Chassis Restoration

Lots of work to be done on getting the chassis rust-free. After removing the old outriggers, found giant rust holes lurking in the sides of the chassis. So these would need to be plated up. Also need to plate a hole behind the gearbox crossmember. Other than the rear crossmember, no other chassis repairs are required other than cleaning up the rust and painting.

First job was to cut out the rot in the chassis. Then clean up what remained with the grinder.

Drivers Side:

Passenger Side:

After cleaning up the area around the chassis to be welded, templates were made of the holes, and plates were cut out of 2mm mild steel sheet. Plates were then inserted inside the chassis, and welded up all round.

Did the same in the area behind the gearbox crossmember, and also a couple of small holes on top of the chassis, which was plated with 1mm steel.

Outriggers will finally be welded on when the bulkhead is ready to be test fitted. Next job though is getting the rear cross member welded on.

Rear Axle Rebuild

Rear axle was a relatively straight forward rebuild. Hubs were stripped off the axle casing ready for painting same as the front axle. Slight complication around the diff casing. A previous owner had fitted a diff guard, but also welding the guard onto the axle casing. Managed to grind off all the tack welds, bar one, which created a hole in the axle casing.

To repair this I used some chemical metal just to fill up the hole. Figured that attempting to weld the hole up was more likely to make the hole bigger.

Not got many pictures of this rebuild, but is similar to front axle. Pictures of the rebuild axle will be added later.

Front Axle Rebuild

After pressure washing the replace front axle, initial inspection of the axle looked good. Swivel balls were in very good condition. Only a very small amount of pitting. Calipers were fairly good, but would be overhauled anyway. Discs will be replaced anyway as I already have these as replacements.

Removed the hub and swivel housings first, and got the axle casing onto stands to continue the overhal. Full inspection of the swivels is now possible and luckily don't need replacing. This saves quite a bit of money.

The main axle casing was cleaned up with a wire wheel on the grinder, and primed ready for painting. Then was painted up in Gloss Black polyurethane paint.

Swivel components were then all rebuilt onto the axle, using new components. Pictures to follow later of the fully rebuilt axle.

Vehicle Conversions

After stripping down the axles, I made the decision that it would be a lot easier to refurb some replacement axles, as the ones from the 90 we caked it alot of mud.

Also made sense to replace the rear axle with a disc braked one, and have discs all round. So after a quick look about found a disco front/range rover rear axle to use instead. I'll keep the diff's from the orginal axles as spares it case I break a diff in the future.

The new front axle:

And the rear axle:

With the new axles sourced, my thoughts turned to the engine. As previously commented, the 2.25 petrol probably wouldn't quite cut it. Espcially with the disco transfer box. And it makes sense to do the engine conversion whilst everything is off the chassis, as access will be much easier.

So my choice was between a V8 and a Disco 200 TDI. Originally sourced a Range Rover as a donor, but the Range Rover turned out to have good chassis and bodywork, so decided not to cut it up. Also the engine was sounding a bit worn, and after investigating the cost of reconditioning a V8, started looking into the TDI instead.

Found a 200TDI from a Disco in Nuneaton, for £400. This included the engine, all ancillaries, turbo, radiator, air filter and all pipe work. So good value for money. Once the engine is mounted into the chassis, I'll change the timing components, and just change the service components.