About time I did a buildup thread

[xjnation]

Well, I've been on MUD for a while now. I figured it was time to post a buildup thread of my 09/72 Fj-40. She was pretty rough when I got her, actually traded a mossberg shotgun for it. The truck had been sitting in a field for a few years and very cancerous. Rats nests inside, mud wasp nests EVERYWHERE. Even though the sheetmetal was pretty bad in spots the frame was solid

[xjnation]

So the wife was a little worried, but since I was only out a shotgun she was OK with it......... Well, until she saw inside. Out came the shop vac and cutoff wheel and it began.
[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

[xjnation]

I bought a sheet of 16ga steel and a couple pieces of 2x2 angle. Cutting out the cancer and replacing the floors went really fast. I used the angle to "frame" the inside of the pans and give the new metal something solid to mount to. It also added strength to the tub at its least supported area, the door sills.

[xjnation]

After the front floors were in, I moved to the back. Cut out all the old floors and cut my piece of steel to replace it. Keep in mind the tools I am using are a 4" grinder w/ a cutoff wheel, a BFH, and really not too much else. I scored the steel in 2 lines to "brake" it the redneck way, and made the folds to make the rear sill and rear floor area as 1 piece. It came out really well, except I bent the wrong edge and it was too narrow side to side, and too long front to back!! Hmmm..... More angle iron, mainly as a filler this time. Plus it let me "brake" the front lip to get the sloped piece to the lower section of floor. It came out OK, I was a little pissed for a while. The rear is REALLY strong now, though.

[xjnation]

The interior was coming along nicely. Instead of finishing it up I got a little ancy about the outside. Out came the cutoff wheel and off with her skins!!

Took more 16 ga and started welding. This was a hard step as I had NO help. All the straight parts were ok, but making the bend was a pain.

It would have been easier with an auto dark helmet, but all-in-all it came out OKl

[xjnation]

I took the old skins and traced the wheelwell line onto the side. I decided I was going to flip the springs so I moved the line 4.5" straight back.

Broke out the harbor freight air reciprocating saw I just picked up for this step. Then I broke the harbor freighr air reciprocating saw I just picked up for this step. Hmmm... Back to the cutoff wheel.

I made the cut 1/2" lower than the line so I could fold it over to make a better edge. A pair of vise grips and some patience made a pretty decient edge. Made relief cuts around the curves and hammered it all to where it needed to be.

[jfz80]

Nice sheetmetal work there. keep up the good work, we will be watching. good price too

[xjnation]

After I had gotten all the welds ground down with a 7" disk sander, I used a little filler to smooth things out a bit. While I was doing this, a buddy stopped by and convinced me he could do the other sides filler work for me. I thought "sure, he's taken auto body. Probably knows more about this than me!" I'll show you.
MY SIDE (crappy pic, very thin filler, the grey is primer)

HIS SIDE

I'm not a fan of filler in the first place, but if I HAVE to use it I will only use the minimum amount needed. Apparently, he thought differently. I know my truck will lean to the passenger side if I leave it like that. And then my wife will freak out thinking its from her. I have some sanding ahead.

[xjnation]

After all that I needed a break from body work. Time to get the motor looking good and running. Ya see, before I started tearing into everything the carb was full of mud dauber nests and the motor looked like a$$.



I rebuilt the carb, not too hard. Put it on, hooked up power, and started cranking. (well, after ner plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and soaking the cylinders in penetrant for a few) She fired.....kinda. ran for about 6 seconds and that was it. Good enough for me. I knew everything was there to make it run, so time to tear into it. Pulled the VC, manifolds, all accessories, etc. Everything was DIRTY.

[rsbcruiser]

Hope you didn't have to give your favorite shotgun for it. Nice work, especially like the way you redisigned on the fly, least thats what I call it. Minimum tool engineering, mucho respect, chopped an 84 Audi to pieces using the ol cutoff wheel and a hacksaw once. The ol hand sledge always my favorite final solution. Harbour freight, always a gamble as to wether it was worth the gas.

[xjnation]

and a wave of my magic wand (or a late night) and I had this......



You must realize, this is before I even knew if it ran or not. I have since found out it does run....... Not that it matters because I have a 3fe, a440f, and a split case coming. That means I have to wave the wand again.

