Bulkhead Bummer - (Fixed)

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
Mounting up my roof today and the needed to pull the windshield frame to get rid of a few layers of extra foam tape the PO felt he needed. Once pulled, the lower corners didn't disappoint in a standard defender fashion. The good part from what I can tell is that it does not go down too far. Hard to see in the pics but the rust is only a few inches below the surface, and the back portion towards the dash is pretty solid, and the vent area looks unaffected. Floors are in good shape, as are bulkhead sides.

What is recommended as a brand to to with for a repair piece? Does anyone have one on hand they wont be using. Left side is the what is in need, only a pinhole in the right but will all metal it and frame coat the inside. Happy to buy both if someone has a set they don't need. Also open to any advice from those who have done it. For reference, rest of vehicle is relatively rust free.

definitely a bummer, as i wasn't planning on removing the whole damn dash. fortunately my buddy is a welder, so that wont be difficult just more work than i wanted to do. Thanks in advance.

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Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
I'll be watching this one. Haven't inspected mine yet, but pretty sure I will have the same mess to deal with (based on the respray & already discovered spots). Post pics as you repair it - some of us are still learning.
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
YRM and Britpart both make patch panels for this exact area. You probably don't even need to remove your dash if your TIG welding it.
 

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
YRM and Britpart both make patch panels for this exact area. You probably don't even need to remove your dash if your TIG welding it.

yup, was hoping to find on conus, but may put a yrm order together. I asked my buddy exactly that, and he told me TIG will get too hot, but that's his problem, mine is drilling out spot welds and peeling back that top layer. Appreciate the info.
 

BarryO

Well-known member
I think the water runs out the roof drip rails at the corners and runs down into these areas on the bulkhead
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
The foam "seal" holds moisture.
Even just dew in arid climates rots the bulkheads out @ this spot.
Because the lower legs of the bulkhead are open to the elements the only way to insure a bulkhead doesnt rust from the inside out is galvanizing

Galvanize then epoxy prime, I put that crap on thick 3-4 coats across the top of the bulkhead in hopes to prevent this from ever happening again.

If you arent going to galvanize, treat it heavily with Ospho.

If its any consolation I have 3 media blasted bulheads to repair before dipping and they all need repair @ the top corners.
 
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WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
The foam gasket holds moisture.
Even just dew in arid climates rots the bulkheads out.

We galvanize then epoxy prime and I put that crap on thick 3-4 coats across the top of the bulkhead to prevent this from ever happening again.

Francis, noticed from the pictures you have the early "hinge" windshield bracket. The later cast brackets with backing plate are a bit of an upgrade in rigidity etc imo.

The new style (OEM) brackets are already etch primered and epoxy coated. Just finished those up last week and planned on putting them on before I found all of this mess.

About that gasket...I saw a proline, bearmach, and britpart. Honestly, the britpart was thicker and wider than the other two, but the (assumed) OEM one I pulled off the bottom was in better shape at 28 years old than all the new ones out of the package. The one on there was very thick and heavy rubber foam. What do you use to replace? Is genuine LR the way to go?
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
The new style (OEM) brackets are already etch primered and epoxy coated. Just finished those up last week and planned on putting them on before I found all of this mess.

About that gasket...I saw a proline, bearmach, and britpart. Honestly, the britpart was thicker and wider than the other two, but the (assumed) OEM one I pulled off the bottom was in better shape at 28 years old than all the new ones out of the package. The one on there was very thick and heavy rubber foam. What do you use to replace? Is genuine LR the way to go?
Not sure the best way to go. I've done things like add sealant top, bottom, and behind the foam strip. Time will tell.
 

Ren Ching

Active member
Original gaskets are abut 3/8" thick and closed cell foam with smooth sides and edges. New seals are about 3/16 or 1/4" thick, not as wide, and appear to be open cell. You shouldn't need to remove the dash to do that repair.
 

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
picked up the yrm corner pieces on eBay. hopefully once we start to peel back that's all I'll need. thanks all for the info. I'll make way to big of a deal on gasket selection later.
 

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
Speaking of gaskets, can anyone confirm there is only the single rubber gasket (inside) for roof to windscreen. it's a "D" style gasket with a groove down the center. I've seen a few diagrams that show inner and outer. TDI era top and windscreen. thanks
 

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
^bump on above question if anyone is familiar.

Got the YRM panels and they really didn't cover anything that i need short of the face of the left side, so wont be using them. From what we can see the interior is not at all that bad, so will just naval jelly it all then scab in new tops on both sides and the small strip on the right side. It's likely more work than it's worth cutting it all out as the crush tubes for the windshield mounts don't seem to be available, and we want to keep as much of the stock radius that we can. Looking up from the hinge holes it's pretty clean inside, so lucked out I think but will internal frame coat all of it once we are done.


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WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
corners are in pretty good shape. passenger is almost rust free inside. Driver side goes a little deeper, but not enough to replace anything. Will jelly it up good, then sem weld through primer, and finally internal frame coat once the repairs are done.

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Ren Ching

Active member
I would try to get in there with a dremel and some small wire brushes, screwdriver, scraper, etc and clean that up REAL good. All that scale will keep rusting underneath whatever you coat it in. If you can get the nozzle of a sandblaster down in there that wouldn't hurt either. The metal etch stuff that comes with POR 15 would also be a good way to prep that. It does a much better job with rust than the naval jelly. I think with proper prep, the POR or Rust Bullet type coatings will be a better solution for the areas that won't get direct heat from your welder. The wled-through primer is nice but its real benefit is that it doesn't contaminate the weld. It doesn't really offer that much protection and I'm pretty sure it is pervious to moisture. (though, I use it to where there really isn't any easy option)
 

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
I have a needler but likely to strong. put some sanding wheels on the grinder and got what I could. I have rust bullet phospho that I'll use after the jelly, and finally Eastwood internal frame coating after I scab in the pieces. shouldn't be much scaly stuff left, but I'll work on it a bit more. appreciate the response and will post up what I can see before I close it up.

 

WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
Finally done. Good news was as I saw, neither side really had much going on inside the cavities. Driver side needed some work, but mostly on top and little bit in front. Passenger side was really done for good measure, clean inside and a few pinholes up top. Now back to the build.

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WreckITFrank

Technical Excellence Contributor
Corners are done. Pained the top as well due to some minor corrosion.

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I refuse to accept the new gasket. I had a britpart that was 2x better than the bearmach seen below (gave to a buddy in a pinch), but still nothing close to the LR version which feels like thick rubber and is quite wide. Does anyone have a gasket in hand that can see if it's better than the alternatives. I cant put this on and feel ok about it.

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