78 FJ 40 project Frank

[kbahus]

I gotta ask, what did your welder charge for all of the tub repairs? I bet it feels good to get it out of that storage unit!

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

I gotta ask, what did your welder charge for all of the tub repairs? I bet it feels good to get it out of that storage unit!

It's been almost a year now I try not to remember or focus on how much I've put into this hobby haha

I think it was around 2400 total for everything he did, I paid over a few months when I would visit to make it easier on the conscious. both of the rocker panels installed, the trans tunnel repair, drivers side floor patch panel install, pass side floor patches and under gas tank patches made by him and the back quarter panel patches made by him on both sides and the holes made by a previous owner for a cb on the back. He also fabbed a support under the drivers floor to replace a rusted out our and he filled a few rust spots in the bed area.
He picked up one of my doors today to try start on so I'm excited about that. I've got my hard top sides that he could probably easily fix but I have got to stop spending money for a while.

Becoming a home owner had more costs than I would have liked I had to have all the wiring replaced with copper wiring before I moved in and Friday the ac died of old age and no care. I knew it was going to happen but was hoping to get a few months out of it, it also decided to take out some of the new flooring when it went. The homes in a great school system and resale values are great in this area. I wish the garage was bigger but it's got enough room for my toyotas and some tools and work space.

Then the dog found trouble in his new back yard and of course it was a Sunday morning so the vet bill was higher. He's fine but apparently has a big allergy to bee stings. I'm just happy he's fine. He's been with me 10 years now.

I think the parts I bought from you are still in the boxes. I cleaned up one of the seat frames but haven't been able to get time to finish it in the last year haha. I wish I could take a week off and play land cruiser all week. But sometimes the looking forward to it is the best part. Things always go more smoothly in my head then I start working and I spend more time with broken bolts than anything else and for some reason I feel happy with it that way.

 

[Captn Conch]

Hey Fellow Floridian! You gotta love working in a two car garage after the storage unit It's probably still not enough room. I am doing a rehab on my hardtop on one side of my garage and the Cruiser on the other side. Just not enough room but it is happening. I spend a lot of time shuffling parts around...Part of the rehab process for me was finally installing a 12,000 btu window air conditioner in the garage...The heat and humidity here in SoFlo is brutal. The ac makes a world of difference. It's going to be a challenge spraying the paint in the garage. Hi temp reducer and limited space to maneuver. I'm using Klean strip aircraft paint remover and once I strip the body part its gotta stay inside or it will promptly start to rust. it's been quite a monsoon summer..every friggin afternoon..major dump with following 100% humidity. I keep telling myself every day I work on it I'm one day closer to finishing it....and by the way I have work some long hours now and again, And I am always so looking forward to getting home and working on the 40. It keeps me going. Keep the faith and Onward Though the Fog!

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

I'm not from Florida but it kinda surprised me when I first got in the house how hot the garage gets. I'm used to big cold basements up north. I'll find a way to make it work. I've got some good fans I can use to move air. I am worried about the humidity on keeping all the tools rust free but I'm sure it won't be to bad.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

My brother aptly described Florida as the land where showers don't take. You get into the shower, wash the sticky off, open the door and you're sticky again. I don't know how you do it, I would be homicidal in a week if I lived there.

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

That's all I hear when my mom visits on how her hair falls it looks bad. I notice on some days.

 

[Captn Conch]

We have many thrift stores here. I found a portable dehumidifier for cheap and it runs in the garage when the AC is off and I'm not working in there. It kept the Cruiser and tools rust free from atmospheric humidity the past 5 years, amazing how fast it fills a 3 gallon bucket. I'm from Colorado and this was totally not necessary. But I did not drive my 40 in the winter snows when they throw all that gravel and chemical crap on the roads. Having done the disassembly of the 40 I have found very little rust. I'm so glad I had treated it like that, but even the minimal surface rust has been a pain in the arse to remove.

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

I've been thinking about getting a plug in dehumidifier. My parents have one in their basement and it fills the 3 gallonish tank in about 12 hours.

I figured it would make more sense to buy a nice dehumidifier now than buy the little containers that only work once. So I've been looking at those. I also have a coupon for Home Depot to help on it.

 

[kbahus]

$2400 sounds like a lot, but all that work takes a lot of time and skill. I am trying to weigh my options if it's worth it to repair my tub or buy an Aqualu, but even those have gone up in price quite a bit from what they used to be. Keep up the good work, someday our rigs will be "finished"!

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

$2400 sounds like a lot, but all that work takes a lot of time and skill. I am trying to weigh my options if it's worth it to repair my tub or buy an Aqualu, but even those have gone up in price quite a bit from what they used to be. Keep up the good work, someday our rigs will be "finished"!

I think I saw somewhere cool cruisers is coming out with a replacement tub. It also seems like about every 4 or 5 months a couple tub body's come forsale on here or craigslist where someone bought one to finish a project and never did so they sell if for a fraction of what they paid. Might be worth it to be patient and find one of those or a parts lot and part out. I would if she wouldn't kill me haha

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

It's been a busy couple of months as always. Picked up a husky tool chest to give me some storage in the garage. Home depot keeps them priced competitively.

