Slowly but surely
With the chassis almost complete, Tim turns his attention to the body of his ’84 Range Rover
MY 1984 Range Rover restoration is one I have been doing as and when I get some free time, it’s taken far longer than what I’d hoped but I’m slowly getting there. The chassis is now at a point where it’s virtually complete, with the next task being the body shell. Usually on these I’d do it the other way round: body first while it’s still on the chassis then once the body is welded up and safe to remove I’d then turn my attention to sort the chassis out. However, on this one it had a very good bodyshell and I was more than happy to remove it.
After being off and stored safely in a shed for nearly a year now, the body shell was taken out and put on some old water barrels outside. I had arranged to have it blasted, so due to the mess it makes, I opted for doing it out in the farmyard.
I still had a few bits and pieces to remove off the bodyshell so it was ready, this included any nuts and bolts, brackets, clips. The day came when it was blasted, I left them to it, and a few hours later I came back to see they had finished, and I still actually had a bodyshell left. Knowing it was a good shell anyway I wasn’t expecting too many holes and thankfully with only some minor little holes appearing it was still as good as I knew it to be.
The driver’s footwell area is probably the worst part. Having it blasted was more peace of mind, knowing as much rust as possible was gone, leaving a blank canvas to repair. Before repair work could start I then had to turn my hand to spraying the shell. It was now bare metal so it needed something protective on it to prevent it from rusting while I repaired it.
After cleaning up all of the tiny glass beads from blasting, I was ready to paint. With the painting done, it’s left me with time to get on with the repairs as and when I can, I would like to see the body all repaired, painted up properly, and hopefully back on the chassis by the new year. Whether this will happen we will see!
Meanwhile my trusty old 1986 Classic was in need of some tlc. For some time I’ve been wanting to replace both front and rear bumpers due to them being in quite poor condition; the back one was badly bent from an incident with a trailer, and the front one was getting a bit thin in places. I ordered a pair of new bumpers from my mate Neil at N&K 4X4 in Norfolk, and as soon as they arrived I set about Waxoyling the insides of the new bumpers, so hopefully they will last as long as the originals.
Replacing the bumpers has really transformed the looks of the car, and will keep it looking tidy for a bit longer. Also, while on cosmetics, I had a spare set of three-spoke alloys painted up for it, which meant it would also be gaining some new tyres. I had been running on BF Goodridge All Terrains for many years on the ’86 Classic; although there was lots of life left in them, I was concerned about their age, so I felt it was time for a change and knowing the wheels were quite scabby it was a good chance to get that addressed, too. I’ve gone down the route of Goodyear Wranglers this time, I find these suit Classics, and run them on all of my others.
Doing these jobs has kept the Classic looking tidy, however this vehicle is generally my daily driver, and I have now had It on the road for eight years continuously. Eight years ago it was stripped right down and any rust dealt with, however after all this time out on the road in all weathers it has started to show, with various patches of rust starting to reappear, mainly in the areas that were not done. So, my plan is to get it through this winter with the aim of addressing some of these issues in the spring before they get too bad. Hopefully once these jobs are all completed it may also get treated to a new paintjob, as this is something that it very much needs. However, painting a Range Rover Classic doesn’t come cheap.