Thread: The restoration of Wombat

Much destruction
Though at the rate I'm knocking my hands around, I'm going to run out of 'me' before I run out of Land Rover

Got the cabin floors and the seat box out her today.
Note to others attempting this lunacy - you have to get the cabin floors up first and no, this isn't immediately obvious until afterwards. Nor is it necessarily possible as you'll read later.

Quite a few fasteners were missing. Those remaining were rusted solid and quite a few of them are obviously replacements as they aren't Whitworth.

Would I be correct in thinking that the bolts holding the cabin floor down are supposed to be those domed bolts with screwdriver slots?

Anyways, most bolts had to be removed using the angle grinder. Sadly, my floor is very uneven (ie, mangled) and so the body work copped a fair bit of grinding as well. Many of the holes in the flooring were already mangled as though larger bolts had been rammed through them (rather than being neatly drilled), further supporting my view that most if not all of these fasteners are non-original. I also worked with a cold chisel and was amused to watch mountains of ancient dirt grow under the vehicle with every blow of the hammer.

The seat box was a right pig to remove because I could not remove one screw connecting it to the driver's side floor panel - it had a very small, domed head and pulled too far into the metal to grind off. This exercise proved interesting because the hand brake lever goes through the seat box and I had to bend and push and twist and manipulate and swear to try to spring the flooring up past the dashboard and seat box out over that hand brake lever. Once out, it took two minutes with the angle grinder to get that ruddy screw off from the underside (couldn't get at it when in the vehicle).


The liberated seat box with its best friend

What you can't see is the small tear in the top of the seat box which is disappointing but I don't think it's going to cause me a problem - you may remember that comment and rub my nose in it later on.

There were NO fasteners holding the front of the gearbox cover in place so that was easy to lift out.

So, a productive and interesting afternoon during which things were achieved.

This post follows on from the previous one but asks questions about the next step.

This is how she looked at the close of business today.



My next job is to get the base of the rear cabin wall out. There appear to be three bolts on one side and three on the other. Unfortunately, access to the nuts on the driver's side is blocked by the fuel tank so I'm guessing, that has to come out next.

Any thoughts on the best way to get the tank out?

the little pommy bastards in the design division hated the workers, so they made things really hard to get at.
persist.
you will get there.
have a nice cup of tea and go back and look at it later.

yep - go away and do something else for a bit and then come back and you'll have probably worked it out subconsciously.


I refitted my floor panels (series 3 ) this arvo - every bolt /screw looked different - so I'm just about to go look at the parts manual to see if I can work out what should be there. I have seen a "floor panel kit" on the net but I'm not sure if this uses the original fixings. Someone must have taken a tank out before ( I haven't ) but there should be something in the search bar bottom left.
cheers,
D


p.s I had trouble finding pics on the series one stuff - if you have the parts catalogue - its on p199, but it only gives part no.s not pics - you may be able totrack down a photo from the part no. - or more than likely , someone will know on the forum. The series 3 floor panels seem to have 3 to four different fixings depending on where the screw/bolt is going!

Floor fastenings. Original fastenings should be domed screws* fitting into spring steel fasteners* clipped to the seat box/tunnel etc, except for the front edge of the flat bits each side where there are 1/4" BSF bolts into captive square nuts in tin boxes spot welded to the other side of the bulkhead, and the outer edge where there are 1/4" BSF bolts and nuts. All fasteners have wide flat washers, and all bolts have spring washers. All fasteners and washers are Sherardised (a finish that is now virtually unobtainable), and BSF was changed to UNF in Series 2 production.

* These are readily available from Landrover specialists, although not with the original finish.

John

Thanks John. That fits with what I can see on mine, just not what I have. Guess I'll be looking for one of those fasteners packs you see advertised from time to time... but that's for a time far far away.

The floor screws were domed head screws with an Acme thread, they screw into spire nuts, as John mentioned, that clip over seatbox edge etc.

On a Series I the removable panels under the seats were a similar screw but with a hex head.

The screws & spire nuts are available from all the local supplies but as John mentioned not the original finish, now zinc passivated.


Colin

Thanks Colin.

Got stuck into her late this afternoon and managed to get the windscreen off. Sure, no big deal eh? Just undo two big nuts, two wing nuts and lift it off.

HAH!

The nuts had been soaking with penetrating oil for a few days now. I had a large spanner on one side, jammed against the bodywork. My Whitworth socket on the other side with it's 7/16" allen key bar - that wasn't long enough though so I used an 18" extension. With the full weight of my considerable bulk, I just managed to get the long lever (now nearly 2 ft long) to turn... with horrendous shrieks. I applied so much force that I twisted the allen key bar. Eventually though, both nuts capitulated and the windscreen is safely stored in the roof of the shed.

And I'm knackered. Time for dinner.