Awesome work fellas - I call next
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- Joined
- Jul 22, 2012
- Threads
- 484
- Messages
- 14,261
- Location
- Winter Park, Florida
- Website
- www.cruisermatts.com
Total man hours on this job?
Hokie LX
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #343
Looking back through texts and such it looks like I was over at Johnny's a total of 12 days for roughly 45 hours plus probably 5 hours at my house to chip out old gutter sealant, pull windshield and headliner, and take both skins off before the truck went to Johnny's house. I don't know how much of the 45 hours at Johnny's house was both of us working vs one. I was over there a fair amount working by myself but we both put in a lot of time together too and then Johnny did all of the welding. Also a fair amount of time was teaching moments or problem solving/discussion/beer drinking. Call it a total of 60-70 hours? We'll see what Johnny says as I may be underestimating.
What say you, @GLTHFJ60?
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You we're by yourself for the bodywork sanding mostly. 45-50 man hours is my guess, maybe as much as 60.
The amount is highly variable for other jobs though, depending on how much rust in the "halo" structure there is to repair. If none of the gutters have to come off it would go faster. Also the welding and post-weld finishing would go faster if the donor skin came off cleanly.
garfieldthecat
SILVER Star
Great information on the estimates of labor time the project took. With shop rates around $150/hr in California, this would be around a $9,000 job out here for labor alone. Materials (paint, consumables, donor roof, etc.) were probably another $800-$1,500 I would estimate? So around a $10,500 value job (in California bucks) for the repair? Last time I got a quote for redoing the whole truck at a shop here in 2021, which would not address the rust as thoroughly as done on this 60, it was around $15,000 (but they would not take care to replace the stainless bling and original moldings like the snake blinders, the trim around the windshield--they would basically destroy these items in getting to a paintable surface on the truck). Also, considering that a full-time equivalent month is 173 hours, there could be the potential for someone to do about 3 of these roofs per month and make $30,000 per month if they become the go-to source on these services---HINT HINT 
Look at sandy in the sun!! I'm so stoked with how it came out.
Hokie LX
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #348
Got a couple more things done today. Pulled the rear quarter glass in preparation for the new headliner, started wet sanding the transition between the new and old paint, and flooded the roof skin / inner structure seam with Ospho.
I knew going into this that the paint was going to be horribly mismatched to the old paint as the old paint is not good at all. My goal is to knock down the transition and make it less noticeable. At some point in the future the truck will get a proper repaint but likely not until I stop wheeling it.
There is apparently ONE windshield in the network right now that I ordered and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow and then I can schedule for it to be installed. My club's big event, Relic Run, is next week so we'll see if I can get the rest of the roof activities done in time to get it installed before I leave. Need to paint the inner roof structure once Ospho dries, paint the inner windshield header where we welded, finish sanding the paint transition and buff it, put sound deadening on the roof, install the headliner, and get the rear quarter glass and hatch put back in and wire in my fridge all before next Thursday afternoon...
Glass pulled
Sanded down some. Needs finishing but got it pretty close
The bottom seam of the inner structure is also the door jam and is not water tight so I taped up some towels to catch the runoff ospho so it won't drip everywhere.
I was squirting ospho mainly above the roof structure between the skin and the structure. I also sprayed it all inside of the inner structure to address any inner welds that we may have missed.
I also repainted the upper hatch that was discolored from welding and other thing from the project. I have a couple more areas to touch up on the tops of the doors where my wire wheel got a little rowdy when I was initially stripping at the beginning of the project.
I knew going into this that the paint was going to be horribly mismatched to the old paint as the old paint is not good at all. My goal is to knock down the transition and make it less noticeable. At some point in the future the truck will get a proper repaint but likely not until I stop wheeling it.
There is apparently ONE windshield in the network right now that I ordered and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow and then I can schedule for it to be installed. My club's big event, Relic Run, is next week so we'll see if I can get the rest of the roof activities done in time to get it installed before I leave. Need to paint the inner roof structure once Ospho dries, paint the inner windshield header where we welded, finish sanding the paint transition and buff it, put sound deadening on the roof, install the headliner, and get the rear quarter glass and hatch put back in and wire in my fridge all before next Thursday afternoon...
