Hammer'n'tongs
Member
Apparently MOT tests are tightening up from May this year? That's what my local tester said, that another 5 pages of fails are being issued, in an effort to sweep the roads of older vehicles. I guess that means it'll get more difficult for some of us with the older vehicles to keep them up to standard. He said the stipulations could include things like oil leaks...mine has those!
My bulkhead restoration project is on hold for now, and will have to save for a new chassis, but MOT's wait for no man, and so I've patched what I have to get it through what might be the last lenient test.
I'm a novice in many respects, but I thought I'd have a go at welding. My old friend loaned me his workshop, and equipped with a stick welder and many thin rods, I cobbled together some massive patches on the 30yr old chassis, in order to save a few bob.
When I stripped the offside outrigger and knocked the rust off, there seemed little of it left, except the underside was good. You could put a fist into it from the back, and and old patch had rusted through across the top, so once I'd cut back to [relatively] sound metal, it looked worse than probably many cases where the whole outrigger needed replacing.
Absurd as it may sound, obtaining a replacement outrigger didn't occur to me. Undaunted, but in at the deep end, I folded some card, made up a template, and cut out the section from 2mm mild steel plate with a thin cutting wheel. I was surprised that the outrigger was only made from 2mm material, but I guess that's all that's required when its fabricated into box section? Anyway, this happened quickly, and I used the vice and heavy hammer to fold the part into 3 sides of a box. Then clamped it into position.
The welding of this huge patch seemed to take an age! It was a really slow process of using up some rods, grinding back what I'd done, learning as I went and never quite getting a satisfactory weld. The finished product looked awful, with oversized globules interspersed with inclusions. I covered the unsightly seams (and those around big patches behind the rear shock absorber mountings), in a liberal coating of zinc rich paint, and then 2 coats of underseal, then they didn't look so bad! It was a mucky job, and gave me a sore throat from the fumes. MIG would have been better, but then I have no experience, and no MIG set. I may miss MIG out altogether and invest in a TIG set, and spend a winter practicing on scrap.
Anyway, am pleased to say it didn't fail on any of the welding! There were issues with the lights, and play in some of the steering components, that led to a fail. I've taken the plunge to upgrade all the lights except the headlights to LED's, the RDX type, with the proprietary relay. I've got the front end all working lovely, but I'm in a muddle with the rear corners. Some of the wires are blackened right through the copper core, I guess I'll have to trace them right through to the fuses? And I'm reestablishing good earth connections which should help matters.
I've fitted a new reconditioned PAS steering box (have done this once before, when I first got the vehicle), but was quite put out by the poor appearance of the new reconditioned box: no bung in one of the fluid ports; bits of paint in there, and then upon fitting, the blasted bolts got really tight in the threads a long way before they were home. I wondered if again it was paint or detritus that could have caused this, as it shouldn't be cross-threading that far in? I guess I should have checked the thread was clear before mounting the box. Still, its what you don't see that counts, I hope its performance is redeeming!
To top off the night, and the week, I managed to get the old, offending panhard rod bush out (I honestly never even heard of this item until it failed the MOT), by drilling the rubber out repeatedly with a small bit, pressing out the inner cylinder, and sawing through the outer cylinder with a hacksaw. Now I come to pressing in the new bush, with the help of copper grease and then releasing fluid, and get the thing 3/4 of the way through, to go no further! The required pressure got greater and greater, and I used a tube on the vice bar to give better leverage only to bend the bar over, which I'm very sorry about George, and try and bend it straight again, only now its got an obvious kink..George has used it for at least 40 years with a straight hand bar, then I come along and mangle it! So I'm now thinking I must order a new bush, cut out the one I tried to install, but first I'll take it to the marine engineers shop, to see if they can press it home for me.
All in all, I can say that I'm having a wonderful start to carrying out my own Land rover repairs! The novelty has almost worn off, but I've learned a lot in the last two weeks, and gained a good bit of confidence, which will stand me in good stead for when I undertake the rebuild. I've certainly saved hundreds by welding the chassis myself. It might not be to a professional standard, but its not falling off and it has satisfied the tester. Its a rewarding feeling. Of course, after spending loads of time and exhaustive funds of it, its still gonna look like a very well used land rover! But, can't wait to get it back on the road, and put it to its intended use in the woods..
