Jelly_Sheffield
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
- Messages
- 561
- Location
- Sheffield, UK
Following on from rewiring the Isuzu Trooper (advice: Don't)... I traded it for a "running" Stage 1 V8.
I knew it needed new brakes and a bit of bulkhead welding... but it started first turn of the screwdriver (ignition barrel sized), and ran sweet.
However:
• It had pretty serious electrical problems (had, because on the advice of two separate auto electricians, I have cut out the entire loom and ordered new) that meant it kept catching fire...
• Stripping out the original fitted sound insulation, and dash to get at the electrics revealed that I seriously underestimated how much welding was needed on the bulkhead.
This is the "good" side that doesn't need as much work:
Excellent use of the time honoured technique of [checks notes] crudely tack welding a plate in with a stick welder and slathering it with seam seal from the wrong side so it forms a gigantic rust trap... Which has helpfully eaten away at critical stamped components.
Less bad, but same deal.
And the pièce de résistance, the a-post and bulkhead skin had rusted through at the weld...
Which had been ground back and packed with body filler, camouflaging it well, whilst also directing water down the inside rusting out more sections until it had all the structural rigidity of a jelly snake from the woolies pick-n-mix!
I wish I had a before photo to show how innocuous it looked.
I knew it needed new brakes and a bit of bulkhead welding... but it started first turn of the screwdriver (ignition barrel sized), and ran sweet.
However:
• It had pretty serious electrical problems (had, because on the advice of two separate auto electricians, I have cut out the entire loom and ordered new) that meant it kept catching fire...
• Stripping out the original fitted sound insulation, and dash to get at the electrics revealed that I seriously underestimated how much welding was needed on the bulkhead.
This is the "good" side that doesn't need as much work:
Excellent use of the time honoured technique of [checks notes] crudely tack welding a plate in with a stick welder and slathering it with seam seal from the wrong side so it forms a gigantic rust trap... Which has helpfully eaten away at critical stamped components.
Less bad, but same deal.
And the pièce de résistance, the a-post and bulkhead skin had rusted through at the weld...
Which had been ground back and packed with body filler, camouflaging it well, whilst also directing water down the inside rusting out more sections until it had all the structural rigidity of a jelly snake from the woolies pick-n-mix!
I wish I had a before photo to show how innocuous it looked.