Glass pulled
Sanded down some. Needs finishing but got it pretty close
The bottom seam of the inner structure is also the door jam and is not water tight so I taped up some towels to catch the runoff ospho so it won't drip everywhere.
I was squirting ospho mainly above the roof structure between the skin and the structure. I also sprayed it all inside of the inner structure to address any inner welds that we may have missed.
I also repainted the upper hatch that was discolored from welding and other thing from the project. I have a couple more areas to touch up on the tops of the doors where my wire wheel got a little rowdy when I was initially stripping at the beginning of the project.
4runner2FJ60
SILVER Star
Looks really great! What windshield glass did you order? I plan to change mine soon. Are you installing? Looking forward to seeing how that goes.
Hokie LX
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #350
Not sure what brand it is yet. They said there was 1 in the network and I said order it so we'll see what shows up and if it's damaged or not. If the glass company can schedule me before I need to leave for my event, I'll have them install it, otherwise I'll go pick up the glass and try to put it in myself.
Hokie LX
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #351
Got some more stuff done yesterday. Sprayed eastwood internal frame coating inside the inner roof structure and between the roof skin and gutter where it attaches to make sure the backs of the welds we did are protected and won't rust in the future. Also got the windshield flange on the header painted on the inside where we welded and got the sound deadening applied to the roof. Lastly I seated the roof panel onto the butyl strips on the inner supports via a ratchet strap and some leverage.
I also got some more paint blending done and the hatch installed. I realize how much I enjoy having the back windows out. Maybe gull wings will be in my future at some point.
Today's battle will be attempting to start on getting the headliner installed...Wish me luck!
Inner structure before:
And after Eastwood Internal Frame Coating
Header after being painted
Roof sound deadening
Seating the roof
I also got some more paint blending done and the hatch installed. I realize how much I enjoy having the back windows out. Maybe gull wings will be in my future at some point.
Today's battle will be attempting to start on getting the headliner installed...Wish me luck!
Inner structure before:
And after Eastwood Internal Frame Coating
Header after being painted
Roof sound deadening
Seating the roof
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Pulling the skin down probably won't work. If anything we probably didn't put enough butyl tape up there.
IMO let it relax in the sun for a bit then squirt some heavy body seam sealer between the butyl and roof skin.
IMO let it relax in the sun for a bit then squirt some heavy body seam sealer between the butyl and roof skin.
Hokie LX
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #354
Bit of a delay in the latest updates but last week was a grind getting Sandy ready for the ONSC Carolina Relic Run event in Uwharrie which was this past weekend.
I ordered a SOR headliner to replace the stained and disgusting one that came out of the truck. Once the roof sound deadening was in, the headliner went in. It was my first attempt at putting in a headliner, much less a bow style headliner. Overall it wasn't bad, just tedious. The video from @CenTXFJ60's thread was invaluable in giving some tips. Tying the front bow to the header panel was an excellent tip and made the job easier since I didn't have to hold the bows forward. The one hitch I had was that the front pillar fabric was 2-3" too far forward when I got to the front. I'm assuming it was some install error on my part and not a pattern issue with SOR. All of the other pillars lined up great but the A-pillar was just was too far off to make it work so I had to put a small crease in the top of each pillar to tilt the fabric back so it would fit. Overall I'm very happy with the result!
Hung the headliner:
Tied the front bow to the header
New foam on the pillars
Aaand installed! The wrinkles around the windows were taken out when I put the windows in.
I ordered a SOR headliner to replace the stained and disgusting one that came out of the truck. Once the roof sound deadening was in, the headliner went in. It was my first attempt at putting in a headliner, much less a bow style headliner. Overall it wasn't bad, just tedious. The video from @CenTXFJ60's thread was invaluable in giving some tips. Tying the front bow to the header panel was an excellent tip and made the job easier since I didn't have to hold the bows forward. The one hitch I had was that the front pillar fabric was 2-3" too far forward when I got to the front. I'm assuming it was some install error on my part and not a pattern issue with SOR. All of the other pillars lined up great but the A-pillar was just was too far off to make it work so I had to put a small crease in the top of each pillar to tilt the fabric back so it would fit. Overall I'm very happy with the result!
Hung the headliner:
Tied the front bow to the header
New foam on the pillars
Aaand installed! The wrinkles around the windows were taken out when I put the windows in.
