T25 Trident 1991

[JonathanR]

A few posts back I promised a picture of revamped fridge front.
We turned it into a blackboard. First trip my daughter took with two friends.



I had thought I had not connected the fridge correctly but it is working on mains, battery and gas although have only test run on gas.


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[JonathanR]

Took the little strip off top of sliding door. Better to tap off evenly rather than pull at an angle as mine cracked in a couple of places.



Stuck on in a few places with sealant


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[mm289]

Good stuff Jonathan I started doing my AS 5 years ago and still havent finished

Keep an eye on the front and rear of the hightop where it meets the roof, mine has rotted through at both ends where the original rivets were drilled and fitted

Cheers

MM

[JonathanR]

Cheers MM beginning to feel a bit 4th road Bridgey
Neglecting the Land Rover project now in its 15th year.
Thanks for heads up on roof.
Looking to source the front and back roof rubbers and then have an exploratory dig. I suspect the streaks of rust are indicative of rot taking hold.






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[JonathanR]

Painted the window surround on sliding door. I'm often disappointed how quickly the rust comes back following my prep and painting.

I clean the metal with jenolite then paint the worst rust with Bilt Hammer hydrate 80. Primed with epoxy primer from rust buster and then a cellulose finish.

I think I got the mix wrong with the primer. So sanded back with 320 grade wet and dry. Probably also too hot. Few mistakes on the cellulose. Again due to me panicking. A couple of runs. Then a small fly joined the party and in swatting away another fly away I hit the panel with my finger. Then testing whether dry added a fingerprint.

I ran two coats of Hammerite along inside edge to protect rim.

I then thought I would try to get a good finish on the panel. Wet and dry 1000 then rightly or wrongly, probably wrongly as paint only 2 days old I used my orbital polisher with some G3



Then polished. A lesson learnt is only use an orbital sander flat. I used it at an angle and scuffed the paint in two places. I also did not mask enough when spraying primer so got a lot of drift but in that the van is dirty it all washes off. but still working on the window - oops. Masked better for colour coat. Fiddly and time consuming.





Window went in very easily - or as easy as they can be.
Instead of using soap as lubricant I tried silicone grease which worked well. Howard used a ground down screwdriver to ease the rubber in place so I did the same.








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[JonathanR]

Should have mentioned on the colour coat I thin to between 25 to 50%. I think I'm meant to have the consistency of milk but I find that hard to judge. I need to be more exact in the science of mixing and also to keep a record.

I then did a final coat about 70% thinned and from further away. Not sure I need to do that if sanding down before polishing.

Meanwhile ....

An exploratory cut



And then wire brushing a bit of rust became a hole. So decided to go the whole way ...



There had been some previous repairs in this area. A lot of mastic was used in the top behind the seam. But sadly I stuck a screw driver through the bottom of battery box. Also spotted two more potential holes inside the wheel arch. Have not done any welding underneath so will order a leather apron to protect my clothes.



Looking up



Had a thought the other night that I should disconnect the battery when welding. Will read up.

Drilled out the spot welds on the rear flange, but have tried using MMs technique on the top seam of using the angle grinder to cut around, then cold chisel, and then flap disc to grind down. Have moved from my 115 mm grinder to the smaller air die grinder.

Still more surgery to get panel to fit.


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[JonathanR]

Well a busy few days but failed to beat the rain. But managed to get it back on the road for daughter to take out for weekend, East Sussex way.

I have to admit to struggling with my upside down welding due to cramped position, welding mask, poor eyesight and lack of skill. So will not post pictures of the welds. I've also got two new imitation nipples from molten welding wire getting past my overalls. So no I did not purchase a leather apron although will remedy that tomorrow.

Cut rust out in battery floor. Tried to be clever and made two pieces with a flange. Fitted well but should have focused on less welds and just fabricated a one piece.









Was pleased with the fitting of the panel. Not quite aligned at bottom front edge but that was due to the panel being slightly different. Similar differences on the offside so not to fussed. Plug welded in place, was worried that I could not clamp top seam nor drill for Cleco pins so would pop the welds. But all good and solid. Painted with epoxy primer and a bead of tiger seal along seams. Have tried to reproduce the rounded bead of original but have so far failed so run my finger along seam.



Slapped a layer of tiger seal underneath and a light spray of stone chip. Will add colour when weather improves.






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[JonathanR]

Removed bumper and tow bar to gain access for the repair. 3 bolts to captive nuts on brackets slotted into rear chassis rails.

Also needed to clean up past accident damage where paint had reacted and crazed.





The 3 bolt holes can be seen in rail.



Had the brackets and tow bar shot blasted and then powder coated. However, only refitted brackets and bumper until all rear work completed.

Wanted access to what I thought were nuts that hold the rear heat shield in place but these are rivnuts and all spinning so will have to grind out.






