Surface Rust Under the Passenger Side Fender (Post #635) 12/18/2023

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In this short video I take care of the surface rust I found under the passenger side fender. There were some unpainted surfaces notably under the rubber washers at the top of the quarter panel. There were also some pin hole spots of rust.

They look like dirty spots until you put the wire wheel on them. Is that primer? this stuff Land Rover used under the panel just flaked off in spots. In the video there is a segment that has some leopard spots…that’s where the paint just came off.

The two rust spots in the arch will be ground down again. I don’t think I need to fix them, just stop the rust. The holes are on the outside of the vehicle so water getting in won’t be from these two spots.

I wire wheel all the rust I could see. Then I washed the panel with acetone. This was to remove any lingering dust, dirt, oil, whatever.

I then coated the panel with primer in a green color I really like. I could see myself driving a vehicle painted like that. I’ll watch the weather and give it all a second coat when it warms up a bit. The temp in the shoppe was 54F when I started the work and 52F when I started painting. That’s just barely above the paint range listed on the side of the can.

A big shout out to my fans in Norway. 31 views from that country on 12/12! Tusen takk!

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Fixing the D Pillar Rust (Post #634) 12/11/2023

I can see my breath!

If you follow the blog you have seen the rust damage from open cell foam in the upper D Pillar. The foam got wet and over time ate through the pillar and caused a hole that allowed water into the rear. It wasn’t likely a “stream” of water as the pillar had a cover and the foam also blocked the hole.

In any event, it had to be repaired. I went to some effort to research the removal of the rear quarter panel windows. Damaging the seal is a non-starter. Replacement seals cost in the neighborhood of $500.00(US). And there is also a chance of breaking a window.

I had the Evil German Dude over for Thanksgiving and showed him the damage. He was pretty certain that I could weld a patch there WITHOUT removing the seal and window. Using caution and allowing time for the welds to cool, he was sure that the welding would not be a problem.

Trusting he was right, I proceeded to build a patch and weld it in. The patch was pretty easy to make. You’ll need a bench vise or a metal brake to bend the steel. Well…if you have to bend steel for your patch. I got the patch in place, wire wheeled the paint and primer away and started welding.

My first welds didn’t stick. I had to work through that. Some of the issue was a crappy ground point. The other could be paint I hadn’t removed. I finally sorted that out and made the weld around the piece. I will come back with some seam sealer and make sure there are no holes by sealing them with a bead of sealant.

I was a bit surprised at how well this went. I was expecting a much more complicated repair. I’m not in love with the welds. But such is the way you have to weld thin steel. They also are not in sight so they didn’t have to be pretty…and they aren’t pretty.

The temp cooled off this week. It was 40F degrees when I finished up. Funny how two and a half months ago the temp was three times that in the shop. We got a little reprieve on Sunday and it got above 50F degrees.

I’ve been kicking around an idea if the window had broken. Building in wing window storage boxes. I could use them to pass through power to solar panels, shore power, a heating tube for a propane heater, and the most exciting, water for showers and cooking/washing hands and such. I’ve got the bug so I may build a mockup with cardboard to see if it would work the way I’m thinking. It’s maybe a project for another day. You can check out this video which served as a good portion of the inspiration. Dirt Lifestyle has two videos on gullwing windows for his Discovery II. This is the latest [YouTube], and is an improvement of the original, enjoy.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Refurbishing / Replacing the Subwoofer (Post #633) 11/26/2023

Subwoofer work

Ever wonder what is inside of that gigantic custom-fit subwoofer box in the back of your Range Rover Classic…well wonder no more. I had to pull all the parts of the sound system out of the Big White Bus to investigate my rust issues.

It takes a few bolts to get it out but everything is easy-ish to get to and you don’t need any special tools. Take the amplifier off the subwoofer box. Then tackle all the bolts. Once the subwoofer is out you can get to the antique CD changer. Actually in 1993 a six disc CD changer was straight up gangster. My CD changer worked for a few years. It then got a little buggy. You could get it to work if you slid it out and slammed it back in. Most of the time it started to be available at the head unit after that.

It all has to come out. I have a new head unit. I have new speakers. I don’t know if the amplifier still works. I will have to sit down at some point and try to figure out all the plugs and see if the amplifier will be part of the equation. Having a working subwoofer would be a nice addition.

