Nissan 1964 Nissan Patrol soft top frame off restoration

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So I went to work on the 64 chassis today.

I had set the Ute's motor/trans in the 64 chassis last summer since I don't want the Ute motor and it was part of the sale of this truck. To get to work I need it out of my way, so I pulled it first.

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I then pulled the steering box since I also want that out of my way.

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Notice the wear on the pitman arm, very typical on old Patrols from what I have seen over the years. I am hoping to find a replacement pitman arm.

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Here is a better look at the junk leaf hangers that are going byebye

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A few oval'ed out holes in the 64's chassis. Also very typical from what I have seen. These will get welded up and then re-drilled.

This is actually lower shock mount on rear axle.
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and the front shock tower.
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A few more shots of the chassis before I tore into it.

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The battery box on the 64 is rotten like many old Patrols I have seen, so it has to go and a new shelf fabricated.

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Rear axle out....

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and the rear suspension cut out....plenty more work to do on it though.

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and with the junk farmer leaf hangers cut off.
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That is all I had time for today! :)
 
So got off work a bit early today and I tore into the 64 Patrol more.

Pulled front axle and suspension out. Moved Ute motor out of my way and out of the middle of the driveway. Flipped the frame over so the bottom is on top. Cut the junk leaf hangers off and ground it back with a flap disc. All in all a pretty productive afternoon!

I was very careful cutting off the junk leaf hangers and impressed myself! They came off fairly easy and clean. Bit of rust and scale under them but no rot. However, found some bad stuff when I flipped the frame over. Whomever cut off the stock leaf hangers did a super sloppy job of it with a torch. They gouged the frame in a number of spots. It isn't structurally weakened but it is damn ugly. So I will be patching up these areas and giving the frame a good once over to clean up any nasty spots before the new leaf hangers go on.

Here are pictures....

Front axle out of my way
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Ute motor (spare) too...my dog supervising! ;)
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frame flipped over and set up to work on.
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needing repair
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what was left of the hangers to cut off, you can see gouging from the torch by p/o.
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more gouging, the front leaf hangers on the rear leaf springs is the worst.
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coming off nice and clean
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seriously sloppy torch work, bit of scale and rust under the hanger. No rot! These hangers were welded on top of the stock side step mounts.
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cleaned up with a flap disc.
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the other side
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and the back of the frame....
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As mentioned, plan is patch pieces cut for those areas where the holes are from sloppy torch work. I will very carefully cut out these areas and make new patch pieces with the plasma cutter. Weld them in, clean up and then on to welding on the new leaf hangers!

Cheers
 
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So I got out the replacement leaf hangers and set them on the frame, mostly just for a visual. This is just about where they are going to end up though. As per the Nissan Service manual the spread on the leaf hangers from eye to eye is 1252mm or 49.3". So this is roughly where they will end up being welded to the frame.


We got the front leaf hangers (front for rear axle) from About Times Spares in Australia, it is NOS.

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The rear is from RuffStuff and is their "way back" shackle hanger. It is very close to stock but uses a poly bushing rather then the steel Nissan used.

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This weekend I will cut out areas needing cutting out! I will clean them up too and make a template for each area so come early next week new steel can be cut and then welded in place. After this I am going to put the axles back under the frame along with the new leaf springs from Alcan. This will simply be for test fitting purposes. Once I am happy with the new leaf springs I will tear it all out again and start on final prep for painting the last coat of chassis black.

Cheers
 
Today's progress....

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After a bit of clean up....

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Comparison, factory Nissan with steel bushing on left, RuffStuff way back on right.

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Yup, 49.3"

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more surgery....

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After a little clean up...

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Didn't get to pulling this one out today....

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Cheers
 
Very nice work! I do like the simplicity of the Patrols. Mike
 
disassociative said:
First class work. :popcorn:
Click to expand...

Thank you! Wish I heard that more often from the owner of the truck! Sometimes he sounds so discouraged. Understandable though, he has never seen this truck in person.
 
crushers said:
that body was / is in amazing shape :eek:
subscribed.
Click to expand...

