K110

[uninformed]

Well that’s one way to “align” things…

[landroversforever]

Looks like it's disco time  

[uninformed]

12 hours ago, landroversforever said:

Looks like it's disco time  

No biscuits though 😆

[uninformed]

Second damper mount burnt in. As much as some bits were easier, some were harder. Predicting the amount of pull from welding to match that of the first was a bit of a punt.
 

Alignment turned out pretty good with both mounts within 1mm of each other in square to chassis centreline, top of mount distance to chassis centreline and top of mounts for level.

 

 

[TD5toV8110]

Too fancy for a Landie! 😁 (and precise!)

Are you going to galvanize the chassis when you're done?

 

[uninformed]

4 hours ago, TD5toV8110 said:

Too fancy for a Landie! 😁 (and precise!)

Are you going to galvanize the chassis when you're done?

 

I don’t think so. I do think it excellent for corrosion protection, but it is a PITA to do repairs, and the possibility of distortion along with the amount of overlapping plates I have is making think no. 
 

I’ll be looking into finding somewhere to dip the chassis to remove all the internal rust etc and start a fresh. 
 

id be interested to know how LR painted them in the first place. 

[Blanco]

In the first instance, the welding looks great and the accuracy is almost certainly better than the original. Secondly I would take advice from almost anywhere before LR on the subject of painting and protecting chassis'!

[uninformed]

1 hour ago, Blanco said:

In the first instance, the welding looks great and the accuracy is almost certainly better than the original. Secondly I would take advice from almost anywhere before LR on the subject of painting and protecting chassis'!

TBH the inside of my chassis , from what I can see in the rear main chassis rail ends where I have cut off the rear cross member is not too bad. I think it’s more of a design problem than their paint , well my era at least. That is, all the spot welded reinforcement angles they have used internally throughout. While I do appreciate the idea of only adding material where you need it, given the amount they have added and the thin (~2mm) chassis material, they would have been better of making them out of 3mm and adding less reinforcement. Also if they added it on the outside they could have still spot welded them, and simply seam sealed the perimeter of added pieces (closing off to moisture ingress) All those internal angles are a magnet for crevice corrosion given how easy it is for moisture to get between the two surfaces being only spot welded.

 

Im more curious if LR dipped the chassis as to how they painted the inside.

 

Interestingly, my old 74 S111 suffered worse in the chassis (at the time it was only 23 years old and zero beach work) but better in the body. Something I’ve heard is common and going to the Defenders they apparently improved chassis coating but the body less so…

[dangerous doug]

I love how clean this build is and I love that your tigging everything!

 

re chassis protection: I’m 100% with you on the galv. Harder to repair and when you do it’s now redundant. (Unpopular opinion)The way I see things things like thit is a landy chassis goes 15-20 years or so painted without too much trouble if you look after it. It’s not perfect, but from my stand point the galv is a pretty final solution and limits options down the road. We’ve also moved on a bit in the world of chassis paint, you would probably get longer than that and still have the option to mod/repair with just a touch of paint after. 

[FridgeFreezer]

17 hours ago, dangerous doug said:

re chassis protection: I’m 100% with you on the galv. Harder to repair and when you do it’s now redundant. (Unpopular opinion)The way I see things things like thit is a landy chassis goes 15-20 years or so painted without too much trouble if you look after it. It’s not perfect, but from my stand point the galv is a pretty final solution and limits options down the road. We’ve also moved on a bit in the world of chassis paint, you would probably get longer than that and still have the option to mod/repair with just a touch of paint after. 

For trucks like this you're probably right - for more standard restorations a galv chassis is a fit & forget for the next 50 years.

I always intended to strip my 109 and galv the chassis & bulkhead when the truck was "finished"... but of course they're never finished and as Tonk once said, once you can weld you can just keep fixing whatever happens anyway.

[Snagger]

Defender chassis were as bad as SIII for rot, if not worse.  My wife’s 2009 90 had pretty bad rust all over the rear cross member by the time we bought it in 2012.  That is typical - they used an incredibly thin layer of black paint straight onto bare steel.  The rest of the chassis paint was thicker, but had no preparation or primer, so it often flaked off in patches.