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[JonathanR]

Well a wet day so catching up on neglected indoor jobs [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]



Van put back together for a trip out and have been waiting for dry and warm window to slap on some colour.

I'm disappointed with how quickly rust reappears after painting. Perhaps understandable on seams but not happy. We certainly paid a price last year on our sailing to Bilbao. Rust came back very quickly after the 36 hour salt bath the van received.

Have gone back to using a zinc rich primer to compare with the epoxy primer I have been using. Have also used a rattle can of stone chip on the underside of panels. But like all things I suspect it is all in the prep.



Used a rattle can of high build primer which gave a nice smooth finish. All Ready for colour ... When weather ok



I had grit blasted under the tailgate rubbers where rust was beginning to take hold. Cut out one bit of rust but decided not to weld in a patch so just cleaned and painted. Rust also beginning to show through along the vertical side seams. Cleaned up one part where seam sealer had come away and resealed with tiger seal to match original, well almost.

Painting was not without my usual dramas. Two mistakes this time. Thinned paint a little too much, then did not realise my compressor, which automatically comes on when tank below certain pressure had blown a fuse so was spraying with less pressure on final coat. Also usual runs in paint but getting good at sanding them out.



I did not knock out the rear dents, just cleaned up and painted.

I also got underneath and cleaned up behind the rear valance and gave it a coat of stone chip followed by a light coating of colour.




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[JonathanR]

I'm someone who likes toys. Bought this - far too much money but boy what a great bit of kit. Sanded the paint spray drift off the window and then ran the buffer over it. Now have lots of birds trying to fly through the van as they can no longer see the Windows.
Also polished up the rear headlights. Can't wait to polish the van.




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[JonathanR]

I am loosing oil. I had thought it was main seal behind the pulley. Have degreased the engine and will wait till next running and have look. The shaft seemed fairly oil free. The other possibility is that the sump drain plug is sealed in place and going back though past bills of previous owner I found a receipt for refitting sump plug and heli-coil, so might have come loose.

To gain more access for cleaning and painting, I removed rear silencer box and will replace with new stainless steel one from Brickwerks. I also tried to remove heat shield. Had to grind down the heads of the 4 captive nuts as they had rusted solid and were turning. Once head ground off they punched out and I am not sure I can fit a 6mm nutsert back in the slightly enlarged hole. May have to go bigger or use nylocks as I can get access to the nut with a spanner through to holes in the back behind bumper.


The options, although don't particularly want to drill larger hole as just painted....



Having removed all the bolts from the heat shield I found it could not be removed without further dismantling of the exhaust so am just going to refit. A wasted two days.



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[JonathanR]

Nutserts
Plan A involved adding a washer but failed to crimp enough.
Plan B drill a bigger hole and use M8. Skipped.
Plan C bolt and nyloc nut. Underestimated fat fingers so could not start nut nor get spanner in.
Plan D found nutsert with a larger flange to overcome the slightly larger hole. Only difference is the nutsert does not fit as flush to panel. But not a problem as only bolting up heat shield.





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[JonathanR]

Silencer bolted together with existing pipe. The old pipe indent for olive was too difficult to clean and fit olive so used standard gasket. Which was how old exhaust had been fitted. No paste used.


Brickwerks did not have a stainless steel tail pipe in stock so I watched a video on how to polish exhaust pipes. Got bored with all the sanding. Also working with something too rusted. But principle looks good if a bit time consuming.






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[JonathanR]

I have a lot of rust in the wheel arches. The worst one needed sorting but could not face more cutting, grinding and welding in confined space so cleaned up hole and bolted together two plates with a sikaflex filling. Makes it watertight until I rekindle enthusiasm.






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[mm289]

Well doen - take encouragement from the fact that:
a) you have done far more than me and most do
b) you are getting to use the van as well

Rust coming back is all down to the prep as you guessed. Can't remember if you covered this earlier but the little hand held shot blasters are great for seems and use glass or stone as the material not iron. If the rust has got between the spot welds that hold the panels together its a pain in the proverbials, all you can do is get it as clean as poss, treat with Hydrate 80 both sides and go from there.

Epoxy primer is great as it is impervious to water unlike normal primer so will stop more getting in but it can't stop the chemical reaction on stuff that is already there.

Its always a trade off with these between being pedantic and ending up rebuilding the thing or being pragmatic and keeping it on the road!

Rivnuts are great I find for all those captive nut situations

If the polisher is a rotary rather than DA be careful on new paint when polishing as they are quite aggressive.

Congrats on doing your windows yourself, I busted the n/s/r glass on mine trying - just dissolved in my hands - and cannot find a replacement anywhere as the rear side glass on the Autosleepers was bespoke to them

Cheers,

MM