into place. It really makes a difference and I’m glad I went to the trouble of fitting it as it would have been easier not to. 😀
 

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