Which bits of a Puma wagon are steel.

[NQExplorers]

- Apart from the obvious bits like the chassis/cross-members etc?

- I gather from the 'rust' drips on the floor story the firewall is steel - so is there any easy and practical way I can get a look at the inside of my firewall at home in the shed so I can hit it with some fishoil spray or something? Dont like the sounds of this behind the scenes rust business. Which panels/frame bits of the Puma are actually steel? I suppose I could check it with a little magnet but rather you experienced Defender types listed the items/components for me to check! 11/2007 Defender.

[dmdigital]

Door skins are also steel.

[isuzurover]

All defenders have a steel chassis, firewall and door frames. They also have steel cappings (halfway up the body and at the rear corners) which were galvanised until ~1988 but have only been painted since.

From 2004(ish) on they also got a steel rear door skin.

I am pretty sure the bonnet is steel?

As for rustproofing the firewall, the main problem areas are the footwells and the pillars (including the windscreen mounts). The footwells are only single skinned, so easy to rustproof. The pillars can be rustproofed from the engine bay, from the drain holes at the bottom, or by removing the door hinge bolts.

[Landy Smurf]

yes the bonnet is steel

[JDNSW]

Also steel on my County, and I assume up to current models, is the seat box and the door sills and B-pillar, plus a number of brackets and mounts under the body, including the reinforcing for the under rear body floor.

Historically, the first (preproduction) Landrovers in 1948 had a steel chassis (including bumper) , and an aluminium body except for capping, door frames, windscreen frame and firewall, but with almost all steel galvanised. About the change to 88" wheelbase, the radiator support changed from alloy to painted steel. By the time production started the chassis and firewall were no longer galvanised, and since then the amount of steel has increased and the amount of galvanising decreased. With the Series 2, door frames were no longer galvanised, for example, and Series 3 no longer had galvanised bonnet hinges. The 90/110 was pretty much the same as the Series 2/2a/3, except that the galvanised windscreen frame was replaced by an alloy one, and the seat box had become steel, and fewer of the bits of steel underpinning the body were galvanised. With the introduction of the pushbutton door handles, the body capping was painted, and after a few years, no longer galvanised. In 2002 or thereabouts, the rear door became steel skinned, and in 2007, so did all doors plus the bonnet.

John

[p38arover]

Get a fridge magnet and run it around the car.

[Didge]

Isn't everything steel except the door skins and guards?