Thread: IIA bulkhead advice...best place to buy

Originally Posted by 67hardtop

I found an almost rust free bulkhead from a 1968 series 2a ex military only rust was just at the top of the brake pedal mount, had it sand blasted repaired the 50cent piece sized rust patch and took it to 3 galvanising places here in Adelaide and all three refused to galvanise it due to possibility of metal exploding (air trapped) in the vats and possible warping so I painted it then fish oiled it, waited for a few weeks for the smell to dissipate, now its ready to fit. just waiting for warmer weather coz im doing it in my driveway. Good luck.

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Hundreds of firewalls have been hot dip galvanised in AU, including SI(early and late types)/II/IIA/III/110. Galvanisers in Brisbane and Perth I have used have had no concerns.

What about this one

land Rover series 2 bulkhead. | Heavy, Farming & Agriculture Equipment | Gumtree Australia Barossa Area - Williamstown | 1052374441

Looks like a late 2a 6 cyl bulkhead

Cheers Rod

The galvanisers in Brisbane won't touch them now. I have tried over the last 12 months to find someone but had no luck. Ferro (at Narangba) who did my chassis and body cappings cited the air-pocket issue mentioned earlier in the thread, and warping as reasons they won't do them anymore.
Martin

Originally Posted by marting

The galvanisers in Brisbane won't touch them now. I have tried over the last 12 months to find someone but had no luck. Ferro (at Narangba) who did my chassis and body cappings cited the air-pocket issue mentioned earlier in the thread, and warping as reasons they won't do them anymore.
Martin

Possibly a customer blamed them for warping, but they may have found from experience that the relatively complicated shape and large surface area for the weight means that it retains a lot of zinc and this makes it uneconomic, the reasons given being an excuse not to touch something they will lose money on and be a difficult job.

John

I remember reading that people had made braces for the bulkheads to minimise distortion during galvanising. There may also be concern about the boxed in sections putting contaminants into the zinc bath.
I used to deal with a galvaniser in Dandenong and they were always cautious of anything that wasn't new steel going into the bath.

Here's another company in the UK that repair & galvanise bulkheads Andover Land Rover International - Land Rover Bulkheads & Restorations

A few comments regarding warping here Bulkhead jig

Here's a good idea if you're regularly repairing bulkheads, a rotating bulkhead jig Series IIA 88 2.5 diesel



Colin

When I fitted the galvanised bulkhead to my IIA I had to run a rope around it and compress it by turning a broom handle (to tighten the rope) enough to get the 2nd bolt in. However it was a replacement bulkhead on a chassis that had had a replacement outrigger fitted by the PO. I had not done a trial fit before Galvanising so I can't say if the bulkhead, chassis or just LR manufacturing tolerances was the problem. The rest of the bulkhead bolted up fine.

There is superficial warping (waves) on all the thin sections.

That is annoying to hear galvanisers are becoming difficult. The main problem is more likely the cost of zinc due to high surface area. I am sure if you indemnify them against warping it would still be possible???

There are a number of issues,

• As said before they want all traces of paint and oils removed first, so ideally it would be chemically stripped and then galvanised on the same day it comes out of the caustic.
• You want the firewall dipped and inverted inside the bath then removed right way up and then immediately centrifuged. Most hot dip galvanisers don't like the last step because it is time consuming and difficult on large items like a firewall.

In the UK and elsewhere, places that do chemical stripping will also do a phosphate bath and then an electrostatic rust preventative paint bath. Very similar to the priming processes on high end modern cars. Unfortunately I haven't found anywhere in Sydney (or elsewhere in Oz) who do it. I would seriously consider it for both the firewall and door frames if I could.