Build #27 red and white 55, full body restoration.

[kelly saad]

Sprayed and ready to weld.

 

[kelly saad]

This is underneath the cowl where the wiper linkage attaches. I need to repair this before I can spray it.

 

[kelly saad]

 

[kelly saad]

Another repair that's completely hidden from view.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

We possibly discovered the only rust free place on a 55!!!! Wooohoo!

Took you long enough. And of course it's the last place you look (or close to last hopefully).

 

[kelly saad]

Took you long enough. And of course it's the last place you look (or close to last hopefully).

Haha! You are correct. I didn't even think about that.

 

[kelly saad]

We are ready to start assembling the floor and firewall onto the jig. Monday should be the day. I might work tomorrow but my daughter and I will probably make metal robots at the shop instead. We made a round body robot last week but this week it will be square body robots.

 

[Augustiron]

could have saved all the cut out rusty sections from this thing and welded them together into the 5ust monste5

 

[kelly saad]

could have saved all the cut out rusty sections from this thing and welded them together into the 5ust monste5

Thats a cool idea! I have some rusty stuff left still.

 

[onemanarmy]

Every time I visit this thread, my heart rate goes up, and I find myself outside fluid filming my 55…

Meticulous work there Kelly…

same. spray down everything......top and bottom. the glass and everything. seats too.

so scary

 

[WarDamnEagle]

same. spray down everything......top and bottom. the glass and everything. seats too.

so scary

lol. Not a fan. But I completely understand the sentiment.

 

[PabloCruise]

Here is another example of cracks behind the hinge on a pillar. All of the doors were cracked around the hinge and some pillars too. I believe that this cracked due to the location of the spot welds on the bracket that attaches to the back side of the pillar. The spot welds are in the center of the bracket, not really adding the strength because the weld locations were not outside the hinge bolt openings. I drilled some holes on the outer part of the bracket (6 smaller holes on the black piece) that I will weld and it will add more strength. This should stop the piece from cracking in the future. Worn hinge pins and bushings really cause most of these cracks though in my opinion.

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That's a nice fix!

 

[PabloCruise]

Two pics are from my Toyota microfiche set dated Jan '81 and covering the FJ40 series, BJ40, and FJ55 for the US and Canadian markets for the period from 03/69 to 07/80. My WAG is that these panels, having their own p/n's, were probably available for purchase at one time. My own experience, I bought a set of rocker panels from a local Toyota dealer, for my '72 FJ40 back in the early '80's, using the p/n' s off this microfiche.

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I feel like that means that someone, somewhere has a set stashed in some dusty box...

 

[PabloCruise]

Woohoo! Yes! I was so worried about how to reassemble everything.

I do want to make a poster of some sort with this. Super cool!

A poster would be very cool!

 

[kelly saad]

Yesterday: started assembling. Lots of repair work needed as we go through these parts for assembly but we are getting there. Once each part is welded enough that the seam looks tight, we move to the next one. We will go back through everything and weld all the holes later.

 

[diesellibrarian]

So stoked to watch this thing come back together. That alignment jig you built is beautiful in its simplicity.

 

[kelly saad]

So stoked to watch this thing come back together. That alignment jig you built is beautiful in its simplicity.

Thanks!

 

[kelly saad]

 

[diesellibrarian]

Out of curiosity: what gauge of steel was used in 55s? Is it really heavy like an early 40 series? Or closer to 18ga as used on the 60 series?

 

[kelly saad]

Out of curiosity: what gauge of steel was used in 55s? Is it really heavy like an early 40 series? Or closer to 18ga as used on the 60 series?

Everything on the body is 20. Floors are 18. Floor braces are larger. 60 bodies are 20 also.