Build 1960 FJ28L - Project Lara

[scoobiedubes]

On to Lara... body guy has still been at work but moving a little slowly lately due to being shorthanded (understandable) but I did get some updates today. They've removed both quarter panels now and pounding them out to remove all the bumps and bruises, as well as filling in some of the holes the PO drilled for whatever reason. They've also started adding the bracing that we had made to replace all the bad body braces, still a TON of cleaning up to do but getting there... the body braces will certainly be better than new so I'm happy we took everything apart to get at all the cancer.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Pictures of the quarter panel, certainly not done but progress. Slowly but surely replacing all the bad stuff with good metal.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Also infinite thanks to @whitey45 for these 25 axles which should hopefully be at the shop middle of next week sometime, shortly before I get back to start working on them. And to @crawlin cruiser for this LV cowl piece that will hopefully arrive soon too to replace the beat-up driver side piece on Lara. Will have to patch in the kick vent - isn't it odd that the 28L had a kick vent but the 45LV did not? Wonder what the board room story was there. Like I said before this restoration wouldn't be possible without the mud community. Thank you all for both your knowledge and your rusty gold!

 

[navydivedoc]

Sounds like a fantastic trip. Lifetime of memories, even if it does make for a tired Dad.

 

[Tancruiser]

Dinosaur, darn you were so close to me anyway I love that place I hope you got to camp down along the river.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Dinosaur, darn you were so close to me anyway I love that place I hope you got to camp down along the river.

We did! Kids LOVED that campground. Pleasantly surprised. Played in the river and rode bikes until they were ready to pass out. Surprisingly it was rainy while we were there but did some really neat hikes - the few that little legs could handle anyway.

 

[middlecalf]

Steamboat Rock in Echo Park! Wife and I camped there in our FJ60 years ago, there were dozens of deer, most of the bucks were 3+ antlered, a couple of big bodied bucks.

 

[tahoe40/45]

Saw this van on the side of the road today

 

[scoobiedubes]

Saw this van on the side of the road today

View attachment 2375286

I saw that 40! Kids were biking the trail heading up to squaw.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Finally back home and was able to stop by the shop this morning to check on the progress. One quarter panel down, still a little clean-up to do on it but all the metal is solid now and it looks pretty great! The window sill lip on this one was awful as was the lip on the bottom, looks really good now. Cut out the terrible patch job in the rear quarter and replaced with new, filled all the holes, prepped and ready to go.

So we're now done with the 4 main doors, and one rear quarter panel. Still have to do the other quarter panel (slightly better shape than the one finished), ambulance doors, the floors and that awful front driver side cowl. I feel like we've been working on this like crazy but then when I stop and think about it I realize how far we still have left to go. Got patch panels for the front floors so we should be ok there, the rear floors I ordered a couple of patch panels from the FJ40 wheel wells, as it looks like the closest match to the "ribs" on the floor of the 28 so I'm waiting for those to arrive and crossing my fingers that it's a good match. We need about a 2ft x 4ft section but the 28 has a floor that's not like any other cruiser I've seen so hopefully that will work.

Going to start digging into the axles hopefully first part of next week if I can get some time in the shop!

 

[scoobiedubes]

Teaser photos, got the 25 wheels back from powdercoat... one of the two body colors is going to be very close to the cygnus white. Dropping them off to get mounted to some Coker STA Super Traxion 6.5-16's now.

I'm getting nothing done here otherwise, phoenix is having a record breaking summer (now 34 days over 110 degrees, with more this week). I really want to get the chassis rolling but getting into the shop to get to work on the axles hasn't been in the cards the past few weeks. Had the best intentions when I got home but this summer isn't working out, I'm sure many can relate!

 

[nuclearlemon]

screw the 110. i can't stand to be out there when it's 80

 

[scoobiedubes]

While I'm still not getting any work done personally on this project this summer due to the heat and ongoing school shutdowns, we did get some patch panels in that I was I guess hopeful but not optimistic would work for the rear floors. They are actually wheel well patches I got from CCOT, they passed the eye test to match the floor ribs so I figured it was worth the risk and ordered some - voila, perfect match! Nice to catch a break now and then.

also finished all the new body braces that needed to be cut in. Quarter panels are done and the body is going to start coming together now (finally)

 

[scoobiedubes]

A few updates from the body shop. The rear floor is finally coming together. Had to replace almost all of the body braces beneath the rear and quite a bit of the ones behind the quarter panels too. Decided to keep both access doors in the rear floor (only the one over the fuel sending unit was original) and just clean up the homemade one. I’m not thrilled about the speed at times but the work is all quality. Plenty of cleaning up to do certainly but we are getting back to solid metal everywhere now.

Front floors next weekand maybe the cowl finally. Then we can start trying to put the quarter panels back on, and set the doors.

I have a feeling the doors is going to be quite difficult. Getting them to set straight, line up with the body, and then figuring out what hardware to use. I have some FJ55 hardware we are going to try, fingers crossed.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Oh and I also found an ebrake drum cylinder finally! And i believe I’m picking up the engine block next week as well. Pretty much have all my parts then outside of a handful of pieces I’m not that optimistic about finding but have backup plans for here.

 

[mmcinnis]

Bravo! Something positive in 2020. Great work. Mike

 

[scoobiedubes]

A little goodie arrived today. Found some repro FJ25 shift and tire inflation instructions en español for this Venezuelan truck.

Also brought home a correct 1960 engine block today to replace the missing one for this truck. Thanks to @tahoe40/45 !

stopping by the body shop tomorrow to try to motivate them to start moving quicker on the body now. We have all the pieces we need at this point to start putting it together, just a matter of getting the body finished up.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Quick update, the body is still moving along at a snails pace but I think still going all well for the most part.

In an effort to kind of speed things up I decided to take the chassis and drivetrain down to @Cruiserhiggs shop Avid Cruisers down in Mesa yesterday. We had a fun day moving everything down there but at least the temps in Phoenix have come way down. So now the chassis can be worked on in parallel with the body, and hopefully in a few months we can join the two together finally. I didn’t want this to be one of those projects that stalled, and I trust Scott’s work so I’m excited to get things moving along again.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Getting back to work on the chassis, anybody know where we can find 20 series shoes and wheel cylinders or rebuild kits for the wheel cylinders?

 

[tahoe40/45]

25 Master Cylinders

I'm in the process of rebuilding the wheel cylinders. Most were stuck. I'm working 12 hour nights so its a slow process in between sleep, family, and work :) I swapped on a known good master cylinder and I still had the pedal go to the floor so its gotta be adjustment and stuck wheel cylinders...

forum.ih8mud.com

Good info on wheel cylinders and master cylinders