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Ya I don't mind the tight space. But it would be nice if I could move the hoist around, had room for a drill press, ect ect.
Nissan 1964 Nissan Patrol soft top frame off restoration
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Ya I don't mind the tight space. But it would be nice if I could move the hoist around, had room for a drill press, ect ect.
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Ya here is a link to a thread on tool kits.
http://www.rmp-o.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3941
They are pretty rare. I am actually looking for one for this project so let me know what you got!
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Today's episode was to cut the last bad areas from the frame and make patch pieces for it. I also coated the inside of the frame with Rust Bullet that are open now and hollow, ie #3 cross member, rear bumper, ect.
Here are the rotten areas that had to go....
A pretty funky factory weld...
To get to these areas needing repair I had to cut this piece off.
Bit of corrosion hiding under it...
The other side is good though and doesn't need repair. The side I am repairing definitely held some crud for many years.
So I cut out the rusty/thin parts...
And I made new pieces....
The cap for the cross member to replace the one I cut off....
With all the pieces stacked on!
Some shots of coating inside the frame and on the inside of the #2 cross member with Rust Bullet.
In the next few days welding all this stuff on starts!
Cheers
Here are the rotten areas that had to go....
A pretty funky factory weld...
To get to these areas needing repair I had to cut this piece off.
Bit of corrosion hiding under it...
The other side is good though and doesn't need repair. The side I am repairing definitely held some crud for many years.
So I cut out the rusty/thin parts...
And I made new pieces....
The cap for the cross member to replace the one I cut off....
With all the pieces stacked on!
Some shots of coating inside the frame and on the inside of the #2 cross member with Rust Bullet.
In the next few days welding all this stuff on starts!
Cheers
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Today's episode is....
Welding pieces back on! The #3 cross member is all done, rear bumper patch is done and both sides in the rear are ready for shackle hangers, front patch on frame rail where bumper/winch mounts is done. Blah blah blah! :roll:
Plating the whole inside cap of the #2 cross member before welding the bottom on. The cap is already new, about 12g. and I ground out the last of the crappy steel under the trans mounts. 1/8" plates going in making the cap now about 3/16's, nice a solid!
Going to lay another bead on these where needed and sand more, only about half way done. Still got to trim the shelves too.
Tossed a weld in the corner where the crappy factory one was at. That was about the only shoddy factory weld I find on the truck. Two others though we are going to lay a bead on to buff them up a touch.
Got these pieces all glued on and sanded...
Where the patch was done on the rear bumper and some of the scaring filled in then sanded back.
This is the other side in the back that was all scarred up.
Front frame rail patch done, going to lay another weld on the shackle hanger.
And the #3 cross member is all done plus ready to mount our new leaf hangers. I am very happy with the results of the restoration on this cross member.
Getting close to being done with all these repairs now!
Cheers
Welding pieces back on! The #3 cross member is all done, rear bumper patch is done and both sides in the rear are ready for shackle hangers, front patch on frame rail where bumper/winch mounts is done. Blah blah blah! :roll:
Plating the whole inside cap of the #2 cross member before welding the bottom on. The cap is already new, about 12g. and I ground out the last of the crappy steel under the trans mounts. 1/8" plates going in making the cap now about 3/16's, nice a solid!
Going to lay another bead on these where needed and sand more, only about half way done. Still got to trim the shelves too.
Tossed a weld in the corner where the crappy factory one was at. That was about the only shoddy factory weld I find on the truck. Two others though we are going to lay a bead on to buff them up a touch.
Got these pieces all glued on and sanded...
Where the patch was done on the rear bumper and some of the scaring filled in then sanded back.
This is the other side in the back that was all scarred up.
Front frame rail patch done, going to lay another weld on the shackle hanger.
And the #3 cross member is all done plus ready to mount our new leaf hangers. I am very happy with the results of the restoration on this cross member.
Getting close to being done with all these repairs now!
Cheers
nice job!!
Really enjoying this thread. Thank you! Makes me want to start a new project.
Good job
Good job
My uncle wheeled a Patrol on all the N. Ca trails through the 80's. this is great. keep it coming
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Wow thanks folks for all the positive feedback!!
In the next 2-3 weeks I am expecting to have a rolling chassis again or a much improved one.
I been ready for awhile to get the engine, trans & t-case fully rebuilt but had to track down the last of the parts. For the motor, a starter (in route now) and a carb kit for the original Hitachi carb. For the trans, synchro rings and a synchro hub. Well, I wired some cash to Colombia, S.A. yesterday to my buddy down there. It is a secret contact for a plethora of Patrol parts. Any ways, I got the synchro stuff in route from S.A. as well as carb kits. And I even went and bought all new tie rod and drag link assembly plus pitman arm, this is real unobtainium in the Patrol world. Last bit I got from S.A. is a reproduction rear step. With these last parts now in route, soon I will be sending the engine, trans & t-case off for full rebuilds.
