Finished Bitza! (1 Viewer)

[anothernz45]

Hi, here's a build thats chewed up 4 years but pretty happy with finished truck.
I'm a small time cropping farmer in Canterbury, NZ, and have destroyed a couple of FJ45s we used as sprayers for 25 odd years, 1979 thru 2005. They never died, the old 2Fs with a ton and a half of spray and rig on would just go out and do the business, boiling most of the time if cereals were flowering, then do the same again the next day. Don't think they're even water cooled, more like petrol cooled. They would slowly disolve around you then the chassis would fold at the back of the cab - time to spend $2000 on another 1 and swap everything over.
I bought another as a farm runaround, this FJ had been converted to diesel with a 13b out of a mid 80s Dyna but this chassis was pretty sick too, skilfully applied underseal all that was keeping it road legal - eventually I had to rechassis it with a rust free one. Then the body got that bad I replaced that with one that bought me a few years until it got that rusty that the truck became farm only.
Then along came covid and I thought better start a resto or it might never happen.

 

[timmyisinthewell]

Finished you say! That's a beautiful truck, but their never really finished. As an example, you're missing the rubber hood mounted windshield blocks and the windshield holddowns, as well as the cowl vent cover and the running boards. Still a fine looking vehicle.

 

[centerlineseal]

Good on Ya!

I know how hard it is to get one that far from the starting point.

 

[anothernz45]

Yeah, that finished photo was older than I realised, here's a couple of recent ones.
Just tarting up the old Land Cruiser emblems, prefer using original bits where I can. Built the backs up with JB Weld and have stuck them on with double sided tape.
Fabbed a second hood latch and fitted a lawnmower throttle cable to the hand throttle knob, this is now the release. 30 years ago you could leave a truck in the bush for a week no problem, now leave it 5 mins and you'll have no battery or gas.
Going to leave the hood unadorned, have all the bits but like the clean look.

 

[rlong]

Looks sweet, love the pick up's!

 

[anothernz45]

Have admired a few builds along the way, Dieselibrarian and a handfull of others but have seen nothing about repairing metal roofs. Here's what worked for me, it's a nasty panel and I'm coming at it as a learn as you go exercise. I've got a bad habit of ripping into the bit that worries me the most rather than starting with an easy bit and working up. I knew I had both front corners and everything above the drivers door - right in this case - to deal to.
First I made a cardboard template of the curve and used a bead roller with tipping dies to mark the curve on 18ga cold rolled steel - leave plenty of steel around this mark, it has to hold that curve while you bash shape into the roof corner. I ground a depression into the end of a stump to form this into but what I found was you can get a better stretch if you just beat into the flat bit of the stump - it holds the surrounding metal better and you get a nice dimple. Here's a shot of the stump and the hammer I used, a 3lb ish thing with a nice ball on the end. Panel shape is just stretch or shrink, lots of dimples - lots of stretch. Then planish everything smooth over a dolly , I thought an English(china) wheel was going to be useful but no, patches are too small to really work in a wheel.
Don't believe RSI is a thing - spend a bit of time on a panel hammer.

 

[anothernz45]

Taking shape now and trimmed closer to size - you can see the rust repair needed further along the gutter in this shot, too

 

[anothernz45]

Next step was trim to fit inside gutter then cut patch to finished size and mark roof cut line with a Sharpie. I do the straight cuts with 5inch cutoff disc but the tricky bits at the ends along with curves I'll use a barrel carbide cutter in a die grinder - you can get close in to tricky bits. No need to cut right through, just make a decent grind and break the rest away with pliers. Leaves a nice finish for mig welding, too. Then work back to sharpie line with files, flap discs, whatever. I bought a cheap finger sander which worked really well for 20 seconds, then a belt would shred. Once I worked out I needed zirconium belts for metal this became a lot more use. There's a lot of china panel tools on the market over here and they're cheap enough you can afford to buy a few - guessing it's similar to your Harbor Freight.

 

[anothernz45]

Next I trimmed the front frame back to sound metal, this pic is from later in the build, showing the front half getting fabbed up. There's also a shot of the spot weld drill I like the best, have tried the ones like a little hole cutter but prefer this type. You can see the little centre dimple and shiny bit in the previous post. The carbide burr is what I cut tricky bits with, just use it at 45 degrees and break the metal away.

