Nice!
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Just read your entire thread from beginning to now. Here’s my plan for the 1969 FJ55 I bought four months ago:
1) get it running well/OK
2) attend the 2020 Pig Party to get shamed and/or inspired into wanting to go deep
3) go crazy and restomod everything I can
1) get it running well/OK
2) attend the 2020 Pig Party to get shamed and/or inspired into wanting to go deep
3) go crazy and restomod everything I can
Ha! Not sure I can wait the 18 years at my age! Great work on your build. Very much enjoying and learning from this thread.You could! Or you could do #1 and then wheel the bejesus out of it for 18 years, show up to Pig Party 2038 and then be shamed
RUSH55
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #687
Got the engine and bellhousing mounts removed. Also removed all of the remaining factory spring and shackle hangers. Did some chasing of the factory frame welds in preparation of the inner frame fish plates going in. Have a few frame cracks to address first, hopefully tomorrow.
RUSH55
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #688
A little mid-day update...
Welded up the first and biggest of the frame cracks which were on the inner face of the passenger side. Probably some of you familiar with this procedure, maybe some not so much. Just for the heck I took pics at every stage on how I deal with them.
Since these two spread to the bottom face, I didn’t want my “V” out to cause them to spread, so I tied the bottom and sides together better with a couple stitch welds. Once that was done, I drilled the end of the crack about 3/4 through the material, then“V”ed the crack, ran a root pass, then two more passes on other side of the root. After that, ground it flush in preparation of the fish plates.
Welded up the first and biggest of the frame cracks which were on the inner face of the passenger side. Probably some of you familiar with this procedure, maybe some not so much. Just for the heck I took pics at every stage on how I deal with them.
Since these two spread to the bottom face, I didn’t want my “V” out to cause them to spread, so I tied the bottom and sides together better with a couple stitch welds. Once that was done, I drilled the end of the crack about 3/4 through the material, then“V”ed the crack, ran a root pass, then two more passes on other side of the root. After that, ground it flush in preparation of the fish plates.
RUSH55
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #689
Don’t know if any of you recall, but last year I picked up an old 55 frame. I ended up chopping most of it up and scrapping it, but saved a few pieces. One idea was to use the outer sides of the front of the frame to plate the inner side. Well... it’s going to work perfectly 
That was a great idea. Good Job!
is there such a thing as a chassis thats too rigid? I know the 40 chassis flexes quite a bit but the 55's are boxed so would flex less..
RUSH55
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #692
Too rigid? Maybe. I think the construction of the 55 frames do allow for ample flex torsionally. My biggest concern with this job is the frame warping due to all the welding. Scrapdaddy plated the front of his frame inside and out and ended up needing the frame tweaked back into square on a frame rack. I’m hoping to avoid that, yet keeping the reality of that possibility in the back of my mind.
bobm
WTF, WTF, WTF!!!!
Take your time and move around. Should be good with 2 inch stitch welds every 8 to 12 inches. No need to weld entire seam unless that's your preference 
I'm not real sure if my frame twisted due to the welding or suffered a wack along the way.
That’s pretty slick! Great idea for sure.
tiiigghttt. that should come up a treat!.. speaking of treat, how did you treat the metal between? is moisture likely to seep in and rust from the inside out?
