Phil's 82 Range Rover Classic

A previous owner presumably had a winch on the front and had a couple of angle iron brackets welded to the inside of the chassis rails.
These interfered with the bumper mounts and would require bigger cutouts in the valance (if I can find one) so they had to be exorcised :firedevil:
Attachment 178391
The drivers side I have already removed.
Attachment 178392
Quick run over with a flap wheel and some black satin [bighmmm]
Attachment 178393
And there it is gone. Well almost.
At least the bumper brackets and valance will now fit properly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phil 850

Yes 350RRC it looks like a WW2 German helmet with the rim cut off and welded on.
I had a closer look today and it is only stitch welded, so I can grind the welds off and remove it.
Presumably the original diff housing is ok otherwise oil would be leaking out between the stitches.
Attachment 172830

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Crawled under the RRC today with a die grinder with a cutting disc and sliced through the welds.
Had to jack the rover up to let the diff cover drop out.
Gave the remains of the welds a bit of a dress and all looks OK.
Its had a bit of a hit before (hence the protection) and even has a repair weld so perhaps it had torn through. Looks tidier now [smilebigeye]
Attachment 178418

PO must have used the steering link unsuccessfully as a bull bar.
Attachment 178492
With a little bit of work with my pipe unbender
Attachment 178493
Just need to reinstall it tomorrow.
Another job done [smilebigeye]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phil 850

A previous owner presumably had a winch on the front and had a couple of angle iron brackets welded to the inside of the chassis rails.
These interfered with the bumper mounts and would require bigger cutouts in the valance (if I can find one) so they had to be exorcised :firedevil:
Attachment 178391
The drivers side I have already removed.
Attachment 178392
Quick run over with a flap wheel and some black satin [bighmmm]
Attachment 178393
And there it is gone. Well almost.
At least the bumper brackets and valance will now fit properly.

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Well, my OCD got the best of me and I had to remove the rest of the angle brackets welded to the chassis.
They weren’t a problem, nor in the way of the valance, but the voices kept saying I needed to remove the rest of them.

Attachment 178660 Attachment 178661

I’ll sleep better tonight. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phil 850

Well, my OCD got the best of me and I had to remove the rest of the angle brackets welded to the chassis.
They weren’t a problem, nor in the way of the valance, but the voices kept saying I needed to remove the rest of them.

Attachment 178660 Attachment 178661

I’ll sleep better tonight. :)

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Well, I didn’t sleep better.
As you can see, it was difficult to get into the corner with the angle grinder and flap disc.
The OCD wasn’t happy with the results so I put a cutting burr into the die grinder and dressed the remainder of the weld back.
Squirt of black satin and now maybe I’ll sleep.
Attachment 178699 Attachment 178700

I like Ike to think OCD is a good thing, but it prevents “good enough”.

Well, it seems all my efforts to remove the additional steel angle from the front of the chassis because it was unnecessary weight (or it really served no purpose other than to prevent the valance from fitting properly) could have been saved as previous owners have lighted the foot wells for me.
Attachment 178822
This is the drivers side. The passenger side is not as bad but the bottom of the A pillar below the hinge is rotted out.
The person I bought it from did tell me the floors needed “work”, so I was not surprised.
I have done this before on my 1975 2 door that I had in the mid 80s.
Attachment 178823
Removed and replaced both bodysides.

This time I’ll pull them off, repair and refit.

These cars really are just a big mechano set! At least the early ones are. I think the ****box I have is all welded up [bighmmm]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phil 850

Well, it seems all my efforts to remove the additional steel angle from the front of the chassis because it was unnecessary weight (or it really served no purpose other than to prevent the valance from fitting properly) could have been saved as previous owners have lighted the foot wells for me.
Attachment 178822
This is the drivers side. The passenger side is not as bad but the bottom of the A pillar below the hinge is rotted out.
The person I bought it from did tell me the floors needed “work”, so I was not surprised.

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Not always nice to find that level of "work" though 😯👍

As you may know from my other posts, I have lowered my RRC from the standard height by 1”.
However, the hydromat is now going to think it permanently has a load in the back and will pump back up to the standard height.
I crawled underneath and took some measurements of the A frame and the relative position of the hydromat and made a sketch.
Attachment 180663

With the aid of CAD (cardboard aided design) I could then move the axle end of the A frame up to simulate the lowered suspension.
Attachment 180664

This has shown that there is about 10mm compression in the hydromat, so I needed to change the bottom mounting bracket to compensate and have the hydromat in the “normal position and length” with the classic lowered.
Attachment 180665

I then cut the bottom mounting bracket and welded in a new section (only the web of the H section at this stage).
Attachment 180666

Once happy that the bracket is the right length/shape I welded on the flanges and dressed them back.
Attachment 180667

Once installed, the hydromat will “think” the RRC is still at its standard height!

Hi Phil,

I assume you used Castcraft rods or similar?

My POS never had a hydromat from when I bought it. Rode fine and firm on a set of Pedders HD springs with a 2" lift which haven't sagged over 700k km.

I put a hydromat in, that came with the 'colour change' donor vehicle. It does work with a 2" lift when really loaded up.............. but only to stock height at the rear.

I have a set of +2" soft springs that I'll try in my 74 when I get time and I'm hoping I'll lose some lift and gain some suppleness with the hydromat remaining. Just having a play, it's probably going to wallow a bit.

The Pedders have been good on the road, riding flat and firm like a car. Off road it's been so capable the firmness is not really an issue.

cheers, DL