Steve's unexpected Series 3 rebuild.

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LincolnSteve said:
Hi. Good to hear from you.
Good thinking about some extra protection. I quite fancy injecting the protection with it upside down so it runs to the top the with it standing on either end so it gloops all around the inside. So many water traps in there it's crazy.
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Don't forget - with all the inherent "leakability" any treament needs to let water run through. I've heard horror stories of people blocking drains and ending up with rust troubles higher up the structure. I personally like the idea of sticky oil rather than the idea of a thick creamy wax but as you say you do need to get things as high up as possible.

"Industrial" solutions often use high pressure air and nozzles to make an atomising spray (but seriously you need to have finshed your paint work and let it dry before you do this kind of treatment)

If I'd have logged in sooner I would have suggested using something like Zinga on the inside of the cavities whilst they were still open. You can weld through it but it is really dodgy to do so in an area with out decent ventilation. Zinga is essentially liquid zinc (96% Zinc - probably measured by weight - apparently) which I have been using quite a bit recently. I like it for inside structures (and the steel frame I've built for my new shed) but as I say it is a bit dodgy for welding so you need to be sensible / aware / reckless / irresponsible / not caring about life...
 
LincolnSteve said:
I'll have a look at Zinga. Sounds good stuff.
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Compared with other options I have found it to be a good value for money option. It isn't the only cold zinc coating solution out there...

...sound a bit like the BBC - "other cold galvanising systems are available"...

...what I have found during my shed building steel construction palaver is that if you don't manage to clean off surfaces as well as perhaps you should have done you can revisit the surfaces with an angle grinder and wire brush to apply a second coat. I have found that the Zinga does indeed attack surface rust (that was left behind by someone in a rush thinking "that ****ting rain cloud is about to make me 'king wet") and much like a rust eating product after wire brushing the surface underneath has been cleaned of rust.

This isn't the way in which the product is meant to be used but I think it is a potentially interesting way of getting rid of surface rust in hard to reach areas. You do need to apply and wait a few weeks / months and then go back and revisit the area.

The one thing I don't think would be smart - despite what the manufacturer says - is to use Zinga as an undercoating for a paint system. I can't see how a sacrificial subsurface that essentially moves would be suitable, May be I've not got enough metal chemistry knowledge but seems to me to be asking for trouble...

...one thing I am considering however is to play about with external galvanised Land Rover trim => Wire brush off the rust - apply Zinga - come back to it after the sacrifical working has done something - wire brush again - then Zinga again and then use the strangest tip I've come across - fake an old galvanised finish with unstirred Primocon (!)

One of these days when I get me effing garage built and me effing Land Rover out of storage I might give this an effing go
 
There's always another job that needs doing before you can get to what you really want to be doing.

When you're sitting pretty in that huge workshop everything will be right in the world.
 
I can't believe another couple of months has slipped by. There has been some more progress but not very much. Now my son is back at school and the homework is coming in again there's very little spare time. The clocks have changed today so that's really it for the evenings now as well. I think I probably moan about this every year. Anyway.
Time for the footwell to come out.
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I was trying to leave as much attached for as long as possible while I checked what was what. It's obvious that the bit that's been exposed there is a goner so that's the next problem.
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I made myself a template. IT'S GRRREAT! Sorry. I don't need the whole of that making in steel. Its more for being able to reinstate those holes later.
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This bit of an old steel shelf had just the right bend and was the right thickness so that was a bit of luck.
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Now to get the holes back in place.
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Draw them back in through the template and then cut out.
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Getting the footwell out means I can get a really good look at some of the other bits that will need sorting.
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That bottom bit is quite far gone. Also its right where I can't get at it because the engine and gearbox are in the way. The plan is to weld the new footwell in round all the bits I can get at so it's secure and then take the bulkhead off again to finish the rest.
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I dithered about over this bit trying to think of ways to carry on without removing it but in the end I came to my senses.
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It had to come off and really needs sorting underneath. I've got to reuse the original as there's no way I could make that shape so we'll see how that goes later.
 
Another tweak to the replacement panels is needed. Or it's needed if you are an OCD loony like me.
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That bit i'm holding in place is needed if you want it to look like the original. It also gives somewhere for another little strengthening piece to attach to the curved bit of the door pillar right at the top. I think it's often not bothered with but I can't help myself over stuff like this so it's got to go back in.
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Time for the footwell to be offered in place.
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This is where I have to make a confession. Although it fits well in most places It doesn't fit properly everywhere and I have had perform what you can only call a bodge to get round it.
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As you can see there is a gap between that return on the door pillar and the side of the footwell. Even worse it's not even a consistent gap. It's wider at the bottom than the top. In my defence the other side of the door pillar meets up perfectly with the footwell and you can see that held together with mole grips in the 2nd picture in this post. In that same picture you can see i've drawn a line and written 2mm at the top and 6mm at the bottom. That's the adjustment I would have had to make to get it to meet up but then I would have probably skewed it out everywhere else where it seemed to fit really well. I soon realised that trying to make that alteration would probably mangle the footwell so badly it wasn't worth trying. I decided that if it's got to be bodged it needs to happen where it will never be seen.
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This is my solution. It's two strips of flat bar about 10mm across by 3mm thick. They are drilled and plug welded to the side of the footwell and then the door pillar plug welded on the top. One of the bars had to be ground to a taper because the gap narrows at the top. Its solid and I will eventually weld up the front to make it even stronger and block any holes where muck and water could get through to the door pillar. I'm not pleased that i've had to do it and i'm not even sure how it happened but once the door pillar and bulkhead foot were in with the door shutting the footwell just had to be made to fit somehow. Once it's all back together nobody will be able to tell.
So then I did all the plug welds and ground them back. I'm not sure who is more sick of grinding back welds me or my neighbours. Still some finishing needed but it's in. All in all only took about six months and the other side is much worse.
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LincolnSteve said:
Good to hear from you. For some reason i've stopped getting notifications on a lot of the threads I was watching so i'm behind on how everyone is doing. How's yours going?
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For some reason I traded my hilux for a Td5 90 earlier in the year - I’ve been playing with that more than anything lol
 
resto_d1 said:
For some reason I traded my hilux for a Td5 90 earlier in the year - I’ve been playing with that more than anything lol
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Sounds good. I've also got another distraction but I hardly dare admit to it on here. I've just got a Suzuki Grand Vitara. It's another old banger with it's fair share of problems that i'm working through. I really like it though. Do you think i'm still allowed on here? :eek:
 
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