Builds 78 body off restore (cruiser #2) (1 Viewer)

[EStein]

That sort of gets caught up...I obviously didn't get to document even close to what I have been working on since I last posted over 6 months ago. I need to be better.

Next big thing is fire up the engine...hope to do that in the next couple of weeks sometime. Working on getting it driveable now (brakes, etc.) in preparation for that.

I'm super nervous to start it up...so worried that one of a thousand things could go wrong. I'm pretty confident on the wiring, and I know all the right stuff has power, but man its nerve wracking to think about. What if I didn't do something right when putting the engine together? What if I didn't tighten some bolt on accident and things go drastically wrong? What if oil leaks everywhere. lol...all part of the fun I guess.

Wow! Just spent a couple hours on your thread. Amazing. I’m up to my eyeballs rebuilding my tub. Started as patching but the deeper I got….well, you know. Haven’t posted in a long time. Keep saying I need to do better! Thanks for the motivation. Going to try to get some pics added this weekend. Make sure you video that first start!

 

[Curtice]

Wow! Just spent a couple hours on your thread. Amazing. I’m up to my eyeballs rebuilding my tub. Started as patching but the deeper I got….well, you know. Haven’t posted in a long time. Keep saying I need to do better! Thanks for the motivation. Going to try to get some pics added this weekend. Make sure you video that first start!

Good idea to keep the original tub and patching. I thought that would be more work, but after all the fitment issues, etc, I don’t know that it would have been.

 

[EStein]

Good idea to keep the original tub and patching. I thought that would be more work, but after all the fitment issues, etc, I don’t know that it would have been.

Yeah who knows. I can’t tell you how many times I wished I had just purchased a three-quarter tub from CCOT… Pretty much the only thing original left on the half tub is the top rail. But I guess for half that price I bought all my sheet-metal and a good welder and lots of experience gained…. I’ll work on getting some stuff posted… my goal is to be driving by the summer. I miss it!

 

[77HesterSue]

What color blue? I love it. Well done

 

[Curtice]

It’s called Arles Blue. Mid 90’s Land Rover color. Like many on the site, I wanted to go cadet blue, but was looking for something just a bit deeper in color. This fit the bill and turned out great.

 

[changingground]

It’s called Arles Blue. Mid 90’s Land Rover color. Like many on the site, I wanted to go cadet blue, but was looking for something just a bit deeper in color. This fit the bill and turned out great.

Stunning work. Really nice job.

 

[Curtice]

Let’s see if I can keep up on the documenting. Some work today:

Front bumper (HFS) and fog lights installed:

Aqualu tailgate. Need to figure out the weatherstripping for this still.

Roll bar installed:

As documented earlier in the thread, I wanted my seats up higher. It turned out well, but with the higher seat, I was too close to the steering wheel, so needed to move the seat back. So I purchased the tall guy kit from classic cruisers and installed it. Reverse the rear tub mount brackets and add the kit pieces to the front bolts. It is perfect now…super comfortable and the position is just right.

 

[Vae Victus]

Hmmm. Tall guy kit. Duly noted. Off I go....

 

[steveola]

Yeah who knows. I can’t tell you how many times I wished I had just purchased a three-quarter tub from CCOT… Pretty much the only thing original left on the half tub is the top rail. But I guess for half that price I bought all my sheet-metal and a good welder and lots of experience gained…. I’ll work on getting some stuff posted… my goal is to be driving by the summer. I miss it!

That’s exactly where I am. After I cut all the rusted pieces out there won’t be much left. Actually, I’m kind of afraid to have it blasted before a brace it up for fear it will just fall apart. I bought enough parts to pretty much build a half tub. In hindsight should have just bought a Gozzard or CCOT 3/4 tub before they got stupid expensive.

 

[Curtice]

That’s exactly where I am. After I cut all the rusted pieces out there won’t be much left. Actually, I’m kind of afraid to have it blasted before a brace it up for fear it will just fall apart. I bought enough parts to pretty much build a half tub. In hindsight should have just bought a Gozzard or CCOT 3/4 tub before they got stupid expensive.

I assume the CCOT tub is good quality and OEM exact measurements at that price. But looking back, even if you are replacing 90% of the metal from the original, still might be worth it to keep the OEM skeleton.

