Stripping the doors

The doors on the rover have considerable surface rust on the steel frame but on the whole are in decent shape.  There is no major dings in the aluminum and they are straight.  They have been completely painted, including all of the galvanized trim and aluminum bits.  The glass is original and complete.  I have read that the Canadian models of Rovers came in a couple extra choices for paint, one of them being Highway Yellow.  The other option that made them uniquely Canadian is the fact that the doors are one piece.  The intent was to keep the nasty Canadian winter on the outside of the Rover.

My plan is to strip the doors and then take them to a local blasting yard to soda blast them.  Not sure if the order of removal I took is the right one, but I certainly got the stripped down. I started by pulling the galvanized trim and hinges off.  They came off quite easily by removing the bolts on the inside of the door.  The door latch came off next. The original bolts had been replaced by some large metal screws.  I will need to straighten that part of the door before refitting the door latch, just add it to the long list of things 'to-do'.

Once the trim was off it was time to take out the glass. I wasn't quite sure how to do this, the Haynes manual for the Rover is lacking in this description. So I searched the web for some more information and found a really good description thanks to TeriAnne Wakeman and her blog. You can find it at Replacing Land Rover rear sliding glass. I am going to try and order the Rocky Mountain kit as TeriAnne suggests as it appears like a good replacement.

 

 

It was a real challenge getting all the window slide channels out, especially the bottom one.  Water tends to sit in there and promote rot.  And all the dirt and grime sets in there as well.  I used penetrating oil on the screws and let them sit for a couple days. All but one refused to release its grip, the last one was drilled out. Here is the glass once it was out of the door.  I used a putty knife around the parts of the glass that had been sealed with DumDum. I was sure I was going to break the glass, but nope, managed to get it out in one piece, cleaned up and on a shelf safely waiting for the rebuild.

Here is al the bits laid out, I will be removing the paint using paint stripper and some steel wool to preserve the tin coating.

One of the other benefits of removing the trim from the door is I can see the original Highway Yellow paint, unfazed by the sun.  I put it up against the test patch I sprayed on the front wing and the colour looks like a pretty good match.  I am going to go with it.

Alright, door stripped, now to clean up all the bits and put them away for the freshly painted door.  My plan is to take all of the body panels in at once to get soda blasted so it will be a while before I am ready to do that.