Phil's 82 Range Rover Classic

After removing the front wing angle and seal support, I was able to dress back the paint work to reveal the workmanship of the repair.
As can be seen, the removal of the rusty section of the pillar below the top hinge was far too difficult, and apparently, so was completing the butt weld on the face of the top section of the pillar to the replacement bottom section :angry:
Attachment 186537

While I recommended the tool in the previous post, I can’t recommend the “tool” that did this repair [bighmmm]

Phil

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phil 850

After removing the front wing angle and seal support, I was able to dress back the paint work to reveal the workmanship of the repair.
As can be seen, the removal of the rusty section of the pillar below the top hinge was far too difficult, and apparently, so was completing the butt weld on the face of the top section of the pillar to the replacement bottom section :angry:
Attachment 186537

While I recommended the tool in the previous post, I can’t recommend the “tool” that did this repair [bighmmm]

Phil

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Wow .... how to make a pillar ..... not be a pillar ... That's a structural part!

Structure is overrated. [tonguewink]

Thanks Shane for the Fitzee inspiration [wink11]
I made same CAD templates and then cut out some 1.2 mm steel sheet and with a bit of bending managed to get a reasonable fit for the bottom windscreen corner of the pillar.
Attachment 186554 Attachment 186555 Attachment 186556
Once welded and dressed it should look OK [smilebigeye]

Phil

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

Wow .... how to make a pillar ..... not be a pillar ... That's a structural part!

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In my case, it is not a structural part [bigsad]
This is a photo from where I cut the rusted section of the forward facing part of the pillar.
Attachment 186643
You can see that there in no weld penetration from either the weld on the inside face of the pillar (facing the passenger compartment) or the rear face (where the door is).
The same view without the camera flash reveals two white dots where the garage lights are shining through the weld [bawl]
Attachment 186646
I removed the door seal strips to see if there was any weld joining the flanges of the pillar together as the seal strips would prevent access.
Attachment 186644
And a close up of the butt joint.
Attachment 186645
While this is a lot of extra work, I’m glad I removed the paint and filler as there was really nothing joining the two sections of the pillar together.
At least I will have confidence in it once I have finished the repair.

Phil

After much cutting of rust and fabricating patch plates I have finally started welding some in.
I’m going to repair as much as practical prior to removing the body side to minimise potential distortion.
Once the body side is off, I can repair the inside of the A pillar and the top of the sill.
Attachment 186701.........Attachment 186702

Attachment 186703.........Attachment 186704

Attachment 186705.........Attachment 186706

I am in the process of fabricating the replacement piece for the outside face of the bottom of the A pillar but wanted to have the rest of it connected to the sill before I cut more away.
Slowly, Slowly catchey monkey.

Phil

Fabrication and most of the welding completed.
Attachment 186815 To. Attachment 186816

Attachment 186817 To. Attachment 186818

Attachment 186819 To. Attachment 186820

Attachment 186821 To. Attachment 186822

Just need to to finish the welding, remove transmission tunnel and patch the fire wall footwell and then the body side can be removed and the inside of the “A” pillar can be repaired.

Phil

You are a much braver man than me taking that on, and also a helluva lot better at welding! Thank goodness mine didn’t need anything like that, only a bit of mechanical and wiring sorting. Keep up the great work and the pictures, I really enjoy driving mine and I am sure you will love yours too.
Cheers,
Woolly.

Thanks for sharing this with us .... its like watching fitzees fabrications!

There's going to be a place reserved for you in Range Rover heaven - if such a place exists.

good stuff.

Keep chipping away - (pun intended) you know you're going to find another surprise somewhere you least expect.

... just like I did on the recent purchase. [bigwhistle]