We are finalizing paint color now, been a lot of digging and searching to try and get the original paint code. Just about there now! This weekend the the new #2 cross member is being installed. Then we flip the frame over, bit more welding, fab some battery box stuff, flip it back over and weld on leaf/shackle hangers and done deal. After this Rust Bullet inside of frame and take it to body shop for chassis black. Then I get it back and install new axles and suspension plus new steering.
I am hoping early to mid-November we are installing a new motor and trans + t-case into a new rolling chassis. Then it will be fuel tank, brake and fuel lines and the body can be put on it. By end of the year I am hoping to be 90% complete with the restoration. We will see!
In the next 2-3 weeks I am expecting to have a rolling chassis again or a much improved one.
I been ready for awhile to get the engine, trans & t-case fully rebuilt but had to track down the last of the parts. For the motor, a starter (in route now) and a carb kit for the original Hitachi carb. For the trans, synchro rings and a synchro hub. Well, I wired some cash to Colombia, S.A. yesterday to my buddy down there. It is a secret contact for a plethora of Patrol parts. Any ways, I got the synchro stuff in route from S.A. as well as carb kits. And I even went and bought all new tie rod and drag link assembly plus pitman arm, this is real unobtainium in the Patrol world. Last bit I got from S.A. is a reproduction rear step. With these last parts now in route, soon I will be sending the engine, trans & t-case off for full rebuilds.
We are finalizing paint color now, been a lot of digging and searching to try and get the original paint code. Just about there now! This weekend the the new #2 cross member is being installed. Then we flip the frame over, bit more welding, fab some battery box stuff, flip it back over and weld on leaf/shackle hangers and done deal. After this Rust Bullet inside of frame and take it to body shop for chassis black. Then I get it back and install new axles and suspension plus new steering.
I am hoping early to mid-November we are installing a new motor and trans + t-case into a new rolling chassis. Then it will be fuel tank, brake and fuel lines and the body can be put on it. By end of the year I am hoping to be 90% complete with the restoration. We will see!
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Mate bought a '69 (if I remember) from his old man, back in the late 70's. We spent a few months removing rust and welding in patches etc and a whole bunch of time with filler/sanding and then painting.
We drove that old patrol over a lot of 4wd tracks around Perth and the local sand dunes. Wasn't fast - 3 speed box, no synchro in first, 45mph was loud and fast enough... The old 4l petrol motor was definitely tractor class, great off road, hopeless on the hwy. It still had the hand crank and due to my mate being cheap, we had to crank start it more than once due to a barely operational battery.
I remember pulling the gearbox & transfer case to repair a crack in the housing that was allowing an idler shaft to 'move' around. Bloody heavy, no aluminium!
It was a great old vehicle for a couple of just turned 20 year olds, memories of drinking Tia Maria on the sand dunes, big fires and sleeping on a blanket spread on the sand. Tons of fun.
We were heading up the hwy to a large dune area (Lancelin north of Perth) and zooming along at 40 - 45mph when some twit drove through a stop sign (tee junction) in his station wagon and we clipped his rear corner. Wagon rolled 2 1/2 times and ended on the roof. Husband, wife and two kids and a dog. Lucky as all hell no one was killed, but the wife had a broken sternum. Their dog took off and was not found. Cops came, ambulance came, took at least 45 minutes given we were out of town. The vehicles behind us when the accident happened stopped of course to help and were witnesses to the fact we weren't speeding etc and the fault was 100% the other vehicle. Once it was all over, we hooked a steel cable to a power pole and straightened the front bumper where it had folded in and was touching the front wheel (the part of the bumper that tagged the other vehicle). Got back in and continued on our way to the dunes and the rest of our long weekend break.
That old patrol convinced me to shop for a 4wd for myself. Was looking at 40 series (new at that time), but when we saw the new mq patrol series (just released) at a dealer we went in to look one over. Impressed that the running gear was still heavy duty and not watered down AND had a 4sp box with full synchro and it had a diesel. I was hooked, had to wait about 6 months (waiting list) before I finally had one of my own. Still have it, new Nov 1980 and is about to turn 32 years old in a month or so.
I'll be heading to oz in a few days for a month trip and will spend a couple of weeks in the bush and look forward to being back in my patrol.
Patrol luvs mud
cheers,
george.
