I shouldn’t be surprised.
Although I’m probably more surprised that I’m surprised.
I thought we’d got away with a lot of the shit I was expecting from Dorothy’s bulkhead.
Turns out I was way off the mark.
Today was the day I started attacking her bulkhead. And I knew, after 20+ years of sitting idle, baring all to the elements, she was in a pretty bad state.
When I first got her, all the way back in 2000 (I think), the bulkhead was fine. Someone had patched the corners but it was solid and I paid it no mind.
Now, the corner patches are probably the soundest bit of her.
I had a peek the other day, from the inside, and it didn’t look too bad.
The problem is the bulkhead’s double walled. It’s got an outside and an inside skin.
The problem is, the outside wall is almost non-existent and there’s a heckuva lot of the inside wall disintegrated.
And the big problem is you can only get repair panels for the outside.
But, you know, in for a penny an’ all that.
So today I stripped the windscreen out so I could see what the crack was…
That ain’t good. And is way worse than I was expecting.
And I’m not what you’d call generally optimistic anyway.
There’s a shit-ton of work to be done if I want to save her bulkhead – and I do.
Anyone can buy new bits, bolt ’em on, and call it a restored Land Rover. You’ve only got to look at the mountains of shiny new-looking Series’ out there.
Me? I want to try keep as much of ‘original Dorothy’ as I can.
Yeah there’s a cost factor involved – I’m not exactly flush with cash right now. But, even if I was, I wouldn’t be tackling her any different.
It’s important to me that as much of her’s retained as possible.
But, this?
FFS, this is likely a step too far.
It’s annoying only in the sense that her ‘launch date’ is slowly slipping further into the distance.
But, aside from that, this is fun. This is like therapy. And I’m absolutely loving working on such a simple motor – when compared to newer Land Rovers (looking at you, Lucky, you SoB).
The question now is: do I disappear off down a rabbit hole of fabrication (you haven’t even see the footwells and the rest of her bulkhead yet – it ain’t pretty) or do I bite the bullet and get another bulkhead?
Decisions, decisions.
I’ve created a Gallery to hold the photos for Dorothy’s bulkhead repair. Find it here: https://oldlandysrule.com/dorothy-the-series-3-land-rover-bulkhead-repair-photos/
Old Landys Rule!
Cheers, Phil.
PS. Find Dorothy on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/oldlandysrule