My series 3 rebuilt may be dead and over...

[martindktm]

Today after a sand blasting session for my bulkhead many many many many little rust hole pop out of it.

The trouble is that they pop out under the windshiel frame, in the front part were the wiper pivot are and the air vent.

I tried to weld the holes without succes. As soon as I put on the welder power on holes pop out almost before I try to weld..

I did cut a section to replace it with a new bent steel part that I made on the bench but the fit ans look is awful and im unable to weld it because the area is so thin because of the rust.

Im pretty speachless now and pretty sad. I don't know what to do now....Guess a little sleep will make me forget it for a few hours...

[Triumphdaytona2007]

a similar thing happened to me i purchased a bulkhead advertised as no rust but could use some cleaning and paint, so i went to sand blast it and there was more bondo than metal sooooooooo i had to get another one

[leafsprung]

pics

[albersj51]

I was there a few months ago. My frame and bulkhead needed more work than my skills allowed for, so I got a frame and bulkhead from Ike. It sucks, and it sucks the wallet dry. I believe many of us have been where you are.

Give it some thought, crunch some numbers and do the cost/benefit analysis to see if you can and want to continue. If you choose to continue, I'm sure everyone here will offer up advice and help along the way. If not, there is no shame in moving on.

Best of luck!

Jason

[SafeAirOne]

The key is to cut back till you reach good metal. You can't weld to paper-thin half eroded steel without blowing holes through it.

You CAN weld to somewhat thinner stuff if you use shielding gas (not flux-cored wire) and a lower amperage on your MIG welder. Forget about using an arc welder on the thin stuff.

A very badly rusted windshield and vent area can be reconstructed if you are patient and innovative.

I cut out and bent up some cardboard folders to test out my patches before cutting and bending any metal. Once the cardboard fits, trace out the pattern in metal and cut/bend it up.

The vent channels can be made mostly from a flat sheet bent up. The corners will have to be pieced together using small pieces of steel welded to the larger piece. Once the pieces are all welded up, grind down the weld beads.

Here's a few photos of the way I did mine before I had a bending brake:

[martindktm]

Safeairone...You obviously have better talent than me. Mine is less damage than this I think. But more in the center part of the air vent.

I will check that back in the garage tonight...calm down and with a beer. I was in some sort of panick after my last night failed attempt to fix it and it was pretty late at night so..

[jac04]

You can also contact George at Rovers Down South.
He has NOS Series III bulkheads available.

[rejeep]

Safeairone...You obviously have better talent than me..

me too..
awesome work..

[JackIIA]

Seriously Mark, that is really impressive. I was all proud of myself for bending/forming the bottom half of my breakfast. Nothing compared to that fit and form. Wow.

[gudjeon]

No help I know, but it reminds me of an old joke about ser1 restoration. You take the frame in for a sandblast and they give it back to you in a dustpan.

Keep persisting. You just have to be more stubborn than these old rigs.

[SafeAirOne]

Safeairone...You obviously have better talent than me.

I almost guarantee that's not true--You'd be surprised at what you can accomplish when your extra time is more plentiful than your extra money.

[martindktm]

Ok...I took a good look at it yesterday night. A beer in my hand, with an entirely new vision of things. Its not that bad. I did not have any 1/16 inch steel plate to try to fix it yesterday night. But I should be able to.

Seeing SafariAirone pictures also helped me and saw that mine is pretty nice compare to his...

Yesterday I received a buch of parts from RN and others and worked on that. So now my brake lines are much installed on the chassis, starter, clutch slave, and bunch of other stuff.

I will post picture this week-end when I will work back on the bulkhead.

[martindktm]

So that is how my bulkhead will look like. Took pictures from far away...As we say it nice when seen from a distance but not that nice when you see it close. And I don't care. Still has some micro holes here and there...I put 2 coats of primer on it. I will light sand it this week and put a third coat of primer and 2 coat of paint and I will live with it. And drill the now missing hole for the right wiper.

Anyway no matter the effort I put in it its not going to last as long as I would wish... I dont have the tooling and space to do a top notch job. And I can't buy everything needed just for that so...When it will get back bad again I will put a new one from Pégasus Or a rebuilt and galvanised one from Ashtree Land-Rover....





I also finished my battery support and intalled a few vaccum. gas and air vent line.

[SafeAirOne]

That looks pretty good!