A Blog About Land Rovers in Oklahoma
Today was a punch in the gut. My welds will.not.stick. I have no idea what is going on. I’ve tried several thing and I can’t get these welds to stick.
My goal this weekend was to get the bed installed and to move on to something else. Unfortunately this is a big set back.
I will have to investigate what is going on. Sort out what I’m doing wrong and hopefully get some welds to work.
Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
In this post I fit my floor panel in the Range Rover. Yes, I know, it’s about time!
I finished up bolting on the support beams and got the panel test fitted in the Big White Bus. This required me to go to the hardware store and buy a bunch of stainless steel hardware. Fortunately for me I bought a box of 100 bolts. Unfortunately for me the bolts had a 37.5% failure rate when fastening them with nyloc nuts.
Why? I have no idea. It’s not like I was torquing the hell out of them. I hadn’t even bottomed the nuts out and the bolts were binding up. Pretty disappointing. I’ll be sourcing a different brand of hardware in the future. These really let me down. I’ve had problems before but thought it was me being rambunctious with the impact driver. Turns out it wasn’t that after all. You might be quick to say “made in China” I’m not surprised. But these were made in Taiwan. Normally an acceptable substitute, and if that helps them stick it to the CCP I’m all for it. Not sure where I’ll find another brand but I’ll be looking.
The panel fit was “tight” to say the least. It required a bit of persuasion (with a hammer) but it fits. The next step is to get the damn thing welded into place. I probably have 100+ plug welds to do. This is going to be a challenge.
I can see the end of this part of the project in sight so I’m excited to get after it. That’s all for this week. Like and subscribe if you enjoy the content and appreciate all the free content.
Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
In this video, Part 4 of 12? (I’ve stopped counting), I dry fit the repaired floor pan and contemplate how I’m going to get the braces welded up.
Well…it fits. It’s not great, but I think it will work. There are going to be gaps and those will need some seam sealer to make them water-tight.
The holes in the panel will present a welding challenge. The holes will likely need to be filled prior to welding on either the brace or the panel. I’m not sure which will be the best.
So there are some decisions need and I’ll have to fix it to get this project completed.
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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
Happy New Year!
In this episode I diagnose a non-starting Range Rover. Turns out it was actually pretty simple. I do some mostly-questionable things in this video. When working with gasoline (petrol for those of you in the “other English” speaking countries) you need to be VERY careful. More careful than I am in this video.
First, I try to catch fuel from the return line, which would not have come out of that line, it would come out of the rail on top the engine. In itself not terribly dangerous on a cold engine. The second is opening the fuel lines from the fuel pump. Again not terribly dangerous in itself, but not smart either. A little static electricity and this may have been my last video. So don’t be stupid.
SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read the next paragraph if you haven’t watched the video and still want to be surprised by the cause of my non-starting Range Rover Classic.
Ever run out of gas? Well, I have now for my second time in 44 years of driving. I ran out once when I was 18 years old. I was 2 miles from the gas station and just forgot to fill up the FIRST time I passed the station. My dad was cool, and came and got me, chastised me the 2 miles to the gas station and was kind enough to drive me back to my 1973 Ford Maverick.
The second time I ran out of gas…was apparently last week after I parked the Big White Bus. I guess I had just enough gas to get her back into the garage.
Yeah, my non-starting was due to an empty fuel tank. I put 8 gallons in and she started right up. LOL.
I took the rest of the day and finished welding the Z bar on to the rear floor pan. Then I painted it. I spend a little extra time spraying paint into the gap between the Z bar and the floor pan. The idea here was the liquid paint would go between the metals and hopefully coat between the two pieces. I will also file the space with rattle-can rhino-liner, chip sealer, or whatever you want to call it. Then I will fill the gap with seam sealer.
I got to some length about perhaps melting some wax and making it run in there. Sounds like a great idea, but probably not a great idea. I’ll stick to seam sealer.
That’s about it, Like and subscribe.
Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I am back working on the floor bed in this episode. The bottom half of the bed had not had the surface rust ground down. So I turned to and got some grinding done.
I used the wire wheel to get started. There is some use of factory seam sealer. I can’t imagine what the factory was thinking. There is nothing to “seal” on the underside of the truck in the places this was used. Now that I am adding new sides…there is definitely some seams to seal.
Everything will be covered in paint. When the welds get applied there will be some gaps between the new Z bar and the old bed. I’m thinking seam sealer will be helpful to keep water out. I’m also thinking of some sort of wax I could heat up and pour in the gap. I’ll do some additional research but this has possibilities.
I get all the rust off. I also used the sanding disk on some of the more pitted rust. That seemed to work pretty good. These sanding disks are expensive in my opinion. They still might be worth it but I’m not sure.
That’s about it for this week. Next week I’ll be fitting the Z bar and making sure everything will fit in the gaps.
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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
I started the weekend fixing my 2014 F150. I’ve been hearing noises from the front and could feel some vibration in the floorboard. I talked to a few of my co-workers and they diagnosed wheel hubs. So I ordered a set of Timkin hubs and new brake discs and pads. I spent 5 hours putting them on. I setup the awning for shade so I wasn’t in the sun the whole day.
Victory was mine and I spent the rest of the day mowing the yard and working in my pumpkin patch. I have 5 Kakai pumpkins so far and will have a bunch of pepitas to munch on.
Sunday I set to getting the seam on the new panel sealed. Nothing too exciting about this. I did learn that 3M seam sealer is way more expensive than the German made UPOL brand. 3M $72.00(US), UPOL $22.00(US). That’s a big discrepancy.
I’ve got a problem with the welds on the transmission tunnel side. I can’t reach them to get them cleaned (the panel under there is oily and dirty), the rubber coating (no longer attached to the steel), and I can’t get to the panel because the exhaust is in the way. I’ll need to drop the exhaust. I’m not excited about that. I need to get her up on a lift to see if it would be easier. More on this on another post.
I’ve got everything sealed. Next up, I need to coat all the panels in the wheel well in truck bed liner. I’m hoping this will DELAY the inevitable.
The next post will be me fumbling to remember how to reassemble this part of the truck.
A little shout out to Mrs. Okierover as it is our 35th wedding anniversary this weekend. Happy Anniversary sweetheart.
That’s about it, like and subscribe, and as always Happy Rovering.