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

[OJCar]

sitting gnome-like under the vehicle

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

So I made a jig out of some scrap 50×50×5 angle and 5×40 flat bar, using some very dubious stick welds done in situ.

It references a couple of known good parts of the vehicle to make it easy to get lined up again.

Gives a reference for the radiator mounting which I need to reclaim and refit on the new dumb iron.

And the lateral position of the suspension mount.

It was at this point I discovered I don't have any 9/16ths blacksmiths drills, only Morse Taper...

Which kinda puts a dampener on things for the night as I need to drill a hole aligned to the existing mount to give a reference vertically and longitudinally.

You will note that my welding jacket is protecting the most important thing... An immaculate chrome swivel I absolutely cannot afford to damage in any way.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

I have just been sat having a ponder about this before packing the tools up.

I think I have a good sequence for repairing the chassis:

- take a template of the required side section,

- cut out a plate for the new bottom section and form it to match the template using the bending brake and slip rolls.

- cut the outside plate.

- remove all the deteriorated metal from the side,

- prep the good metal for welding.

- tack in the new bottom section, then working in flat position with the torch "inside" the chassis, do a full penetration weld along the bottom corner with the inside, and across the bottom by the engine mount.

- cut off the dumb iron section around the cross-member and trim the repair section to fit.

- position the repair section using the jig.

- weld the repair section in, doing the top from above, and the bottom from inside the chassis rail, again maximising the ability to work in flat position.

- take the jig back off for access.

- tack in the chassis side plate, so it's sat on top of the new bottom section and do a butt weld in horizontal position along the bottom, and an open-corner weld in flat position along the top, finishing with the unavoidable vertical welds at each end

- use the jig again to get the radiator mount positioned and tacked up.

- remove the jig and weld out the rad mount.

- repeat it all on the opposite side.

It all sounds kind of faffy...

But I figure by entirely avoiding doing positional welding from under the car, it will be much easier, much much faster, and give me the opportunity to easily inspect the root of the joints in the most awkward area.

 

[Porkypine]

Sounds like a plan, I'll watch with interest

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Hole drilled.

Stick Welding in situ may have been efficient, but did also result in accidentally tack welding the bugger to the steering box bracket as it turns out

A certain amount of persuasion released it, but I have had to mess about quite a bit to get the alignment back perfectly as it should be.

There's around 3mm play in the position of the jig overall, so I have got it into exactly the right position, and marked the location with a shadow of spray paint.

Crude but effective.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Spurred on by a facetious comment in the Sandringham 6x6 thread...

No pressure then two weeks will give you time for a full paint job and reupholster too!

I have also located a supplier of the perforated vinyl needed to remake the badly damaged section of headliner directly above the windscreen crumpled in a pile on the back seats, and re-cover the rust stained sun-visors.

Then persuaded a friend who has such skills that he is willing to come teach me when the time comes.

I was just going to leave that gap bare in my original plan... But then again, I wasn't going to bother to repaint initially either.

 

[sako243]

Spurred on by a facetious comment in the Sandringham 6x6 thread...

It's alright. You haven't set yourself a silly deadline...