Build DADs Landmark (restomod)

[Downey]

In the desert race trucks we sponsored they had to add additional tubing to angulate the track bar front mounting crossmember because rear end wrap up was ripping out the front crossmember (since wrap up is trying to pull a wheelie on that crossmember).

 

[White Stripe]

So would you recomend splitting it? Or leave it together and sealing the seams?



The pinion angle may have an oiling issue. Thats a good point. I imagine at a high rate of speed oil will be flying everywhere, but slow speeds it could be an issue. It is adjusted that way to help with my short driveline and ujoint angles. I suppose i will see how it goes.

As far as the track bar, the pictures may be misleading there is a bushing close to the crosmember and a shackle from there to the heim.

Ive set some up like this before, allows for movement while suspension is articulating. Altho ive never put one on anything with close to as much horsepower. Hopefully it holds up.

Depends on the amount of rust in the seam. Post pics

 

[Eric H]

Very true most of the force should be up. Perhaps i should add at least a plate gusset for peace of mind. The hardest abuse this will see is an ocasional burnout or a small rock garden.

My overall goal has changed a little. I went from all out wheeler to road trip/gravel road machine.

I looked into the possible/probable pinion bearing oil issue more. Opinions are all over the board. Im thinking that i will most likely run a little thinner oil and overfill it. I will keep an eye on it definatly dont want to be making any sudden stops. If i have to, one idea i found is adding a remote oil pump. Or at that point i can just rotate it back to a better angle.

Mr white stripe i will get a picture this afternoon.

 

[White Stripe]

You could just flip your rear diff cover upside down. That would raise the fill plug level.

 

[69LC]

Or Add a higher fill port.

 

[Eric H]

Or Add a higher fill port.

You could just flip your rear diff cover upside down. That would raise the fill plug level.

Here was my solution to the higher fill plug. I painted it black and it is installed on the rear end already. I had these covers on a rock crawler that i built fj80 based axles for. Super tough and the drain plug is a nice feature.

Depends on the amount of rust in the seam. Post pics

Sorry the pictures are not the best but sort of shows you what im dealing with as far as the seams. More or less surface rust, no holes or bad cancer spots. The tub was undercoated before it was originally installed 30 years ago. It was mostly inside but has spent about 3years total outside within the last 8 years.

speaking of the 30 year ago tub install... i believe this was done to drop the tub on with the steering column still attached to the frame. The stock one was so hard to get off i eventually just ended up cutting it!

Luckily i have a firewall that i can use to cut a patch panel from. It came from a large lot of fj40 parts that i bought a while back and parted a few pieces out of/ kept some goodies.

 

[White Stripe]

Here was my solution to the higher fill plug. I painted it black and it is installed on the rear end already. I had these covers on a rock crawler that i built fj80 based axles for. Super tough and the drain plug is a nice feature.

Sorry the pictures are not the best but sort of shows you what im dealing with as far as the seams. More or less surface rust, no holes or bad cancer spots. The tub was undercoated before it was originally installed 30 years ago. It was mostly inside but has spent about 3years total outside within the last 8 years.

speaking of the 30 year ago tub install... i believe this was done to drop the tub on with the steering column still attached to the frame. The stock one was so hard to get off i eventually just ended up cutting it!

Luckily i have a firewall that i can use to cut a patch panel from. It came from a large lot of fj40 parts that i bought a while back and parted a few pieces out of/ kept some goodies.

Hmm. Looks like their is likely some rust in that seam that a wire wheel won't get. Yeah you might want to seperate it. Likely you will find some rust in the A pillar seam area as well. Might be best to do the rear quarters and whatever else you want to do to the rear tub first b4 splitting the two. Before you split the two hang the hard doors and get the gap right and tighten the hinges on the doors. Then when you reattatch the two hang the doors again and get the tub lined up with the door gap like it was b4 and then weld. Thats my idea anyway as to how to keep things lined up.

 

[Eric H]

Making sure the door gap is good is great advice. Thank you. I have the 3/16 style rear quarter replacements that should beef the rear up a little.

Do you see any problem with bolting the halfs together instead of welding? would it possibly shift? I was thinking if needed i could add some rod style radiator braces to the firewall (with small heims for adjust-ability) to "sure" things up. How do the 3/4 aluminum tub guys do it? Wantiing to bolt it so that i can paint things completely before reassembly.

