In the meantime I decided that since I needed to replace or repair the bulkhead that I might as well get along on doing some of that work.
The Kodiak heater was mounted on the engine side of the rotten footwell so that had to go. In order to remove it I needed to first remove the right side front wing(fender). It looks like it had not been off since the Kodiak had been installed. Every thing was rusted together or rusted thru!
I pulled the passenger side door with its rotten door top. My neighbor Bob helped me with some of the hard to reach stuff since my arms were not long enough to go around the wing. That exposed the the heater.
A few days later I tackled the heater and the footwell. The heater came out fairly easy. I cut the hoses and unbolted the inside duct work and found the spare key inside a rusted out magnetic holder.
Then it was on to the removal of the footwell. They are held in with some small welds and lots of spot welds. I had difficulty finding the spot welds. Even after cleaning the surfaces with a wire brush.
The plan is to drill out the spot welds and thereby releasing the 2 metal surfaces from each other. Good in theory.....I wound up drilling the spotwelds then driving a putty knife between the sheets of steel and cutting the rest of the weld apart. Putty knifes are not designed for this and I broke mine, foutunately I could grind it off and present a new flat face for cutting.
So after lots of hammering, drilling, hammering on my hand, grinding the welds I got the footwell out. It took 6 hours to remove the heater and footwell.
I removed the footwell because I have read that one should do that first and weld in the new one so that bulkhead remains lined up and doesn't get warped.
Now I need to know if I am going to weld in the new footwell or just replace the bulkhead.
Last Friday I took all the bolts holding the roof to the sides out. I am ready to take it off then strip the sides off.
The roof will need to have the rivets drilled out and the skin to gutter seal replaced. I want to insulate and cover the inside of the roof and the sides while they are off.
I found insulation and headliner online from Harbor Supply, www.lobucrod.com Since I don't have roof vents this should really help with Summer heat and Winter cold. Plus the dreaded condensation drips....
Once I have the top off I can remove the windscreen and the seatbase and rear tub. The seatbase will get some Dynamat type product stuck to the underside for sound and heat deadening. The tub needs some repair inside the right rear tool box from the PO's denting it while backing into a log. I have most of this pounded out but there is still work to be done that will be easier off the frame.
With the tub off I can asess the frame and make the decision as to weather I will just wire brush and paint or galvanize (hot dip) the frame.
I need to pull the left front wing off and then all the body work can be prepped for paint.
Right now I am leaning to leave the roof top and sides as the limestone(off white) orginal Land Rover color. I want the bonnet(hood) to be flat black as I really dislike the sun reflection off it at any time.
The body panels I am leaning towards a butterscotch or perhaps a cobalt blue with some flat black graphics of some sort. I am just thinking of some type of stripes.
Since I dance to the beat of a different drummer the thought of a giraffe paint scheme also appeals to me. I know Brett, you're shaking your head! At this point anything is open.
