Land Rover V8 restoration - what have I got myself into?

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Did you add the reinforcement to the footwell for the larger servo brake tower, as well as the bigger hole?

Nope, but it's almost double the thickness of the OEM footwell which didn't have reinforcement either...

If needed I can add it easily enough as we're a long way from being buttoned up.

How bad is the front cross member?

As far as I can tell with a hammer and a pokey stick it's actually in really good nic.

What seems to have happened is that someone applied a bitumen coating to the outside of the chassis, it failed in areas subject to the worst road spray, and trapped water causing it to rust outside-in whilst it was sat in the hedge, very badly but in very localised regions.

Do you guys renovate these basket cases for Fun/ necessity / the challenge or just to avoid watching the T.V. ? Serious question as I just cannot see why.

For one thing, I don't own a TV!

In this case, rebuilding a Landie is something I have wanted to do since I was about 12, and it wasn't meant to get anywhere near this bad when I committed, but I kept (keep) finding problems

I think it helps to keep me going that the Stage 1 V8 Station Wagons are fairly rare, and this one in particular has a very unique provenance (it was in a bunch of the LR marketing brochures and press coverage), and is in highly original condition...

So if I can get it repaired to a decent standard in a sympathetic way, it's probably worth significantly more than it otherwise would be...

I might even break even if I sell it!!!

 

[OJCar]

If needed I can add it easily enough

Worth it as the amount the footwell top flexes on booting the brake, without it, is scary.

As far as I can tell with a hammer and a pokey stick it's actually in really good nic.

Good.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Worth it as the amount the footwell top flexes on booting the brake, without it, is scary.

What would you suggest?

With no OEM reinforcement to replicate it's had to work out the best way to do it.

For ultimate rigidity I guess two gussets running either side of the pedal box up to the bulkhead would work, but it would make some already cramped fasteners and pipe routing even more awkward.

How bad is the front cross member?

As far as I can tell with a hammer and a pokey stick it's actually in really good nic.

Good.

We shall see.

Until I have the vehicle off the front springs and can really inspect where the cross member is joining to the dumb iron section of the chassis there's no guarantee it's as good as it seems to be.

If I'm having to weld repair patches directly to it, then if it's still solid but has substantially thinned due to corrosion that could still force replacement or repair.

 

[OJCar]

What would you suggest?

No idea why the strengthening is missing on yours.
But the OEM is to double up the top of the footwell for about a couple of inches all round,
larger than but similar to the "small brake hole" bulkheads.

I don't have a photo handy of the "real thing" so here is a photo of a bulkhead someone had enlarged the footbrake hole (badly) without adding the strengthener.
Red line shows where the servo type OEM strengthening continues to.



It makes a double layer to rust all the better, so with a bit of thought I'm sure you can do better.