Gary's Cruiser Build

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I was feeling confident enough in my aluminum welding to tackle the roof rack perimeter.




The welds looked bad so I ground them down before internet embarrassment.
It took me 3 days of blasting scrap before I went for it. I had 2 problems, the first one was cold starts, It always has poor penetration for the first bit. The second problem I had was too much heat building up, and the aluminum would just flow out of the weld and drip off.


I also got some swag from overland truck parts
 
Lookin good. I am no pro at the aluminum welding, but my experience and what I can recommend is everything needs to be extremely clean. Not only physically cleaned/degreased but also aluminum oxidizes quickly so a (spotlessly clean) stainless steel wire brushing immediately before welding helps preventing cold starts by removing the insulating oxide layer. I have heard recommended a chemical cleaner be applied to areas to be welded to stop/chemically remove the oxidizing but have not tried.
 
Welding the roof rack was too difficult. So I put that project on hold to practice on something easier.
So I started making a center console. It took me 5 hours to cut and size 3 sides.



 
Still fighting with the welder? Did you flip polarity for the aluminum spool gun? I know I fought for a few days making ugly porus welds before I actually read the manual and realized polarity switches for the aluminum gun. My welder is not so new and fancy looking though so may not be the same.

Gonna be a nice lookin console there.
 
dkyuss said:
Still fighting with the welder? Did you flip polarity for the aluminum spool gun? I know I fought for a few days making ugly porus welds before I actually read the manual and realized polarity switches for the aluminum gun. My welder is not so new and fancy looking though so may not be the same.

Gonna be a nice lookin console there.
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I finally laid a few nice welds today. This one looks bad in the middle because that is where the two beads met.


I made some excellent progress on the console. All I need to do is clean up a few more welds and add the cup holders and tray for things and a cover for some power outlets.

 
jzilla said:
Hey, looking pretty spiffy! Doing well with the aluminum, I don't have much practice with that yet...
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John, I am really liking working with aluminum, Welding it took me awhile, but I now have the hang of it. On a side note, I am planning a trip out to the yukon this year. I was going to stop in on the way. I will call you about the details.

I did more work on the console this morning.
I got all of the fabrication done, All that is left is to do is finish sanding the rough parts, cut some holes in the face plate for some electrical outlets, cut some cup holders, get some sort of velvet sticky mat for inside of the console, and paint.... Once I wrote all that out I realised their is still alot to do, haha.

Good old Canadian winter

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The lid has 2 latches, the smaller latch reveals this pocket

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I have a large space behind the ebrake, I was thinking of putting something there to take up the space. Like a map holder, but I don't really use maps anymore. Possibly a CB, Does anyone have any suggestions?
 


I got my 3rd project on the go. It's a Chuck box for my camping trips. I suck at working with wood. I measure twice and still do it wrong. It's taking too long but should turn out alright in the end
 
Nice work! I plan to make another center console, jeez you should see all the stuff I made after I painted the cylinder head...
One of my plans for the next console is to have a slot for a clipboard on the side, whenever we are on road trips my wife gathers quite a few brochures and little maps etc, I think it would be handy anyways.
Give me a shout or text for sure!
 
I fired up the truck today, first time in 3 months. I pulled it into the garage and wrote out a list of all the things I need to fix this year.

It's very long.

I then rummaged through my parts bins and found this ebrake cover.



A little bit of warm water goes a long ways




I also got my Chuck box mostly finished. I just need to add handles and door hardware

hopefully I can pick a bunch of stuff off my list this week
 
Cruiser Jimmy said:
Gary, I've added this thread to the project build up sticky post at the top of the 60's section.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I cruise through the 60 section alot, and I always just blow by the sticky's. I have been doing that for so long I forgot what the sticky's were, great threads.

On a side Note, I had a really productive weekend in the garage.
I started tackling the list, and made a good dent



I started wiring in my radio, and then I noticed how dusty it was in the dash, so I tore the cap off and washed everything. And fixed a dash rattle while I was at it.



I found out why my horn wasn't working, the pin was completely gone. I had some brass hanging around, so I sanded it down and stole a spring from a bic pen. Good as new




I also Installed an antennae and speakers. It will be great to have tunes in the cruiser again.


 
I got to work on the rear bumper reevesci made.

It was his prototype bumper for Goss, I got it cheap. Overall the product is very good, It has 2 very small problems that I hope Jason incorporated into his new bumpers. The first problem is he used bolts to hold on the spare tire, it is a huge pain in the ass, so I replaced them with toyota studs.
The second problem is that he used Standard hardware to hold the bumper on and for the latches. The entire truck uses metric, and I am Canadian so I use metric as well.

Like I said, those are the only "problems" I had with his bumper, customer service and product quality are both very good.

I cut down the spare tire carrier and shaved the clamp holes. I am going to use a single clamp instead of 2.




I bought these LED license plate bolts/lights. So I can relocate the license plate, but I am still unsure as to where i am going to put it

 
Spent the day finishing the bottom half of the roof rack. I tried to complete the upper section but got mad and rage quit for the day.
The size looks pretty good, should be okay in the end




Last week I finished up my center console face plate. Now I just need to cut the cup holders and wait until it is warmer to paint




I am very happy with how the console is turning out, the roof rack is a different story. If I ever build another roof rack, it will be out of square tubing, round is impossible to weld with my setup.
 
Thanks for the tip on how to fix the horn! Mine is worn down so as to make contact intermittently. The previous repair was a .22lr shell slid over the top. Not sure how long that lasted but I will be stealing your fix. Your console is looking great! The design and incorporation of outlets and an inverter is ideal. I'm filing that away in the list of ideas to shamelessly implement in my rig.
 
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