Once the subwoofer is out it takes 10 screws and a little gentle encouraging and the box will come apart. It’s a relatively simple setup. There is a dual cone speaker inside and that’s it. Mine as you will see in the video is toast. the cone has disintegrated. It is at least 30 years old probably closer to 33 considering assembly line technology of the day.

So the speaker will need to be replaced. In the video I speculate about the size but it turns out to be:

  • Cutout Diameter 6.5 inches
  • Top Depth mounting 3 inches
  • Bottom Depth Mounting 3.25
speaker measuring graphic

There are a LOT of speakers to choose from online. I went to Crutchfield.com. They don’t sponsor me, I wish they did, but they don’t. They have great customer service and the spec’s for everything are easy to find on their site.

I found a speaker that looks like it will fit.

That’s not a lot of money and 4 people think it’s pretty awesome. Mounting that is still a question, but I’m not worried. I will figure it out if that is the direction I go.

There is some debate going on in my head about replacing the old one with a NEW subwoofer. I found a Kenwood on Crutchfield that was not all that expensive.

Kenwood Excelon
ribbed polypropylene cone, sounds naughty….

It’s pretty small too. Just a little under 18x12x6 inches. I’m certain I’d have to cover the speaker cause it would almost certainly get damaged if I didn’t. I am confident it would fit in the space. But the real question outside of would it be better is…. am I really saving enough space to matter? I’m not sure I would gain anything. The space would have to be VERY creatively designed to take advantage of a few inches more here or there.

This gives us the cheaper option of just buying the speaker and figuring out how to wire it to the old AMP and the new head unit. Another plus of this operation was the elimination of the CD player gives me 12 volt switched power line back in that corner. That might come in handy, who knows.

I like tunes as much as the next guy. I even have a playlist named, “Can’t Be Too Loud”. It’s got some songs that you turn up until your ears bleed.

  • Van Halen’s Eruption
  • AC/DC Back In Black
  • Living Colour’s Cult of Personality
  • Beastie Boys Sabotage
  • Black Sabbath’s Iron Man
  • Wagner’s Die Walküre (Ride of the Valkyrie)
  • Carl Orff’s O Fortuna from Carmina Burana

There are more, but you get the picture…you probably have a list of your own. Whenever I hear these songs I turn them up to maximum volume.

Mostly today…I listen to audio books. Sooooo many audio books. It’s not uncommon for me to just drive, no music, just the window down and the sound of the engine and the tires on the road. That recharges my batteries almost as just sitting in the woods next to a fire.

There is a lot left to do to get the sound system installed. I’ve got to sort out the plugs and get everything wired up. The dash is still not installed. There is an order to putting the BWB back together…and the windshield needs to be first. I’m almost certain there is water leaking in and the last thing I want is to get his all put back together and still having water coming in.

That’s it for this week. As soon as I make a decision I’ll post it up and when I starting putting the sound system together.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Passenger Side Rear Wheel Well Rust – Part 2: Investigation (Post #632) 11/20/2023

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I have official started the rust abatement on the passenger side rear wheel well. I’ve looked at it and took the stone chip back and overall, it’s not nearly as bad as the driver’s side.

I think it will not take too much to get this side repaired. Just 8 small spots of rust that will require patches.

I should have done more research. I didn’t account for the fuel filling hoses when I took the fender off. I didn’t need to remove the hoses. The top of the filler was only in place by a rather badly deteriorating rubber gasket. Which, as of this post, I have not found a replacement for. Also in doing this, I’ve decided it would be easier to replace the filler hoses than reinstall. They are 30+ years old and quite hard.

I found one hose on Rover’s North but the second smaller one I did not find. I may just take a sample of each and go down to O’Reilly’s and find the equivalent size hose from the “WALL OF HOSES”. They are usually pretty good about letting me go back there and matching up. If I secure hoses with this method I’ll put the part numbers in this post.

