Landrover Restoration

I managed to put a fair bit of effort in on the weekend to paint stripped the back wall, rear cab, bulkhead and remove what was left on the panels with paint stripper. I have since washed everything with my Staun Massojet and CT18 to get as much of the stripper residue off as I can and carefully wiped all panels with Thinners to try and get it as clean as possible. The bonnet I sanded with 240 grit to try get it as clean as possible before putting the first coat of Etch Primer on it. I think I had the paint too thick as the spray job was terrible, but being my first attempt I wasn’t too surprised. I also picked up a Engine crane on the weekend which will be damn handy getting the engine out and lifting things in and out of the vehicle. I’ll pick up a 560kg Engine stand this weekend to pull the engine out and start is slow process of a rebuild. More photos will be online soon to show the panels just about all stripped and the primer going on. 

Sanding has been finished on most of the panels, its time for the ‘fiddly bits’. For this I have picked up a 4litre can of Septone Paint Stripper from Supercheap Auto since I had a $250 Gift Voucher. I also picked up a 4 Litre chassis Black paint can to do the chassis. Whilst there I treated myself to an Elcheap mixed Airtool set containing an AirChisel/Hammer, another die grinder, 1/2 Impact Gun, 3/8 Ratchet and Air Drill. I also picked up a n Airbrush set to help paint the fine pieces like the dash etc and to help paint my Tamiya Landrover models.  I also picked up a 4 litre can of Etch Primer to start to put some primer on the panels. I’ll have to call back into Supercheap on the weekend to pickup some Spary Putty (Filler Primer) to coat the roof. So hopefully on the weekend we should get paint on some panels and the firewall ’stripped’ of paint ready for primer.  I decided on a Spear and Jackson Gravity fed spray gun, fingers crossed. More photos / video and info on Saturday 

The roof has large amounts of bog, the worse being 7mm deep at the back where something has dented the roof. Most of the dints are easily repaired so who knows why you would bother bogging it ?

I have pulled the door handle mechanisms apart and cleaned them up, at the moment they are in primer ready for some colour.

Photos of the day:
http://media.offroader.com.au/photogallery/20070812SandingRoof/20070812SandingRoof.html

More Sanding today on the doors and the firewall. The door skin on the drivers side was particularly bad having a strip of fibre glass in the bottom section to badly cover a rotten door skin. It might be easier to replace the ddoor skin here. The Firewall was wire brushed to expose some rust sections. Looks like a replacement panel will need to be ordered for here and mig welded in place.I spent a good hour wirebrushing the chassis and other components to get rid of the dust dirt and grime ready for the chassis blacck paint to go on. A new tool joined the shed from Super Cheap Auto, taking advantage of  their 20% off sale. I picked up a Die grinder which will be of great assistance when i start the welding of the panels etc.Some photos of the day:The roof is particularly bad, being 90% covered in 5mm of bog. The roof can be panel beaten back to a reasonable condition once the damn bog is removed.   More photos here: Photos from the Day.

Tonight I managed to get a guard back to bare metal, one guard and the roof and back wall to go before we start preparing for primer. Yippee.

The Sanding process is taking a while and lots of effort for minimal visual gain. I have switched from an electric to Air powered sander. Although the Air sander is heavy on the air use so really pushes the compressor. Hence I have to do short bursts over a long period of time to sane.

The bonnet is almost there (top).

More photos here: http://media.offroader.com.au/photogallery/20070708BonnetSanding/20070708BonnetSanding.html

Over the next few weeks it looks like all I will be doing it rubbing all the panels back.

1 Hour tonight accomplished what appears to be nothing!. I had to leave the garage as the dust was getting too thick (that will teach me for not removing the dirt from the guards prior to sanding…

Well, I am just about happy enough that all major panels are removed. Only the seat box to go and it has 3 stubborn bolts to get rid off.

The Guards are in pretty good condition. I had a good look at the drivers door tonight. The top has been removed but the bottom door skin has some bad corrosion. Might need a new door skin.

Some photos from tonight:

All photos of the night here:
http://media.offroader.com.au/photogallery/20070626GuardOff/20070626GuardOff.html

Today I received my Catalogue frm www.landrovers.com.au and my PDF Catalogue on CD Rom. I now have a long shopping list if some basic items I require / want. Some I am replacing parts htat look ‘bad’ other I can live without, but this is generally the wish list.

Tonight, the Passenger guard was finally removed. It wasn’t as bad as I thought and had about 6 7/16th bolts and4 14mm very course thread bolts holding it on.

I started the drivers side but ended up with 5 bolts that were rusted solid, requiring the work of a nut breaker or angle grinder. Tomorrow nights job

Some photos of tonight:

More Photos here