Builds 76 Project Silver Back (6 Viewers)

[SMG]

Since I was a teenager I always dreamed of owning a 40 and now was the time to pull the trigger. I never wanted to buy one that was restored or halfway complete. I wanted a project to call my own and to do things to my liking.

For the most part, the Indiana winters and salted roads had taken a toll on the old girl. Even though the rust was severe she still had a ton of usable parts.

$800 bucks and she was headed to the Homefront.

A quick wash before I brought the old gal home.

More to come.

 

[SMG]

Now that she's tuck away, it was time to see what I was dealing with.

My old car buddies away told me "if the rust is apparent from the outside then expect it to be 10 times worse once you tear into it".

Boy were they right! I just spent $800 bucks on a big pile of rust. What was I thinking!

There was no turning back. Time to open this can of worms. Maybe I can learn a little something.

Off with the Dog house.

Man! Look at those front shackles! Those springs were completely flat!
Its crazy what previous owners do.

 

[AdamKFarmer]

Good luck! What are your plans?

 

[skully3]

I have one just like yours sitting in my yard, its almost Identical...it was going to the crusher. It has a bad frame and need lots of something I don't have..time. One day I will get to it. Good luck with it, looks like it has a good home.

 

[SMG]

Good luck! What are your plans?

At the time, my dreams and intentions were big, (maybe a possible rebuild?) That lasted about a week. The cancer was so bad that I quickly went into salvage mode.

The tub, front fenders, hood and frame were way to far gone.

At this point I was keeping everything that was usable and scraping what was not.

Off with the hardtop and sides. I think they can be repaired.

 

[coinoperated40]

^^^^ I like the first picture of the nice shinny piece of metal under the door.....THEN last picture as it has been removed. Guess they were hiding something. Hope your helper learns from this experience, but not any words not to be repeated.
Shane

 

[SMG]

Here's how nasty the tub was.

Off to the scrapyard it goes.

More pics to follow.

 

[Weber Sarge]

There are parts of that tub that could be cut out and salvaged for someone that is doing a repair job - just saying..
Sarge

 

[Jdc1]

There are parts of that tub that could be cut out and salvaged for someone that is doing a repair job - just saying..
Sarge

There are a ton of usable parts on that tub.

 

[Weber Sarge]

I do like the PO's idea of death fang shackles , wow .
Seriously , consider letting someone have that tub , or at least cut sections of it for salvage work . OEM sheet metal is tough to find .
Sarge

 

[SMG]

Gents, I did save everything I could.

Fuel fill cavity and door, door post and front cowl. You can see in the pics that the front cowl was removed. I ended up giving it to a fellow mud member. I definitely did my part to save what I could before I scraped it.

 

[SMG]

At this point I had to make a decision about the engine. Before I started dismantling the rig. I was successful in getting the engine to run.

After researching what it would have cost to have this engine rebuilt I made the executive decision to sell the engine and accessories to another mud member.

At first I was leery of shipping a 700lb engine, but after taking some advise and researching the procedure through Fastenal. I was pleasantly surprised how cheap and easy the process was.

If I remember correctly. I think the cost to ship from Indy to South Carolina was around. $165. Not bad, considering the crate wieght was in the neighborhood of 700lbs.

I highly recommend this service for anyone shipping something large and heavy.

More to come.

 

[AdamKFarmer]

Fastenal? Can you elaborate?

 

[SMG]

Yes, Do a search about shipping via Fastenal.

They will ship pretty much anything store to store within the Continental US.
Minus California for some reason and possibly one other state.

Great Rates and great service!

 

[78fj40mg]

Third Party Logistics (3PL) | Fastenal

 

[tls3601]

700 lbs......................gotta love cast iron!!!!

 

[Weber Sarge]

Kudos for passing on that tub - I may be doing the same thing with a friend . He has a nearly rust-free '76 tub , my '77 looks like a bondo experiment gone bad and he's planning on building a cut-up pickup cab hack/crawler...this guys knows no fear offroad so it's not a bad idea . Hate the idea of hacking up a perfectly good stock tub...
Sarge

 

[awynne56]

@SMG wow, good luck, I'm envious of you mudders that have the room and height in your garage to work on them and shelter them.. my 40 barely fit with top off, Let alone do any work around it. Congrats on the new fj40

 

[SMG]

So at this point, winter was near and all that was left was a rusted out frame and some heavily pitted axles.

A lot of good parts were sold via Mud classifieds and everything I thought I could use was in storage.

My plans were to find a decent frame and start from the ground up.

While keeping watch for a frame in the classifieds. I thought it would be a good time to start removing the cancer on the bottom half of the doors.

Here's what the bottom of the ambulance doors looked like.

Thanks to Real Steel, all new sheet metal bottoms were ordered.
Meanwhile, off to the sandblaster.

 

[SMG]

I spent a lot of time getting a really nice fit. They seemed to turn out really good.