Builds Gen. Waverly

[majdomo]

Last but not least is the gas tank. Since this is an unobtanium part, the best thing to do was to repair it. After pulling the tank he found the hard lines somewhat rusty. I had him take it down to a radiator shop to braze on some replacement vents for the ones that I snapped when replacing the soft lines, so upon return to his shop it'd been flushed with nitrogen and free of fumes so he felt comfortable welding on it. Some photos of the tank once it had come from the truck.

I don't think this hole was supposed to be here. No idea how this happens but it's been repaired.

Fuel pump carrier is also unobtainium, although I purchased and had him install a replacement pump from City Racer. He was able to clean up and repair these hard lines. Replacing the high pressure line that is also not available with EFI-rated hoses and clamps, after flaring either end of the hard lines past the areas where there was rust.

That's it for now. I asked him to go ahead and find any other areas that he could go after on the roof for repair, and then he's going to do a quick primer and paint (matched to both the dark and light sections) just to make sure these stay ok after repair. From there, going to drive the rig and see how it goes... there's one last section on the passenger rear fender that looks off, which is probably another set of problems to fix, but if that gets done the whole rig will probably go in for paint and I'm not sure I want to commit to that at the moment.

East coast rigs:

 

[majdomo]

Some progress shots with the new @TRAIL TAILOR inserts installed... he's finishing out some of the body rust and should get it back probably next week or so.

 

[cruisermatt]

are those plug welds done to look like rivets? Nice work
I bet @orangefj45 has some 62 tanks leftover from LRA installs. Spending any time on that tank is a waste.

 

[majdomo]

are those plug welds done to look like rivets? Nice work
I bet @orangefj45 has some 62 tanks leftover from LRA installs. Spending any time on that tank is a waste.

That's a good question - I haven't seen it in person yet. The kit came with hardware that I'm presuming he used, but maybe not. We've talked a bunch and I've made it clear this isn't a restoration.. lololol

 

[majdomo]

are those plug welds done to look like rivets? Nice work

Just talked to him - they are plug welds to look like rivets. Nice little perk.

He's finishing out some other areas of rust that were on the rear passenger quarter. Apparently there was about 1/2" of bondo in one spot, yikes! That was all cut out and refitted with a custom fabricated part, which he's welding up now. Should have it back sometime next week.

 

[majdomo]

More progress to update - I had him look into the rust on the rear passenger quarter panel, which looked like a little crack and a ripple but nothing major. Here's what it looked like after he'd started in on it - a bad prior repair.

Here's a view to get a sense of the thickness of that bondo:

And what it looked like when he removed the bad repair. This is the area he was talking about being "involved" if he started in on it.

Patch panel fabricated. I offered to buy the panel from CCOT or whoever has it, but he said it was way easier for him to just fab it up and place.

Close-up of internal rust. Yikes.

 

[majdomo]

Internal rust repaired.

Patch panel tacked in. There's a weird seam down at the bottom that was full of bondo, that he's removing and repairing.

Here's what it looked like at the back of the rear quarter, rusted out and nasty. He's cut this out and will patch up the holes on the backside as well.

That's pretty much where we were at the beginning of the weekend. At this point he should be basically done patching, and will be priming / color matching paint on the repairs. I'm not pushing him to finish it quickly, I'd like him to finish it out as he has time. As I've heard in the paint and body business before: want it bad, get it bad.

 

[RevISK]

Following.

 

[majdomo]

More progress shots. He’s pulled a dent that was in the roof, straightened out and replacing the seam sealer in the drip rails and prepped the entire roof for paint. Mind you I didn’t really ask him to do all this, he’s just getting after it because I think he has time and is enjoying the process . Will certainly compensate him for the the time!

Passenger side drip rail and rust repair, there was a small spot that went through right above the B pillar.

A pillar prep.

General rear view.

At this point he’s also going to reshoot the cowl, fix some of the failing clear on the passenger front fender and just below the rear passenger side window. I should get it back first week of October.

Again, wasn’t really what I planned, but just happened this way and pretty excited about the progress he’s making.

 

[kirvesmies]

Just talked to him - they are plug welds to look like rivets. Nice little perk.

that is a sweet little detail. just don't forget that in 40 yrs when you go to replace those again ,or you'll be
your guy is doing a respectable job for you

 

[majdomo]

that is a sweet little detail. just don't forget that in 40 yrs when you go to replace those again ,or you'll be
your guy is doing a respectable job for you

Yeah. I really want to check it out in person, but he keeps some odd hours at his shop and is fitting this in when he's able. Most of the time he does mobile welding, but his dad owned a body shop so he's basically grown up around this stuff. He has a few different project cars, a VW Bug that I think is set up for dirt track racing, etc. What I would do to have that kind of time

 

[kirvesmies]

right on, the mobile welding is his bread n butter, the rust remediation is his r+r n gravy then

 

[majdomo]

It's been a while... not a lot has happened. Between road trips and other jobs, progress has slowed considerably, but looking likely to get it back in a week or two. Paint jobs always, always, always take 3 times longer than they say they will. Maybe 4x.

However, it's looking good. Shot of the roof, now painted.

