1977 FJ40 Rebuild Project - AZ
- Thread starter Skywagon
- Start date
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Normally, I'm not a huge fan of yellow... BUT I stripped the red off of my 40 to go back with the factory mustard yellow because it looks great on 40's... and yellow is most proper on Piper Cubs too.
Soda blasting has a lot of merits, but all of the major auto paint manufacturers say not no, but hell no. I'm not a chemist or paint expert, I just hate doing things twice.
Keep up the good work, and keep the pics flowing.
Soda blasting has a lot of merits, but all of the major auto paint manufacturers say not no, but hell no. I'm not a chemist or paint expert, I just hate doing things twice.
Keep up the good work, and keep the pics flowing.
Question for you all. How does this flywheel look with the cracks? Can it be resurfaced or is it trashed?
Cdaniel
Undocumented Mechanic-I Am Not CDAN
Probably not good. Your machinist can tell you better. If there's enough meat left to make them go away. Still, if they are visably machined away within tolerances, micro cracks can still lurk. 
Question for you all. How does this flywheel look with the cracks? Can it be resurfaced or is it trashed?
We finally got a chance to work on it again over this holiday break, the summers here suck. It doesn't look like we made too much progress, but it was a full day of just cleaning the frame. The day started with taking off the shocks, which came off surprisingly easily, and all the remaining electrical, fuel and brake lines.
To show what we were dealing with, here's a shot of the inside frame before we got to work. Unfortunately, we both forgot our cameras so I had to resort to my iphone camera.
We started off by scrapping off as much as we could with a paint scrapper then we rolled it outside to hit it with a couple angle grinders with wire brushes.
At the end of the day, this is how it turned out, which we think looks pretty good.
The back bumper/frame area needs a little work because of rust, but it's nothing we can't fix. I think the fix will be pretty simple, actually.
To show what we were dealing with, here's a shot of the inside frame before we got to work. Unfortunately, we both forgot our cameras so I had to resort to my iphone camera.
We started off by scrapping off as much as we could with a paint scrapper then we rolled it outside to hit it with a couple angle grinders with wire brushes.
At the end of the day, this is how it turned out, which we think looks pretty good.
The back bumper/frame area needs a little work because of rust, but it's nothing we can't fix. I think the fix will be pretty simple, actually.
Looking pretty good. How are you planning on treating the frame after the repairs are done? Just curious.
That's still up in the air right now. My friend was tossing around the idea of either POR 15 or just plain old rustoleom.
coleman2347
Ole Jarhead
Great build, subscribed, I learned to fly in a cub in a 1200 ft crop dusting fld. On a hot day you just moved over the road to climb past the pine trees..
Question for you all. How does this flywheel look with the cracks? Can it be resurfaced or is it trashed?
I'd replace the flywheel myself. It looks like it has gotten pretty hot in the past and if you wind up with a shudder (which seems likely) then you'll have to drop it again to replace it. The flywheel is not that expensive anyway so worth the risk.
I learned to fly in a Stinson 108-3 and crop dusted in an Ag Wagon. I got my sea plane rating in a Cub and did a bunch of tail wheel check outs as a CFI in a Cub but being 6'6" means I could never own a Cub.
To me the Cruiser is more like a Stinson than a Cub and the Franklin 150 has similar power to a Cruiser, so what about painting it Piper yellow
Have you thought about having the frame hot dip galvanised while it's all stripped down? I'm sure there is a place to do that in PHX. That would be a great way of getting all of the rust treated and stopped.
Josh
Thanks for the update, the frame looks awsome!