The big problem, as you said, is that they rot from the inside out.  The poor external protection leads to surface rust, but often little more unless left cakes in mud or stood in long grass - the air dries them off well enough.  But the interior dries far slower, especially where complex internal shaping or laminating occurs.

I think the best you can do is to prime and paint the exterior with the reputable rugged materials and then use the probe type applicators to thoroughly spray the inside of the chassis with a penetrating cavity wax like Dinitrol (you need the right type as they make several sorts for different applications).  Spray the chassis innards with it say level, let it dry, rotate through 90 degrees and repeat, let dry, rotate so it’s inverted and do it again, then once more laying on its final side.  If you really want to be zealous about it, you could do it twice more with the chassis stood on each end.  The key would be to give enough time after each generous application for the wax to creep between the layers of steel and start drying out before turning the chassis.  That should be near bulletproof.  It’ may also be a bit flammable if you have to weld in the future, but any wax would be.

The other option that occurs is to find somewhere that can e-coat it, and put it through that twice, one ere y and once inverted.  That should get a thorough coating inside even between laminates - it’s a dip with electrostatic charge on the primer particles and the steel, so any exposed steel will draw the primer to it.  That is what the premium manufacturers use in their plants for priming and is why modern cars are so much more rust resistant than the rot boxes of the 70s and 80s.

[TD5toV8110]

As above but use the probe type applicator to thoroughly  apply paint to the inside before wax. 

After I repaired my rotten bulkhead, I turned it upside down, blocked off all the holes and filled it with zinc rich primer.

Left it for an hour ish then tipped out the excess. Confident everything inside is coated.

After final external paint I will do the same with Tectyl 506.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by TD5toV8110

[uninformed]

I’ll definitely look into E dipping and also the probe applicator.

 

In other news, my panel’s finally turned up. Was a battle but we got there lol. A little ways off fitting and fabricating the rear tub, but a big relief to have the integral part of the puzzle 👍👍

 

[uninformed]

I have a feeling of deja vu…..

 

 

[landroversforever]

Those trestle legs are clever!

[uninformed]

very simple, they pack up/stack much better than solid or even folding legs and are very strong. Thats just some 150x50x3 RHS Aluminium offcuts and 50x3 SHS legs. Timber is 140x45. I made these many years ago, too much lean angle on the legs in side view. they work fine but get in the way a bit , better if they were more upright

[uninformed]

Slowly….

Main C and forward webs are 5mm, chassis rail extensions/doubles are 3mm. Crush tubes for every bolt 26OD 14ID.

 

 

 

[Stellaghost]

Beautiful fabrication work

Regards Stephen

[FridgeFreezer]

This is sickeningly clean and neat.

Where's all the mud, rust, and old paint?

[uninformed]

Well the cross member C started out rusty 🤷🏻‍♂️😁, and don’t worry by the time I’m finished it will have probably all rusted away 🤦🏻‍♂️

[TD5toV8110]

Grab some of this.  ($30 a litre from the big green shed)

Chuck it in a mist bottle.

Spray it on all your naked metal.

It will stay looking new until you're ready for final finish.

You can weld through it too.  (my ****ty standard welding anyway....)🤣

You may need to scrub up prior to your surgical welding...🤪

Cheers

Dave

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by TD5toV8110

[FridgeFreezer]

That sounds like useful stuff, wonder if there's an equivalent available in the UK/EU?

[fmmv]

43 minutes ago, FridgeFreezer said:

That sounds like useful stuff, wonder if there's an equivalent available in the UK/EU?

Owatrol Oil looks similar

[uninformed]

Something I have to look into. I’m curious about it as a primer as most good quality paint prep requires CLEAN, CLEAN CLEAN! Re TIG it’s very unforgiving regarding impurities and chemicals, im guessing it would have to be thoroughly cleaned prior to. I’ll definitely look into it though. 

[uninformed]

Lots of prep… it’s a punish, but oh well 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

 

 

 

But Finally! Version 2.0 is in its final position, approximately 200mm forward of standard 110 location. It’s About halfway between a 90 and 110. 

I only need to weld out the chassis doublers, box them in (curved ), fabricate gussets and weld them in, mounting points and an additional tie from top of chassis rail to top flange of cross member… 🤦🏻‍♂️