Chassis and bulkead swap tips needed

[Jimmy Two-Jacks]

I have got a replacement rolling chassis unfinished project to replace the rusty one on my 1986 D reg 90 200td (retro fit) can anyone give me some pointers or tips to what needs to come off first and any pitfalls to be careful of. I am replacing the now rotten bulkhead with a replacement I bought some time ago at the same time. Also anyone know the best place to get a bolt kit for the transfer and any other bits of wisdom from those that have done a re-chassis and or bulk head swap.

Cheers

James

My wife has already started calling the 90 “ triggers broom”

[Maverik]

Start looking through ur parts catalogue and workshop manual and do everything as systematic as you can, there is no hard and fast way of doing things (in order of).

Ebay is a continual source of verious bolt/screw kits example - floor fixing screws etc. These are all useful, but I started off with a selection multi box of nuts and bolts from Halfords, now whenever I see bolts I buy em in, varying sizes needed. I would say this though. get a ratcheting 13mm spanner, you'll find a lot of stubborn M8's.

[mike4444244]

Number 1. Think very carefully about using a second hand chassis, I would strongly recommend talking to vosa and dvla first

[FridgeFreezer]

Do it in the biggest chunks possible, don't get carried away dismantling things that don't need to be.

Think about things which are best replaced with new while you go (brake lines & hoses, water/fuel pipes, any ropey bits of loom, grommets, rubber mounts, suspension bushes, all fasteners), and things which are much easier to replace/fix now than later (most things when the car's in bits!).

Soak things in WD40 for as long as possible before starting (EG the week or two before you begin)

Buy new nuts & bolts for everything that'll need to come apart. Not only does it make it much easier to reassemble and everything looks nicer, it means you can cut old nuts/bolts off in seconds rather than worry about spending 10 minutes sweating with a breaker bar to undo a seized bolt because you don't have a new one.

Buy a party pack of metric nuts, bolts and washers from Namrick or Screwfix to cater for all the fasteners you forgot to buy.

Money spent on tools is never wasted - if you need a good breaker bar, a couple of extra spanners & sockets, bigger hammer, etc. then go and buy them rather than faff about on the day. Buy a handful of grinding discs and a packet of ultra-thin cutting discs too.

It's a classic:

[gruntus]

Hi Minime,

My current rebuild is a c plate 90.

I put a post up here for the diferences between an 85 bulkhead and a later TD5.

I actually galved mine but regardless the differences shown should be a help to you.

HTH.

G

[Jimmy Two-Jacks]

Made a start by stripping the new (to me) bulkhead ready.

More images to follow.

Thanks for the tips

[marsie]

When you build the bulkhead up make sure you put the steering column in before the pedal boxes ,dont ask me how i know but it wont go in with the pedals in :angry:

Paul

[jbs]

If you can find yourself a nut and bolt supplier you can buy in bulk then, When I did the chassis swap on the 90 I have I went to the local one to me in Frome and got everything I wanted from them all fairly cheap too

HTH

John

[Maverik]

Defo put the pedal boxes in after the steering wheel.

Also don't go tightening up all the mounting bolts straight away, to get proper alignment of the doors you need to put them on with the wings and then tweek the spacer plates under the bulkhead and use the oval holes on the chassis/inner wing connections to give stability to the bulkhead, they play an important role keeping it where you put it.