This '72 FJ40 gets its turn in the shop. The customer wants us to repair the bad spots on the body. The cruiser doesn't appear to be in bad shape, with the exception of a couple of chunks of fiberglass resin body filler pieces that cracked and fell off the curved section of the driver's rear quarter, and a piece above and forward of the driver's rear wheel well. These pieces of filler were covering badly pitted sheetmetal, and were about 1/4" thick. The body looked straight, and it could have passed for a "no bondo" vehicle from 10 feet.
So we decided it would be best to take this one down to bare metal and see what exactly we're up against. I busted out the torch and scraper, and melted/scraped the body filler off the body, starting at the driver's rear quarter above the taillights. I prefer to cook the body filler off rather than sand/grind because it doesn't leave dust all over the place, and I don't have "Bondo Boogers" afterwards. Plus, the clean-up is easy with just a pile of filler on the floor.
It took over an hour to get through the uneven body filler off the driver's side quarter panel and rocker panel. This resulted in atleast a gallon of three(3!!!) different kinds of filler. Blue Dynalite type filler, Bondo Brand Pink Filler, and Gray Fiberglass resin/cloth filler. The pile of scrapings was insane. The driver's side lower curved section of the quarter panel was patched with a licence plate that was wood screwed to the rusted body, the screws and the plate were completely hidden beneath the body filler. Thanks to "DANZY" of Georgia, we now have a conversation piece to hang on the wall.
I moved over to the passenger side and found more big dents and massive rust craters beneath bondo. The doors didn't have any filler, as I checked with a magnet for pull consistency, but both nice appearing front fenders (with the exception of one dent) had loads of bondo hidden under the paint as well.
After a call to the customer to tell him about our findings, he decided to go with an aluminum tub. So it was on to remove the body.
The heads of the body mount bolts had to be plasma cut off if they didn't already break with the 3/8" air ratchet. The inner structure of the rear body lower lip was eaten through with rust, and the frame was filled up to the oval sllots with Alabama dirt.
With that being said, keep a magnet handy, and knuckle knock the panels before you buy something that you think you're getting a hell of a deal on. It might turn out worse than you could ever imagine.
Pics of the vehicle below...
Custom Georgia License Plate Quarter Panel Patch
Beneath the Mud...
Tubless...
Mud in frame...
Birds nest in rear section of frame, found an egg in it too.
So we decided it would be best to take this one down to bare metal and see what exactly we're up against. I busted out the torch and scraper, and melted/scraped the body filler off the body, starting at the driver's rear quarter above the taillights. I prefer to cook the body filler off rather than sand/grind because it doesn't leave dust all over the place, and I don't have "Bondo Boogers" afterwards. Plus, the clean-up is easy with just a pile of filler on the floor.
It took over an hour to get through the uneven body filler off the driver's side quarter panel and rocker panel. This resulted in atleast a gallon of three(3!!!) different kinds of filler. Blue Dynalite type filler, Bondo Brand Pink Filler, and Gray Fiberglass resin/cloth filler. The pile of scrapings was insane. The driver's side lower curved section of the quarter panel was patched with a licence plate that was wood screwed to the rusted body, the screws and the plate were completely hidden beneath the body filler. Thanks to "DANZY" of Georgia, we now have a conversation piece to hang on the wall.
I moved over to the passenger side and found more big dents and massive rust craters beneath bondo. The doors didn't have any filler, as I checked with a magnet for pull consistency, but both nice appearing front fenders (with the exception of one dent) had loads of bondo hidden under the paint as well.
After a call to the customer to tell him about our findings, he decided to go with an aluminum tub. So it was on to remove the body.
The heads of the body mount bolts had to be plasma cut off if they didn't already break with the 3/8" air ratchet. The inner structure of the rear body lower lip was eaten through with rust, and the frame was filled up to the oval sllots with Alabama dirt.
With that being said, keep a magnet handy, and knuckle knock the panels before you buy something that you think you're getting a hell of a deal on. It might turn out worse than you could ever imagine.
Pics of the vehicle below...
Custom Georgia License Plate Quarter Panel Patch
Beneath the Mud...
Tubless...
Mud in frame...
Birds nest in rear section of frame, found an egg in it too.