[dieselcruiserhead]

I can only imagine! I am hoping to have it off this week then start tearing down the 55. Luckily most of it is gone already so it should be a whole lot quicker I think

[dieselcruiserhead]

Got a call from the trans rebuilder.. I guess I have sort of gotten hosed, but not too badly I suppose.. Turns out synchros and bearings are pretty worn even though "36K" original miles.. . So I will be ~$1350 total for rebuild but not including $500 I got back. Total will be about $2500 for the trans, but again that two year 24K warantee which will be nice. But again a bummer.. :(

[PabloCruise]

Wow - this tranny is getting spendy!

[dieselcruiserhead]

yup... I will be $2500 into it. Which is retarded.. When I had my NV4500 rebuilt at the same shop we were talking about some website work and it never materialized on their end.. I am going to see if I can maybe do some trade out if possible.. Otherwise I have a bunch of payments coming in, not that I am rich by any means and this money will otherwise go to body work, but such is life. I also rear ended a woman in the Ford pickup, making a last minute stop just barely before returning it to my friend who I bought it from.. At a place that didn't even have what I was looking for. First itme I have done that in years, I was very pissed.. Damage looked minor enough to me that I thought it would be $200 tops.. Came to $750. But in order to save grief and higher insurance rates for the owner I paid out of pocket.. Which suuucks but had to be done, that was a little painful too, yesterday, considering the trans news...

[dieselcruiserhead]

Also I forgot to mention the transshop charges $1900 (+$300 core) for a complete, rebuilt NV5600 with the same warantee. Because I have done work there before and I know a lot of the guys there pretty well (after I built the first 55 I stoped by and they got a kick out of it) they said they'd do it for $2G complete with core. So that hurts a little too I supposed.. But they were out of cores so nothing to build one out of.. But when I look at the deal, I did get the flywheel, adapter plate, shifter, a bunch of other stuff all for that price... So in real world costs I am probably not too far behind..

[PabloCruise]

Those are all sunk costs - done and over with, don't go getting any project remorse on us now!

The only things that matter now are the rest of the costs to finish the project.

PS: sell me that pimp tailgate!

[dieselcruiserhead]

Ok some more updates.. I took friday off and worked most of saturday. Was planning on doing work on Sunday but took a day off to do some cliff jumping and go into the Uintahs which is a local very Alaska-like mountain range (I feel like) that is cold and alpine and still has a lot of snow up there but is only 25 minutes away or so

Anyway, finally got the body off the frame and am pretty pysched about that.. It is a big feat I think.. Also the body came off pretty easily actually and all cut up and stripped as it was, I got and lifted most of it myself, maybe weights 500 lbs or so tops??

[KliersLC]

How did you do all that sideways??????


Anyhow, I assume the frame checked out fine, but did you put the coil back in, I can't see it in the pics.

Also, are you going to title this as an 80 or a 55, I have the clear title if you need it.

Good luck and keep up the good work.
Dan

[dieselcruiserhead]

Here are some neat photos of the frame and power steering setup.. Guys with 55's know how beneficial 60 series style boxes are so it is pretty neat to see how the 80 series box is setup, very 60 series / scout like.. Also, photos of the front of the frame. There is some grime on there from the engine compartment (mild leak residue) but overall, even though its 13 years old believe it or not (I never figured an 80 series would ever be that old ) the frame is borderline rust free and in great shape. i am also trying to figure out what they painted it with because it really did a good job. The axles are pretty clean too but are rusty drastically so compared to teh frame. good news is I think all I am going to do is pressure wash the whole thing to get it nice and clean, grind off any surface rust, then paint it here and there (maybe a mild coat over the whole thing) but nothing to drastic at all. No sand blasting etc....

[dieselcruiserhead]

and here is the bread van which I finally paid for today actually.. bought it from our conglomeration of us 3 biodiesel guys here in Heber City who brew, we bought it to pickup grease into then they decided it wasn't heavy duty enough.. Which I disagree with (something is better than nothing and we were using a pickup before) but nevertheless at least I got a good running 4BT out of it. I think I will have to chop up the body, figure there is about $1000 of good aluminum in it. Then the TH400 trans, a very badass scout-like saginaw box, and the 14 bolt dually in the rear, so there there are some good parts. I guess I am being methodical about it but I have amassed a "too much shit and vehicles" problem at the shop and my landlord is very anal about too much shit so I have a problem and need to start cleaning out a lot of this junk. Still not sure what to do with all the 80 series stuff, it is pretty well organized but all over the place still nevertheless and taking up tons of room.. :(

[KliersLC]

Now I can see the coil. That engine had no leaks, all the oil and grime was from the first flop-over and blowing all the oil out the sparkplug holes. I just never washed it afterwards.....why would I??????

[dieselcruiserhead]

came with a massive yellow top optima which I am down with of course.. And another shot of the front of the engine from under the hood. Easier to get at it from inside of course. You can see the massive brake booster and master under the hood. the proffitts guys reuse these when doing the brakes on their conversions but I have found using a setup from a early 90's Chevy M-series (Astro, Safari, etc) van that came with hydroboost is way easy as I did on the last piggie. Sort of stumbled into that by accident. So one of these days I'll have to run to the yard and pickup that setup..

