County Firewall & Pillar rust repair

[DeeJay]

I bought an 86 County 4BD1 with a knackered 5 speed that I thought was pretty good value, only to find some pretty chronic rust in it.
The good news.
1/. Its repairable
2/. I can fit my recently overhauled LT95 gearbox
3/. There is no rust in the chassis at all.

So a quick run down on the consequences of playing in the sand & surf too much.

Passenger door

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/157.jpg


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/158.jpg

Looking up under the drivers door

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/159.jpg

Driver door pillar

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/160.jpg

Passenger door pillar (I cut a flap to inspect- not a good pic)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/161.jpg


Driver Footwell

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/162.jpg

Behind air vents ( pass side OK). So now I have a reason to fit air vents...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/163.jpg


So thats about it, where to start??

Luckily I have a passenger door from a rollover vehicle ( not me :angel:) so I started De-skinning the door. I practiced de-skinning on the rollover door without damaging it. I've never done this before.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/164.jpg


I plated inside the pass door pillar and will simply build this out with welds & grind it back, no bog here!!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/165.jpg

I've cut out the horrible bits and will re-sheet them & weld up. The scrapes are where I was trying to find weak spots, but its not bad at all higher up. You can see inside where I cut it out just under the bonnet rain gully.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/166.jpg

This little jigger is pretty handy, the bit cost twice the price of the tool

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/167.jpg


So thats it ATM - always something to do...
David

[isuzurover]

Are you using the die grinder to cut the holes???

[DeeJay]

Are you using the die grinder to cut the holes???

No, I'm mostly angle grinding, then using the die grinder to finesse:)
It was handy for working on the bottom of the pillars, now I know how a dentist feels !!

[DeeJay]

I've finished the passenger side, it was only minor, I welded back the tab I bent out to have a gawk inside the pillar. Then a coat of tetrosyl - after rust treating & priming the inside.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1364.jpg

Then the driver side had a piece of angle welded in to support it better.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1365.jpg

Then some smaller angle to hold the door seal.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1366.jpg

On to the upper part of the driver side footwell. I made a template out of cardboard for the rusted out bit. Also I welded in a plate to fill in the cut out rusty panel.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1367.jpg


Then some flashtac weatherproof aluminium/bitumen tape to seal it all up properly. If you put the heat gun over this it fuses really well. ( not necessary in Northern Australia I guess:)) Have to go sparingly with this stuff- not cheap

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1368.jpg


The doors are coming along pretty well. I decided to just replace the lower frames & part of the upper, leaving the middle alone as it is fused to the skin pretty well.
I have made some bracing where these are getting welded together as I can't weld it on the side next to the door, so this will make up the strength- and then some. I'll do the 3 sides.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1369.jpg


I drilled a couple of holes which adds further strength. Not the finished product but you get the idea.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1370.jpg


Cheers,
David

[andrew e]

good to see another one live on to see another day, instead of being having the isuzu parts removed and stuck in a rangie or defender. You are aware that the 4 and 5 speed bellhousings are both different?
Andy

[DeeJay]

good to see another one live on to see another day, instead of being having the isuzu parts removed and stuck in a rangie or defender. You are aware that the 4 and 5 speed bellhousings are both different?
Andy

I knew they were different bellhousings, what I did'nt know is how rare they are & what they cost :eek:, plus I needed another clutch plate & slave cyl rod ( longer).
I'll be doing a seperate tutorial on this process if I get inspired..
David

[andrew e]

All you need is the bellhousing. The clutch you can make out of a v8 rangie clutch with an angle grinder, just grind the center down a bit. The rod make out of any bit of steel shaft. I did the 5 to 4 a few years ago when my main shaft went pop.

You should be able to swap someone for the 5 speed bellhousing for the 4, as the 5 speed is more rare, and with mods can fit an r380.
I bought my 4 speed bellhousing for $350, and sold the old 5 speed one for $400.

Andy

[DeeJay]

All you need is the bellhousing. The clutch you can make out of a v8 rangie clutch with an angle grinder, just grind the center down a bit. The rod make out of any bit of steel shaft. I did the 5 to 4 a few years ago when my main shaft went pop.

