The tinworm cometh

Spark6

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2020
127
40
New Hampshire
Update: We have brakes! Or, more accurately, fully filled and bled lines and calipers. Took a bit longer than I'd hoped, as there were a few junctions that needed tightening, but, I can offer a glowing endorsement of the Motive Powerbleeder. That was the easiest brake bleeding process I've ever had! Now I just need to finish securing the lines to the frame, and that chapter is complete. Next up, was tackling the rotted out bulkhead body-mount, as the rig needs to stay on jackstands until that is sorted. So, desiring to get the truck on the road sometime this century, into the mire we go:

Based on past investigation of the state of the mount and bolt, I assumed that I'd need to cut the mounting bolt to remove it. But before I broke out my trusty saber saw, I figured I owed it to myself and mechanics everywhere to put a breaker bar on the bottom bolt and give it a try. To my shock, the nut began to move, and ultimately came off, though by the time I'd twisted it all the way down the corroded threads the whole socket was so hot I couldn't touch it for a minute or two. Alas, that was the end of my success with pedestrian methods of removal of the old mount. It took an hour of liberal hammer and saw application, but finally, the old mount came free. In the process, the wheel well disintegrated, which while frustrating, opened a perfect viewing window to see into the mount. Silver linings, I suppose?
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When the Rover gives you rust holes...

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Use them as inspection ports!

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The question now is, whether what remains of that bulkhead mounting bracket is sufficiently strong to simply install a new mounting bushing and move on, or whether I need to figure out how to contort myself and my welder into that corner to replace metal. Ultimately, it's going to need several hours of wire brushing to see the extent of the rot in the bracket itself. To it's credit, it withstood a significant battery of hammer blows as I drove the mounting bolt loose in the chassis bushing. But there's no way around it... it looks rough.
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Things to ponder, I suppose, while getting liberal with the rust stripping. Depending on how clean I can get that bottom face, there might be an opportunity to weld a doubler onto the bottom of the mount and call it a day. Given the far-larger rust problem I have going back on the sill, I'd like to get this done and dusted so that I can transition to that project. But with the amount of time I have sunk into this rig, at some point, either I am going to do it right or I should pack it in and buy a new adventure vehicle. 😖

Rover on!
 
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Frobisher

Well-known member
Dec 27, 2012
200
68
Pennsylvania
I feel your pain on that mount. It's a long day cutting out and replacing, but it's really nice when it's done. Is there enough good metal left to add a support strut of some kind instead of cutting it all the way out? Rivets could be your friend more than the welder, maybe...
 

Spark6

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2020
127
40
New Hampshire
Hmm, good questions, Greg! My plan for the next step is to cut away most of that inner fender (it clearly needs to be rehabbed anyway!) for access, and then to strip all the rust off of the mounting bracket and see what is left. If there's enough material there to trust it, then a riveted/welded reinforcement might well be the way forward. I'd really like to avoid having to pull the whole wing off right now to put in a froggatts replacement part, but if it comes to that, I will!
 

Blueboy

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
3,205
459
Back in the USA; Rockwood, PA
Hmm, good questions, Greg! My plan for the next step is to cut away most of that inner fender (it clearly needs to be rehabbed anyway!) for access, and then to strip all the rust off of the mounting bracket and see what is left. If there's enough material there to trust it, then a riveted/welded reinforcement might well be the way forward. I'd really like to avoid having to pull the whole wing off right now to put in a froggatts replacement part, but if it comes to that, I will!
Its never over in a Rover! Great to see you are still working on it! Although your pictures scare the hell out me and make me go look at my D1!
 
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Spark6

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2020
127
40
New Hampshire
Years ago, I had a violin instructor who liked to ask, “how does one eat an elephant?” The answer was, “one bite at a time.” Today, between rain squalls, I took another bite, albeit a small one:

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With access to the bulkhead mount, I’ll begin stripping back the rust and hopefully enact a reinforcing repair.

One bite at a time…
 

Spark6

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2020
127
40
New Hampshire
Good news! The mount has been replaced. After scraping, filing, hammering and stripping, I was convinced that the mount, while ugly, is good enough for now. So I dressed it as best as I could, shellacked it in rust converter and then paint, and installed a brandy-fresh body mount and bolt. It actually looks okay! 39511BFC-F64B-45ED-86F0-36FA18C8D860.jpeg
But, of course, what would this project be if I didn’t slide back as many steps as I claw forward? (We gotta be able to laugh at these things… right? RIGHT?!) While dressing out the body mount bracket, my hand slipped and the back of my palm rubbed up against the starter-to-frame grounding strap. Which disintegrated into powder as if it were auditioning for a role in a mummy movie!! Naturally, nobody has the grounding strap in stock, but Amazon has something similar. That finally shows up, at which point, I discover that, to remove the old strap, I need to pull the starter heat shield… but the one bolt that holds that to the motor mount snaps off while I’m removing it. So now I need to crawl under the rig with the welder and try to weld a nut onto the stub to hopefully break the last of the bolt free. It seems the longer I look at this thing, the more rot I find, too. Looks like the left sill will be needing replacement in addition to the right. Then, a moment of clumsiness resulted in a hammer dropping on the back door sill, which crumbled to reveal that much of it is rusted out (and was cleverly disguised with body-filler and riveted aluminum sheet…) as well. I begin to feel like Captain Jack Sparrow, climbing my boat’s mast as it sinks beneath me!

No path but forward, I suppose. With values skyrocketing, I don’t suspect I’ll be finding another, cleaner D1 for reasonable money. Once more, into the breach, dear friends.

Rover on.
 