Photo of the cowl. This was a flaky mess of failed clear. You can see he's done the A pillars as well, color matched to the fender and door which weren't painted.

Shot looking the other way of the roof.

It's not the seggsy-time restoration shop paint job, but that's also not the point. He'll get to the rest of it probably this week.

Also - this isn't as bad as the paint guy I had on the 2002, who told me he'd be done next Tuesday... for 6 months.

 

[majdomo]

More progress. He went ahead and redid the whole hood, which kind of needed it to fix the big scratch on the front.

 

[majdomo]

Found some friends to evict, too. Getting closer to being done, if only because now he’s run out of paint

 

[majdomo]

The General is home and in the garage tonight. Spent part of the afternoon at the shop with him wrapping up some of the final polish and cleanup before driving home. There's still some overspray on some of the windows, but I'll clean those up later. Good to have it back home and it looks awesome.

Now need to get after brakes and a parasitic drain that killed the battery while it was away. Also, that rear bumper looks too crappy for this rig now.

 

[majdomo]

No photos, but the junky rear bumper is back on for now and drove it in to work today. So nice to have this thing back on the road!

Up this weekend - gas gauge inspection / fix, rear sway links, parasitic drain, maybe brake proportioning valve if I have some early success with the other items.

 

[majdomo]

Moderately successful day today, was able to inspect the fuel level float and looks like it is genuinely dead. No resistance across the terminals and was able to check the plug itself, which did produce tone on the old Fluke meter. Will have to order a new one and replace when it gets here.

Tried checking for the parasitic drain, but my multimeter doesn’t have the resolution to show it draining, so will have to get after that later.

Installed the sway links, no photos but that was a lot of fettling to get them in there. Welder did a great job cleaning those up for reinstall, got all new bushings and link ends all installed and done.

Was also able to get after replacing the LSPV. I hosed the whole thing with PB last night to let it sit overnight, which worked a treat on some really rusty brake lines and bolts. After removing the bolts and brake lines, here’s the old one on the bench. I’m planning to take this apart to see if I can find anything wrong with it.

Checking underneath, looks like this thing has some trash in that piston.

Old next to new. New one is aftermarket but from City Racer and looks identical to the Aisin one that came off the rig.

Also, buy one of these attachment plates when doing this job. Mine was totally rusted and while I fully expected this to break on removal, it was all rusted out and required some persuasion to come off.

Part number for reference.

Brakes are fully bled, but haven’t had a chance to try it as we had to leave for an event. Will check it later.

That is about it for now. I think that’s all the parts I have, save replacing the rear brake shoes. May do that tomorrow.

EDIT - brakes work great, can actually feel the rears engaging now. Very nice.

 

[majdomo]

Gas gauge started working again spontaneously this evening. Still showed almost empty, typical LC behavior. We’ll see how long this goes for, have a new aftermarket one on the way, may just replace as PM.

Also have ordered new stock shocks and a steering damper. If I’m going to drive this more than occasionally, will want the ride sorted out.

 

[majdomo]

Busy-ish weekend, got some good stuff done on the rig, and am finding more stuff to fix now that I'm driving it more. First off I installed that aftermarket fuel float in the tank, and wouldn't you know it - the gauge didn't come up above 1/4 tank even after filling it with gas. So... in goes the old one, and it seems to work ok, but intermittent. May want to try and find one that is used, but it's not urgent for now.

I also found a fuel leak at one of the vent lines, which suggests that I have a blocked up charcoal canister. I was able to find a couple of options, one of which is on the way from Amazon, and if that doesn't work, have another option queued up and ready to go.

Made a trip down to the local pick-a-part, with a shopping list of items to pick up. First was to find the few 3rd Gen 4Runners in the yard and pull each of their driver's side windshield wiper arms. This was successful and installed on the rig once I got home. Pretty happy with how this turned out, looks like they were born there. This photo also makes it very clear that I need a new dash pad, which I'll be getting after soon.

Next up was sorting out the radio. I spent a lot of time wandering the yard looking for this, finally found one in a RAV4. I remember when these were plentiful and it wasn't that long ago, maybe 2-3 years. Now LKQ seems to pull the radios before putting the cars out in the yard. This one is great - it is compatible with the CRUX Bluetooth adapter, and this one is in really good condition, didn't need to fix any of the LEDs and only one of the buttons is kind of gimpy. Picked up an OEM under-radio box as well, which looks great and works well. Next up is to get some new rear speakers, my originals are torn and sound terrible.

Last was a set of horns off of a 2006 ES330. Unfortunately, the LC horn seems to be negative-switched while pretty much every other car is not, so I will need to get a relay and figure out how that works in order to install the new horns. Will also do some searching here for some help.

Next up is shocks, which are on the way, and bought a replacement windshield gasket (no lock strip) from City Racer as I noticed some water intrusion at the bottom driver's corner of the windshield with the rain earlier this week. I also noticed some dampness in my driver's side carpet, which seems to have come most likely from that leak. I have a great glass guy that I used for the BMW 2002, will give him a call to schedule something for after the holiday.

The list of stuff just keeps getting longer, but the rig just keeps getting better as I replace stuff. Having fun and looking forward to Thanksgiving this week.