We drove that old patrol over a lot of 4wd tracks around Perth and the local sand dunes. Wasn't fast - 3 speed box, no synchro in first, 45mph was loud and fast enough... The old 4l petrol motor was definitely tractor class, great off road, hopeless on the hwy. It still had the hand crank and due to my mate being cheap, we had to crank start it more than once due to a barely operational battery.
I remember pulling the gearbox & transfer case to repair a crack in the housing that was allowing an idler shaft to 'move' around. Bloody heavy, no aluminium!
It was a great old vehicle for a couple of just turned 20 year olds, memories of drinking Tia Maria on the sand dunes, big fires and sleeping on a blanket spread on the sand. Tons of fun.
We were heading up the hwy to a large dune area (Lancelin north of Perth) and zooming along at 40 - 45mph when some twit drove through a stop sign (tee junction) in his station wagon and we clipped his rear corner. Wagon rolled 2 1/2 times and ended on the roof. Husband, wife and two kids and a dog. Lucky as all hell no one was killed, but the wife had a broken sternum. Their dog took off and was not found. Cops came, ambulance came, took at least 45 minutes given we were out of town. The vehicles behind us when the accident happened stopped of course to help and were witnesses to the fact we weren't speeding etc and the fault was 100% the other vehicle. Once it was all over, we hooked a steel cable to a power pole and straightened the front bumper where it had folded in and was touching the front wheel (the part of the bumper that tagged the other vehicle). Got back in and continued on our way to the dunes and the rest of our long weekend break.
That old patrol convinced me to shop for a 4wd for myself. Was looking at 40 series (new at that time), but when we saw the new mq patrol series (just released) at a dealer we went in to look one over. Impressed that the running gear was still heavy duty and not watered down AND had a 4sp box with full synchro and it had a diesel. I was hooked, had to wait about 6 months (waiting list) before I finally had one of my own. Still have it, new Nov 1980 and is about to turn 32 years old in a month or so.
I'll be heading to oz in a few days for a month trip and will spend a couple of weeks in the bush and look forward to being back in my patrol.
Patrol luvs mud
cheers,
george.
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There used to be 4 or 5 old patrols in my town back in the day. I asked every one of the owners if they wanted to sell, none did. In all honesty, the patrol was probably the vehicle that got me wanting a classic 4X4. Looking forward to more info and pics!
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Cheers guys and thanks for the stories. Always enjoy the old school stories George and it looks like you still have that old MQ!!
Not much of an update but....
1/8" plate is all welded in the top/cap of the #2 cross member. As mentioned, total thickness now on the top/cap is about 3/16" exactly. A big upgrade from the stock 12g this cross member is made out of.
taped it off and painted it with Rust Bullet. It will be hard to get it coated once the bottom is welded on so why not do it now!?
The bottom of the cross member we have fabricated has now gotten three coats of Rust Bullet on the inside. I also scribed it more to fit the top after the 1/8" plate was welded in. It is now ready tog o and should be welded on in the next few days.
Cheers
Not much of an update but....
1/8" plate is all welded in the top/cap of the #2 cross member. As mentioned, total thickness now on the top/cap is about 3/16" exactly. A big upgrade from the stock 12g this cross member is made out of.
taped it off and painted it with Rust Bullet. It will be hard to get it coated once the bottom is welded on so why not do it now!?
The bottom of the cross member we have fabricated has now gotten three coats of Rust Bullet on the inside. I also scribed it more to fit the top after the 1/8" plate was welded in. It is now ready tog o and should be welded on in the next few days.
Cheers
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The #2 cross member bottom got welded on today. I think it looks killer! I will still have to sand it a bunch and grind the weld off the edge to make it look as much like a stock one as possible.
Cheers
Cheers
I'm surprised that an old Nissan Patrol has such an elaborate and technically artistic frame. It's actually a really beautiful bit of metal work and you are doing it more than justice in your restoration of it. The truck is going to be incredible. Skinner level of resto.
Nice welds !
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This evening was welding fest!! 
Seriously though, we went to town on welding tonight. It is all done now besides the battery box stuff, some wire harness tabs being replaced and any fill in or clean up after I grind/sand things back.
