Removing bulkhead without disturbing windscreen - easiest way?

[FridgeFreezer]

At some point in the future I'm going to have to bite the bullet and repair the top corners of the bulkhead - the twist is that being an ambulance, the windscreen frame is riveted to the upper body and I would REALLY like not to disturb all that if I can avoid it:

 

So, this means at the very least unbolting the bulkhead to be able to tilt it forward or backward for access to the top edge - and if I'm going to that effort there's a part of me that thinks I should go the whole hog and pull the bulkhead out to both make life easier and also be able to do any other areas that are hard to get to while I'm at it.

So - is it feasible to leave the windscreen in place and pull the bulkhead out?

Is it best done forwards (wings off, up & over the engine) or backwards (lean back & bring out sideways through door hole)?

 

[Peaklander]

Clutching at a memory here but I’m pretty sure that the windscreen frame locates with two pins, into the top of the bulkhead. So it needs to be lifted off, maybe at an angle.

[steve b]

The last one I did I stripped the pedal boxes and all the dash off then unbolted it and rotated it so the footwells are down and the door posts horizontal then out over the engine, wings off obviously. 

Galvanise it if it comes out 

I do have a rotisserie jig for defender BH if you want to borrow?

My experience with repairing BH's is it always takes much more time and repair panels/patches than planned.

Blast it first as well.

Steve

[western]

1 hour ago, Peaklander said:

Clutching at a memory here but I’m pretty sure that the windscreen frame locates with two pins, into the top of the bulkhead. So it needs to be lifted off, maybe at an angle.

Correct 💯👍

[muddy]

As has been said the bulkhead would have to drop about 30mm before you could tilt it either way, its a massive job IMHO 50% more faff than a full chassis swap with that in mind I would seriously consider a brand new galv bulkhead to try and lessen the rigmarole of the job.

[Retroanaconda]

Profile of the top of a bulkhead here for info. It would possibly tip backwards after dropping it a bit, but forwards it would have to drop much more.

[Bowie69]

I know you've just spent time sorting the footwells, but as above, I'd be very tempted, if funds allow, to slap a pre-prepared and painted glav bulkhead in there, minimising the time off the road. 

That's assuming here aren't any significant modifications done because it is ex-MOD. 

[Eightpot]

I've done many bulkhead repairs and unless it's a soft top the screen is always a massive pita to take off, but 90% of the time removal isn't necessary.

Have a real good invasive poke at the top corners first and clean it back to bare metal and see what you have - you will probably find that the metal under the screen is fine, in my experience this isn't where rust exists, it tends to start lower down and slowly creep upwards and unless you've got a real rotten b/h it may be good enough to make a slice a few mm under the top return to mig your filet repair section into. 

I had a similar problem with my rangie ambulance and ended up having to unpick all the roof rivets to replace the top screen rail, rusty A pillars and repair the bulkhead - by the time I'd finished unbolting things to repair there was nothing left on the chassis forward of the seats 😄  

 

 

[FridgeFreezer]

Thanks all - as I said, this is not a job for any time soon but it will need doing at some point. We patched the top corners previously in (checks notes) 2014 so it's not doing too badly.

@steve b good advice, that sounds a decent way of doing it. Thanks for the offer of the rotisserie, if I remember when I come to do it I might take you up on that!

To those suggesting a whole new bulkhead - I don't really want to do that, this one is mostly good and it's original (it has pressed shapes in the footwells that I'm sure would not be replicated on aftermarket ones - and yes it does have minor mods to accommodate the military wiring in the passenger footwell.

I absolutely would get it either blasted or dipped before working on it and I absolutely would get it galved before re-fitting.

[landroversforever]

Can it not drop down enough with the chassis bolts out? Then be able to tip the top backwards and then come out through the door? 

[Junglie]

Is it just me or does this remind anyone else of "Right said Fred" (song, not band)?