 

[anothernz45]

Patch panel is now sanded to shape and I've made the repair for the gutter rust. I used 19ga steel for this, as I'm not stretching it thinner there's no need to start thick. I micced a few panels before I started and found the outside of an FJ tub is19 gauge or 1mm but front guards and most of the bits inside the tub were 18 gauge, 1.2mm. Here's the patches tacked in place - I use a mig with .6mm wire for this and set everything up with no gap. I'll go round tacking until i have a weld about every inch with both hands on the torch, my left is steadying the neck as I want the tack right on the seam.

 

[anothernz45]

Now is where things get weird. This is something I worked out when I was repairing my front guards. Long story short, back in the 90s I did an introduction to panel beating course at our local trade school - 12 nights ,working on a 1 foot square tray of panel steel. We used oxy acetylene and no rods, fusion welded everything - this leaves a flat, soft weld that can be hammered.
Its now the 20s and tigs are common and much cheaper, I've bought used ones and been lucky. You don't need a flash tig for panel steel, most of its done around 40 amps, lift start is fine tho hf is better, and I dont use a foot pedal. The mig wire I use is ER70s, the same as my tig rods, I use .9mm mig wire as a tig rod if I have to fill gaps.
Once the patches are all tacked up sand them back level with the repair and if theres anything at the ends you can't get a good tig weld on mig this up now. Get everything nice and clean and then fusion weld the patch in, just start one end and go for it. If you have to stop just end on a tack, these are little islands of filler you can flow into the join if needed. The weld will expand slightly but will go back down as it cools. Why not use Oxy? Well, you can, it's lovely but puts a lot more heat into the repair. A mig weld is hard and there will be a build up of metal on both sides of the weld making anything that needs hammering much harder. Once you've run a tig over those mig tacks they're soft.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Nice work! Would really love to learn TIG welding, for all of the reasons you mention.

 

[anothernz45]

Do it, what I've shown is not hard, all you have to do is keep the tungsten out of trouble. On a long weld like the one above the door you can use your left hand to steady the torch as well and just pull the torch down the weld line.
The time consuming bit is getting the panel fit perfect - when migging, half a mm or so gap guarantees penetration.
The skill in tigging is when you add rod to the weld pool and I'm pretty rubbish at feeding rod through my glove, my welding goes dab - dab - dab - hot - hot - ow - ow -ow.
The other thing that took me a while to work out is my eyes aren't what they were. I'm the wrong side of 60 and read with +2 reading glasses but really struggled to see what was going on when tig welding - unlike stick welding or mig to a degree, I tend to stick my face right into what I'm tigging. I put on some +3.5 glasses first now OR put a +1.5 cheater lens in my helmet and wear the 2s, then I can still see to grind. Lots of light helps, too.
Not rubbishing a mig at all, I'm a fan of Fitzee too and where I can't get at the back or I'm in a hurry I just blast it up with a mig.
Another really good Youtube is Trev's Blog. Cheers!

 

[anothernz45]

Here's patches where I used mig - the second pic the seam along the centre of the cab is mig, the corner patch fusion weld with tig.
The exhaust system is fabbed up from a couple of u-bends, flanges are migged, butt joints tigged with rod added.
If you're fusion welding and you get a bit of porosity appear this is from a bit of crud floating off the Toyota side of the repair, go back and add a dab of filler rod and redo the dodgy bit - something in a rod - silicon maybe - helps sort this out.
If you look hard at the last pic , between the mig gun and the patch, you can make out an old repair I did 15 or so years ago using oxy/acetylene.

 

[anothernz45]

Back to the roof. Time to cut the old door frame back to sound metal and make the front bit of the channel that clamps over windscreen surround. I made a cardboard model and cut and bent steel to match. Then folded 18ga U for door frame, tacked in place and trial fitted to truck to mark bolt holes. Drilled them, welded in weld nuts then folded edge of frame over nuts. Then finished back section of the clamp down frame. I've used CRC rust converter then aerosol weld thru zinc here just for added protection. There will still be 50 year old rust everywhere I have'nt repaired, I brushed fish oil into all seams after final paint. I'm still working out what to do for a head lining, currently painted steel. I may trim the original vinyl back half an inch or so all the way around so no moisture gets trapped back in seams, have more faith in fishoil, lanolin and fresh air than anything else.
You can see the penetration you get with a fusion weld, just don't go too thick - 18ga probably max.

 

[anothernz45]

Then weld the frame to the roof at each end, there's also a mig plug weld tieing it to the windscreen frame. The other corner was much easier, here's the patch tacked in, before sanding flat. If I end up with a small gap I put the tacks closer together then run them together with the torch. Think of it as putting your tig dabs in first instead of as you go.

