Tony's109 rebuild

[Guest 4386]

Ok, I started a thread midway but this is how it began.. more or less.

Firstly I ordered a Chassis from Richards Chassis. I sent a haulier uo to collect it. Richards Chassis then loaded the truck with the chassis and it was bought back down to Cornwall.. I got a phone call a day or so later. Richards chassis told me that my driver had taken the wrong chassis!!
Strange really as it was Richards who loaded it!!

Around one week later Richards sent their truck down to collect their wrongly loaded chassis, but left my chassis in their yard... I was well chuft.
I then sent another truck up to collect my chassis, at yet more cost.
Was it the hauliers fault or Richards? Richards were the ones who loaded the Chassis so who'd you think was to blame?
I finally collected my chassis from the hauliers depot. I was looking forward to seeing my One Ton chassis. I had ordered it in bare metal so I could carry out necessary mods.

 

[Guest 4386]

Im damn glad I didnt order the chassis Galvanised too.
I had fabricated my own rear Cross member on my old chassis, after the original one rotted away. I changed the design somewhat after cutting it off at the chassis legs.. Anyway, it had to be strong for the heavy towing I had to do. The box section original was nothing more than a rot trap.
So knowing the faults with the Land rover design, I wanted to make my own rear Xmember similar to my original. That X member took a few hard knocks, both when off road, in shunting, towing etc, and I knew I wanted the same levels of hardyness. Nothing can easily be changed after things are galvanised either.
My new rear X member:
First pics are how the new chassis arrived, 2nd, after i removed it
3rd, New xmember after galvanising

You'll note I changed the profile a little, as it offers better mounting for the fuel tank and looks better?

 

[alex]

It`s amazing the rust that`s forming inside the new chassis. That`s the way to do it........ bare chassis.....custom mods then galvanise. Yeah good!

Alex

 

[Guest 4386]

Now you'll remember the Balls-up made with the chassis delivery... Well when I finally had the chassis back in my yard, things didn't get any better.
If you can see in the previous chassis pics, the second rear X member has been fitted the wrong way round!
The dip is meant to be to the left to allow for the PTO shart to exit the X-member! That didn't bother me as it was going under a station wagon.
What did bother me, and actually pi$$ed me off a little was the abysmal quality of the workmanship. That famous knotch in the front engine xmember, that makes the One Ton and military chassis unique had just been cut out and a patch badly beaten into the hole! Had I not already waited over a month for this chassis, it would have gone back..
But since I was running out of free time, I decided that if I was going to change the rear x member, it wasn't going to hurt me 'to much' to cut the mess out and make it myself properly!

 

[Guest 4386]

And One more thing!!
The Hand brake bracket.. On the original 64' built chassis, Perhaps earlier, had a look of quality and a feeling of pride taken in the workmanship. Like everything,o r most things made today, Pride has been replaced by make it cheap, build it cheaper.
I just wasn't happy in throwing away a very well crafted bracket. Interesting to see also, Land Rover had obviosly intended to galvanise their chassis as suggested by the airhole left at the top of the original bracket.
Anyway the bracket that came on the new chassis looked bloody terrible and I just couldn't live with that mess on my motor. So I went back to my original chassis and cut the handbrake bracket off. Then after cleaning I welded it back to the new chassis. On the handbrake bracket also, is the mounting for my electrical transfer pump.

 

[Guest 4386]

For Galvanizing having 'lapped' and 'doubled' areas is asking for problems. Either the acid gets between the layers to clean rust off, and may stay there eating the steel, or the zinc doesn't get between them, or the air gets trapped and causes pulling, and so on....
On the LWB chassis, the undersids of the chassis is doubled, from the rear spring hanger, above the rear axel to just short of the rear Xmember. On my new chassis the doubled area had already began to look a little wavey, and if left inplace for Galvanising, the Galvanise would either get between the layers or wouldn't.. I wasn't taking that chance. So since the chassis is made from 3mil plate and the Doubler was a 3 mil strip, I cut the entire underside doubled area out. That left the tops and sides intact and I replaced the the doubled areas with a strip of 6 mil plate with 'V'knotches at both ends to prevent major section changes.

 

[alex]

Excellent. Is that a classic Sherpa van you got? I had one of em. It was a kind of poor mans Transit . Had the one that it was based on too.....same chassis etc....was it a JU 250?........round dome shaped van with a really high load area at rear.
Alex

 

[Guest 4386]

Excellent. Is that a classic Sherpa van you got? I had one of em. It was a kind of poor mans Transit . Had the one that it was based on too.....same chassis etc....was it a JU 250?........round dome shaped van with a really high load area at rear.
Alex

Yes it is a Sherpa, but the one I am working on, as soon as Ive finished the Land Rover is a sherpa 4x4. Inside the cab the name plate just says Leyland CV306 4wd. And no mention of the name sherpa although the cabs are vertually identical.
The Sherpa was a far better van than the transit, its far narrower and tougher. The chassis cab versions win hands down with a proper pressed and tempered, channel section Chassis. Unlike the normal Box section efforts seen on most.

