Thread: Time for a Re-fit

Originally Posted by debruiser

Did you find you had to grind off the lip around the door frames to get the pinch weld to fit? I purchased defender door rubbers (single piece) they would have gone on with the lip, but not as neat so I ground the lip down.

I was aware of the fact that the accepted thing seems to be to remove the lip if using pinchweld, but thought I'd have a go at it first without cutting or grinding anything, as this time around on the ol' Landy I am doing everything I can not to cut/remove/butcher in ways that I did in the past.

The fit is pretty tight, but I managed to do it without removing any of the lip. It is harder to do, certainly, and would be easier and neater in places if I got rid of the lip.

The driver's door doesn't shut quite properly yet, but I will sort that out with some adjustment of the striker.

Originally Posted by Johnno1969

The driver's door doesn't shut quite properly yet, but I will sort that out with some adjustment of the striker.

P.S. That's not because of the pinchweld, by the way. The bodywork is slightly out of alignment, and the aperture for the door is a little tighter on that side. But I'll get there. Just got to be patient...

Still plugging away today. No photos... but fiddled with the driver's door alignment (still not happy), put in the passenger's seat (it is starting to look like a car), adjusted the brakes (won't really know how they are until I hit the road (and preferably not anything else)) and various little housekeeping jobs not really worth mentioning.

Oh, one thing worth mentioning is that I have decided not to fit the brake drum retaining screws at the moment. I know how useful they are in keeping a drum on if a wheel is lost, so the brakes don't disappear - but the ones I've bought sit out proud of the drum and don't allow the wheel to sit flush - which is really not good. I'll look into a little more counter-sinking on the drums down the track or, preferably, different screws.

Related to the way the wheels sit, I am going to post another thread related to wheel nuts.

She's getting a new exhaust on Monday - which will mean......... driving.

Not being an expert on the subject I would imagine that if a wheel were to fall off one would have more immediate issues than losing a brake shoe or two

Still, I guess it would be nice to not have to search the highway for them afterwards assuming walking is still an option, I mean we all know how fast these old land rovers go, at such supersonic speeds the damage would be catastrophic lol

On a more serious note it's good to see the progress, makes me want to speed ahead with bob all the more but I must remind myself that there's no point rushing too much and having to come back and redo bits later. Keep up the good work!

Got stuck in today: Sprayed Penetrol into the chasiss using an airgun-thingy connected to a long plastic hose which I taped to a bit of heavy wire and poked down the length of each chassis rail. I found that, with the length of the tubing and and the friction inside it along the way, the pressure out of the business end was not as much as I hoped, so I followed that by using a sort length of hose (without the nozzle thing on the end) and poked it into every gap and hole I could find. Then I used the short hose to do the rear and mid crossmembers.

I sorted out the "Land Rover" badges (yes, it is getting that close) by wire-brushing them, then spraying them black, then carefully sanding back the raised lettering. I accidentally scratched the black on the grill badge, then tried to touch it up with a brush.... which didn't work too well (pic in next post), so I have since carefully masked the good bits and sanded and lightly resprayed the damaged area.

Then a thing happened: I was going to be patient and wait to take the Landy out onto the road tomorrow to get her new exhaust (the old one is hanging by bits of crappy wire), but the more I looked at it, the more I thought about it and the more it seemed that mid afternoon on a sunny Sunday really was the best time for a quick test drive, even with a crappy old exhaust hanging from crappy bits of wire. The right time.

So, I took a quick trundle around the neighbourhood. Then Wally showed up, and he came with me on a second drive. It was all very exciting. "It's a car again!" was pretty much the theme of the afternoon. We went to the service station and got fuel and everything, just like all the other people there do with their cars all the time - except it was more fun. I haven't had so much fun at a servo ever. All sorts of good stuff happened, like pouring diesel all over the forecourt because I'd forgotten to tighten the screws on the sender unit on the right-hand tank.

I was somewhat surprised to find that, after four years' work, the Landy didn't feel like a Rolls Royce on the road. But it feels good.

Watch this space.

That's awesome. Congrats mate

Thanks mate. We're getting there!