[dieselcruiserhead]

and finally the last photos.. The engine and massive harness once it was all removed. I also have a milk crate of computers and you name it that all plug into it inside. Anyway, THIS SETUP IS FOR SALE.. If interested PM me, I am asking $1500 for the whole combo but am way flexible and really just want to get rid of it..

Finally, I also did a lot of work to the shop (clean up, more racking) and a Ford Van was given to me on Saturday, long story and hell of a story, that I sort of once owned before. I actually hacked up the tow hitch from the 80 series (frame on the 80 series was actually wider than the Ford van ) and welded up and mounted to the back of the van. So the van is now sort of a tow rig.. If I decide to keep it.. Will post photos of this tomorrow, and the shop now all cleaned up... That's it for now.

[dieselcruiserhead]

Originally Posted by PabloCruise

Those are all sunk costs - done and over with, don't go get getting any project remorse on us now!

The only things that matter now are the rest of the costs to finish the project.

PS: sell me that pimp tailgate!

LOL I also tore into the 55 quite a bit. I have to say (which I am pysched about this) that the more I tear into the 55 the more I realize it actually is pretty clean! The body in general is almost flawless with just small amounts of rot and that it is it, most of which I'll be cutting out anyway so I don't mind at all.. So yes the tailgate is pretty good. I did discover some bondo but it seems 95% of it was done very well and professionally, a light coat. So I need to think about how I am going to do this body, showy with bondo, semi showy, possibly just powercoat the whole thing? I am thinking it would be a shame to powercoat because it is so clean

On the spent costs, I agree, money spent no big deal.. Anyway, they are putting it together as we speak so I am pyched aobut that..

[dieselcruiserhead]

Originally Posted by KliersLC

How did you do all that sideways??????


Anyhow, I assume the frame checked out fine, but did you put the coil back in, I can't see it in the pics.

Also, are you going to title this as an 80 or a 55, I have the clear title if you need it.

Good luck and keep up the good work.
Dan

LOL I just edited the photos to make them upright

Cool and good to know! Actually if you have the title I might need it, I'll PM you.. Good to know, I assumed it was a salvage title which is why I never asked anyone for it..

The only other story I know of locally that I think applies here is Kurt Williams' (cruiseroutfit, who is on his honeymoon right now ) who's rig is the 'mongrel' which is a big mix, late model truck but with early model items and title. I am pretty sure in Utah they go by "what most represents the truck" and not the title so I am actually hoping for a '69. Not that it really matters but so that I won't ever have smog issues if I ever move to a smog state.. So I should be getting the title for the '69 any day now..

Also on the coil yes it is back in, Dave Callister actually put it in before I picked it up, he was given a set by someone in the club so we put that in... So it is sitting on all 4 coils for now. Next thing I think will be the frame chop which should be fun

[dieselcruiserhead]

Originally Posted by KliersLC

Now I can see the coil. That engine had no leaks, all the oil and grime was from the first flop-over and blowing all the oil out the sparkplug holes. I just never washed it afterwards.....why would I??????

Ahh interesting to know.. I was actually confused about that because it didn't look like the engine had any leaks at all.. No worries at all Dan Anywhoo, I am pyched to have the frame down, I have gotten to know it pretty well now I think and its general design, I am definetely curious to see how it all comes together with the 55 body on there

[dieselcruiserhead]

Finally here are some photos of the 55 from the weekend too

First pic, you can see some sort of caulking that the PO put in to protect the roof seam.. I ground this down with the wire wheel and also caught some of the light bondo the PO did..


Some notes on the body work...

I have been semi heavily influenced by the guy with the really clean FJ45LV who did all the body work so I am definetely going to take some of the steps he took. to you buckroseau

I wire wheeled the roof to get to the roof spot welds which seem to be about every 1.5-2" completely around the perimiter of the roof.. Because 55's roof caps are part of the windsheild frame in the front, unlike a 40 or the 45LV, I am going to use a thin cutoff wheel just above the windshield frame to cut off the front of the roof cap. Then I think I am going to sand blast the whole roof frame particularly the trouble areas then powder coat the whole thing. I am actually leaning towards powercoating some / (all?) of the interior and possibly the underbody as well... The powercoaters around here carry 1000s of colors, some of them very professional looking so I am considering even powercoating the whole thing believe it or not but I am not sure I will definetely do this. I am also considering maybe shooting the whole thing myself in the garage.. Even though I want it too look good it will not be a show truck, just a user so I don't think I'd mind a spec of dust here and there... And I have access to some good guns to use and carquest carries a decent line of paint that will keep it under $400 for materials, so this is an option I am considering.. I am hoping to tear down the 55 shortly here and am also now thinking I might sand blast it myself, I dunno...