You should be able to swap someone for the 5 speed bellhousing for the 4, as the 5 speed is more rare, and with mods can fit an r380.
I bought my 4 speed bellhousing for $350, and sold the old 5 speed one for $400.

Andy

That purchase might have been some time ago. Firstly, I rang Ritters as it might have been a new part, no go, they referred me to Fred Smith.Before going to Fred I rang 5 wreckers around the countryside, the most knowlegeable referred me to Ritters :p. So Fred came up with a s/h housing, clutch & rod for $1200.00 (ish).
Well he does have 17 vehicle registrations to maintain:D

[andrew e]

There should be a few ex army ones pop up by now, mine was one, and i got it from peter at range parts in toongabbi. It was slightly damaged though, the piviot point for the clutch rod was chewed out, nothing i couldnt fix though.

Andy

[DeeJay]

The firewall is pretty much renovated, all rust cut out, plated & then tetrosyl pretty much all over.

Driver outside footwell -patched (then welded.)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1116.jpg

Door pillar finished off - Brownbuilt shelving has a lot of uses:cool:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1117.jpg


All finished off, floor matting to follow.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1118.jpg


The firewall has had similar treatment, I seem to have a lot of soundproofing material lying around..

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1119.jpg

The doors are coming along, as mentioned I only grafted over the necessary bits, I did'nt need to drill out rivets etc.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1120.jpg


Well, its getting a real birthday. New radiator, clutch plate, & I'm grafting over whatever parts I have from my "old" County that was totally refurbished 40,000klm ago, starting with the clutch master & slave cyls, brake master cyl 4 speed gearbox with taper bearing conversion, whatever I reckon it needs.
Better do a seperate thread on that though. :p

David

[DeeJay]

On to the driver side door, it was'nt nearly as bad as the pass side, so i used a back door from the rollover vehicle as a donor.

Rusted out where the lower hinge is

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1032.jpg

Donor door part cut out

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1033.jpg

Put in place & door braced so it stays straight.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1034.jpg

Bracing on the inside where its out of the way. Not quite finished welding here.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1035.jpg

I used some foam as a stopper for the window winder, also some outdoor carpet squares to deaden down the door & give it a solid "clunk" when shutting it.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1036.jpg

I'd lost the rubber stoppers of the original setup. I reckon the foam is better anyway.

On to the driver door side rail. Pretty straight out swap over. I braced it underneath as well.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1037.jpg


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/07/1038.jpg


Nearly there as far as the rust is concerned..
David

[DeeJay]

Just to cap off this thread its now on the road & looks pretty good. Yet to go out in heavy rain but it seems pretty well sealed up- for a Land Rover :D

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/728.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/729.jpg

[mrapocalypse]

Looks great well done.

[D110V8D]

Hey DJ I notice this 110 has one of the firewall's where the vent flap section isn't actually plated but is pressed together?

Just wanted to know when you did the vent flap conversion you obviously cut out the section where the flaps go but did you bother to fold a lip around the perimeter of the cut out section or just leave it as is?

Reason I ask is I have a 110 with the same firewall. I have done another conversion in the past and it had a plate spot welded over the vent area (but the lip was there) so was easy to drill out spot welds and convert to flaps.

I am (still) planning on doing this to my current 110 but have been umming and ahhing about the lip which is folded around that area.

Do you think there will be a strength issue at all. I was warned that if it's not folded it could flex?? I doubt it myself but I'm not an engineer.

Any thoughts? Anyone?

[DeeJay]

Mick,
I just cut out the centre bit & left a 15mm surround & bought some 15mm "u" shaped rubber of Clark Rubber & lots of contact adhesive ( after rubbing in rust killer between the two layers. I have'nt had her out in the rain yet, did'nt get the chance this weekend:(

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/366.jpg

[350RRC]

Well done DeeJay.

Get the foam out of the bottom of the doors though, coz it will end up permanently damp and help defeat all your hard work.

cheers, DL