Thread: My 1955 86" rebuild.

Digger, that pile cost me $170.00, it had gone up from the last lot I had done x $40.00. I could have had both lots done for $130.00 (at the time) but some of the items I didn't have and some had to be re-done because I had wrong hinges etc caused by having the incorrect bonnet, and having fitted the tyre mount to that bonnet, I didn't want to remove it.
$170.00 for 50kg is the going rate around here, I had nowhere near 50kg in both lots, but all items have to be free of paint/grease/dirt otherwise it will cost a lot more as they will send it to be grit blasted/de-greased.
Both of my floor angle brackets for the S2/2A did show that they had been galvanized but it had damaged/rusted off, both of mine had no signs of paint, hope that's of some help. cheers Dennis

Not a lot of progress today, as I had to remove the clutch M/cyl from my 110 first and get it down to Maitland Brake n Clutch, that cyl is now on it's way up the Nth Coast to be sleeved in Stainless.
While we were out I picked up some BSF nuts/bolts at K C Harris they will come in handy later.
We were in the process of fitting the spare tyre mount to the bonnet with 3/16" dia screws x 4 to hold it in place while I fitted/shortened the 3/16"dia solid rivets, when the previous owner arrived to cast an eye over it, anyway he was put to work supporting the bonnet along with my wife while I set the rivets, here it is fitted

now I can mix some DBG and spray the underside of the bonnet, well maybe tomorrow after some yard maintenance , I'm sure my good wife will not require any of my services tomorrow with regards to her Bantams housing LOL , I'm falling apart my Right shoulder is causing me a fair bit of grief today, anyway cheers Dennis

A few fiddly jobs today that seemed to take forever. I have 2 repair jobs that need to be completed on the seatbox before it can be etch primed/painted, but even before that, I still had to bolt it all up using the seat hinge brackets etc, then transfer 5 extra holes from the seatbox to the transom panel

it was then I discovered that I did not have enough bolts painted Deep Bronze Green on the hexagon and on the reverse side Silver to match the galvanized finish on the brackets.
I did not use any of my painted bolts etc to line all this up, but the bolts I was short of are the longer ones sticking through the transom panel, so a quick look through my pile of nuts/bolts I soon had 6 of the required size & length, run them down with taps n dies, grit blast was the order and in no time it was done, the strip that the bolts are in is a strap that is used in building's it is ideal for holding small bolts while grit blasting.

then etch prime, using a strip of cardboard to hold them, that way you don't get too much paint on your fingers

prior to fitting the bolts etc to the cardboard, the undersides of the nuts/washers etc were also etch primed and painted Flat Black.
After mixing a small amount of DBG, I sprayed the hex heads/washers in DBG, clean the gun, then mix a similar amount of Silver paint and sprayed the nuts/spring washers

While I was away a few days ago, I was given permission to take 2 old horse shoes, I wanted this one for the grille on the Series !, so it was grit blasted,

etch primed and painted Silver, hopefully this good luck symbol will minimize break downs LOL

I also sprayed a small section under the bonnet along both inner edges in DBG, I'm no spray painter, but I have found over the years (trial n error) to spray those curved sections and let them dry, rub back and re-spray when applying the top coat, that way it minimizes my chances of having a paint run and having to wipe the section with a thinners soaked rag, anyway that's been my day, cheers Dennis
ps first job this morning was to re-fit the gear stick that had been dis- assembled cleaned/painted Gloss Black greased & re-assembled, also fitted was the lower control panel under the dash

I have 18 daze off from the 15th of this month you could say I'm rather pleased about that, but my work mates are not .
This morning day light saving started, some days I like the idea other days I don't, first cab off the rank was to make a dolly to support the head of the rivets, a short piece of brass rod was soon made into the dolly

after making the tool I got stuck into the vehicle and removed the seat box assembly after doing what I had to do with it yesterday.
After selecting a length of 1.2 alloy sheet, I cut a section off it to make a patch, I needed this patch to make a cover on the inside of the RHS side of the seat box, as it has been affected by Electrolysis, this area had been grit blasted some time ago so it was clean, the area was etch primed, so was the underside of the patch, this will minimize it re-occurring.
The patch was marked out & drilled to accept 6 x 1/8"dia solid alloy rivets,

the outer skin was countersunk to allow the rivet end to expand in, a quick dig around in various containers and I had found 5 short metal threads to hold the patch in place while I set the first rivet