Fitment issues with the aftermarket tub were just brutal. Months of finagling and it’s not great. Case in point, I have a gap on one side between the cowl and apron. I’ve spent days trying to readjust and realign to panels, but it is just a bit messed up. I think it’s domino effect from adjustments I made when fitting the tub to the cowl.

Here you can see the driver gap vs the passenger (too big) gap.

Maybe a 3/4 tub wouldn’t have these issues.

 

[steveola]

Thanks for the photos. Great looking 40. Love the color. I can see what you mean. You have a good point, most likely any new tub is going to have major fitment issues. It might be a good idea to work with what I have.

 

[EStein]

That’s exactly where I am. After I cut all the rusted pieces out there won’t be much left. Actually, I’m kind of afraid to have it blasted before a brace it up for fear it will just fall apart. I bought enough parts to pretty much build a half tub. In hindsight should have just bought a Gozzard or CCOT 3/4 tub before they got stupid expensive.

Holy cow no kidding. They almost tripled in price in 6 months!

 

[EStein]

I assume the CCOT tub is good quality and OEM exact measurements at that price. But looking back, even if you are replacing 90% of the metal from the original, still might be worth it to keep the OEM skeleton.

Fitment issues with the aftermarket tub were just brutal. Months of finagling and it’s not great. Case in point, I have a gap on one side between the cowl and apron. I’ve spent days trying to readjust and realign to panels, but it is just a bit messed up. I think it’s domino effect from adjustments I made when fitting the tub to the cowl.

Here you can see the driver gap vs the passenger (too big) gap.

View attachment 2882062View attachment 2882063

Maybe a 3/4 tub wouldn’t have these issues.

Yeah agreed. I just want to keep as much as I can for sentimental reasons….I just bought a clean hood to use for patches for my bondo’d original hood. Kind of silly but that’s me.

On a positive note your paint is spectacular!

 

[steveola]

Holy cow no kidding. They almost tripled in price in 6 months!

No kidding! I don’t see how they plan on selling these to anybody especially since there are alternatives out there. There’s a guy on the forum here that goes into detail on how they didn’t support him when he got a jacked up 3/4 tub. Honestly, I just don’t think they get it!

 

[steveola]

Yeah agreed. I just want to keep as much as I can for sentimental reasons….I just bought a clean hood to use for patches for my bondo’d original hood. Kind of silly but that’s me.

On a positive note your paint is spectacular!

Yep, that’s what I’m doing with mine.

 

[Curtice]

Little more work in a few things over the weekend.

PC’d the flywheel and clutch cover.

And got it installed. Picture from underneath:

Then, I decided to mount the Dakota digital control box underneath the glove box, next to the 3FE ECU. While it worked out well, it’s kind of an ugly mess and I worry about someone kicking things or whatever. I do need to clean it up at some point, but for now, decided ti just cover it. This is what it looks like:

So I had my son make a box of sorts out of some spare ABS plastic I had. Looks OK and will do for now, until I get around to doing something better at some point. For now, keeps things cleaner as hidden.

 

[FloridaPhillip]

Little more work in a few things over the weekend.

PC’d the flywheel and clutch cover.
View attachment 2884502

And got it installed. Picture from underneath:
View attachment 2884501

Then, I decided to mount the Dakota digital control box underneath the glove box, next to the 3FE ECU. While it worked out well, it’s kind of an ugly mess and I worry about someone kicking things or whatever. I do need to clean it up at some point, but for now, decided ti just cover it. This is what it looks like:

View attachment 2884503

So I had my son make a box of sorts out of some spare ABS plastic I had. Looks OK and will do for now, until I get around to doing something better at some point. For now, keeps things cleaner as hidden.

View attachment 2884504

That view from underneath, looking up is something else....love it. Things are looking good, great build.

 

[jjcruiser77]

Beautiful build here Curtice. I was wondering if you might happen to have some more pics of your cart you built for your tub to sit on. Measurements to, if you would have them as well. I’m going to have to build one here shortly and I really like the one I’ve seen in your posts. Thanks

 

[Curtice]

@jjcruiser77 Sorry I don’t have any measurements and I’ve since tore it down (taking up too much space in the shop). But I just measured the underside of the tub to get the measurements where I wanted to tub to rest, if that makes sense. But here is a pic

 

[Curtice]

Windshield glass installed, as well as washer tubing routed to the squirter nozzle. I elected to use the hood nozzle rather than the above windshield one.

Couple pics of the new hinge pins I picked up from @SMG