fj45 chassis restoration

[fabricator]

im restoring a 70's fj long wheelbase pick up. the chassis joint just before the diff has major rust i have removed the insert piece and i am in the process of patterning and folding new piece i have cut rivets and found bad pitting. ive cut down factory weld next to cross brace where it is good metal. i was wanting to knw if any one else has done this repair. i am a metal/alloy boat builder so i have good knowledge in fabricating and welding. i was wanting to get this vehicle road legal and have been told im not allowed to weld chassis because it is riveted,in saying that their are factory welds all down it. if any one could shed some light on this it would be much appreciated thanks also i was wanting info on replacing rivets

 

[Fast Eddy]

Just fab a new cross member and bolt it in with grade 8 or higher hardware. Some bridge construction or iron erection guys (heh, heh) should be able to put in hot rivets for you. I've never heard of anyone doing it though.

 

[sadam_husain]

i was wanting to get this vehicle road legal and have been told im not allowed to weld chassis because it is riveted,

yeah its the same as doing any conversion like power steering, engine repower, suspension/coil springs etc you have to do welding to the chassis and thats all accepted for NZ low volume certification

 

[fabricator]

cool thanks for the reply. thats what i thought, when i called vtnz about it they recon that i cant weld it because it high tensile. do you knw anything about the nz rules for replacing rivits?

 

[sadam_husain]

you dont want to be talking to VTNZ you need to talk to LVVTA Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association Incorporated about what you can and cant do, preferably you want to get hold of one of their certifiers that can pass your chassis work and find out from him what you can and cant do before you undertake anything, dont really know much about the rivits other than there a to get out, the only ones I've replaced is when I shifted a shock mount and the steering dampner mount and I replaced them with 8.8 bolts and nylocks

 

[fabricator]

cool thanks mate