After more then an hour of measuring stock leaf hanger/shackle hanger locations on a 65 frame I have to use as reference, well we decided to just go for it and weld on the hangers. Probably confusing people but I have a 1965 Patrol frame here that is cut up yet can be used for reference since stock brackets remain on it. I had planned to just tack weld on the hangers and then test fit everything before burning them on for good. However, it occurred to me during all the plotting of the hangers that as long as they match stock it is ultimately what we want. If shackle angle comes out off it won't be due to the hanger locations it will be in the leaf springs, since we are matching up the hangers to stock locations. So it was decided to simply glue on the hangers in the stock locations and worry about if the leaf springs are right later rather then trying to compensate for off leaf springs by moving the hangers now. Since the truck is a restoration to stock the hangers need to go in the stock locations and leaf springs need to suit this, there is no other way to go with it. So after a bunch of plotting and such we burned on the hangers....again I used several things to get them in the stock location. One being the 49.3" spread eye to eye as per the Nissan manual and the next being locations on the 65 frame of the hangers used for reference. I got so say, if this wasn't a restoration it would be easier since I wouldn't be so worried about things matching up to stock. :ugeek:
The front leaf hanger on the back leaves burned on.
Another view...and the other side.
The RuffStuff way back shackle hangers glued on solid.
All four hangers on and ready to rock...
Holding the rear Alcan leaf spring in place. It is square, it lines up but it looks to short! Can't jump to any conclusions until all the weight is on the springs.
The rest of the pictures are just of welds and such after the frame was flipped over. By the end of this coming weekend I plan to go over everything with a grinder and sander and clean it all up. if I am lucky we will get the battery box fabricated and be just about 100% complete with frame resto by then too. But ya' know how plans go with a restoration! :roll:
The booger welds on the #2 cross member side and top are to fill in imperfections. Clean up with grinder/sander and it will look much better.
Repairs from the topside, details...going to be some fun grinding and sanding this all back! :shock:
New school meets old school!?
The NOS leaf hanger....
The frame right side up!
Cheers
Seriously though, we went to town on welding tonight. It is all done now besides the battery box stuff, some wire harness tabs being replaced and any fill in or clean up after I grind/sand things back.
After more then an hour of measuring stock leaf hanger/shackle hanger locations on a 65 frame I have to use as reference, well we decided to just go for it and weld on the hangers. Probably confusing people but I have a 1965 Patrol frame here that is cut up yet can be used for reference since stock brackets remain on it. I had planned to just tack weld on the hangers and then test fit everything before burning them on for good. However, it occurred to me during all the plotting of the hangers that as long as they match stock it is ultimately what we want. If shackle angle comes out off it won't be due to the hanger locations it will be in the leaf springs, since we are matching up the hangers to stock locations. So it was decided to simply glue on the hangers in the stock locations and worry about if the leaf springs are right later rather then trying to compensate for off leaf springs by moving the hangers now. Since the truck is a restoration to stock the hangers need to go in the stock locations and leaf springs need to suit this, there is no other way to go with it. So after a bunch of plotting and such we burned on the hangers....again I used several things to get them in the stock location. One being the 49.3" spread eye to eye as per the Nissan manual and the next being locations on the 65 frame of the hangers used for reference. I got so say, if this wasn't a restoration it would be easier since I wouldn't be so worried about things matching up to stock. :ugeek:
The front leaf hanger on the back leaves burned on.
Another view...and the other side.
The RuffStuff way back shackle hangers glued on solid.
All four hangers on and ready to rock...
Holding the rear Alcan leaf spring in place. It is square, it lines up but it looks to short! Can't jump to any conclusions until all the weight is on the springs.
The rest of the pictures are just of welds and such after the frame was flipped over. By the end of this coming weekend I plan to go over everything with a grinder and sander and clean it all up. if I am lucky we will get the battery box fabricated and be just about 100% complete with frame resto by then too. But ya' know how plans go with a restoration! :roll:
The booger welds on the #2 cross member side and top are to fill in imperfections. Clean up with grinder/sander and it will look much better.
Repairs from the topside, details...going to be some fun grinding and sanding this all back! :shock:
New school meets old school!?
The NOS leaf hanger....
The frame right side up!
Cheers
Last edited:
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Ya' know man I got to agree! When you get hooked on a truck you are hooked
on it. I am hooked on Patrols down to the ridiculous details of sexy frame rails. However, what I am really digging about all this is the imperfections in the manufacture of the truck back in the 60's. This thing was not welded up by a robot, I doubt it even had a very good jig when it was assembled. A man went to work one day in japan and out came this frame, hard to get that kind of character in a truck made these days. It was also welded with an old school stick welder. This just gives it character, makes it unique and super cool and you won't find this in anything manufactured since the 1970's. At the end of a work session I grab a cold one, stand back and admire it in all is glory and all t's downfalls. I guess this is what they call passion right? As weird as that all may sound.....
It is beautiful, it is funky, it is elaborate and it is going to live on for a long long time!!
BTW, the 60-series Cruiser does the same thing to me. I can stand back and look at one for hours and just feel blissful. Not many trucks in my 20+yrs of trucks have done that to me.