Bri2000 Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Right, my first post so here goes. What order do you tighten the bolts up holding the bulkhead, steering box/bulkhead brackets, sills, seat box, roof and rear tub? (and anything else I've missed) The reason I ask is that I'm rebuilding a series 3 109 and i'm having trouble lining up the bodywork. I can't get the drivers door anywhere close unless I pack spacers under the back body (about 20mm worth at the front decreasing as it goes back) Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondjeremy Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Assuming your chassis is nice and straight with all its brackets in the right place the thing should be built up from the back - ie rear tub first - then loosely fit the bulkhead then the doors. You now jiggle around with the bulkhead and doors to get the best shut lines you can. Door hinges must not be worn - a small amount of slack will throw the whole thing off. Its possible to punch out the hinge pin and put a washer in to tighten things a bit. There's a little slack in the bulkhead front supports, and Rover used shims between them and the footwells. Replacing the captive bolts will help especially around the steering box. The shims were alloy or steel plates to fit under 2 bolts - and the bolt holes were slots to allow the things to be inserted after the bolts were fitted loosely. I find a die-grinder comes in useful for elongating hinge fixings on the bulkhead. Getting the screen parallel with the doortop is a doddle on a S3 as the screen fitting is sandwiched between 2 bolts. S2's only have the top bolt - so can fall too far back. I find it best to fit the galvanising before attempting to line everything up and if you're using new doors check the skin doesn't project beyond the steel top rail under the galvanising ((I wonder who made that door!) Things like ratchet straps may help if you're doing the job on your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 and i'm having trouble lining up the bodywork. I can't get the drivers door anywhere close unless Thanks Don't worry, that's how they came from the factory! Julian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Assuming your chassis is nice and straight with all its brackets in the right place ...would be foolhardy quite frankly! It's a Land Rover, the tolerances are huge. Start from a reasonable datum point (bulkhead, rear tub mounts are good candidates) and then work from there. If you find something is stupidly far out then you might have to go back & re-assess/adjust your starting point (EG re-space the tub mounts to move everything forward) but basically it's about averaging out the errors over al the various gaps so everything is equally p*ssed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I got mine dead straight by sitting the rear tub onto the chassis (you can bolt its rear end to the cross member) and fitting the bulkhead without any spacer washers between its feet and the outriggers. Run a string line taughtly from the crease (above the side bulge and rear lights, below the top door hinge on the bulkhead and the rag top fixing cleats) at the back of the tub all the way to the bulkhead and raise the front end of the tub until the string line is neatly in that creasealong the full length of the tub and tighten the bolts at the front of the tub. Then set the bulkhead by attaching the sills and seeing what distance it naturally sits from the tub, ensuring you have enough space for the door and 5mm clearance front and rear to the outboard faces of the tub and door pillar (ie. not the seal lips), adding spacer washers at the pillar feet to suit. Set the bottom distance first, then get the door pillars parallel to the tub front edges, tightening the steering column support bolts to hold it there. the rest is straight forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri2000 Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 Hi, Thanks for all your tips, I had thought of taking a die grinder to the hinge holes but I thought that i was being stupid! I will start again and see how I get on. Is drilling new holes in the front of the tub to secure it to the chassis normal? they seem to be out as well! its a richards chassis and an ashtree bulkhead so I was hoping it would be easy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Hi, and an ashtree bulkhead so I was hoping it would be easy! That's a galv bulkhead? If so then you always get some distorsion due to the heat and will need to 'encourage' alignment a little. Julian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 You shouldn't need to drill any holes, but I had dreadful trouble fitting the body on my Marsland chassis as the tub floor hoops were mis-jugged during production. Thankfully, the brackets were all spot-on. You might have the opposite issue to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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