Military Lightweight Forum

Hi Alex,

My door gaps measure 874mm at the top of the door, measured at tub panel 90 degree angle to the A post, not the dash facia panel. At the bottom of the vertical edge where the tub angles forwards the measurement to the A post is again 874mm. The bottom of the tub where it meets the top of the sill to the A post is 794mm. Not saying that mine is factory correct as the tub is hand built from scratch.

Regards,

Moving the top of the bulkhead forwards to square it off can be tricky and have varying results. I have had success fitting a new bulkhead that been dropped on a corner bending it, to a Defender, and squaring up a rolled Defender to get everything to line up using the same type of method below.

Loosen the steering column to bracket bolts, and the bracket to bulkhead bolts where circled below. It may not be neccessary to udo the plate itself, but it wont hurt to loosen the two column clamp bolts. Loosen the steering box/bulkhead plate at the chassis and the wing if still fitted. It may be benificial to remove the wing anyway. With the bolts loosened, persuade the top of the bulkhead forwards, if possible, with a ratchet strap pulling against something solid. The bumper should do if the wing is off. With the bulkhead pulled as far forwards as possible tighten all the bolts, and hope it stays there. Re-check the vertical alignment, and adjust as neccessary using the same method until you get it near to square as possible.

Good luck.

Regards,

Hi Alex,
There's a lot of really superb advice over this Lightweight nightmare (Hiya Niel, LooLoo et al ), for what it's worth, I cannot offer anything of substance but mine sits low like Brian's a few posts back, but it works with no door/tub/bulkhead fouling and the seal's work. Everything is just a compromise with this, don't beat yourself up over it, just get it to work and accept.
Best of luck and keep up the brilliant work.
Regards
Bob

Bob Fell wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 12, 2022 8:09 pm

(Hiya Niel, LooLoo et al )

Hiya Bob!

Regards,

Hi there,
As Bob rightly says, it's the "Lightweight Nightmare"...

In my opinion :
- The starting point is the perfect squareness of the bulkhead with a chassis reference plane = this is the "middle point" assuming that the tube cannot slide back and forth due to its attachment to the rear crossmember of the frame.
Once this squareness has been obtained, you have to adjust the position of the bulkhead by moving it forward-backward and keeping an eye on the distance with the radpannel, the 2 wings and the possibility of opening-closing the engine cover… and of opening-closing both doors...
- The end point will be what you tolerate as an approximation

The other adventure is the flatness/parallelism of the side of the doors in relation to the bodywork, which is solved with a good alignment of the male hinges (countersunk screws + spacer on the top one = make yourself a template with tubes to align the male axes with respect to each other) and the female hinges (new plastic ring + perfect flatness of the hinge + fixing to the frame without play + etc)… Not to mention the height-depth adjustment of the lock of door

Beforehand, of course, you dismantle the floors, the 2 decorative plates (which hide the lower part of the fuel tanks) at the bottom of the door connecting the bulkhead and the tub and all the other fasteners are loose and therefore "floating".

Tell yourself that once everything is perfectly settled... when you install the glass door tops + the front support of the tarpaulin + the new seals everything will have to start again...

An old rum from Jamaica is very useful…

"Bon courage ou bonne chance…" I don't know how to choose...

Regards.
Looloo

Neil, Bob, LooLoo.
What amazing advice. Thanks all. I have done almost all of this and having some good success. What a pain it all is.

I'll update once I've got it all aligned pre hood top (after which I'll have to redo it all )

Finally got everything running properly and went out in the fields with my wife and kids.

Well done bud, nice one.

Thanks Will,
Still new tyres, cushions, registration, insurance, road tax to go