 

[anothernz45]

Last few bits - front eyebrow of roof had rot along the trailing edge. Cut a thin strip and fusioned it in place.
Once all the panels were patched I took them to the panel shop I use, Ellesmere Motor Bodies, to get them to redo all the original spot welds I'd patched over. I put a marker pen spot where I want each weld, it doesn't take long and is much neater than plug welding everything. I plug welded the tub tho, it's not as mobile. Here's a photo of the front bib marked up - the steel ruler outlines locate the front hinge bolt holes.

 

[anothernz45]

Here's the only pic I could find showing tack welds ready for fusion. The marker pen outline is for a template to locate the holes. It's strange what does and doesn't rot on an FJ, the brackets under the holes were fine. Once all panels except doors were repaired I had them sand blasted and primed with 2 pack epoxy -
I used Euroblast here in Christchurch, and they did a brilliant job, larger flat panels like roof and bonnet they only did the outside to avoid warpage and I masked off the dash as I want my truck to look the same when I get in it. One mistake I made was not removing seam sealer first, blasting won't remove that. They also aluminum sprayed the exhaust system, pricey but nice.

 

[anothernz45]

I'll go into the why a bit here. I've spent 50 years watching things rust and trying to prevent it, mostly farm machinery. Have had gear galvanised, great for new builds but galvanisers don't like seeing overlapped steel, knock an old galv boat trailer to bits and there will be rust where 1 box section is welded across another - zinc won't flow in there. Fj chassis are built from pressings riveted together, I think a good one would galv ok but typical 50 yr old with bits of rust heave might be a big ask. I've had no luck with Por 15 either, used gallons back in the 90s and won't again.
Where I can I go with sandblasting followed up by 2 pack epoxy primer. On the chassis I used a flat black enamel as a top coat then blew fishoil through the inside and all the tough to get at bits. Wait a few days, wiping off excess as it runs out. It will still be sticky but spray more enamel over this and it will dry.
The body panels I had sprayed with 2 pack matched to my dash, they've been blasted, primed and topcoated before assembly which should be way better than original - over here there looks like there was a light etch primer on the panels prior to assembly then topcoat fired over finished body. Get dust into the seams, a bit of moisture and the rusting begins. I did have to repair bits of rust I didn't know about after blasting, that's why the floor is yellow in one post.
My superpower is making a nice bit of engineering look like a pos with a spraygun, I let the pros do this. Don't look on blasting and priming as an extra cost, you'll save it at the paint shop.
As the body went back together I pumped fishoil or lanolin into the various cavities and brushed fishoil into the roof seams.
I fabricated most of the joint faces along the back of the cab, here I waxed the top panel then used a urethane sealant on the rubber insert to keep moisture at bay. With the tray and tub floor I seam sealed then used Raptor bedliner, under the guards I used a single pack stone chip protector. Don't block anywhere moisture can run out, I still plan on pumping more fishoil into problem areas over the years.

 

[anothernz45]

Another area I was worried about was the drivers door, the limit rod had let go and the door blown round onto the guard. First I welded up all the cracks and reinforced the window frame where it had fractured - the early doors are very weak but they don't rust much. There was a large stretch or oil can going on in the outside door skin - something else we touched on at that 90s panel course. The tutor told us the recipe for a shrinking dolly - half an inch of lead in the bottom of a large fruit tin, and melt an old wheel weight into the molten lead to make it harder. You'll have to find a vintage wheel weight, they used to be antimony but modern ones are zinc. LEAD IS BAD - take precautions, don't lick it or anything.
With your hand find the highest point of the stretch then use an oxy acetylene torch with a #2 tip and heat that spot to cherry red, then quickly get the dolly under that spot and go round it with a flat faced panel hammer - 4 strikes, 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. Not hard, more glancing blows gathering the metal towards the hotter centre. Then one more right in the middle, on the hot spot. Then wipe the shrink with a damp rag.
Well that's the theory, I hadn't tried in over 30 years and I ended up with my dolly levered into position on the end of a stick but it worked well. Once you've done the first use your hand to find where the high spot has moved to and do another. It took 5 or 6 shrinks, chasing the high spot across the door.
There are more recent methods of shrinking, discs and things but they're not something I can comment on.
Rather than blasting I stripped the doors with a 36 grit disc, I left the inside paint untouched, like the dash.