Thread: My 88" Series 3

So, today was cut, weld, grind, paint day.

I started on the rear cross member where some rust had grown behind the tow hitch plate:





Piece cut out to reveal a bit of contraband AQIS had missed





The bit I cut out, (fortunately just the right size!), has a distance piece welded to it, this was removed to be reattached to the new bit:





New bit welded in, (don't mind the booger bits on top, that's what happens when you try and rush things! ).





And all ground back and painted





Next bit of rear cross member to be cut out. I marked some corrosion on the inside with a punch, then started marking a smaller bit to cut out before deciding "bugger it, might as well cut the big dent on the right hand side out while I'm at it":





New part held in place, I like using the clamp thingo on the left as it sets a bit of a gap so I can be sure I'm getting good penetration on the weld. And as Mark Evans says "if you're not getting penetration, you're not doing it right"





Welded in:






And cleaned up and painted:





Next part to tackle was the crack around the front passenger spring mount. Holes were drilled at the end of the cracks to stop them propagating, and the crack opened up a bit with a die grinder:





All welded up, not as neat as I would like, but the inside of the chassis has been filled with oil/anti-corrosion stuff in the past which is making welding a challenge, (excuses excuses!):





Other side done, (bit of an apprentice mark from when the bush was removed, however I don't think it was my doing??):





There is a crack on the bottom plate under on the outer side of the chassis that I'll attend to when the chassis is upside down:





Previous rust repair, that is about to be re-repaired:





Piece cut out revealing some more contraband:





New bit welded in, (I'll do the bottom edge when the chassis is upside down):





And cleaned up and painted:





I got a couple of coats of KBS paint on during the day:





I'm really not happy with the finish I'm getting from the KBS paint, I can only dust it on really lightly or I get carbon bubbles. I may do a test tomorrow with a bit more thinner in it, but I think I will use it as a primer only, and top coat it with either the KBS top coat, or 2 pack satin black.


Cheers,

An awesome job mate...sheeez wish I could weld like that.

Yeah... I'm not posting any more welding pics!

Very, very professional resto you have going there mate. Following every day.

It seems to me that this vehicle is going to end up with a lot better finish, in fact better in most respects, than when it left the factory!

John

Originally Posted by 1950landy

I tried to but some BSF Helicoil's recently from Bolt Masters & was told they were not available.

Have a look on eBay - it is where I got mine from,

Cheers Charlie

Originally Posted by TimNZ

New bit welded in, (I'll do the bottom edge when the chassis is upside down):



Cheers,

Nic hot welding Tim - good job!

Overhead welding is surprisingly easy - hold the torch at 90 degrees to the work with two hands, get comfortable on a stool and a slight weave from side-to-side works well. Ideally this is done with no gap; if there is a gap put the tacks closer together.

If you use a stick welder, lower the amps to somewhere near the bottom of the recommended amp-range; angle the rod at 45 degrees in both planes and commence weaving,

Cheers Charlie

Thanks for the kind words guys Certainly helps with keeping the motivation up!

Had to be social and interact with other humans this morning, so only got a few hours this afternoon to work (play?) on the Landy today.

Started to tackle the spring mounts that have been flogged out. Not the easiest to see but this 9/16" bolt shows the wear:





I made a new "washer" out of 6mm steel, only to discover it was pretty much impossible to hold it, (without marking it badly), to drill the center out to 9/16". So made the next one(s) by partially drilling them out with a holesaw, drilling the center hole out to size, then finishing up with the holesaw:





I used a length of 1/2" threaded bar to help with aligning the replacement washers, (would have prefered to use 14mm / 9/16", but such a thing does not seem to exist).





First washer held in place with a bit of tension on the bar:





All welded in, only 2 more to go on the front





Checking I have the washer thickness right with the distance piece from the superpro bush kit:





And welded in:





Last one is by far the worst:





You can see the inside of the mount plate is quite worn, I can't leave it like this, or the bolt won't pull up tight on the distance piece and it will be oval again in no time. If I had a lathe I would have preferred to make a stepped washer, and then drilled this out oversize to get a nice finish:





Filled up with the welder and ground back, then filed flat as best I could, it's not perfect, but I wanted to quit while I was ahead, (and before I made a mess of it with the grinder!)





Ugh, these have been bothering me for some time:








And re-welded:





The passenger side rear spring mount was still round, but suffered wear on the face like the front mount:





Filled, ground and filed back:





I still have the drivers side to do, but I need to pick up a holesaw with a 44mm (ish) inside dia. I've also noticed the holes aren't in the middle of the "washer" which is going to be a challenge!

Back to the painting... I tried thinning out the paint a bit more (25%), it was a bit better, but any flat surface produced carbon bubbles. Casting's, however, come up great:





So, in the future I'll use the KBS as a primer, then top coat with 2 pack.


Cheers,

Tim.
If you need to use a lathe into the future,I have a good one in the shed,was around $4500 from Hare and Forbes.We bought it for Lindsay,Im sure the odd job or 2 on it wont hurt.
I wouldn't know how to use it,switch it on at the power point is about it
Andrew