Birdbrain
Well-Known Member
Started last May and nearly completed now. Waiting for the final shiny bits back from the paint shop.
We'd had this vehicle since brand new in 1992 and it had had a hard life but been regularly serviced. In later years it spent a lot of time by (or in) the sea. I bought it off the company and decided to get it rebuilt on a new galvanised chassis and galvanised bulkhead to ensure it lasted a minimum of another 27 years. The decision was based on economics really - rebuild a Landrover I'd known and driven since new with a full history and all the bills or spend a lot of money on a newer one that could turn up some nasty surprises within a few years.
With this in mind I bought a galvanised Richards chassis which was then etch primed and sprayed in black raptor. A chance conversation wit hthe spares guy at our local Landrover dealer had me forking out for a rare original brand new 200 tdi bulkhead which was promptly shot blasted, galvanised and painted with all the exposed underneath bits being sprayed in white raptor.
The A & B posts were very badly rusted so the decision was taken to scrap them and buy reconditioned and galvanised replacements. The engine &transmission were all sound so were just cleaned and painted as were the axles and running gear. All the brake pipes, bushes and brake hoses were replaced with new items. All the lights were replaced with LED ones.
The body panels were taken in batches to a local spray shop after the doors were stripped and repaired. We decided to paint the roof black rather than the original white just to give it a more modern feel. We could never match the original Landrover white - even Landrover couldn't match it when it went back within the first few months of its life as the paint was peeling off the bulkhead air vents - so the decision was made to respray in Mercedes commercial white so we could easily get matching paint in the future.
Its not quite there yet but we are expecting the doors back from the paint shop at the end of this week so hopefully it'll be on the road again by the end of the month.
I haven't had the time to do the work myself but a friend, who's a 4 x 4 specialist in N Wales where I work, has serviced it for years and is doing the rebuild when time allows.
We'd had this vehicle since brand new in 1992 and it had had a hard life but been regularly serviced. In later years it spent a lot of time by (or in) the sea. I bought it off the company and decided to get it rebuilt on a new galvanised chassis and galvanised bulkhead to ensure it lasted a minimum of another 27 years. The decision was based on economics really - rebuild a Landrover I'd known and driven since new with a full history and all the bills or spend a lot of money on a newer one that could turn up some nasty surprises within a few years.
With this in mind I bought a galvanised Richards chassis which was then etch primed and sprayed in black raptor. A chance conversation wit hthe spares guy at our local Landrover dealer had me forking out for a rare original brand new 200 tdi bulkhead which was promptly shot blasted, galvanised and painted with all the exposed underneath bits being sprayed in white raptor.
The A & B posts were very badly rusted so the decision was taken to scrap them and buy reconditioned and galvanised replacements. The engine &transmission were all sound so were just cleaned and painted as were the axles and running gear. All the brake pipes, bushes and brake hoses were replaced with new items. All the lights were replaced with LED ones.
The body panels were taken in batches to a local spray shop after the doors were stripped and repaired. We decided to paint the roof black rather than the original white just to give it a more modern feel. We could never match the original Landrover white - even Landrover couldn't match it when it went back within the first few months of its life as the paint was peeling off the bulkhead air vents - so the decision was made to respray in Mercedes commercial white so we could easily get matching paint in the future.
Its not quite there yet but we are expecting the doors back from the paint shop at the end of this week so hopefully it'll be on the road again by the end of the month.
I haven't had the time to do the work myself but a friend, who's a 4 x 4 specialist in N Wales where I work, has serviced it for years and is doing the rebuild when time allows.
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