Builds 1969 FJ40 Father / Son Build (1 Viewer)

[royal cake]

Crazy how they missed that rust. And they were doing so good before.

This is the second setback I’ve heard of this week with a local customer. Marcus, the current owner of Morgan’s old 69FJ40 just had his tub delivered from the sandblaster on a flatbed, and had the heart wrenching experience of seeing a big shiny spot in the middle of the rear sill (whereas the rest of the tub was in that dull, ready-to-flash-rust color. Climbing up onto the truck it was immediately apparent that they hit it with the forklift while they were loading it. He said the bed no has a crease down its entire length.

Ouch! Yeah I guess not everything goes perfect, but it hurts when you pay a premium for someone to do a good job. If he would have told me I would have been happy to pick it up to have it blasted.
Just have to keep trucking along!

 

[royal cake]

Some more odds and ends today. Starting on the brake lines with a kit that I got a long time ago; not even sure if I remember where from. Cleaned up the unions, chased the threads and painted the outsides.
I realized I one have one of the two front brake unions so I’ll have to keep on the lookout for one. I don’t know what happened to my other one; maybe something was wrong with it. But I usually keep that stuff around anyway.

 

[royal cake]

Also got some more interior silver items painted.

 

[65swb45]

If you find yourself near Burbank Shane, I’ve got the front lines off the 66 I’ve been parting. You can help yourself.

 

[royal cake]

If you find yourself near Burbank Shane, I’ve got the front lines off the 66 I’ve been parting. You can help yourself.

What a coincidence Mark- I just told my wife I should try to stop by this week since I’m off. I have a huge list I’ll bring by; and yeah will be happy to get a union then! I’ll give you a ring tomorrow and set up a time.

 

[royal cake]

Holy moly! For the cap gutter back from sandblast and all the truth comes out.
However I am pretty happy that the rest of it seems to be in good condition.
I’ll epoxy primer and weld these holes up and move on.

 

[65swb45]

If you can weld that…we need to talk!

 

[royal cake]

If you can weld that…we need to talk!

Let me at it first and we’ll see how it comes out

 

[royal cake]

So I’ll post a couple things I did and maybe folks can chime in if they have different methods.
For the “inside c-channel” it’s a lot easier cause I can stick a backing piece of steel. This makes it a lot easier to weld the thin areas and also gives it extra structure.
Once that’s tacked in, I had to find a balance of heat and feed then grind it all down. It was just too thin to lay a continuous bead.

 

[royal cake]

For the “bottom” where you can’t have extra thickness with a backing plate; I just had to play with it a little to get a tiny bit of weld down, then build off that. I included a link to a video; hopefully that works. I didn’t get a “before” picture of the holes.

 

[middlecalf]

Yup, good stuff! Have you tried using 1/8” copper plate for a backing? I use plates from metal remnants in Utah. The plate is just backing, doesn‘t attach to your piece.

 

[royal cake]

Yup, good stuff! Have you tried using copper for a backing?

Hey thanks! Yes for the video I have a magnetic thing with a copper plate for those areas.
Short if just cutting out sections, this was the only thing I could think to do. Maybe someone who can gas weld better than I, or braze, may be a good solution too.

 

[middlecalf]

I see now that magnetic copper backer you used, I used one of those too, very handy. For non-structural stuff what you’re doing is good enough. With the natural hole your filling your getting good melt through too . I actually just used my wire feeder with no mig - I was welding outside with a breeze - since I was going to be doing a lot of grinding and sanding anyhow. True welders would probably be appalled.

 

[royal cake]

I see now that magnetic copper backer you used, I used one of those too, very handy. For non-structural stuff what you’re doing is good enough. With the natural hole your filling your getting good melt through too . I actually just used my wire feeder with no mig - I was welding outside with a breeze - since I was going to be doing a lot of grinding and sanding anyhow. True welders would probably be appalled.

Oh yeah for sure. I have a friend who is a great TIG welder and he comes over and says “nice welds” sarcastically. Haha

 

[65swb45]

There’s a meme for that:

 

[royal cake]

I’ll pose another question for folks out there…
I generally dislike painting parts that have to be assembled, probably because I’m not good at painting and I’m not patient and don’t let it cure.
Having said that I was interested to try and plate some parts (in this case the glove box catch).
I made a nickel solution and am having issues getting it to plate on the inside areas. I’ve tried turning the part, adjusting amperage, time, etc. Anyway just curious if folks have tried this with success.

 

[royal cake]

Got the cap gutter back from the shop today after sandblasting, rust preventative and primer. Hopefully that thing is good to go for a while.
I tried the first river today. These are the McMaster aluminum 1/8 inch with a really good fit. I wanted to see if I could get a washer on there as well to spread the load on the fiberglass side. I cut an air chisel bit flat and made a divot to help form the rivet. On the example below I then moved over to the flat of the bit. I think it looks ok- it went fast, I can probably turn the pressure down quite a bit. Anyone see any issues before I put them all in?

 

[locklaw]

Got the cap gutter back from the shop today after sandblasting, rust preventative and primer. Hopefully that thing is good to go for a while.
I tried the first river today. These are the McMaster aluminum 1/8 inch with a really good fit. I wanted to see if I could get a washer on there as well to spread the load on the fiberglass side. I cut an air chisel bit flat and made a divot to help form the rivet. On the example below I then moved over to the flat of the bit. I think it looks ok- it went fast, I can probably turn the pressure down quite a bit. Anyone see any issues before I put them all in?

View attachment 3212410View attachment 3212411View attachment 3212412

I think it will hold but the risk with the air chisel is damaging the roof or cracking with too much force. I went through a lot of options and so far a lightly modified mechanical chain breaker works best for both consistency in looks, relative speed and ease but with fine control. Too much pressure splits the end.

 

[royal cake]

I think it will hold but the risk with the air chisel is damaging the roof or cracking with too much force. I went through a lot of options and so far a lightly modified mechanical chain breaker works best for both consistency in looks, relative speed and ease but with fine control. Too much pressure splits the end.

Thanks yeah I know what you’re talking about. I’m going to do a couple sample pieces tomorrow in a real low pressure then I’ll see if I can do the clamp method. That makes sense.

 

[locklaw]

Thanks yeah I know what you’re talking about. I’m going to do a couple sample pieces tomorrow in a real low pressure then I’ll see if I can do the clamp method. That makes sense.

Most important thing is what it looks like under the roof, not from the top (although this is what you will always see). That is the seal surface and rough/jagged edges will get you water in the cab