 

[Guest 4386]

My land rover fuel tanks were looking a little tired around the edges. So they've been put in for galvanising. The 16 gallon rear tank had originally split along its seams probably due to the chassis flexing.
I made a new fuel tank many years back from 1/8th plate mild steel. As the standard tanks are made from very thin tin plate with soldered seams, they are very easily ruptured, or split, hence the need for additional skid plates etc. So the tank being made from heavier plate with welded seams has many advantages over the stanard tank but corrosion had taken hold around the access cover. I didn't want to buy a standard tank or make another one, so I chose to cut the bad areas out. I also replaced and improved the flange seating area on the inspection cover. Something I added to allow for easier cleaning.
Since the tank is mild steel, it will be going for galvanising too and to allow the tank to be dipped in the zinc, without floating or trapping any air I've had to add vent plugs made from 3/4 BSP sockets.
The location of these will help me with my other mod too.
So now my fuel tanks will be galvanised.

 

[MattMAtt]

I thought Richards had a good reputation - both for service and quaility. I'm really surprised they would have a poor, incorrectly built chassis leave the premises!!! I haven't used them but has anyone else had problems?

 

[alex]

That`s a good idea with the heavy gauge fuel tank Tony. Not only resistant to puncture but maybe easier to weld up. Welding up thin gauge fuel tank is difficult to get air tight for an amateur like myself. Tig may be a better option for a Thin Gauge Tank.

Alex

 

[Guest 4386]

I thought Richards had a good reputation - both for service and quaility. I'm really surprised they would have a poor, incorrectly built chassis leave the premises!!! I haven't used them but has anyone else had problems?

"The only makers of original pattern chassis" says the advert, so I was very disappionted.
Check the Prop shaft 'cut out' in the pic above as and example of what I had to play with.

 

[Guest 4386]

I couldn't find these pictures when I wanted them, but I think they're an excellent example of the stanard of workmanship allowed through the door of the Chassis builders. Remember this is meant to be a chassis built to 'As original' stanard and specification.
It arrived a month later than arranged, hence why I stuck with it.

The pics show that prop shaft cut-out, as seen on the One Ton and Military chassis.
The first pic with the piece of 'plywood' in the pic is the 'As arrived' condition.
I carefully cut out and removed their crude, beaten into shape patch, and then dropped-in my own, curved to shape patch,.

 

[fergie2035]

That cut out really is pushing the boundaries or "roughness". I'm not a perfectionist but even I wouldn't make one as bad as that. I'm not surprised you re-made it. Nice job too.

 

[Guest 4386]

Here are the fuel tanks that are going for galvanizing, along with the bulkhead, sills, exhaust mountings and numerous other steel parts.

 

[Guest 4386]

Here are pics of the Bulkhead, Both from the inside after sandblasting.

Also a pic of the bulkhead, a long time prior to sand blasting, just after I'd added the pillars and awaiting the windscreen hinges to be added, so reassembled for the 100th time.

 

[Sandy M.]

My land rover fuel tanks were looking a little tired around the edges. So they've been put in for galvanising.

Is that good idea? I recalll being told a while back ago that galvanising fuel tanks was a bad idea, as fuel can attack the zinc coating .

 

[Guest 4386]

As for diesel fuel attacking galvanize, I have not seen this happen and I've spoken with the galvanizers about this and they have not come across this either.
If the worst is found to be the case, then the tank will be covered in a tank coating, but I've seen nothing to confirm such a thing.

 

[Guest 4386]

I now have a large pile of Galvanised parts, Bulkhead, pillars, brackets, tanks and numerous other parts, expansion tank holder, washer bottle bracket, etc.
The next job will be to paint the parts. The Chassis will need a coat of paint and Im thinking Red would be the best choice.
Black tends to be common and reminds me of all the times I've seen dodgy body filler-pudding patches with copious amouts of Black underseal over the top.
The Bulkhead, pillars,etc will be painted body colour and I still may go ahead with my void filling of the chassis with cavity foam.

 

[fergie2035]

I did give the rear crossmember on my chassis a coat of black but didn't do the rest of it. Once it got a bit of road dirt on it the shiny galvanising wasn't noticeable at all. But no harm in painting it while its accessible either.