I've been busy!

I've been neglecting the blog in the last week, I've made a lot of progress but haven't done any updates. Rather than spill too many words Ill let the pictures do the talking.

Basically I've :

• Stripped the rear diff. Found that the front pinion bearing had suffered a catastrophic failure, hence the seized diff. The rollers had friction welded to the raceway. This caused the bearing to spin on the shaft until it also friction welded to the spacer next to the bearing. basically it's f**ked and I will source a replacement diff head. I hope to find the 'proper' Series 3 type with the flat bottom casting and press in oil seal on the pinion shaft. This diff is the older style with the aluminium bolt on seal retainer.

• Welded the donor panels into my good bulkhead, and scrapped the rusty old one. (no pics of this sorry)
• Stripped the front axle, boxed up the disc brake setup as it's going back to Brian, who I bought the Land Rover from, I'm swapping him the disc brakes for some parts I need. I cleaned up the remaining parts with the wire brush wheel, applied CRC rust convertor, then painted in semi gloss black. I have borrowed this technique from Geoff @ http://www.geoffslandroverblog.com/ It's cheap and seems to work well. 

• I repaired the rusty front radiator panel, it had the common rust/swelling in the lower piece of channel. I cut it out and welded in a piece of 30mm angle. 

I'm really just trying to do as much 'free' stuff as possible while I'm saving to have the chassis sandblasted. I hope to get that done in the next few weeks.