With help from the good wife, she held the dolly while I set the rivets

start up my compressor to run a die grinder with a flap sander wheel on it to smooth off the compressed ends of the rivets, you need to be very light when doing this as too much weight on the wheel would cut a hole in the aluminium side of the seat box

mix up a small amount of body filler (aka bog) smooth it across the area, wait for it to go off, file it off smooth, etch prime, job completed

this is how the brass dolly was held, in a block of soft wood

I wanted to grit blast something else as well this afternoon, but a quick check on the grit gun showed it has other ideas, the nozzle end has eroded away LOL ,

the slither of steel @ 0300<>0600 is what is left of a 1/2" Hi tensile bolt that had a 3mm hole in it, my new compressor works really well
now I need to grind a tool to cut a 'ACME' thread and an inside one at that . I still have to address these other issues the seat box has a split in it, that will have to be repaired with something similar, 90 deg patch riveted in place

and 3 x 3/16'dia rivets need to put in place where they had let go ? some years ago

well that's been my day, cheers Dennis

I wonder if a neck cut off a glass bottle would do as a improvised nozzle for the sand blaster?

Ceramics are the way to go for those nozzles but I haven't found anything close to be suitable to use yet.


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Somewhere in my shed I have 4 spare ceramic nozzles, but where they are I have no flaming idea , I suppose I will find them when I have purchased some others LOL, in the short term I made a longer nozzle out of a 3/8" Hi-tensile bolt, made a nice venturi for the air/grit mix and using a 7/32" dia hole for the grit to pass through, anyway it got a workout again today.
Yesterday after making the new nozzle I grit blasted these 6 x 5/16" unf nuts/bolts washers they are to mount the fuel tank

the fuel tank also received a fresh coat of paint to smarten it up, before shot,

I was going to fit it up this morning, I had all the tools required for the job then I decided not to go ahead with it, as it would make it too hard (with my arthritis in both wrists ) to fit up the 4 x 5/16" UNF bolts that hold the front of the tub to the chassis.
The fuel cap looked very ordinary, so it was treated to a grit blast as well (both sides), the top surface had small rust pit marks, a small amount of filler applied,

smoothed off, etch primed along with quite a few other bits, note the 2 washers that are flat black, all washers etc all get painted flat black on the side that cannot be seen, it is just my way of limiting any further cases of Electrolysis

the battery box was painted with some difficulty, I'm colour blind and cannot see black on grey, so I had to wait for the good wife to come home from her Bonsai class so she could check to see if I had missed any, you guessed it I did LOL , here it is after a second coat

tomorrow morning with swmbo help I will fit the rivets to the seat box, then etch prime it ready for a coat of DBG, well that's been my day, cheers Dennis

I had all good intentions today to spray a few items with DBG, but I forgot something swmbo washes sheets etc on a Sunday morning .
Sooo, I set the rivets in the seatbox instead , parts of the item spot welds had let go and a couple of rivets had failed most likely due to that dreaded 'Electrolysis', these two were earmarked for replacement

it had been held together since it got it home with 3/16" dia screws, but that all changed today

a few more that had to be done, this one I really needed 4 sets of hands as the side panel wanted to flop all over the place once the 3/16" screw was removed

now it is unable to move freely anymore .
I watched the start of the 1000 race (1st lap only) then off to a mates place out in the bush behind Laguna to check on a few items, I was away for approx. 2.5 hours, a quick lunch and back into it.
In an effort to be able to start n drive this Land Rover, I'm slowly plugging away at getting it ready for such an event, so out with the new fuel pump, and after looking at the parts book I needed a couple of items that didn't come with the pump i.e. 2 x 1/4"BSF bolts, 2 x 10mm grommets with a 1/4" hole in the center, and a gasket of approx 3/16" thick, so on with the thinking cap, plenty of insertion rubber here, so I marked out the gasket first, cut it to shape as best as I could, punched 2 x 1/4" holes in it,

then found some blanking grommets that had the near enough OD of the holes in the mounting panel attached to the bulkhead, again punch 2 x 1/4" dia holes in that, and after some jockeying trying to get my small fingers up n behind the panel, start the bolts in then using a 3/16"Whitworth ring set spanner, turn/turn/turn ( I thought I was a band member of 'The Byrds' & their hit song 'Turn turn turn LOL) anyway I managed to get them torqued up

Now I have some assorted bitz n pieces to make up a fuel line, but I do need to find where the inlet fuel pipe runs, ? is it over the top of the steering column or under, does anyone have a good clear image to suit, I am going to make it out of copper,

I run up the compressor late this afternoon and did a little more grit blasting on a few small panels, that compressor sure has made life easier for me, anyway cheers Dennis

Hi Dennis,

It's a bit dark in the shed now but heres two shots, inlet pipe from the glass filter bowl running above the steering column into the pump. To the best of my knowledge it's original...

nice shiny new SU pump you have there too

regards,
Matt