Thread: The restoration of Wombat

I got my daughter started on clearing away the dirt around the tank while I wrestled with the windscreen. Dead set, the dirt was deep enough to grow River Gums and I'll need to sweep out under the vehicle, not to avoid lying in dirt but to provide enough clearance for me to get under the chassis I'm going to have to hire a trailer to haul all the dirt away and I'm sure Wombat is already sitting higher on her springs just from what we've knocked off her.

The plan is to tackle the tank tomorrow. The manual talks about undoing the bolts from underneath and that makes sense looking at it. It does talk about draining the tank first but I'm going to try to avoid that on the grounds that anything I can keep in the tank will slow the inevitable rust you'll get if you empty it - I doubt there's anything combustible in there now though I won't be lighting any matches nearby to find out.

Regarding stainless fasteners, aren't there issues with having stainless in contact with aluminium? Maybe galv (or similar) washers are the go.

Cadmium plated fittings seem to give the less grief IMHO. Finding Cadmium plated nuts and bolt with BSF threads --- well!!
.

a lot of people go for the stainless steel stuff but I just go for the normal stuff with a bit of copper slip grease on the thread. We all ought to get together in 10 years time and see which has done best.
cheers,
D

I don't know why you lot keep talking about all these weird metals and coatings, I mean, I'm working on this beast and I can assure you, all fasteners are made out of RUST

Much fun and games had today and yesterday.

Windscreen removed... to great shrieks of agonised metal as the rusted nuts fought their removal with all the determination of a Kamikaze.

Tank removed. No dramas here except that someone had clouted something in the past and a bit of bodywork had been bent back trapping one corner of the tank - he was probably lucky he didn't tear a hole in the tank. Tank looks good, doesn't feel like there's much in there except maybe some horrid jelly (no sloshing but weight). I'm not even going to go there until I have to.

We got the ute tray off. I had initially thought that I had to get the cabin out of the way first but as it happens, you don't. At the front, there are cut outs in the chassis that allow you to get your hand and a spanner there - you don't even have to be a spider monkey. In my case though, someone had dropped a piece of 4x2 across between the cabin and the tray and this was preventing me from getting at the nuts and, as it happened, I needed the top off the cabin to be able to get that out. Bloody farm truck. The rear bolts were an exercise in access and surprisingly, the easiest ones were on the driver's side where someone had bent the rear crossmember, obscuring access to the nuts but tearing the ally body so I could still get a spanner in there.

Rear of cabin removed fully. All went well until the very last nut which was a pleasant change from the first one being the prize sod.

So I now have remarkably less Land Rover than I started with

What's the next step in dismantling? Getting the mudguards off?

I'm looking at getting the bodywork off, then rolling her outside and trying to hit her with a high pressure spray for cleanup (if I can get one). Question is, do I pull the engine and gearbox before that or after?

Originally Posted by crackers

What's the next step in dismantling? Getting the mudguards off?

I'm looking at getting the bodywork off, then rolling her outside and trying to hit her with a high pressure spray for cleanup (if I can get one). Question is, do I pull the engine and gearbox before that or after?

I would be inclined to leave them in, cover the openigs, and pressure wash everything. Then remove the engine and gearbox, and rewash the chassis to get the bits that were hard to get with the engine and gearbox in. (The idea being that the chassis makes a good stand for moving the engine and gearbox out to clean up.)

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

I would be inclined to leave them in, cover the openigs, and pressure wash everything. Then remove the engine and gearbox, and rewash the chassis to get the bits that were hard to get with the engine and gearbox in. (The idea being that the chassis makes a good stand for moving the engine and gearbox out to clean up.)

John

Couldn't have said it better myself!