I finally started on the jump seat refresh. I picked up a set of good condition seats on here about a year ago from a member in Colorado and got the cruiser corps covers for all the seats last November. I really just got to start on them before life(work) got me back but I'm thinking thanksgiving will be a good day for cruiser fun since Ill be home alone with the dogs while she travels with her family. I traced the old tired foam to new stuff from the fabric store she likes the store for projects so I had coupons but man foam is not cheap. I put a layer of plastic in between after giving the seat frames a spot clean of naval jelly here and there on the little surface rust and spray painted to make sure and fight the rust from coming back.

I started on the rear brakes thinking the drivers side was the one that would need the most work since fluid would flow from it whenever the reservoir was filled but the passenger side could use a parts refresh as well as it also seems to leak from a few places. Ill follow the good advice on here and when doing one side repair both sides. The drivers side was leaking fluid and the rear brake master is always bone dry which lead me to look into them. I've yet to get the drum off on the drivers side its giving me trouble but I'll spend time on it this week. I need to hunt down some drum retainer screws they were mia when I got the wheels off.


The welder that fixed the body has been working on the passenger door, to try and replace all the bad metal and bondo filler hidden by paint. I spent months looking for rust free doors and surprise they are hard to come by on this side of the country. And bondo and paint snuck up from under a clean looking edge when I started digging into them

m


Depending on the cost and how it turns out once he's done I may just buy patch panels for the drivers side door bottom.

 

[tls3601]

Man you rig is really coming along.......good work!

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

Had somewhat of a productive day. Got the oils changed in the fjcruiser
Used up her kitty litter for the spilt oil drips
Organized the garage to make it a more workable space, or tried to
Cleaned up the hood hinges and etched them to primer and spray paint tomorrow.
Sanded some minor surface rust on the inside of a newused windshield frame I was able to get and sprayed it with east woods rust reformer. Seemed like a good product.

I tried my hand at making some minor gaskets by using a bicycle tube I saw someone on here to that. I had some success. Try and guess which two are mine and which is from cruiser corps

I got frustrated trying to get the driver side brake drum to let go so I just cleaned up the passenger sideand will attempt again soon. I got some fancy chrome lugnuts( I think they all are) to replace the old ones that have seen better days.



Im hoping to have another day of tinkering with cruisers tomorrow while she's out of town but i have some work to do first

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

I was able to bring some of my late grandfathers tools back home with me. I picked up the air compressor and what tools I could find for it. I also got a heavy duty jack, but I haven't snapped pics of it yet. I haven't been able to find cruiser time lately but hope to in the next few weeks.

The impact was in its box, he took care of what he had. I found some papers in the box with the date 1969 and 70. Not sure if it's that old or that's when it went into production.

Found a date of 1978 on the ratchet

I enjoy going through his stuff. I was never aloud to touch things in his garage when I was a kid. He fixed autos for cash on the side and tinkered when he retired on one of his cars, his truck or his boat.



The welder I've been using finished up the passenger side door. I've given myself 2 weeks to strip the driver door internals to get ready for him. It should give me motivation to get back in the garage and work some instead of dreaming about it.

 

[Weber Sarge]

I've had some of the older Rodac air tools - they were pretty good back in the day but a bit on the heavy side compared to modern stuff . Hang onto that little compressor - they were rated really conservatively and will keep up with some serious stuff if you run good full-flow fittings , as well as last forever if you change the oil once a year and don't let it gum up . Hang onto that old stuff , it's made out of real virgin tool steel , not this contaminated crap today .

Sarge

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

I've had some of the older Rodac air tools - they were pretty good back in the day but a bit on the heavy side compared to modern stuff . Hang onto that little compressor - they were rated really conservatively and will keep up with some serious stuff if you run good full-flow fittings , as well as last forever if you change the oil once a year and don't let it gum up . Hang onto that old stuff , it's made out of real virgin tool steel , not this contaminated crap today .

Sarge

Any recommendation on oil for it. Im not familiar with it at all or air compressors in general. I know it cuts on when I plug it in and I let the extra air out though a keychain type valve on the top and drain the tank. Any other maintaince I could do to keep it in good shape for years. I live in FL about a 3/4 mile from the gulf on a barrier island so fighting humidity is a losing battle. I was thinking of wiping the outside of the tank with old motor oil to give it a light protective coat.

 

[shipmag]

With that high humity open the drain plug weekly if not daily to blow out the water from the tank.

 

[handcannon]

With that high humidity open the drain plug weekly if not daily to blow out the water from the tank.

X2 on this. Compressing air puts a lot of moisture in the tank.

Don

 

[shipmag]

Some may not understand the damage done by moisture. One it ruins your pnuematic tools by causing the metal parts to rust. The moisture in the tank will cause the tank to rust from the inside out and you cant see the damage being done. But then its too late tank wall gives and tank explodes! Dmaging property or even killing people.

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

I've been debating getting a dehumidifier but the space is in our garage that we come in and out of daily so I think that would be a waste. I also read they use a lot of power when running and it would probably need to run most hours of the day to keep up with the humidity and not make a noticeable difference.