130 Station Wagon with side fold pop top build

So next was to fold the front edge of the tub around where it goes into the door jam. A bit of wood was cut to the curve of the body with a jig saw. It was further shaped with a file, till it closely matched the panel. Well I thought it was closely matched but the photos tell a different story.

I was a bit disappointed to get a small split in this panel on the tight bend where it has to stretch, but looking at the Land Rover original it had a split there too.

Then the friendly postie finally brought my flame gun. I read somewhere to put some marks on the panel and when they changed colour it was right heat. Well they didn't change colour but the paint did, and the wood caught on fire. The aluminium seemed to tap around much more easily. Might need a little more tapping on the tight corner.

Wow great build , Thanks for sharing:D

This is a really good project.
I will look forward to seeing further progress.

Well done.

Looking good there mate. I am a huge fan of 130 csw's.I built one about 5 yrs ago but put a v8 petrol in it, which I thought I would love but I hated it so it was sold, but will follow your thread with interest as I am in the middle of another at the minute on a 300tdi heavy duty chassis. This time though I plan to use the full length 110 tub for more inside space and not leave it flush with rear x member.
Keep up the good work looks very tidy and keep the photos coming.:)
Regards
Al

Because the tub hangs 50mm over the back of the 130 chassis I needed to make up the rear tub body mounts. If it had been flush with the rear cross-member it would of bolted up as the hole spacing is the same.

I used 100x 100x 6mm steel angle. Its a bit of an overkill, as the 5 tabs really only locate the body left to right, the weight is taken by the galvanised ribs running under the tub. I am going to bolt it up like on the TD5 onwards with just the bolt heads showing, and the steel tabs hidden on the inside.

The right side will form the base for my spare wheel carrier, similar to the one I made for Jaffle.

In the photos you can see how the 130 rear cross member is bowed, with the ends bent toward the front of the car.

I then cut out the holes for the capping tubes, and cut the side body cappings to size. The capping rivet holes line up perfectly!

And then I got a bit ahead of myself and plonked the side panel on...

As I have a new defender rear door rubber, I had to slice off the "lip" on the back of the series door opening as they use a different rubber.

It was hard not to bolt and rivet the tub on, with everything lined up, but I decided to rust proof the chassis while I had access. So off it all came. And on (and in) went the pentetrol and rust guard. The underside of the tub floor got a spray of "body deadner".

Then I took off all the galvanised cappings off the tub and started sanding. What started as a quick rub prior to painting, has turned into a back to bare metal sand! It gets addictive once you see a bit of aluminium to keep going...

Great project!
There's a fair bit of work even documenting that - let alone the project itself. Thanks for taking the time to share it.

Steve

Great work, thanks for sharing :)

A terrific build. Thanks for progress pics.

Perry