[dieselcruiserhead]

Because I have previously been using a flux core welder I have always kept a spare cheapo grinder with a wire wheel on it only, this old crappy Ryobi.. While wirewheeling the roof, it finally died.. Literally caught on fire and smoked for a good 10 miunutes after I plugged it in.. Good riddance POS grinder.. But I love my $60 makita of course

Also here are some interior shots of the piggie with all of the neat goodies removed from it.. I have found some neat stuff there indeed.. Again I am more and more pysched with how clean the whole thing is and again I cant wait to get it all sandblasted and to bare metal Photos do not do justice, that is mostly dirt / dust and very mild surface rust

[dieselcruiserhead]

HEre you can see the spot welds in the roof. The plan is to do the roof this once and never have to come to it again.. I think the powder coating will help that alot..

[dieselcruiserhead]

and here are some photos of the cliff jumping. Not very big, I figure 15 feet or so. Gorgious alpine lake just east of here in the Uintahs, a badass northern Utah mountain range pretty close to salt lake city..

[dieselcruiserhead]

and finally, here are some photos of our biodiesel processor. Ours is an "appleseed" style processor which means build out of an electric hot water heater. this is the second one we have built this way, and they work great (the ports are all in the right places, insulation, wiring all work great) but because everything is 3/4" it is slow. So we added three ports, one for the thermometer halfway through the tank, and two 1 1/4" ports top and bottom with a big-ass hottub pump. It literally fills the processor in maybe 20-30 seconds? Very very fast. Also has a built in screen which is nice.. So pretty sweet setup, all on wheels with its own fuse panel and everything. Our wash tank is a 275 gallon "tote" that we put on a frame that has wheels. So we can wash large batches of upto 150-200 gallongs at a time. I believe there is 125 gallons in there right now.. I am pretty proud of this setup, it is very badass and heavy duty and seems to yield pretty good biodiesel. The concept behind these piggies is that they are not just cruisers but semi environmentally friendly.. I researched global warming for a few years in college (and once even held the position "Climate Change Coordinator" for the University of Vermont.. And biodiesel is a solution to that problem, as well as less dependancy on foreign oil, supporting farmers, all around better emissions, all that jazz.. So this sort of fits into the picture I think as well

[dieselcruiserhead]

here is our grease storage tank. In winter this is pretty much 100% necessary, during summer you don't need this. We pour the grease into this and preheat with a heating element that we also welded a port in for that is wired to a 110 household plug. Plug it in for 45 minutes and everything becomes liquid in winter... Then fill the processor with this (about 55-60 gallons) then add the 12-13 gallons of methanol (20-22% ratio) and it tops out our 80 gallon hot water heater. Works pretty well. We use the pumps for everything, mixing, and transferring the fluids. We have two pumps, the big one for mixing and fluids in/out, then the small as a backup and for removing glycerin only.

[dieselcruiserhead]

this unit here is our barrell mover. It is a tree stump hand truck that we widened for use with barrels that works very well. The only way we have figured out to brew biodiesel and not have it be a total PITA is to deal with grease at the barrel/ 55 gallon level. We then use air pressure with lids to pump the grease out. This actually works well even in winter. Even then it is still a PITA but much easier than some of the other stuff we were doing earlier.. Grease stinks, but it adds up in fuel costs. I ran all of my own fuel in Moab this year, $200-250 savings?

The bottom pic is our methoxide-in container, a plastic 15 gallon barrell we add the mixture of lye/methanol in, via air pressure. You have to add it in very slowely. We use that small regulator at 2psi with the ball valve very minimally cocked otherwise you do not get a complete reaction.. If anyone has questions on how to brew check out the primer at www.biodieselcommunity.org which runs through it. It is very easy to do..

[Radd Cruisers]

Originally Posted by dieselcruiserhead

HEre you can see the spot welds in the roof. The plan is to do the roof this once and never have to come to it again.. I think the powder coating will help that alot..

Good work and great idea pulling the roof, the time it takes is well worth it.

How about gutting the truck and sending it out for media blasting, save ya a pile of time and shows everthing??

Rob

[Wayneraintree]

nice, see you changed the title of the thread.. good on ya man! build on bro...

[solidfrontaxle]

Coming along NICE! And way quicker than I thought.
Regarding the name, it will be a land cruiser, so shouldn't it be called a TBJ-55?

[dieselcruiserhead]

I am thinking 4BTJ-85 but that was the first thing that came to mind

[dieselcruiserhead]

Originally Posted by Radd Cruisers

Good work and great idea pulling the roof, the time it takes is well worth it.

How about gutting the truck and sending it out for media blasting, save ya a pile of time and shows everthing??

Rob

that is what I am thinking, some sort of media or sand blast. No one around here does media blasting but they do lots of cars so I am not worried.. But I am considering doing it myself as well

[PabloCruise]

This is a bada$$ thread - a little something for everyone!

The back of the bread van would make a sweet camper set-up for someone...

[Portal_tek]

I've done some sandblasting and I would say leave it to the professionals, but that is just my opinion.

If I rember right from the previous threads you can get a pretty good deal on sandblasting, but if you don't, let me know, I take mine to a place that does a great job, great price, and are real concerned about making sure they don't damage any of the steel, plus they have done many vehicles.

Later
Scott