 

[White Stripe]

Making sure the door gap is good is great advice. Thank you. I have the 3/16 style rear quarter replacements that should beef the rear up a little.

Do you see any problem with bolting the halfs together instead of welding? would it possibly shift? I was thinking if needed i could add some rod style radiator braces to the firewall (with small heims for adjust-ability) to "sure" things up. How do the 3/4 aluminum tub guys do it? Wantiing to bolt it so that i can paint things completely before reassembly.

I've never seen someone bolt on a cowl to a steel tub but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. The aqualu tub overlaps the steel floor on the cowl up to the 45 then stops. It has holes in the floor. After u line the tub up with everything, you drill through those holes into the steel in multiple places and install bolts. Once u have the holes drilled u pull it apart, paint the steel, add a ton of marine grade seam sealer and bolt it down tight. The factory a pillar bolts are also used to bolt the tub on. U can look at my build thread in the link in my signature and see that. I have a aqualu tub.

 

[Eric H]

So a little bit of work done today. Stripped the firwall and started welding up holes.

Got more than that done but you get the idea. I need to cut out some patch pieces for the rest.

My big scary patch cut from a random canabilized firewall i picked up with another rig i parted out.

If anyone needs a piece of this, minus the one i cut or the hindges/dash knobs let me know! Be happy to ship on your dime.

IS THIS A STOCK GAS PEDAL? PRETTY BENT UP THINKING ABOUT USING SOMETHING ELSE. WHAT OTHER OPTIONS ARE OUT THERE? THANKS

 

[Eric H]

Old vs new

All welded up

Ground smooth

Removed as much paint as i could with a 4.5 wire wheel. Barely any rust under the paint. Pretty sure is por15 or simmilar coating. Im very grateful my dad took the time to coat the underside of the tub 30 years ago.

Sprayed a rattle can automotive primer on it to keep the rust away. Pretty sure im going to have the tub blasted before final paint but who knows how long it will be before then.

 

[Eric H]

Started working on rear quarters. Got one side tacked on. Lots of holes to drill for spot welds. The support piece was bent and a bit rusty. With 3/16 quarters i just cut it off. Here are some pictures.

 

[Eric H]

These holes on top are for a soft top correct? Since im going with a hard top i can weld them up?

 

[White Stripe]

Not sure what those holes are for. Im sure someone had a reason but I dont see any reason why they shouldnt be welded up.

 

[Jdc1]

These holes on top are for a soft top correct? Since im going with a hard top i can weld them up?

They are stock. I had mine welded as the top will never come off.

 

[Eric H]

They are stock. I had mine welded as the top will never come off.

What are they for?

 

[Jdc1]

What are they for?

I believe they were for the soft top. There should be 7 per side IIRC.

 

[Eric H]

Been a few weeks... Here is how she sits as of tonight.

new meats and wheels! this is the spare that i still need to make a bumper/ carrier for/ 37.x12.5x17 ironman all country mt.

Astrovan hydroboost mounted. I bought a universal mounting plate off ebay and cut it down to fit the firewall. Used 3 of the studs off the astrovan setup in the plate.

Here is the super short push rod and altered pedal. I hope i have enough throw to lock the brakes up. Does anyone know the movement required to do this? on the rod its probably about 1.5 inches of travel and the pedal comes about half an inch from the floor. My only other option is to space the booster off of the firewall.

Im working with aftermarket fenders. Ive had to do some tweaking, and i added a few more bolts to fix some gaps but its working out ok.

I cut them for my shock mounts. Im just going to use one bolt to mount them to the frame.

 

[Eric H]

I cut my "sliders/steps" down to fit the fenders. Since my rockers are trimmed i also needed to shorten the fender so they wouldnt be lowers than the sliders. The fender will also bolt to the slider.



Cheers! and hoping to hear back on my brake booster question.

 

[Eric H]

I defiantly have new respect for custom metal work that can go into car projects. I have about 10 solid hours into one fender and thats without the finish body work. Hopefully the second one will go a little faster.

I should have listened to the voice in my head that said KISS keep it simple stupid.

One thing that keeps popping into my head is that if i ever had to replace a fender it would not be a simple job at all.

If i had to do it again i would have straitened the rockers and used stock components instead of my tube sliders/steps. Hopefully the had work will pay off. There wont be another one like it.

Its hard to get motivated on starting this second fender.