I sometimes wonder what LR designers were thinking, and the jointing methods & materials used on the front wings is a catalogue of curious decisions.

The working theory is thus; by riveting, bolting and spot welding the wing it was designed as a tradesman test. Anyone who could complete all three tasks to satisfaction could join the line. Anyone failing went on to other roles...such as designing parts using materials that trigger galvanic corrosion...

Back to the question...is it worth bothering to strip down and repair a wing? The rivets and bolts are easy enough...but spot welding alloy is a greenfield site for skills...

I'm not precious about saving every part.

Any thoughts from anyone that has done this, and if its something they would do again, would be some useful insight.

SimonBrown said:

I sometimes wonder what LR designers were thinking, and the jointing methods & materials used on the front wings is a catalogue of curious decisions.

The working theory is thus; by riveting, bolting and spot welding the wing it was designed as a tradesman test. Anyone who could complete all three tasks to satisfaction could join the line. Anyone failing went on to other roles...such as designing parts using materials that trigger galvanic corrosion...View attachment 336490

Back to the question...is it worth bothering to strip down and repair a wing? The rivets and bolts are easy enough...but spot welding alloy is a greenfield site for skills...

I'm not precious about saving every part.

Any thoughts from anyone that has done this, and if its something they would do again, would be some useful insight.

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I have done a few wings, It depends on the finish you are going for as to if it is worth the effort. In a show room truck then it is not work the effort as unless you have some serious skills, you will be riveting back together all the spotwelds you have drilled out. it also depends how far you want to strip it down. I have removed the inside planal (pictured) by drilling out the spot welds and then riveting on panel in better condition.
If you are trying to straighten a wing that is a very challenging task and again if going for concours I would get a replacement as there are too many contours to get perfect unless you are very skilled.

The only thing I have done to sort a crunched wing id replace the whole thing with a better [not new] one.
However recon you are on more of a restoration than fix up. It is not hard to remove spot welds, there are special drill bits to do just that and they work well. It is a case of rivet to replace unless one can alloy weld.
The construction method of the Land Rover comes from 1940's and compared to todays methods very much more hand built methods.

dag019 said:

...trying to straighten a wing that is a very challenging task and again if going for concours I would get a replacement as there are too many contours to get perfect unless you are very skilled.

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Panel beating is an art...I can knock a dent out...but there is a huge difference between the two.

This vehicle will be a daily drive, so the concours look can wait for the next one.

Thanks for the insight - much appreciated.

SimonBrown said:

Panel beating is an art...I can knock a dent out...but there is a huge difference between the two.

This vehicle will be a daily drive, so the concours look can wait for the next one.

Thanks for the insight - much appreciated.

Click to expand...

You would be amazed what a lick of paint can do. The drivers wing I fitted during my rebuild after the fire (original melted) was very much a farmers wing and I knocked the dents out as best as I could and then painted it and fitted. It look worse in the pictures than in reality, is definitely the worst condition part of my bodywork, but every other panel has small dent and knocks on it so it is in keeping. I fitted it as a cheap get the rebuild done option to then look to find a better one in the future. that was three years ago now! unless the rest of your vehicle is perfect I wouldn't worry too much about perfection. These are about the only vehicle where a couple of dents is in keeping (and add character) and do not just make it look like a wreck!