Thread: Plate fixed or Not

G'day All,

After some scrapping away of decades of accumulated crud on the engine bay side of the rusty area I noticed what looks like a plate that fits between the heater blower mounting plate and the firewall. This means there could be three layers of steel - the newly discovered plate, the firewall and then the internal plate that starts high on the foot well then bends over and rises towards the bottom of the dash panel as part of the firewall.

From some digging around with a steel blade to get under the crud it looks like the rust is mostly in the plate that sits directly under the heater blower. I can see that offset from the two top corners is what is either a spot weld in each corner of the plate or maybe two holes that have been drilled in the plate but not drilled through the firewall. Maybe the plate was designed to be reversible - or they really are two spot welds?

From the surface rust evident around where the hole has rusted out of the plate I figure taking the mud guard off and hitting the whole immediate area around that part of the firewall with an angle grinder with a wire brush might be a good idea. Then some rust treatment, followed by a couple of coats of red zinc paint; finished off with some top coats, could be some good steps to take before putting things back together. So far it looks like the worst of the rust is in the plate directly underneath the heat blower mount. Sometimes you can be lucky

Kind Regards
Lionel

Hello All,

They say a picture paints a thousand words. The first photograph is of the plate which is located under the Heater blower - engine bay side. Is this plate just glued with that black tar like stuff, or is it spot welded in place?

The second photograph is of the internal view showing the foot well and fire wall. Does the plate just above the vertical indentations come off once the two remaining bolts are removed or is it spot welded in place as well? The top splodge of red zinc shows where the rust hole is from the inside of the cab. The rust is on the plate which is shown in the first photograph.

There is also a similar plate on the driver's side where the accelerator horizontal rod pivots. There is a large rust hole just below where this plate is mounted. The fire wall rusted through under the plate in this area and it would good to be able to remove the plate to get access to the inside face of the rusty firewall underneath it. I could then put in some new metal and treat the surrounding area for rust and paint it again with red zinc and nice top coats of paint. This will make everything look pretty again. Well as pretty as Baldrick - named after the servant on Black Adder can be!

Oh by the way - is this bright yellow colour inside Baldrick's cab a standard Land Rover Series 3 tint or has the inside of the 1976 Series 3 Diesel been repainted? If it is an original Land Rover colour what was it named?

Kind Regards
Lionel

G'day Lionel,
The plates are spot welded and moisture gets trapped between them. If you have holes, it is best to drill it off and weld in a new one - I made my own.

To help prevent it rusting again use seam-sealer on the joins, or Penetrol regularly,

Cheers Charlie

Originally Posted by chazza

G'day Lionel,
The plates are spot welded and moisture gets trapped between them. If you have holes, it is best to drill it off and weld in a new one - I made my own.

To help prevent it rusting again use seam-sealer on the joins, or Penetrol regularly,

Cheers Charlie

Hello Charlie,

Thank you for the reply. So they are just spot welded on. Looks like I will read that thread elsewhere on AULRO about spot weld drill bits .

Yes I will be making my own plates as a replacement. Thank you for the tip about seam sealer - can you recommend a brand or a product number?

Kind Regards
Lionel