1987 LJ70 frame swap + off road mods build thread (2 Viewers)

[Gubbtratt1]

Today I got started on welding the body. It was a lot easier than I expected. The big welder with it's 32 current options didn't have one that worked well, the highest setting on the low position of the main switch wasn't hot enough, and the lowest setting on the high position is what I've been welding the 3mm frame with. So, I brought out the small welder and it liked thin steel a lot better than the thicker stuff I usually weld. It still had some problems with the wire getting stuck to the nozzle, but the welds turned out nice and it didn't randomly shut off.

After getting it almost done I ran out of wire. Well, I have 25kg, but 10kg is too rusty to use and the rest is on a 15kg coil in the big welder. I'll have to pop by Motonet or Puuilo tomorrow.

Right now I'm ignoring the underside, as I'll tip it on its side for better access when I lift the body off the old frame. Once I get there though I'll get to some interesting welding. The body seems to be 1mm or slightly thinner, and I'm planning to replace the rocker panels with 6mm u-section. 3mm square tube would be more than enough, but I happen to have 10 meters of 6mm u-section, so that's what I will use.

Most of the exhaust system is somewhere in the forest around the previous owner, and a new original exhaust is very expensive. I've had the idea of having it exit in front of the passenger rear wheel almost since I first bought it, but today I got an idea to make it simpler to build and more protected against rocks: have the muffler(s) bolted to the body as high as possible without melting the passengers shoes, and have them connected to what's left of the original exhaust by one of those galvanised steel hoses.

I also got a great job offer for this summer, so the budget has almost doubled. I won't act like that's the case though, since I know how much unaccounted costs there is on a restoration project.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

I got a new roll of wire today and finished the welding, except for a small portion of the front seam where I need to add a little piece of sheet metal.

I then ground down the welds...

...and put on a quick layer of spray paint to better see how even it is.

It will need some filler to even out the weld, but the overall shape is fine so not any thick portions. One layer will probably be enough for my standards. This is great news since a thick layer of filler can crack easily, especially on an off road vehicle. Hopefully I can get all visible fixes as good as this one.

If the other side goes this smoothly I can probably lift the body off the old frame by next week.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

The left fender is now finished as far as welding goes. I got a bit greedy with the grinder though, after I had it all smooth I noticed a hole, so I tried to weld it shut, but as the surrounding steel was barely there at all it just got bigger. What I thought would be just one or two tacks turned into this:

After I finally found solid steel in all directions I ground it down (careful to only remove weld this time) and as usual painted it to see how good I got it.

It's definitely not the original shape around the bottom corner as I cut off to much from the original parts and had to add some sheet metal, but as long as it clears the door it's fine.

Right after I was finished with the welding the new rectifier arrived. It didn't work. I have updated my charge problem thread with the details.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

I haven't had time to get anything done on the cruiser today, but I did do some planning of the trunk. Since I'm keeping the backseat it isn't huge, and I have a lot of stuff I want to have a good space for as well as some things that must be permanently mounted, so I decided to make an organiser that takes up the entire bottom half.

The organiser will be made from steel, aluminium, plywood and maybe some wood.

At the bottom right there will be an electrical compartment with a 95ah battery and winch solenoids. The main switch and remote for the winch will be located on the outside so I don't have to open the rear doors to use the winch. On the front panel of the compartment there will be a voltmeter and two welding plugs. The welding plugs will be used as a high current power outlet, mainly for jumpstarts. They're cheaper than Anderson plugs, can take more current, can be mounted on a wall and are smaller. The battery will be connected to the front batteries by a 35 or 50mm2 cable through a main switch located in the cab.

On top of the electrical compartment there will be a small storage space with a vise mounted on a telescope arm made from two square tubes. A vise will be especially useful for me as I'm in forestry, so I can put a chainsaw or clearing saw blade in it for sharpening or servicing. The rest of the space will probably house jump leads and possibly some recovery equipment.

