A Little Welding and a Popping Tail Gate

Since the decision is to keep the RRC for the long term, it is getting gradual repairs and rectifications.  It’s in good order for its type and age, but is still prone to corrosion like all classic Land Rovers.  It has a little rust in the usual places – the sides of the foot wells, the seams of the boot floor and a little on the sills.  Thankfully, none of it is serious and no areas needed replacing outright.

The left foot well needed just one small patch at the bottom, just behind the bend between the horizontal floor and the sloping section, and just a little clean and repaint with Galvofroid on its exterior side adjacent to the outer wing.  The right hand side needed slightly more work, with rot in the seam between the side and sloping panels from halfway down to the bottom.   This was allowing water through and soaking the sound-proofing under the carpet, though (surprisingly, given how the matting was saturated) there was no rust anywhere else in the floor.  The rot was cut out and a 6×1.5″ patch welded in, followed by a thorough clean up of the side adjacent to the wing (which was quite clean on this side) and painting with Galvofroid inside and out.

The front body mounting on  the left hand sill had needed a patch in the space between the vertical webs a couple of years ago, and this time the same repair was needed in the same place on the right hand side.  With the rotten steel cut out, the inside of the bottom of the A-post (front door pillar) can be seen, and it was completely clean, giving plenty of encouragement that these jobs were well worth the investment.  A steel patch was welded in on this inside face of the sill, completing the repair work.

With all the welded sections given a covering with Galvafroid and allowed to dry, the whole area of each body mount and front inner wings were sprayed with black waxoil, including the interior and front face of the A-pillar.  Just these small areas alone received a total of three litres, so they’re very well protected.   The plastic spats that shield the cavity between the outer wing wheel arch and the inner wings and foot wells (think of inside-out Defender wheel arch spats) were then refitted, along with a new bracing bracket for the left wing bottom, which had been missing.

The boot floor was patched in a few places when I bought the vehicle in 2002, and these repairs are still clean.  The corrugated panel’s edge seams along each side are a bit untidy, which is so often the case with spot welded floor joints, but are structurally sound and have no holes, so were just given a copious spraying with waxoil.

The chassis is in astounding condition – just a few mm of surface rust on the edges of the suspension mounting brackets.  My only concerns now for future rectification are those boot floor edges, which I’m discontented with just out of a sense of fussiness, and a little bit of blowing between the new rear wheel arches (replaced last year)  and the back end of the sills, which are still perfectly sound but will gradually deteriorate.  I have sprayed aerosol waxoil into the seams, but would ideally like to get the vehicle up on a ramp to have the underside steam washed under great pressure to really clear off all the muck and grime, removing any rust flakes, and then (after full drying), spray it with Dinitrol at high pressure (including the exteriors of the rear inner wings, which are presently completely rust free and I’d like to keep them that way) to preserve the chassis and body frame – Dinitrol is excellent stuff, and once this is done, I doubt rust would be an issue for at least the next decade, maybe more.  This treatment, repeated every five years or so, should indefinitely head off any need for a repairs or rebuild while allowing me to keep the vehicle for life.

Since having those repairs done, the driver’s foot well has stayed bone dry – for the first time since I have owned the car!  I have undertaken one other job, which was the replacement of the catches on the upper tail gate.  It’s not uncommon for the catches to unlatch while driving when they get a little old, so I got a new pair from Rimmer Bros for £18 each.  Original genuine parts are no longer available, but these Bearmach catches seem to be of similar quality to the originals and have cured the unlatching problem.  The only snag was that one was black cased (correct for my model year), while the other was a polished metal finish (earlier year?).  A little surface keying with emery paper and a a spray of matt black before fitting has made them match up, so I’m happy with the finished job – neither catch has popped once since fitting, and they engage more easily when closing the tailgate and disengage more easily when pushing the release button.