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Hokie LX
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #355
Now is where the drama starts...
I was leaving Thursday for Relic Run and had ordered a windshield from a local glass place which arrived Tuesday afternoon. I went to install it and due to my complete lack of experience putting in glass, I cracked it...I seated the bottom lip of the glass and when I got up to the corner, I think I gave it little too hard of a tap and CRACK!
Being late at night I was convinced that I was not going to make the event since I had bought the "last" local piece of FJ60 glass, or so I was told. After calling ~18 companies Wednesday morning I found one that could deliver one Wednesday late afternoon. Luckily it worked out and I got new glass ($109) and got it put in (correctly this time) with minimal fuss. I used 3M Windo-Weld to glue the glass to the gasket and gasket to the windshield frame.
Got the quarter glass put in with minimal fuss and used some Precision Rubber lockstrip (WLS 466) to replace the chrome. I also finally replaced the cracked wiper covers.
I was leaving Thursday for Relic Run and had ordered a windshield from a local glass place which arrived Tuesday afternoon. I went to install it and due to my complete lack of experience putting in glass, I cracked it...I seated the bottom lip of the glass and when I got up to the corner, I think I gave it little too hard of a tap and CRACK!
Being late at night I was convinced that I was not going to make the event since I had bought the "last" local piece of FJ60 glass, or so I was told. After calling ~18 companies Wednesday morning I found one that could deliver one Wednesday late afternoon. Luckily it worked out and I got new glass ($109) and got it put in (correctly this time) with minimal fuss. I used 3M Windo-Weld to glue the glass to the gasket and gasket to the windshield frame.
Got the quarter glass put in with minimal fuss and used some Precision Rubber lockstrip (WLS 466) to replace the chrome. I also finally replaced the cracked wiper covers.
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Hokie LX
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #356
Test drove the truck Thursday morning and the clutch was slipping BAD! The clutch had a high release point due to improper adjustment and I had been too lazy to fix it. Crawled under the truck and got it adjusted per the FSM and all is well now. After work and futzing with the clutch I got on the road around 7pm headed for Uwharrie. Sandy was running as well as ever and happily cruising 75mph down the highway.
The Relic run event was amazing as always with the Olde North State crew and visitors from as far away as Northern Canada! Last I heard we had around 105 trucks registered. We had rented out the private training facility across the street from Uwharrie which had a lot of great trails and, since we rented it, it was empty and everyone had a blast wheeling around in there as there was everything from easy dirt roads to some pretty hardcore trails meant to make the trainees fail. Got Sandy plenty muddy. Then we did some night wheeling around Uwharrie and overall I think I was on the trails for 10-12 hours Friday.
Sandy got some love at the event too and several folks came up to ask about the roof work and to see it in person. It came out great and I can't thank @GLTHFJ60 enough for his help in making it happen. Dedicated thread coming soon for others to reference.
The Relic run event was amazing as always with the Olde North State crew and visitors from as far away as Northern Canada! Last I heard we had around 105 trucks registered. We had rented out the private training facility across the street from Uwharrie which had a lot of great trails and, since we rented it, it was empty and everyone had a blast wheeling around in there as there was everything from easy dirt roads to some pretty hardcore trails meant to make the trainees fail. Got Sandy plenty muddy. Then we did some night wheeling around Uwharrie and overall I think I was on the trails for 10-12 hours Friday.
Sandy got some love at the event too and several folks came up to ask about the roof work and to see it in person. It came out great and I can't thank @GLTHFJ60 enough for his help in making it happen. Dedicated thread coming soon for others to reference.
CenTXFJ60
SILVER Star
Awesome job on the headliner. Ran into a similar issue as you on the APillars. Was able to release it back far enough (somewhere around the c pillars) and readjusted. Good news is the sun visors should hide any wrinkles. Hell of a job overall with the roof. Very inspiring many of us. And thanks to you and Johnny for sharing in such great detail.
Hokie LX
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #358
I'm glad I was not the only one then. I had thought about releasing the headliner to readjust it but I was under the gun time wise so I opted to not backtrack too much. Luckily the wrinkles around the visors were helped when I bolted the visors and grab handles back in so it looks way better.
I appreciate the kind words on the roof. Was a fun project and learned a lot.
Clearly not the same truck I saw.