To the left of the electrical compartment and storage space there will be a thick plywood wall and mounted on the other side there will be a 3kg fire extinguisher. To the left of the fire extinguisher there will be a toolbox just stood on the floor. The toolbox won't fill the entire space, so it will share it with some more equipment, probably the rest of the recovery gear as well as snow chains and an axe.

On top of the toolbox there will be a removeable section. If I remove this section as well as the fire extinguisher and everything on the floor I have a 90cm wide full height cargo space. This removeable section consists of a shelf with a locker underneath. Ideally the locker would have a jalusi door, but I'm not sure if I can make one that actually works. The locker would house smaller stuff that would be at risk of falling out and getting lost if it were in an open storage space.

The top of the organiser will consist of a plywood shelf split in two pieces. There will also be a removeable grid keeping cargo from falling onto the backseat passengers. I have found grids to be very useful if you have some carabiners, you can hang small stuff on them or secure grocery bags to them.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

Working on accessories that won't be relevant for a year or so continues with the roof rack. I guess I'm getting tired of welding or something.

The base is two Thule Squarebars, 75kg capacity each. This is the cargo space, the side bars are just for mounting lights to. The local dollar store had a sale with work lights for 6€ each and LED bars for 40€ each, so I got six work lights and two bars. The bars will be mounted under the front rack and I'll have two work lights in each direction. On the left side of the racks I'll mount a hi lift, shovel and possibly some traction boards, and the right side will be reserved for cargo.

I also test fitted the snorkel. Made from 3" galv drain pipe.

I will make a complete snorkel system connected to all breathers so I only get electrical problems if I drive in deep water. I'm also considering a bilge pump so I only get electrical problems in the engine bay, but I might have too many leaks for that to be effective. I'm undecided what to do with the breathers though, should I connect them to the same snorkel or should I make a second one? Do I risk a runaway if I tip over and oil or fuel gets into the air intake? Logically it should go out through the snorkel though, and not into the engine... Best would be if there is some cheap readily available device I can put on the lines to allow air but not oil or diesel to pass through.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

The charging is fixed! I got a new original regulator from a scrapped Tercel. I also had to fix the dashboard as I accidentally burnt a wire while testing.

Originally I planned to solder it, but then I noticed there's screws on both sides of the break, so I came up with a much easier fix:

The glow plugs have a new interesting problem (most likely the same problem, just does different things now that the charging works)

After I had the charging figured I decided to connect some more work lights. I usually botch together something with screw terminals and crimp connectors, but since this will live on the roof of a car I decided to do it properly. I soldered the wires...

...insulated the connections with self-vulcanising tape...

...and covered it all in self-vulcanising tape to make it sturdy and waterproof.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

I didn't get a lot done on the cruiser this weekend, as I put one and a half day on cutting down some trees. I got started on the right side wheelarch though.

As I was about to remove the paint on the replacement part for welding I noticed some rust at the edge. So, I decided to fix that before I get it welded to the rest of the body.

The double folded edge had some rust, which is common on all older cars. I decided to replace both layers of the rusted portion with some 2mm sheet. Much easier for me to make and should be a lot less prone to rusting.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

Got a little bit of welding done today. It got extremely porous for some reason, I'm not sure why. The gas flows fine and the metal was pretty clean. Shouldn't be too much of a problem though, it's not exactly a critical load bearing component.

I also did some maintenance on my pneumatic components.

All the gauges are correct enough. One shows half a bar too much, but that's pretty easy to adjust. It might even show wrong because I accidentally adjusted it last time I had it apart.

The regulator leaks a bit. It might be related to the fact that I didn't have any seals of correct size, so some o-rings are way too tight, some are too loose and all flat seals are made from an old tyre tube. It's a lot better than with the original 70 year old seals though. I'm hoping I can get it proof and use it on the cruiser, it's much nicer to use than modern counterparts. If correct size o-rings and mounting the membrane with silicone doesn't fix it I might have to give up though.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

I have a lot going on in April, so there hasn't been and won't be much time to work on the Cruiser. Today I found an hour to get the roof wiring done though.

