Recent content by Cruisin'

I’m a little baffled at all the folks still ordering from WE, just to “take a chance” and see if they still get the parts they want. I wouldn’t be supporting a business that’s been showed to have ripped off A LOT of people, and is in bankruptcy proceedings. Sure WE makes some cool stuff but I...

The brackets don’t have any holes, I drilled them and tacked nuts on. However you just brought to my attention that I failed to make sure one of the nuts on each bracket is the larger seat belt nut. Oh well, inconvenient to change now but better than realizing that after paint!

The inconsistent fender length means that the fuel filler cover parts don’t fit properly, so of course I’ll be modifying them to fit. I don’t find a fill piece for the drivers side on their website, but I’ll be making that anyhow to make sure it fits.

The cage supports I ordered from Cool Cruisers of Texas. Topnault doesn’t even make them.

Was discussing this with a friend who pointed out that the 8.5 hours of work I put into making this work is based on me being a professional fabricator. It could be days of frustration for the hobbyist. And another pic showing the 1/2 tub just before mating it to the rest of the body.

The overall dimensions of the 1/2 tub were good and I was able to get it square and level with the front half without much trouble. The fact that the tubs are e-coated is a nice touch and hopefully will keep corrosion at bay. Of course I’ll be seam-sealing every join that I can get at and rust...

Next I detailed the issues that were not up to OEM spec, but didn’t make the 1/2 tub unusable. If I was doing a concourse restoration I wouldn’t consider their 1/2 tubs adequate for the job. This truck is supposed to be “nice”, but will be driven and is not going to be perfect. Here’s the next...

I bought a 1/2 tub from Topnault for a 1984 BJ42 that I’m restoring. The price and promises from Tim that the quality were up to par were the motivators for giving them a try. Due to a communication error in their warehouse I was sent a 1/2 tub that had failed quality control, but they handled...

As MarkBC mentioned changing the inner C channels is a bear of a job. I can't imagine trying to do it with the body on. They are riveted in, and grinding the heads off the rivets isn't enough, as they're squished into the holes of both the C and the main frame. I just changed my C channels...

I’ve got one in my shop at the moment that’s got the same symptoms. I installed an aftermarket coolant temp gauge. It tops out at about 195f on sustained hills. I did the test for combustion gases in the coolant, and that came back negative. I used a laser thermometer to check the rad and...

I know it’s really hard to see the back of the head, but could it be oil coming from the half moon plug thing at the back of the head, just below the valve cover? Then seeping down and travelling along the top edge of the block?

I use very thin zip discs/cutoff discs on an angle grinder. Mostly done from the outside. I make a line with a sharpie and take my time to follow the line for nice straight cuts.

Ooh! I like the TEQ one. I don't need it. But I really NEED that! I'm sure you all know exactly what I mean ;)

I've not done a 1FZ, so its not so much in my comfort zone. And as Norm mentioned it would be a while before I could get to it.

Yes, I checked them against the spec listed in the FSM, and all were well within spec so I re-used them.