Thread: Resto Mod

These are the leftover parts from the Galvanising thread.


The plan is to create a coil sprung Series 1. The chassis has some rust and fatigue cracks around the leaf spring mounts as well as the usual front bumper sections.


I have the moulds from the earlier panels that were fabricated. With a bit of adjustment, the wheel base may well grow a bit. Early on I am thinking about 100mm at the rear and possibly 50mm at the front.
The coil towers are cut off a series 2 disco chassis. I have differentials and suspension from other land rovers available.


As a teacher I was after a project to engage a particular group of kids. All are new to welding, machining and fabrication. To start with I will fabricate components that are critical in dimension or paper thin with 60 years of rust. As we progress and the kids are exposed to the skills and expectations of tolerance and quality I hope that they are able to run with the project.


Before and progress shots of restoring the firewall. 2 firewalls have been consolidated into 1. The uprights of one wall were very rust though was complete though the mid section, where the other had been enlarged to accommodate a bigger bell housing. Floor panels bent. Top section to go.

lower bulkhead done.

For the top rail on the bulk head I had the thought of purchasing different section of steel and bring them together similar to stacked mouldings in timber. The round at the top is near enough to 8mm hydraulic pipe and I can run a slitting disc down the back to accept the rubber.
Well the idea was good, though in practice not so much.
Cutting apart the RHS relieved the internal stresses which saw a bit of buckling. Welding the new sections compounded the spring and bow. Our bender does not stretch to the 1540mm required, so the angular bends were done manually. The cross sectional shape looked ok. Attempts to remove the bow were not successful.
The top replacement by suppliers like Craddocks are starting to look pretty good right about now

Next instalment.
Been trying out a new Plasma Cutter that we picked up at work. Cut the coil spring components from the Discovery chassis and cleaned up with a grinder.
Started to cut some of the leaf spring hangers from the series chassis. As you can see, not much meat left in some parts though like the front dumb irons. The front cross member isn't much better.