tonywoodworks

tonywoodworks

Member
I am thinking of going down the galvanised chassis swap on my 110. can any one offer any advice? I was going to get a decent bulkhead and repair it and then galvanise that as a cheaper option to a new galvanised bulkhead as they are so pricey on top of a new chassis. I'd call myself a novice mechanic at best so any help or pointers would be great!
Thanks
Tony
 
Give a lot of thought as to how/where you are going to lift the body off....and more importantly...lower it back on again :)
 
Marmaduke said:
Have a read of some of Aaron morris's rebuilds on the defender section
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Good advice. Read as many as you can, because different vehicles will give different problems or need different things focusing on. From what you learn, if you decide you can give it a shot, then just go for it. You'll get a lot of support and guidance on here. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
 
All very doable yourself, and certainly much cheaper, hardest part will probably be trying to find a half decent bulkhead.
Anything you have done will have to be took back to bare metal as the galvanise with not stick to paint, so it will either need to be shot blasted for the awkward or large pieces, or when I did some earlier this year I cleaned a lot of the stuff up with wire wheels or a flap disc in the grinder, light rust is ok as the acid bath it goes in prior to the galv dipping will remove that.
You also need to drill holes in any consealed/closed items, as the heat when dipping can cause them to explode, something like a 6mm hole is fine.
I had this lot done, with little issue, total cost was probably £700.
£300 to have it galvanised.
And £400 ish in shot blasting.

DSCF5527_zpsack3bgbb.jpg
 
tonywoodworks said:
I am thinking of going down the galvanised chassis swap on my 110.
Tony
Click to expand...
Just to clarify - are you looking to just remove the body, change the chassis, and stick it back together - the sort of job that a competent garage will do in 3-4 days, or an enthusiastic amateur in about a week....or are you looking at a total strip-down, clean, repair, galvanise, paint, & rebuild of the Aaron Morris ilk (God that guy's good!) over a period of 3-4 months? :confused:
 
Beneagles said:
Just to clarify - are you looking to just remove the body, change the chassis, and stick it back together - the sort of job that a competent garage will do in 3-4 days, or an enthusiastic amateur in about a week....or are you looking at a total strip-down, clean, repair, galvanise, paint, & rebuild of the Aaron Morris ilk (God that guy's good!) over a period of 3-4 months? :confused:
Click to expand...
My chassis is shot and my bulkhead is starting to give concern, so it's just a chassis and bulkhead swap, but I'll be renewing dodgy bits I discover along the way. it's not going to be a full resto.
 
I spent about 2 weeks in September doing the chassis and bulkhead on my 110. If you are a reasonably competent mechanic, have a good selection of tools, plenty of space, time and patience then i would honestly say it will be the best thing you ever do. Sad as it is i thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my chassis swap (bulkhead not so much lol) and i dismantled it all bit by bit rather than lifting the body. I did a time lapse video of the whole thing start to finish and its not until you sit back and look at it you realise what you have achieved. I got my chassis from Richards and my bulkhead from Mosside rovers
 
greenlanebasher said:
I spent about 2 weeks in September doing the chassis and bulkhead on my 110. If you are a reasonably competent mechanic, have a good selection of tools, plenty of space, time and patience then i would honestly say it will be the best thing you ever do. Sad as it is i thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my chassis swap (bulkhead not so much lol) and i dismantled it all bit by bit rather than lifting the body. I did a time lapse video of the whole thing start to finish and its not until you sit back and look at it you realise what you have achieved. I got my chassis from Richards and my bulkhead from Mosside rovers
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Nothing sad about enjoying a chassis swap. :) And, as you say, a great achievement.

tonywoodworks said:
My chassis is shot and my bulkhead is starting to give concern, so it's just a chassis and bulkhead swap, but I'll be renewing dodgy bits I discover along the way. it's not going to be a full resto.
Click to expand...

A chassis only swap is obviously more straightforward. If your bulkhead is developing issues then you can repair these in situe and there are a number of threads on LZ showing repairs to different sections of the bulkhead. Replacing the bulkhead as well as the chassis is a much bigger job but very doable if you have a realistic idea of your abilities/competence before you start. Things you don't know you can find out on forums such as this, so long as you have the ability/competence to carry out what you learn. That's a decision you need to make before you start. As I said before, read through as many rebuild threads as you can to see not only how it's done, but the range of issues you can/will come across along the way. IMO if you are going down the galv bulkhead swap route (It will add a lot more life to your Landy) then you might as well repair or replace as much as you can afford along the way. You are going to have the vehicle stripped to such a degree that, to me, you might as well invest a little more time, effort and money while your in there. There are still different levels you can take it to, like going for a lot of galv parts or not. Research will help you decide far far you want to, or can, go.
 
All great advice, thanks. I think I'll be fairly comfortable with the chassis swap, I'll have a think about the bulkhead! but part of me thinks when I'm in that deep anyway maybe I should just go for it!
 
If you do the bulkhead be prepared to loose 2 days of your life! I had had my dash out and sorted all my wiring a year or so ago and with no modifications or repairs it took me a full 12 hour day and probably another 6 the following day. A bulkhead presents a whole new degree of challenges and it is much more difficult in my opinion to plan it and buy parts accordingly. Silly things like rivnuts, the little square thread inserts that the bottom dash screws into, cable ties that have a mounting stud on them to fix the loom to the bulkhead, foam to seal the heater, new screws of which there are about a million different sizes and so the list goes on. Get a parts list and study it. A few hours prep will make the world of difference when you have had your mind battered and bruised by wiring
 
greenlanebasher said:
If you do the bulkhead be prepared to loose 2 days of your life!
Click to expand...
2 days! :eek: Hat's off to ya :)
My Landy was off the road for 2 yrs and 3 months. However, I was working on the drive and so at the mercy of the weather. Also, I was aiming at a half decent full restoration. As I said before, it depends on what level you want to go to. As greenlanebasher says do you research, plan for what you want to achieve and do as much prep as you can think of. There will always be a host of things you don't think of, so don't be disappointed when they come along :) Happens to all of us.
Oh, and take a load of pictures as you take things apart. You can't take too many - can't emphasise that enough. Makes putting things back sooooo much easier.
 
Champion. :)
Can't tell, but presume the scaffold is the right height for the chassis to roll underneath.
It's a pain only having the drive to work on. Must be worse on the road :(
 
tonywoodworks said:
Thanks everyone for the advice, this is the kind of stuff I was hoping for- all those things you don't think to plan for.
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For payback, all you have to do is post pictures of your progress :)

By the way, you're not related to Edwardwoodwoodworks are you? ;)
 
Last edited:
That was a CatC write-off, it had a big impact on the n/s front which broke the chassis.

RobDef5.jpg


Still running, just about to fit an Ashcroft gearbox into it.
Peter
 
I think it hit a tree stump or something like that.

Tore the radius arm bracket off the chassis and the chassis was cracked on the far side as well. We changed the front axle as it had possible casing distortion.

Peter
 
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