Blueboy

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
3,205
459
Back in the USA; Rockwood, PA
Good news! The mount has been replaced. After scraping, filing, hammering and stripping, I was convinced that the mount, while ugly, is good enough for now. So I dressed it as best as I could, shellacked it in rust converter and then paint, and installed a brandy-fresh body mount and bolt. It actually looks okay! View attachment 62683
But, of course, what would this project be if I didn’t slide back as many steps as I claw forward? (We gotta be able to laugh at these things… right? RIGHT?!) While dressing out the body mount bracket, my hand slipped and the back of my palm rubbed up against the starter-to-frame grounding strap. Which disintegrated into powder as if it were auditioning for a role in a mummy movie!! Naturally, nobody has the grounding strap in stock, but Amazon has something similar. That finally shows up, at which point, I discover that, to remove the old strap, I need to pull the starter heat shield… but the one bolt that holds that to the motor mount snaps off while I’m removing it. So now I need to crawl under the rig with the welder and try to weld a nut onto the stub to hopefully break the last of the bolt free. It seems the longer I look at this thing, the more rot I find, too. Looks like the left sill will be needing replacement in addition to the right. Then, a moment of clumsiness resulted in a hammer dropping on the back door sill, which crumbled to reveal that much of it is rusted out (and was cleverly disguised with body-filler and riveted aluminum sheet…) as well. I begin to feel like Captain Jack Sparrow, climbing my boat’s mast as it sinks beneath me!

No path but forward, I suppose. With values skyrocketing, I don’t suspect I’ll be finding another, cleaner D1 for reasonable money. Once more, into the breach, dear friends.

Rover on.
The most positive aspect is that everything is fixable and you’re capable enough to perform the work. Parts are getting tougher to find for both my Rovers yet eventually they can be sourced.
 
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Spark6

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2020
127
40
New Hampshire
The most positive aspect is that everything is fixable and you’re capable enough to perform the work. Parts are getting tougher to find for both my Rovers yet eventually they can be sourced.
Yes, it’s true. I wish the Discos enjoyed as much parts support as the series and Defenders, that’s for sure! Though if you’re willing to wait a week, the boys over in the UK seem to stock much of what you can’t find here in the states.
 
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Spark6

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2020
127
40
New Hampshire
A sad day, I’m afraid. While dressing an area to patch a rusted-out front inner fender, the grinder revealed an extensive rust hole in the firewall on the RH side. Armed with this information, I explored the other side of the truck, and found a similar void, leaving the cabin open to the engine bay to the tune of about 36” of void overall. Adding this to the growing list:
- firewall rot
- both sills at and around the B pillars
- tailgate compromised by rot
- front wheel wells rotted
- both C pillar/fenders rotted
- drivers and passenger floors soft/rotting

When we confronted the fact that all these body problems are mounted to a known-soft chassis, and an engine/drivetrain that still needs heavy MX to be really dependable we were forced to make the decision to halt work on the D1. I’ve poured a lot of myself into this truck, and bailing out of it really stings. But lacking the indoor workspace to store/dismantle it in the winter months, and considering the degree to which the tin worm has advanced, continuing on the path we’ve been on is buying into a sunk-cost fallacy.

The more I’ve dug through the truck, the more I realize that some one of the many previous owners must have been acutely aware of the developing trouble spots on the vehicle. But rather than addressing them properly, they used aluminum flashing, blind rivets, and bedliner as a short term bandaid. It was effective, and it limped the rig along until we got it, but by the time I started in on trying to sort it out, alas, we were just too little, too late.

Currently, I’m trying to figure out how best to move what’s left of the D1 on. The doors, and much of the body panels are in fair shape, and the running gear is functional, despite needing full servicing to be trustworthy. It has brand new brake lines on it. If there is someone in the local NH area who would like to take it as a parts donor, I’d be very happy to have it remain in the community, as opposed to going to the local junk car guy. Feel free to reach out.

In spite of it all, we aren’t leaving the Rover world! A late-night hotel-room Craigslist session lead me to stumble on a two-owner 2005 LR3 that we have since adopted. Name is still TBD. It’ll be getting a full-underbody scour-and-coat in the coming weeks and I’ll be learning a whole new set of vehicle systems and quirks. We’re looking forward to actually being able to do some Rovering, rather than just wishing we were! (Knock on Wood…)D3B80D3D-9FD3-4701-A97A-AFA9A92B94D3.jpeg
 
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Blue

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2004
10,043
856
AZ
Damn, that sucks but makes perfect sense to stop throwing good money (and time & effort) after bad on that thing. I can't believe you took it as far as you did. Not criticizing your efforts, just wondering at what point that whole Disco body would turn to dust and blow away.
 

Spark6

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2020
127
40
New Hampshire
Damn, that sucks but makes perfect sense to stop throwing good money (and time & effort) after bad on that thing. I can't believe you took it as far as you did. Not criticizing your efforts, just wondering at what point that whole Disco body would turn to dust and blow away.
Yeah, there was a degree of madness involved in my dogged refusal to stop on the D1. I grew up learning that “quit,” was a dirty word, and I’ve taken that with me through life, for better and worse. I will probably go to the grave wondering if, in a different world, I might have been able to get it back on the road. For now though, I’m airing out my doubts by wire brushing any rust I can find on the LR3 (and it’s a NE truck, there’s a bit!) before coating the frame with a three-step coating that will hopefully buy me a few years of peace of mind. I’ll start a new thread for the new Rover, which we’ve named Margret Thatcher (So decided by my wife and Frobisher!) but to close the story of Winston out; thanks to each and every one of you who provided advice and encouragement along the way. This community has been a real source of answers and inspiration, and is definitely largely responsible for keeping us in the Rover fold for truck #2!
 
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