Thread: Phil's 82 Range Rover Classic

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

Phil

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

Structure is overrated.

Thanks Shane for the Fitzee inspiration
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.
1101FF17-482A-4FC7-99EB-35F9F48939AF.jpg FD2FD433-563C-47DD-94EA-37CB4ED9C979.jpg 4C5154D4-373A-4509-B124-26C081D8B4B0.jpg
Once welded and dressed it should look OK

Phil

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

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

In my case, it is not a structural part
This is a photo from where I cut the rusted section of the forward facing part of the pillar.
ABDC7D68-5AF3-480A-BC76-092344AE6D1A.jpg
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
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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.
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And a close up of the butt joint.
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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.
74AD67C2-06E8-41A0-9C56-1B1A92771290.jpg.........F5F2D732-4129-4C75-9FD5-CAF7E4E93947.jpg

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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.
1A9982FF-F153-479D-9D14-8F1F0F7BA2F1.jpg To. DB5AA33F-6C11-4CD5-A82C-4A76F74993B1.jpg

CE1C00FC-8740-4DE2-AC73-6F69FDF6E853.jpg To. E012ED3D-6DAE-49C0-B959-7E6FE355DE6C.jpg

37C92F25-8018-4A19-90E1-7EB91BA4D8D2.jpg To. D549DE61-068F-4398-B01F-EA3AE2F712FC.jpg

13AFFD04-C232-4144-B915-410AEB7F109E.jpg To. A0FE2308-6721-4A8E-8B67-B1884031A4EE.jpg

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!