In the meantime I also sprayed my fenders and bezel with Line-X and they came out SWEET!! That day the gun was spraying dead on and the texture came out great. (I spray bedliners, too) I just hope it'll spray that well when I undercoat the body and spray the tub.

TO BE CONTINUED...........
Tim

[greenfox]

Looks good man you doing it the way it should be done, Fast a with raw material

[alex e]

Hey nice work man what did you clean up the engine with?

[xjnation]

Originally Posted by alex e

Hey nice work man what did you clean up the engine with?

Power washer on the block with some degreaser and a wire brush. Also used a wire wheel on the valve cover. What really made the difference was pulling the fenders, hood and bib so I could get to the hard to reach spots.

[40's rock]

awesome metal work...makes me sick about all the $$$ I just spent on body parts

[rapovt]

I saw the first pics and wondered how it would come out. You are doing some awesome work!!!

[xjnation]

The shackles front and rear were pretty rough so I ordered a set of 1.5" lift shackles from Ebay. (bad idea in retrospect. They hang WAY low in the front.) I pulled the axles front and rear, wire wheeled them to death, and gave them a fresh coat of paint. I sprayed them gloss black first with a coat of flat over top. I like flat black better but wanted the better rust protection of gloss. Should've not been so cheap and just gotten POR-15.

The drums were hard to remove but I finally got them off. New wheel cylinders, shoes, springs, freshly turned drums.... it went together alot easier than coming apart.

[bandy rooster]

look great man, keep up the good work

[mikedickbek]

I thought this was a joke when I started reading it. I didn't think anyone would even attempt to tackle a project like that.
I'm seriously impressed at the work you've done so far. Keep it up!!! It looks awesome.

[Bigslug]

Originally Posted by xjnation

She was pretty rough when I got her, actually traded a mossberg shotgun for it.

11 years ago I spent $5000 for my '78. Had I only known that all I needed was a $200 Mossberg ZModel 500...

No kidding about it being rough, but it looks like you're the man for the job. I'm only rusted through at the rear corners, but even that's presently beyond me. I gotta keep readin' and keep learnin'

[yellowstoner]

Looking good. Wish I had been brave enough to do my own quarter panels. I paid a bodyshop to weld on some CCOT quarter panels and they butchered it. The guy even claimed he had restored 40s before.

[wsmith]

Wow. Very impressed with your metal skills.
Looking good. Keep it up- at that rate you'll be done in no time

Wes

[my64fj40]

Hell of a deal. Good looking body work there. And don't be too worried about that bondo. As long as there is good solid sheet metal on the other side it will last many years.


And just wait until you get to test out those brakes. Freshly rebuilt drum brakes will the put the cruiser on its nose.

[xjnation]

Thanks for the props. This is my first time doing any project of this magnitude. Things would have been very different if I wasn't so cheap. oh yeah.... I only had $150 in the shotgun. I later traded the same guy a .410 and a mauser for a 75 J10. parted it out, got $400 fot the trans/t case and got a set of D44s for my efforts. I think I might take the f/3 speed combo and build a buggy. I'll hopefully be getting a bender from ebay in the near future so that'll be the next project. Time to cash out my vacation time.

[lukebz]

Originally Posted by xjnation

The shackles front and rear were pretty rough so I ordered a set of 1.5" lift shackles from Ebay. (bad idea in retrospect. They hang WAY low in the front.) I pulled the axles front and rear, wire wheeled them to death, and gave them a fresh coat of paint. I sprayed them gloss black first with a coat of flat over top. I like flat black better but wanted the better rust protection of gloss. Should've not been so cheap and just gotten POR-15.
Attachment 187123
The drums were hard to remove but I finally got them off. New wheel cylinders, shoes, springs, freshly turned drums.... it went together alot easier than coming apart.
Attachment 187124
Attachment 187125

it's nice to see someone actually using(and making them looks awesome) the drums that were actually supplied with the 40 you are building. my 68 has drums at all 4 corners and i have been comtemplating if i should just rebuild them, or go disc. some have said discs are not good for the mud and or water, and then i wonder if ill be spending more time on the rocks then the mud....my funds are LOW too, so a disc conversion may not be in order at the momment. though all the parts for the 4 drums are NOT cheap either... almost 700!

i need some advice!!!! thanks


your axles and brakes look great!