Land Rover headache #109

If you remember I posted about(I think) the fit for the new Series 3 brake tower. I was awaiting pics or some further info on whether or not I had to enlarge the slot the pedal goes thru the bulkhead. Well, the other day Brian H. came to show me his refurbished Series 3 88 Gonzo. I got a good look at the pedal slot and knew what I had to do.

So next was just a simple matter of marking out the lines to cut, drilling holes at the corners and using my jigsaw cutting out the necessary metal to enlarge the slot.

WHOA NELLY!!! Did I say simple? Oh I had to make the top cut from inside the footwell...the stiffening bracket was in the way. When I went to put the brake tower on the stiffening bracket was STILL in the way! So I had to cut it off. Now I hated cutting into my galvanized bulkhead, 'cause I know that's where the rust will start.

Then I had to find and clean out the holes for both the brake and clutch towers. I could find them by pressing with my fingers and leaving a depression. I used a circular wood gouge I have to cut a nice hole around the hole thru the soundproofing.

So then I could fit the brake tower.

Which all brings us to today! I went out to fit the steering column. wouldn't slip right in. First I had to remove the brake tower. Then I got it in position and went to put on the stiffener. Well it wouldn't fit the exhaust is in the way!So I took it out and ground it down so it would fit.

But that' is not the only thing, it looks like the steering rocker shaft and drop arm will be in the way of the exhaust down pipe. Am I having good luck or what???

Then I had to do some fiddleing around to get the brake tower to fit around the steering box. This took several remove and grind off bits until I got it to fit. Once that was done I tightened up the bolt to the steering box to see just how bad the interferance is with the exhaust and by then it was too hot to work out there any longer today.

109 bulkhead bits

First thing ==== CRAP it's HOT!! I set about to put on the front door weatherstripping. I bought the Defender style one piece clamp-on ones instead of the multipiece rivet-on Series style. This involved grinding off the lip of the doors where the riveted style fit on.In the pic you can see where the new edge is.

You can see in the second picture that I also had to trim to fit around the cappings as well as other spots on the windscreen that are not shown. Installation began in the top corners, I held up the front and made marks for trimming and then using a razor knife I cut out the rubber the size I needed. This exposed the metal strips inside the seal, using a pair(?) of pliers I grabbed these strips and pulled them out. Then the seal would conform to the shape needed.

Once the top corner was fitted I used a dead blow hammer and tapped the seal inplace, first the front corner then the rear corner.

Because I had left the roof-to-side seal too long now was the time to trim it to fit both seals. This was accomplished by simply removing the "D" part of the seal and leaving the flat part.

Next I tapped the rear corner into place and worked the top section across to the front. Tapping my way down the next trim spot was for the windscreen/bulkhead junction. I fitted and trimmed this in the same manner as the corner ie...cut rubber, remove steel clips, fit. I got better at this as I went along. The Defender seals fit well around the curve of the bulkhead as I worked my way down. They did have a tendency to open up around the curve, but tapped fully down. I worked them on to the bottom and then trimed to fit for the bottom seals. Here I did a shingling effect letting the front of the side seal hang over the bottom seal.

In the picture you can see the bulge created by the bend in the seal. I used some channel lock pliers to reclamp the clips in the bends and I went around the entire seal with some large sheet metal vise grips to ensure a good hold by the clips. Some of the other pictures just show the fit at various places.

In both front upper corners I had to put some additional sealer to cover the gap left by the joining of the roof and windscreen. I used a product I got from Scotty Howat some 30 years ago, called duct seal. I rolled out a small cylinder and pushed it into the hole, it is slightly sticky so it will stay in place.

rooftop 109

OK, So it took some time to get done but the roof is on. I couldn't get help with the insulation and liner until Monday when my daughter was able to come over. She couldn't spend all day so while she was here to help things went well. It truly is a 2 person job. When she left things turned crappy. That adhesive, the 3M general adhesive #8088, really sticks if you follow the instructions and let both sides get tacky and put them together. I couldn't pull the wrinkle out. And for some unknown reason I got a bubble formed overnight under the insulation over the cab area :^( I started by cutting out the insulation to fit and was able to glue in the back section by myself. Then I realized I needed to get more glue. I called my daughter and told her to come over an hour later than planned. Getting on my 2008 Suzuki DL650 I rode down the forested Hwy 9 six miles to Felton and then another 5 over to O'Reilly's Auto Parts in Scotts Valley. The closest supplier of this 3M product. I got the last can at $19.00. And headed home. Soon after getting home my daughter and family arrived, it was good to see my new granddaughter again, now a month old! So you know how it is working with adhesives, get busy and don't waste time. Well I didn't remember to take any photos of the stages. I just have the one of the completed roof job. Marette and I glued in the final insulation pieces and went to work in the heat of the day on the liner. The liner was in some ways easier to do as the width was six feet. I just measured out the length needed and cut it a half inch longer. Spraying down the glue we started on one side and went across to the other. This finished off the back section. I opted to keep the ribs in the roof exposed to facilitate any future mounting of stuff. And then Marette had to leave................. Now I realized I would need yet another can of adhesive to finish the job. It was 5pm so I waited for the rush hour traffic to die down and once again I was off on my motorcycle. This time I needed to go 13 miles down Hwy 9 to O'Reilly's in Santa Cruz. Returning home I put in the front liner. The roof slants and I failed to account for this when I lined up the liner.. I had to pull it out and trim it to fit the corner. You can do this if the glue is wet, but when I laid it back down the glue was very tacky and stuck to it's self with a wrinkle in it. I tried to lift it off and the liner started to tear so I just pushed it back on and smoothed it as well as I could. I'm not happy and it is getting dark as I finish the front piece. I trim the next corner and then glue it in place. Lastly there is the middle section to do. By now I thought this would be easy it is just a rectangle to lay in and I had plenty of material. Something happened and it got cocked at an angle so I fought it to get the edges lined up all the way across. Thankfully I had cut the extra width and the material stretches. Here is the finished job the next morning.

The next morning I removed the old weatherstripping from the top of the windscreen and glued down a new piece with some 3M weather strip adhesive. This went well!!!

No one was around so I waited until my new neighbor, Joe came home ( just met him the day before). Intercepting him on his way in from the car he agreed to help. We carried the top over to the 109 and set it on.

Soon I set about to bolting it down. Putting 2 bolts in the windscreen on each side I then proceeded to line up the holes by the drivers side with a prybar. I got 2 more holes and realized that I didn't have the new roof to sides seals in. *$**^#&*!! I took out the 2 side bolts and dug out the seals from the garage. Then lifting up the rear of the roof I put a block of 2x4 on each side. With the roof out of the way I could put in the seals on both sides. Due to my sides being 2-piece I had to notch the seals at the junction to fit and also cut to fit at the ends. Then I removed the 2x4 blocks and started bolting down the roof again. It wasn't easy all this! I'm by myself in 85F weather and the inside of the roof was 106F! I was really sweatting! I lined up the back corners of the roof and sides and loosely bolted them in and then worked my way down the sides. I used the prybar to align most of the holes but there were 2 or 3 that I had to run a drill bit thru to get the bolt in. I used 1/4-28 SS with SS nylock nuts. After it was all bolted in I retreated to the cool of my house and a comforting glass of iced tea!