Next up will be cutting and welding the bits. I took the subwoofer out as it was in the way. The speaker inside was perished. I looked on line and found some comparable speakers. They look to be 6.5 inches in diameter and 3.5 inches in depth. I think I can replace it for as low as $90.00(US). I could spend WAY more, but I don’t see the point. I mostly listen to books on tape, books on CD, audiobooks when I drive. When I overland, more often than not, I just listen to the wind and the engine while I’m bopping down the backroads.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Passenger Side Rear Wheel Well Rust – Part 1 (Post #631) 11/14/2023

rats

Now that I have the Range Rover flopped in the shoppe I can start on the rust abatement. But first, I thought I should get some oil and some other fluids and do some fluid refreshing. That was a great idea if I had done that BEFORE I started the Big White Bus. But the fact I was doing it AFTER I ran the engine, -2 points.

I loaded up one 5 gallon barrel of oil and headed to my favorite O’Reilly’s. When I got out of the truck my folly was apparent. I had successfully done an Exxon Valdez [Wikipedia] imitation. The metal barrel had rusted through the bottom and dropped 5 gallons of used oil all over the back of my F-150 and on to their Prince William Sound parking lot. I ran in and bought two bags of kitty litter/oil soaker stuff and with the help of one of the guys we spread all that all over their parking lot. I haven’t been that embarrassed in a long time.

I finished up the clean up of the back of my F-150 when I got home and started getting the rear passenger wheel off to start the investigation. The video shows I had a mostly optimistic view when I started scraping the rust. In comparison…the passenger side is no where near as bad as the drivers side wheel well. The rear window is another issue entirely but let me attack these one at a time.

I’ve got two holes SO FAR. I still have to get the wire wheel out and take the rubber back to metal where there are brown spots. The worst looking SO FAR is the bottom of the C Pillar is rusted out. The reason for the rust there is the sunroof drain hose exits there and the crappy plastic grommet did not keep water out. And it is entirely likely that there was nothing inside the C Pillar that would pass for paint. So that was an obvious place for rust.

I’m going to replace the sunroof drain tubing and possibly fit a “Hose Barb Thru-Bulk Head Hex Union 90 Degree L Right Angle Elbow Barbed Brass Fitting with Flat Washer Gasket Water/Fuel/Air” fitting. Something like this….

I’ll add a rubber washer to assist in keeping the water out. I’ve got to measure the tubing and get the right one ordered. They can be found on Amazon.com. Not sure if they are using ID (inside diameter) or OD (outside diameter) to determine if I get 3/8″ or 1/2″.

This may be complete folly but what the hell right? If it works, I’m a genius. If it doesn’t work, I’m still a genius, just a terribly misguided one. Half of me says extend the drain line to behind the mudflap. It would not be that hard to add a little more distance to the hose and NOT put it back in the same poorly designed place. I mean seriously, lots of water and ice and mud and road salt and roadkill chunks (mostly opossums and armadillos and skunks) and all kinds of crap fly off the tires at extreme tangential velocity [Study.com]. The fact that plastic gromet is even able to not be dislodge is a miracle. So…let’s try to make it better!

The headline came out also so I could get the sunroof drain. It had to come out anyway, because it needed to be replaced…again. This will be the third and final. If this is needed again while I own this rig, it will be painted and forgotten.

More next week. Like and subscribe my Youtube channel. Send me a comment too…I love to converse with you.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Reviewing the Painting of the Interior Trim (Post #628) October 16, 2023

I painted the interior trim last year. I didn’t publish it…not sure why. Anyway, I cover some of the details of painting the interior trim while looking like Kip from Kip’s Big Boy fame. We had a Kip’s in OKC 40+ years ago…I remember eating there once.

Anyway…I guess I hadn’t looked in the mirror that day and my hair is doing it’s own thing. And apparently I can’t dress myself either. I’m slowly moving toward “crazy old man who don’t give a damn” mode.

In this installment I talk about my work on the interior and what might be next. Like stripping the shellac off the wood trim and re-staining it a darker color to match the dark chocolate interior.

I added two USB charging ports that show the voltage from the battery. I don’t smoke in the Big White Bus so I really didn’t need the cigarette lighters. These are way more functional for all the USB powered “everythings” that we all need to carry. I’m fooling myself that I only need four of these. When I wire up the rest of the battery system for the back I’ll have quite a few more that will be pulling from the auxiliary battery I’m planning to have onboard.

It’s a short video shot back in November of 2022.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.