Builds 79 Aussie BJ55 build (1 Viewer)

[Ol Yeller]

Fiddled around with the press and brake and happy with the ease at which it does this particular bend..

Its been a stinker today with a few fires popping up near by.. theres two near my folks place about 10mins down the road with near by suburbs that have been evacuated.. we got our shiz together just in case it came this way and we needed to bail..

you can see how dry it is.. we wouldnt stand a chance against ember attacks and the winds been howling through all afternoon..

When the fires came through my brothers cabin (couple yrs ago) the local fired dept. screwed sprinklers onto the roof soffits and kept it & the cabins they could reach with water...everything outside those sprinkled radius burned, very close for him but luckily just a summer cabin. Don’t know if you have an option to creat a wet zone near your house? Another year my dad was making hay while a fire was up the mountain and he had rolls of smoldering bark falling onto the hay feild, until you see it it’s hard to comprehend how fast that fire can move, the smoldering fallout lights the fire far ahead of the burning front so it just keeps gaining momentum.

Tough go, good luck, hope the winds are friendly to you & yours.

 

[brisveganbj42]

Put the new press brake to work tonight.. except its now done a seal

Fingers crossed I can reco it for the price of a rubber o-ring and not have to deal with warranty claims, sending back and waiting another month for a replacement..

in the mean time I got some more done to the 55... rear roof section and upper D pillars are wire brushed using my fancy new extension bit(s):

Allowing me to dislodge the rust deep in this cavity:

Before clearing out with compressed air and applying this stuff using a 5l pressure pack and wand: https://www.rustoleum.com.au/produc...st-treatment/rust-converter-primer-and-sealer

I'm unlikely to get in there with paint so figured it would be a good start to neutralize the surface rust and protect it with some primer.. I used about 500mls with a fair bit of wastage on those ares and really need to give it another coat but I dont have a device that will allow me to not waste as much..

Then I got onto making a longer section of inner roof channel.. I had cut my ~600mm lengths in half so I could get them into the press brake (when it was working) to tweak them as required.. then joined a few together to make a 1400mm length.. I'm focusing on aligning the door seal areas rather than the bits you wont see under the roof:

Thats about all I could get in this evening. I managed to finish up just after the new year rang in..

 

[tucker74]

My $2c is find the right lights, nothing takes character away quicker than generic taillights, but it’s not my build and judging by everything else your doing whatever you choose will be well executed.

The late ‘78-‘79 tail lights are a completely different level of unobtanium since they were low volume and only made for two years. I searched for 4 years to source a decent (not good) set for my old ‘79

 

[Ol Yeller]

I managed to finish up just after the new year rang in..

Looking fw to your progress this year, hope it’s a great one for you & yours.

 

[brisveganbj42]

Looking fw to your progress this year, hope it’s a great one for you & yours.

Appreciate it mate, thanks for the kind words and many returns to you and all our cruiser brothers and sisters.

 

[brisveganbj42]

The first coat of the Rust Converter Primer and Sealer has set hard and looks like a good option to protect those areas that are hard to access:

I applied it with this which is less than ideal but gets into those hard to reach places.

 

[brisveganbj42]

My goals for the next few months to try to be able to make enough progress for engineering, rego and OCKA. this will result in the bare minimum needed to complete a stage by the particular deadline.. for example paint will be a bit better than a rattle can job but not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

Once complete and on the road these things can be revisited (if and when funds allow), along with all my plans for front bar, rear bar, winch, air con, air compressor mounting, dual battery and 12v systems.

 

[Ol Yeller]

Your a better man than me if you can hit all those dates from 6 months out, nice to have a plan!

 

[brisveganbj42]

Tonights effort.. Press brake fixed with a 2T jack I had layin around..

Does the job bending 1.6mm sheet.


And 99% done on the roof channel above the fixed glass..

and both channel sections for the pax side roof..

 

[brisveganbj42]

The late ‘78-‘79 tail lights are a completely different level of unobtanium since they were low volume and only made for two years. I searched for 4 years to source a decent (not good) set for my old ‘79

Thanks for confirming my suspicions!

Bit of a mock up:

I agree that none look as good as the original.. but i'm leaning towards the bigger of the LED options (right pic)..

 

[RUSH55]

Tail lights look great from here
Inspiring work as usual on all the metal fab

 

[brisveganbj42]

some of the outer layers at the top of the A pillar removed so i can get the roof channel in as it has other bits layered over the top..

 

[brisveganbj42]

Mocked up of the roof channel in position

forgot to get a photo of the rear section mocked up.. but it goes over the top of that bit. it'll need a bit of massaging and the channel will need some squashing (top to bottom) but that shouldn't be too big a deal. I also figure that I can use body filler to fill any major gaps between the door and seals, the main thing is there is no rust.

and first coat of primer after holes for spot welds drilled out..

 

[Ol Yeller]

Those shots of the A pillar opened up sure show how they layered the rust issues in right from the factory, no protection at all on all those sandwiched pieces.

 

[brisveganbj42]

Two coats of primer, a top coat and seam sealer on my welds for good measure..

and the roof channels are in for good now..

Still need to finish a few bits that need massaging with the hammer

And a few of the spot welds above B and C Pillars need revisiting:

Didnt get to finish welding this in.. The fluro's activated my welding helmet so I'll wait until I get some daylight to finish that off.

I also tried to C.A.D. the inner upper A pillar tie in that had almost completel rusted away.. I started off with a piece of cardboard in the same profile as the roof channel so I could see what it took to make it

using whats left as a starting point:

There are tie in's to the corner of the windscreen that need to go in under the outer skin (which I've still got to remove:

You can kinda see what is left here (that thin slice of material..

..

Anyway.. happy with tonights progress.

 

[brisveganbj42]

Been out in the shed late every night this week, did some over time today to help finance this build, and did the domestics/child thing all week too.. so thought i'd give myself a break and have an early night (eg: bed before midnight)...

that said I finished welding out the tie-ins on the roof channel, and the patch on the rear corner, prep'd the outer rear conner piece with some primer, and got the upper inner windscreen brace removed.. so I still ticked some things off the list..

whats left of the upper inner A pillar brace..

All gone..

Then had another go with my CAD template since everything was out of the way..

The rear corner and roof channel tie in's

And the rear corner outer piece..

 

[PabloCruise]

Those shots of the A pillar opened up sure show how they layered the rust issues in right from the factory, no protection at all on all those sandwiched pieces.

Imagine what a different future our Pigs would be living if they were designed a little different/better with regard to rust!

 

[RUSH55]

Interested to see how that upper A-pillar piece works out...

 

[scrapdaddy]

Imagine what a different future our Pigs would be living if they were designed a little different/better with regard to rust!

Yeah, just a simple dunk in a rust inhibitor tank before painting.

 

[xtiaan2000]

Are those out there now for private businesses?!