This truck spent all it's life in New Mexico near the Mexican border on a ranch, not to terrible far from Silver City, New Mexico. So it was/is in good condition. However, these old Patrols have a hollow #2 cross member that always and I mean always gets packed full of crud. That rots them out. The bodies always get some rot even if a desert truck in the kick vent area and the back panel behind the rear wheels. The tires toss crap up in here, people don't clean it out and many years later rot will have set in. All that has been cut out though and new steel welded in place. The rear floor was made because it looked like somebody had tossed a transmission in the back and drove around for a year. The original was worked until it was as straight as possible. It looked ok but with a straight edge on it showed it's flaws. So the owner of the truck decide it was worth making a new floor.

It was decided last night that the #2 cross member will be cut out of the frame, the bottom of it only. A new cross member will be fabricated to replace it. So we are leaving the x-member cap in place with the trans mounts and making a new three sided bottom. The frame is also going to get sand blasted next weekend. It is in chassis black now because it was cleaned up by hand (wire wheel and sander) years ago and then painted to protect that work. Cleaning a frame by hand is just not ideal IMHO, you can't get into all those nooks and crannies very easy. So since we are going to such an extent with this thing it was decided to sand blast the whole frame and then give it fresh paint. It is going to get sand blasted with the cross members open in order to blast the inside of those. After that, Rust Bullet the whole inside of the frame, finish welding and then it is ready to get the chassis black.

:cheers:
 
Another action packed day of Patrol restoration! :lol:

First up....last night it was decided the #2 cross member shall be replaced. I had it rebuilt years ago but it would appear the job was half assed. The cross member is still showing some thin spots from rot and is full of dents. The dents were beat out of it but still, just look to see how lumpy and bumpy it is.

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A thin spot....

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Ugly patch jobs...

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So today I built a "jig" from card board in order to build a new cross member. The top and trans mounts are good in the cross member so only planning to build this three sided bottom replacement as you see. It won't have such sharp edges once done since I will grind all that back and then sand it too. I am happy with the jig and confident we can build a new cross member that matches stock, is stronger then stock and has no lumps! Just like the card board jig this will be built from three pieces and then shaped or contoured with the grinder and sander to remove any sharp edges.

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Templates for the patch pieces on the #3 cross member...

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Fun times drilling busted bolts! All eight are now done though...

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I will defeat you bolt!!!

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I got out the stock early style fuel tank in preparation for a sand blast and restoration of the tank and skid plate.

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And I happened to come across the original and very cool horns...

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Twas a good day!! 8-)
 
More Patrol restoration photos!! :crazy:


I cut the #2 cross member out...

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and the new one in the process of being fabricated, next to the old one...

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Built it out of 3/16s, nice and strong...

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what was left on the frame...

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and the new cross member after a bit of shaping with the grinder/sander.

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Next to the stock one I cut out, keep in mind the new one is not finished yet.

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I am very happy with how the cross member is turning out so far!!

Cheers
 
Absolutely beautiful work on that cross-member!

Dyno
 
Dynosoar said:
Absolutely beautiful work on that cross-member!

Dyno
Click to expand...

Thanks!! :o


The sand blaster guy picked up the frame this morning and I had it back this evening. Not bad service for a Sunday!

Here are pictures of the sand blasted frame...

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Next up, get all the sand out of the inside of the frame! :roll:
 
So I spent a good number of hours on the Patrol last night.

The shop isn't even done and I am already using it and loving it too! It is small and tight but I got plenty of room to work.

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A detail shot on an area of corrosion, obviously after cleaning it up a lot.

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I think the frame and frame rails all naked like this are just sexy! :cheesygrin:

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I cut the battery box brackets off, man this was a total pita! Nissan really glued these to the frame. I took my time and got them off fairly clean though. All new brackets and a shelf is being fabricated. Glad we did it because there was corrosion in the brackets and also behind them. All clean now and no more rust!

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We got the #2 cross member finished up in terms of welding a few days ago. The whole thing is welded inside and out. Pretty welds....

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And I am using the Utes cross member for reference. It is one of the few I have ever seen that isn't full of dents!

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I have worked the cross member now down to 120grit. It shaped up pretty nice and I am almost done with it. Just a bit more shaping and sanding.

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nothing wrong with a small shop ... i found i am much more organized with my small shop.
if feels warm and cozy and a place i WANT to be instead of in an industrial bay or shop.
enjoying the thread.
 
Beautiful work man. Love the crossmember fab.

By the way, do you know what type of tool kit came with these trucks?
I have a Nissan tool roll i found and am wondering what it goes to vehicle wise.
 
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