Jump to content

Sunbeam’s Farm Truck


Sunbeam

Recommended Posts

Practicing some more welding.

Before:

9A648BB7-2B88-4C99-B826-571F0BA4A117.thumb.jpeg.d5de334eaa45e26b777f8605ba38228c.jpeg

After:

CC3C16C7-C187-4DEB-A9A4-26D93903C66E.thumb.jpeg.8973e1fb5be223b78042dea6245dc8d8.jpeg

Right now I’m keen on investing in some flap discs to make a final finish, as I’m a bit chicken about going too far with the grinder. Also built up the end of the triangular gusset with weld as there was a chunk missing. That went fairly well and you almost can’t tell. Now I have to drill an oval hole to finish it. The bit you’re looking at is the left side radiator panel mount, which was torn out when it got crashed into a fence or something.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have decided to start removing all the bracketry from the chassis that doesn’t belong. I’m doing this for several reasons, firstly because it looks untidy, and probably more importantly I think they are all hiding bad rust. Most of these tabs and brackets were only welded along one edge with probably no prep, and certainly no protection applied afterwards. 
 

Here is a random something on the outside of the chassis just behind the cab.

1F8D17E4-3F0B-4C50-ABD4-B1BE21B1EC6B.thumb.jpeg.02c89d0f741109c4fa4641eb0174cd20.jpeg

which looks like this on the backside...Oh dear. As I suspected, massive rust heave between layers.

6FDB18EE-EC91-41E8-972D-5D9BD520DE0C.thumb.jpeg.3b7af421b6f638b59eddf5d6fdbf01fd.jpeg

 

By the time I cut out all the rusted and dented bits, I now have quite a large hole to fill up. I already let a small patch in where the rot went around the corner onto the top section of the chassis.
A665323C-70A8-45B8-9013-4D85827DD6B3.thumb.jpeg.59375f22f2f5bf661619e1986d04f998.jpeg
 

Then I cut the LPG tank mounts off. They are made of 6mm angle, and again only welded along the top.

BECDA5F9-D9B5-438F-A0CA-3949E7028F51.thumb.jpeg.991ca80e28b5f3ddbb0498e97f66f215.jpeg

To reveal more goodies

54633C29-8AE1-4695-93BC-90D2B8555692.thumb.jpeg.5f19448256116b8420c5ec6faca185b9.jpeg

A hole and nice flaky Weetbix. Same on both sides. It took a fair bit of careful cutting to get through these without taking away any of the original chassis steel. The rot will need to be cut out around the corner because the tank brackets trapped a lot of crap and rust has eaten into the top of the chassis.  I might need to get some big rhs offcuts to cut up for patches, because I have tried and failed to put a tight enough radius in 2.5mm sheet to match the chassis profile.
 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 3 months later...

The great thing about a project like this is that you can just work on it when you feel like it, or like today when I had outdoor plans, but it’s drizzling. I have saved the left hand bulkhead outrigger by just patching the front face. It’s weird how the front face rotted out, but the bottom is sound. Inside the box section was packed full of dry mud.
 Not the tidiest patch, but it’s not exactly in the public eye. I also made a new brace for it. Again, very strange how a piece of angle, with no real rust trapping properties just rusted in half in the middle.

606B15D9-48C5-4080-8CFA-64E82AEC6603.thumb.jpeg.bfcccc86659ebd346a064fa23162250f.jpeg

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I have done nothing with this project of late because I’m hoarding all my pocket money for the Fiat. This morning however, I was cleaning up my shed and thought I would have a go at removing the steering relay. It needs to come out eventually anyway because it’s stuffed. This is not a job for the faint of heart, especially on a dirty, rusty farm truck. Folk have been known to tear the mount tube out of the front crossmember attempting to remove these.

5B7F27D1-C101-4B40-A53D-9AA9B1C4E5C9.thumb.jpeg.ea476fa0dd9c0b6f5ae36694c2c8b6d0.jpeg

I’ve been quietly squirting CRC around it for a while now, and the clamp bolts came out of the top easily. There is also a retaining collar bolted on the underside. Two came out, and two sheared off. Then I got a good look at the area and someone has WELDED the collar to the chassis! Not easy to see in pictures but it’s blobbed on at the front.

FF86DB30-06CB-4DAE-A0E2-0ACD844F43A4.thumb.jpeg.c9850d293239bd1bf7b2defc2532c465.jpeg19D90DB7-1DDD-401B-9624-A4388B082069.thumb.jpeg.13632ed9e873e8d61dde75708cf3c458.jpeg

I have also discovered a crack in the actual crossmember directly forward of the steering relay. This old thing has had a really hard life! 
 

Project abandoned again for a while.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

As an aside, I was looking at the number plates a few days ago. The ideal scenario will see the truck re-registered on the original black plates. The front plate will come up mint, but the rear....well, see for yourselves.

D08360B2-5953-4463-8E7C-E3C1CE1CF1EC.jpeg.c434518aa17755b76890731b382409cb.jpeg

How have others gotten around this problem?  https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/65966-sunbeam’s-land-rover/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...