All six work lights are connected along a wire. The sides will be on one switch and the back on another, to be able to use them as reversing lights in public places without blinding everyone.

A week ago I started a rustproofing experiment.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

Got the final fender piece tacked in place today. Now I just have three rust holes left and then I can pick the body off the frame.

Next weekend being easter means I have four free days as well as no weekend program, so then I should have time to get things done.

I have come up with a bunch of new plans and ideas, including 35" tyres, hot dip galvanise the frame and remote control air suspension. I've also found room for twice the air tank capacity, instead of 12l under the bonnet I'll have 5.5l under the bonnet, 12l under the floor and 5.5l in the trunk.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

Today I was about to finish welding the wheelarch, but the porosity problem has gotten serious enough that even I am starting to get concerned.

So, I decided to finish the roof rack instead. I didn't get it completely done since I was troubleshooting the welder through Reddit at the same time, but I have the LED bars as well as two more work lights mounted, and most of the assorted metric and imperial bolts of various lengths and conditions that used to hold it together has been replaced with fresh M8 bolts, nuts and washers.

 

[coldtaco]

Running out of gas or forgot to open the valve?

 

[Gubbtratt1]

Running out of gas or forgot to open the valve?

I found a pretty serious leak at a union in the welder. Got it fixed hopefully good enough with some gasket silicone.

 

[coldtaco]

Had the same thing happen today, had to replace the tank.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

Had the same thing happen today, had to replace the tank.

Luckily my leak was after the solenoid valve, so I didn't waste any more gas than normal welding does.

I found some helpers in the garage today. I wonder if I can teach them to weld?

 

[Gubbtratt1]

The chickens weren't very good welders. The welder works fine now though, so I got everything that doesn't need filler sheet welded.

I've upgraded from angle grinder to belt sander to get the welds smooth. It's a bit underdimensioned, but I have a lot more control of what gets ground so it's looking a lot better than the other side. Looking surprisingly good to me considering how crooked the pieces are.

The roof rack somehow isn't completely done despite it being all I could work on yesterday. It's getting close though, I just have to replace a bolt, drill two holes, bend a piece of metal and cut the bars to exact length.

I also went and bought three Hella Rallye 3003 for the fantastic price of 30€. They aren't in perfect condition, but I already have the LED bars for when I need a lot of light. The Hellas should give me plenty wide light pattern for offroading while also giving me a bit more brightness in the warmer halogen tones for foggy and snowy conditions.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

Have I not gotten anything significant done since 19th april? Anyways, I did get a little work done today. The roof rack is completely done with tool mounts...

...and the wheelarch is completely welded.

I planned to also get at least something done on the rust holes underneath the side window...

Apparently this will be a two part post, why can I only attach five pictures per post?

 

[Gubbtratt1]

...but I got a bit stuck in the mud while picking up some firewood with the Land Rover, so I got a bit delayed. Luckily it made it out just by removing the trailer and putting snow chains under the tyres, so I didn't have to wait all night for a tractor. It really needs some better tyres, the Urban Terrains are useless in mud.

 

[Gubbtratt1]

The roof rack is done and the MIG gas bottle is empty and sent off for refilling, so I cleaned the workbench and decided to start working on the electric winch.

It doesn't work, and the problem is in the only component I don't understand how it works (the motor).

 

[Gubbtratt1]

The winch is fixed, turned out to be the wrong size brushes. As I was running the winch I realised it spins the wrong way. It's too wide to fit between the hitch and the rear light, so I had planned to have the motor, which is the smallest part, behind the light. However, that would make the winch either spool in in reverse or at the top of the drum. So, I decided to mount it the other way, with the clutch behind the light. To make it fit a bit better I cut out a chunk of the light. It will result in approximately 18.5cm of rear bumper behind the frame. Stock is about 14, and with no modifications to the light it would be 20cm.