Cheers chaps.
My bulkhead restoration project is on hold for now, and will have to save for a new chassis, but MOT's wait for no man, and so I've patched what I have to get it through what might be the last lenient test.
I'm a novice in many respects, but I thought I'd have a go at welding. My old friend loaned me his workshop, and equipped with a stick welder and many thin rods, I cobbled together some massive patches on the 30yr old chassis, in order to save a few bob.
When I stripped the offside outrigger and knocked the rust off, there seemed little of it left, except the underside was good. You could put a fist into it from the back, and and old patch had rusted through across the top, so once I'd cut back to [relatively] sound metal, it looked worse than probably many cases where the whole outrigger needed replacing.
Absurd as it may sound, obtaining a replacement outrigger didn't occur to me. Undaunted, but in at the deep end, I folded some card, made up a template, and cut out the section from 2mm mild steel plate with a thin cutting wheel. I was surprised that the outrigger was only made from 2mm material, but I guess that's all that's required when its fabricated into box section? Anyway, this happened quickly, and I used the vice and heavy hammer to fold the part into 3 sides of a box. Then clamped it into position.
The welding of this huge patch seemed to take an age! It was a really slow process of using up some rods, grinding back what I'd done, learning as I went and never quite getting a satisfactory weld. The finished product looked awful, with oversized globules interspersed with inclusions. I covered the unsightly seams (and those around big patches behind the rear shock absorber mountings), in a liberal coating of zinc rich paint, and then 2 coats of underseal, then they didn't look so bad! It was a mucky job, and gave me a sore throat from the fumes. MIG would have been better, but then I have no experience, and no MIG set. I may miss MIG out altogether and invest in a TIG set, and spend a winter practicing on scrap.
Anyway, am pleased to say it didn't fail on any of the welding! There were issues with the lights, and play in some of the steering components, that led to a fail. I've taken the plunge to upgrade all the lights except the headlights to LED's, the RDX type, with the proprietary relay. I've got the front end all working lovely, but I'm in a muddle with the rear corners. Some of the wires are blackened right through the copper core, I guess I'll have to trace them right through to the fuses? And I'm reestablishing good earth connections which should help matters.
I've fitted a new reconditioned PAS steering box (have done this once before, when I first got the vehicle), but was quite put out by the poor appearance of the new reconditioned box: no bung in one of the fluid ports; bits of paint in there, and then upon fitting, the blasted bolts got really tight in the threads a long way before they were home. I wondered if again it was paint or detritus that could have caused this, as it shouldn't be cross-threading that far in? I guess I should have checked the thread was clear before mounting the box. Still, its what you don't see that counts, I hope its performance is redeeming!
To top off the night, and the week, I managed to get the old, offending panhard rod bush out (I honestly never even heard of this item until it failed the MOT), by drilling the rubber out repeatedly with a small bit, pressing out the inner cylinder, and sawing through the outer cylinder with a hacksaw. Now I come to pressing in the new bush, with the help of copper grease and then releasing fluid, and get the thing 3/4 of the way through, to go no further! The required pressure got greater and greater, and I used a tube on the vice bar to give better leverage only to bend the bar over, which I'm very sorry about George, and try and bend it straight again, only now its got an obvious kink..George has used it for at least 40 years with a straight hand bar, then I come along and mangle it! So I'm now thinking I must order a new bush, cut out the one I tried to install, but first I'll take it to the marine engineers shop, to see if they can press it home for me.
All in all, I can say that I'm having a wonderful start to carrying out my own Land rover repairs! The novelty has almost worn off, but I've learned a lot in the last two weeks, and gained a good bit of confidence, which will stand me in good stead for when I undertake the rebuild. I've certainly saved hundreds by welding the chassis myself. It might not be to a professional standard, but its not falling off and it has satisfied the tester. Its a rewarding feeling. Of course, after spending loads of time and exhaustive funds of it, its still gonna look like a very well used land rover! But, can't wait to get it back on the road, and put it to its intended use in the woods..
Cheers chaps.
