Builds 1963 FJ45LP SWB Fixed Top "Sweet Simplicity" (1 Viewer)

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You are a patient man.

As a lover of all things Patina, I’d be highly impressed if you were able to get that paint right to the level of the detail you are going through for all the other items.

You have it apart. Paint it. I think in the end that’s what you will want. Especially since you have had to weld patches.
 
So I’m stuck with my “character” radiator, unless it leaks, cuz it’s under warranty for a year. Oh well.

I’ve been cutting out rust (actually cutting out body that’s not there because of rust), and starting to tack in new pieces. More John Deere steel. Butt welding 16 or 18 gauge is challenging, now I know why most pics shown of body work are before, after grinding, filling and sanding, and after paint. At great risk of embarrassment - not really, nothing a bunch of dirt and mud, and time, can’t hide, lol - here’s a pic after spot welding (part of it has been ground). Good thing this isn’t a full on resto, I’d have to learn how to weld. I’m doing this outside so it’s fluxcore due to wind. Here, Spot, here.View attachment 2008454
G'day Middlecalf, Nice work. As they say, 'most vehicle restorers are terrible welders, but very good grinders'. Having a look at the pics of cab floor. I reckon a couple of coats of Upol Raptor Liner would have it looking brand new. Cheers, Ben
 
I am definitely interested to see how your floor would turn out with Raptor Liner if you you go that direction.
 
Starting in on the last of the sill, upper inside. Right side of pic shows the type of damage that exists in this area. The assembly of all three elements (four if the vertical uchannel stiffeners are included) - rear wall, inside sill and external sill - in this area seems to indicate it was never meant to be disassembled. Quite the challenge, and all the metal can’t be replaced without literally cutting everything away and completely rebuilding. Might as well build a new rig at that point. Never seen anyone offer up a replacement part or parts for this either so I suspect this is uncharted territory. Figuring out the least invasive cuts is the challenge, and having a plan going forward in patching is also up there. Not to mention access for grinder cutter, Dremel, oscillating cutter, chisel and hammer. And me, bent over, lol.
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Taking a break from calculating the terminal velocity of flying pigs, so got back to the the rear sill repair on the dead duck. Continue to be amazed at the amount of buried rust on this thing. Unfortunately I can’t replace everything and thus completely get rid of all the flakiness, including myself. One advantage of opening this all up is I’m able to put in some seat belt tie-downs that are removeable. Not sure why they need to removeable but they are. When I get the replacement sill pieces welded in I’ll add a couple more tack welds through them into the tie-down support o-rings. Should keep the archeologists scratching their heads in a 1000 years.
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Sticky boogers in place.
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I’m a glutton for punishment.
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New shoes.
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Everything’s right.
 
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Inspection stopped by. Impatient boogers.
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Rebuilt the tool box. Most of the flanges in contact with floor were rusted to non-existent. “Fussing cutting” as my quilter wife would say.
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Thank goodness for Big A clamps from China freight. No matter how hard you try to keep things in alignment it’s a challenge on a 56YO pile of steel (and rust). I rebuilt the box perfectly ... to match my perfect shop floor lol. I should have rebuilt it to match my imperfect FJ45 floor. More wiggles and curves than Dolly Pardon, But it’s tacked down to 1/2 inch of its life. Wonder how many weld pops I’ll hear once this thing is banging up and down our Dolly Pardon roads.
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Documentation purposes only. It appears as though the OEM cross brace bar or whatever it’s called on the radiator is at the top of the radiator supports on early (at least early ‘63 and looks like ‘62, maybe earlier) cruisers, not at the the 2/3rds position like later rigs (my ‘65 is this way). Here’s a pic from D’Animal’s 45 that’s like my ‘63 (his is a ‘62 IIRC). So if you find one this way it’s probably not a PO mod (@ClemsonCruiser fyi).
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More small stuff, original oil filler cap, painted to keep the forklift theme going, lol.
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I’m back to a 100% roller now, with some from help from USA rubber. Now to see if the motor actually runs.
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Driver’s side rocker almost in. Really slow going with a kazillion tack welds to control heat. Plus the remaining original metal is at least a gauge or two thinner than homemade replacement panel so have to be careful with sticky boogers.
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A couple of more weeks and those needy cow buggers will be out of my hair, then I won’t look so crabby cuz I can go swing a fly or two for steelhead! I can get 500lbs of cubed protein blocks in the back of the beater. Dogs can’t wait for this rig to be empty so they can go chase some upland birds. Love the approaching fall temps.
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Both sides sticky boogered in place.
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Working up replacement angle support thingamabobbers, @Rainman’s favorite structural part. Driver’s side rear one was completely rusted away.
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And I figured out to repurpose the “buried” bolt and nut in this area - more in this thread:
Fluid Film Ambassador @wngrog will be pleased.😃
 
Rockers in, just need weld cleanup and finishing.
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So paint. I have a plan, with about a dozen alternatives (preferences) depending on day of week and what I come across as I move through each alternative. So it’s a nice and flaky plan. Fits me well. To keep this diatribe shorter than War and Peace, alternative #1 is keep what I have (original SR under blue/green overspray), and one of the alternatives near the bottom of the list is to blast the body and repaint. For #1 I need to remove the overspray (I’ll paint replacement panels to match ABAP). So I have oven cleaner, goof off and stripper. Not making much progress with oven cleaner and goof off. Stripper is aggressive on both layers.

Do you leave either the oven cleaner or goof off on the paint and look for visible deterioration (like with stripper) and then rub, or is it a rubbing game from the gitgo? With latter it’s hard to not rub off the good paint in those areas where it’s already exposed as in this pic. Thoughts?
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Inspired by @secretsquirrel.

This is now my Rustival.

And cleaning up some welds I uncovered some more rot in the driver’s side pan inside the rockers (which are now enclosed. Doh!). No chance for copper backer to help with burnthrough, so looks like more sticky boogers. You gotta love this sh¥t. Beer time.
 
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Hard for me to get used to paint, good thing it’ll mostly be under rig or under cover. Hope I can recover most of the original paint on the exterior and meld in painted new panels. Just seems like it’s suppose to be patina’d.
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I s@ck at painting, patience for proper prep is my weak link. I’m ok for things like undercarriage and frame that don’t need to be pristine with the final product. Plus I have to do the entire bed as well. If I do go the paint route on the exterior, do I need to be at bare metal or can I rattle can overspray over existing rattlecan (wasn’t sure to what extent you stripped your rattle can rig @JackA)? I know I’ll at least try the patina route on a small area to see if it’s even possible, being a utility rig that will be running through sagebrush and dirt most of the time. My excuse - only original once! 😂
 

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