Builds Overhaulin´ - Lots of pics (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Aug 14, 2005
Threads
41
Messages
531
Location
Iceland
Since I bought my 80 almost five years ago I have had the dream of repainting an having the color changed.

Now the makeover is happening :beer:

All evenings the last two weeks and three weekends I have been working on the cruiser. Tearing it apart, fixing rust issues, adding sound deadening, prepping some mods to the sound system and some other details.

My first headache was what color to use. I have been looking at cars around me for two or three years looking for the perfect color. I found it when I saw a Mercedes Benz sprinter van for the first time in Jasper Blue Metallic. As soon as I saw it I knew that was my color.
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I had some rust problems in the driver side rocker panel, on the front fenders behind my fender flares, also behind the rear flares, under the rear side windows and then my worst rust areas were the upper tailgate and around the fuel filler neck. The inner part of the body was totally rotting away. I had no idea of this problem until I removed the panels and the looked at this area from the inside.

The front fenders were easy to fix, just cut all the rust away to make more room for tires and suspension.
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Fixed the rust under the glass.
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The filler neck area was a bit harder to handle, but all taken care of now. I started by cutting away all of the rusted parts. Then I closed off all the holes with sheet metal and in the end I fabbed up the filler neck again. Now I have much more room inside the drivers side back there. Now I can fit my Alpine amplifier there instead of the drivers side, since I have the passenger side free again I´m going to make a box for my 12"subwoofer there.
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I had a new rocker panel made and welded it in. First I removed the old one, removed the rust. Prepped the rest with RustConverter, primer and high gloss paint.
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Two years ago I installed a Webasto diesel heater in the engine compartment. Had it blowing hot air through the firewall. Now I moved that inside the truck. Removed the rear water heater from under the drivers seat and used that space for the Webasto. Because of that I will have to rebuild my center console again.
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The hole trough the firewall will be used as a internal snorkel. I moved the air intake to the air filter canister so I can add a hose from there to the firewall when river crossing. I don´t want the engine to suck in hot air from the the center of the engine compartment all the time so I added hoodscoop to push in some cold air. Haven´t finished the firewall side.
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I have always liked the look of spotlights in front bumpers. I found nice and not to big lights in a local auto store then I made holes to my bumper and welded in two pieces of pipes in the right size to fit my new lights. Then I had the bumper sand blasted.
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I had installed 6"x9" alpine speakers in the rear doors, but I have never been quite happy with the sound. Now when I had the rear doors removed from the car I made some mods to them. I cut off some of the metal frame in the bottom of the door and added some bracing to the rest oft them to gain back the strength I had lost by cutting some metal away. Then I made molds oft the new holes and made fiberglass inserts to use as speaker boxes inside the doors. I will finish these boxes when I get the truck back from the painter.
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This is the subwoofer box in the making. It will be finished while the truck is with the painter.
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My tires have grown from 35" on 8" rims to 37" on 12,5" rims so my fender flares were getting a bit to small. So I had to get bigger ones. Here we have rules about the tire threads are not allowed outside the fenders if you want to be street legal. That is the reason for all those flares here in Iceland.
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Now the truck is just waiting to get to the paint shop tomorrow morning. It will be there for the next ten to 15 days. While it is there I´m thinking about painting all the chrome on the grill, finish the subwoofer box, cleaning all the interior parts and perhaps make some fiberglass speaker pods for the front doors.

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Very cool .................keep posting the pics..nice horn also
 
I like your color choice real well - Nightshadow Pearl is my favorite color aside from black, and you're real close to it. The sub box is an item on my "to do" list too so I'm interested in your final outcome. Subscribed!
 
:eek: Wow nice tear down and good work :)

:beer:

Keep us posted!
 
Two years ago I installed a Webasto diesel heater in the engine compartment. Had it blowing hot air through the firewall. Now I moved that inside the truck. Removed the rear water heater from under the drivers seat and used that space for the Webasto. Because of that I will have to rebuild my center console again.
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Any concerns about it filling the cab with fumes?
 
I hope mine isnt that bad. I am afraid to go search.

That storage compartment is nice.
 
can't wait to see it done, I think more people are gonna start restoring 80's, best looking cruiser ever imo....
 
there is a thread of a restoration in the 60 section that was very thorough and very inspirational. I like the idea of it, makes a old vehicle like new again!
 
No worries about fumes, these are made for being inside the cab. The exhaust, fuel intake and the air intake for the burning chamber are through the floor.

So do you use this instead of the regular heater or together with it??
 
I removed the original heater (for the rear seats) and installed the Webasto in its place. The webasto heater is turned on by timer or wireless remote on cold mornings for the comfort of getting into a warm car and less work on snow and ice removing of the windshield.
 
I removed the original heater (for the rear seats) and installed the Webasto in its place. The webasto heater is turned on by timer or wireless remote on cold mornings for the comfort of getting into a warm car and less work on snow and ice removing of the windshield.

I'm liking this idea.

Though I'm thinking of the drivers side. Nothing is under the pan under the DS seat, so it's a big open hole, and the alarm box could easily be relocated or worked around. :hmm:
 
Loving the front mount intercooler, could you put up some more pictures of it?

I have a similar sized intercooler and get confused trying to plan the plumbing :D
 
Loving the front mount intercooler, could you put up some more pictures of it?

I have a similar sized intercooler and get confused trying to plan the plumbing :D

No problem, I have some pics of the plumbings. I made a new thread with them in the diesel chat. These pics don´t really fit this thread.
 
Did some more fiberglass work on the rear door speaker boxes. Now they are almost ready.

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Made a flange on the boxes to have surface to fasten them to the door panels.

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The boxes almost ready, just have to trim the edges and drill a hole for the speaker wires.
 

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