gasket999
getting there...
- Messages
- 373
- Location
- Manchester, UK
Hiya folks - restoring a land rover and doing some work on the bulkhead.
New footwells going in - couple of small patches, but otherwise a solid bit of kit.
Having it blasted next week before I start doing the repairs and thinking about knocking up a simple jig this weekend to keep everything straight when I cut the footwells out. Something like this, but without the rotissarie feature.
I appreciate a bit of wood bolted between the bottom brackets would probably be adequate but figure its good practice to do the job properly (and its an excuse for a small welding project in making the jig itself I'll probably donate it to the LR club after I'm done with it).
However, I'm in two minds about whether to galvanize the bulkhead or not once the repairs are finished. After all these years, the jury's still out as to whether its a good idea or not given the risk of warpage. I think the general concencus now is that as long as the galvanizer is careful, doesn't dunk it in a quench tank after and doesn't mash it with the fork-lift (actually the most common complaint) then its a good idea. There is also a suspicion that the big firms that produce galvanized refurbished bulkheads use a jig to go in the bath too to reduce the risk of warpage.
Now given that the biggest bulkhead firm Ashtree quoted me £450 plus vat just to galv it - I thought, why don't I just make the jig a bit more substantial (picking up on all the major anchor points - inc the holes at the back of the footwells, but with minimal surface contact - small washers under the bolt/nut head) and send the bulkhead and frame to be dunked as one.
I have a lot of 1.5" 3mm thick mild steel angle that I was planning to make the jig out of - but do you think that this would be substantial enough to prevent warpage of the bulkhead during dipping, or would I be better using box-section (I'd have to buy a load tho
).
I should point out that the galving would be handled by a company I'm using to do a load of acid-dipping for me in Preston - they'll dip the whole lot first before having the galving firm collect it - so I know the door-pillar section is free from rot internally. Its pretty cheap to include the bulkhead with the other bits being dipped and it'll also remove any surface rust build up after blasting while the repairs were being done.
Advice/opinion would be very welcome.
New footwells going in - couple of small patches, but otherwise a solid bit of kit.
Having it blasted next week before I start doing the repairs and thinking about knocking up a simple jig this weekend to keep everything straight when I cut the footwells out. Something like this, but without the rotissarie feature.
I appreciate a bit of wood bolted between the bottom brackets would probably be adequate but figure its good practice to do the job properly (and its an excuse for a small welding project in making the jig itself I'll probably donate it to the LR club after I'm done with it).
However, I'm in two minds about whether to galvanize the bulkhead or not once the repairs are finished. After all these years, the jury's still out as to whether its a good idea or not given the risk of warpage. I think the general concencus now is that as long as the galvanizer is careful, doesn't dunk it in a quench tank after and doesn't mash it with the fork-lift (actually the most common complaint) then its a good idea. There is also a suspicion that the big firms that produce galvanized refurbished bulkheads use a jig to go in the bath too to reduce the risk of warpage.
Now given that the biggest bulkhead firm Ashtree quoted me £450 plus vat just to galv it - I thought, why don't I just make the jig a bit more substantial (picking up on all the major anchor points - inc the holes at the back of the footwells, but with minimal surface contact - small washers under the bolt/nut head) and send the bulkhead and frame to be dunked as one.
I have a lot of 1.5" 3mm thick mild steel angle that I was planning to make the jig out of - but do you think that this would be substantial enough to prevent warpage of the bulkhead during dipping, or would I be better using box-section (I'd have to buy a load tho
).I should point out that the galving would be handled by a company I'm using to do a load of acid-dipping for me in Preston - they'll dip the whole lot first before having the galving firm collect it - so I know the door-pillar section is free from rot internally. Its pretty cheap to include the bulkhead with the other bits being dipped and it'll also remove any surface rust build up after blasting while the repairs were being done.
Advice/opinion would be very welcome.
