1994 Range Rover

[TerryG]

Following on from my thread in Technical Queries about welding
This is my "daily driver" Range Rover LSE.

Pic is very old, the bonnet is the right colour now. I will take a new one in the light tomorrow.

I have had lots of welding done previously (new sills, boot floor, wheel arches, etc) but now it looks like more is needed.
This is the OSF floor after pulling the carpet back and removing the sound deadening. A bit of poking about and it is much worse than I first thought

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This is what it looked like after cleaning up with a wire brush on my drill and some rust treater

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After some paint

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The bottom 2mm of steel is missing from the front seat support too

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I've got a friend that is a steel fabricator who is going to come over one evening this week to have a look and to give me a quick "how to" with my MIG so I can have a go at fixing it myself. I will cut back as much of the floor as needed before starting not just bodge patching it.

On the plus side the NSF had a bit of surface rust that after a quick clean up with the power wire brush and some paint is perfect (PHEW!)

[arceye]

Oh I do enjoy a nice Rangy, especially when someone else is welding it

Thats just the usual factory air con for a Rangy though surely Terry cos they all seem to have it

Shouldn't be too bad to do though, but you do get through some good size pieces of steel when you start on these. At least you have had most of the usual suspect areas tackled already, how are the inner wings? they like to dissolve in a similar fashion.

Good luck with it, and lots more piccies please, it might encourage me to do a bit on the lads two door.

[TerryG]

Inner wings were done in 2011 (don't tell the other half or she will ask too many questions such as why did you spend £1500 on the car rather than a holiday) along with the rear arches, cross member, light boxes and boot floor. The floor under the rear seat is patched and needs replacing which was planned for this years welding but may have to wait now depending what I have to spend on this latest fix.
Before the winter I had it steam cleaned and painted / waxoiled underneath. The chassis is rock solid, the body mounts are all good, etc. Externally the only visible rust is on the seams to each side of the tailgate by the rear lights and the tailgate itself which I have a replacement for painted and ready to fit.
It is booked in first week in June to have the cross member re-done under "warranty" as it was welded about 1/2" off centre, rather than either moving the hinges over a bit or checking it was correct before seaming it all up, they bodged it by drilling out the tailgate to bring it back in line. I only found out when I went to fit a new tailgate 2 weeks ago.
There are some patches at the top of the "inner wings" above the scuttle which should probably be re-done and the scuttle itself is made of glass fibre which definitely needs doing but requires the dash to be removed to do it so that is a long way on the back burner.
Currently my employment status means I have plenty of time to do the work (hence why I started fiddling with the RR) but limited funds available to do it.

[JPB]

That's really not too bad at all, Terry. It appears to have corroded from the inside downwards - possibly a result of a previous owner's chauffeur getting in with wet boots on - which is a good thing since it means that you can see where the pitted areas are and deal with them from the comfort of the interior.
Cut away every little sign of wasting and pitting or you'll end up welding it further inboard in a year or so, join the repair to the original steel with Intergrip-style clamps which give the perfect gap and make sure that it all stays level then, once the welds are all ground flat and some etch primer and paint applied, you'll have a virtually undetectable repair that'll last.
Make sure that the steel you use to make the patch(es) is of the same gauge as the original, don't compromise on safety by using something thicker, or on ease of welding by using something thinner.




Intergrips picture borrowed from http://www.mig-welding.co.uk thanks to Guido for permission to post it here.

[TerryG]

Is there any benefit to buying a spot weld drill vs being careful with a normal 5mm bit to remove the spots that hold the L shaped piece of metal the door seal clips to? It has rusted through so it isn't doing anything any more. My plan for tomorrow was to remove all the rotten metal for the edge 3" (the really bad pitting you see extends about 2 1/2" in from the side) from the bulkhead back as far as 1/2 way down the seat then see what is needed to get the rot out of the bulkhead. The seat box support is only held in place with about 1/2" of weld on that side so I can cut it away at the top to cut out and replace the corroded rubbish underneath without much extra effort.

The floor underneath looks perfect, not a blemish (other than the holes I just made). The sound deadening is heavy with water. Even after sitting in the sun for a few hours it is still dripping. It hasn't rained in a week so it has some serious staying power!
Now I have put some paint over the exposed metal I was planning on turning the pressure washer on to the car and seeing if water is getting in from the scuttle / door seals / windscreen / sunroof / etc and fixing that to ensure it doesn't happen again! Occasionally a quick bodge is warranted but I do like doing a job once and never having to touch it again. I hope this doesn't turn in to one of those jobs that reveals 10 other jobs with each of those revealing another 3, etc.

[rich.]

can people still afford to run rangies these days? ( apart from those tv types & footballists)

[TerryG]

Only because it has LPG fitted. These days I tend to do about 100 miles a week in it but it was doing 300+ until about 2 years ago. I let my modern diesel POS take the stress now.

[JPB]

Never buy a spot weld drill. Buy at least three because they will fail if you only own one!
Yes, using the right tool for the job is the answer here because a conventional drill cannot make a larger hole in the panel you're trying to remove than it does in the one to which you'll be wanting to weld the new.

It's time consuming to the point of being soporific, but the spot weld drill(s) will - eventually - save you time (in the reassembly) as you'll not end up having to patch the holes for plugging and can instead plug them in the style of the factory welds.

[TerryG]

Sounds like I need a trip to machine mart then. I am popping down to my friendly tame land rover man at 1 to see if he has a repair panel / can tell me what gauge metal I need. That way I can have some bits ready and hopefully cut out prior to the arrival of the welding tutor

[JPB]

Wilkinsons sell a digital caliper that's as accurate as any of the more expensive ones, if you don't have the means of measuring the thickness of that steel now, I recommend buying one of these. Once you have one, you're going to wonder how you ever got by without.