Builds Guppie's FJ55 Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[1973Guppie]

bought a cheap harbor freight sheet metal bender, has worked well for my needs.....

and some more metal patching

at this rate I should have this piggie done by 2020!

this body mount piece was hard, rather than trying to recreate the whole thing, I decided it was best to reuse the good metal and patch the rest, turned out ok, strong, not pretty, but strong.

 

[1973Guppie]

some more of that body mount piece.....

and a pic of a small metal patch.

 

[1973Guppie]

the little channels on the underside of the piggies rockers were rusted, so I cut an access hole in each, cleaned em out thoroughly, phosphoric acid, tsp, then coated with a thick lather of zerorust.

I also cut an access hole to the rocker panels in the rear where there was a bit of rust. I also cut some new drain holes all along the rockers, I plan to use some plugs later that I got from eastwood. It was a bitch to get all the dried mud and crap out of there, lots of time spent with a coat hanger and compressed air. Finally got it all out, phosphoric acid the crap out of it to kill any rust, tsp, then I used an eastwood product called heavy duty anti rust, great stuff!, it is like a paint but has a waxy film when it dries and it really gets itself into every nook and cranny, and repels the rust as it is basically an oily paint that repels water. I used a bunch of this in the rockers all over and sprayed compressed air to move it around. I am happy with the end result. I plan to spray this stuff up there every so often when the truck is done.

 

[1973Guppie]

the finished patches on the rockers areas......

body shop should be abe to smooth the rest, , no way am I doing the rest of the body and paint work, no way.

 

[1973Guppie]

some hack job before me actually decided it was a good idea to weld a sheet of metal over the fender well rust hole and bondo on top of it, some pics and my fix, while not perfect to the shape of the wheelwell I plan to do a bedliner on the inside so you wont notice the imperfection......

the bottom of the wheelwell will also have some textured undercoating so the raised weld area will probably not be seen. Again, not pretty, but strong.

 

[1973Guppie]

rear corners

the rear corners have been difficult, lots of time to remake the braces and try to make it look decent. I basically took a bunch of pics, made some cardboard templates and went at it.

 

[1973Guppie]

and a few more of the rear corner fix, I still need to layer on another piece of sheetmetal to make the metal thicker where the body mount is, my friend mentioned that I need to be aware that that thin sheet could possibly tear over time, I think another layer of sheet spot welded and seem sealed on there should do the trick. I plan to drill the hole for the bodymount when I get it on the frame, that way I can get it right the first time.

and a pic of the new Fzj80, what a great truck, just stock this thing wheels great.

that's all for now and for alittle while, got to work on the 80 and get her all tuned up, then hopefully finish the piggy rottisserie work and get it back on the frame, then I can work a bit on the fj40 and try to get it sold for a decent price, who knows with this marketplace? I may end up keeping it for awhile. See ya.

 

[landcruisnman]

Guppie,

That's an awesome restore you've got goin on. Are you in Fallbrook? I'm in Oceanside, and just met Mike with the restored Light Blue 45. I'd love to come check out your rig. I have a 72 pig and am about to start my teardown. I plan to take the body off and do the rotisserie also. Let me know.

Pat Fourmont
Summit Steel, Inc.
Oceanside, CA 92056
760-419-2590

 

[1973Guppie]

pat, pmd you, stop by anytime.......

 

[TemeculaTim]

Looking good Noah- Good to see some progress being made on the pig.

 

[72cruiser]

doin nice work man.

that body stuff always looks so easy on everybody else's threads right? ha ha
it's great that you're taking the time to do it right.


keep it up


malphrus

 

[apeterson]

looking good noah!!!

 

[1973Guppie]

SWEET, ask and you shall receive, I am glad to have this moved to the FJ55 section, it is in it's proper home now......

 

[cruiserbrett]

are you done with it yet? J/K.

 

[1973Guppie]

metal work is almost done! need some help asap figuring out how to deal with stress cracks on the body?? see link:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/272553-how-fix-stress-cracks.html#post4237205

 

[1973Guppie]

metalwork done, seam sealer on, interior roof painted, tomm am going to paint the ubody and the gas tank, then off of the rottisserie it comes and back on the frame!

man, that 3m seal sealer is some toxic crap!! I think I killed some major brain cells today. But it is some neat stuff, works really well and it came out great. All the seams are nicely sealed from water underneath. I also seamed the top roof rail. The rest of the smaller seams on the outside body I will let the body shop deal with.

Another post soon with pics / updates.......

 

[1973Guppie]

Some more pics of progress

well, finished the underbody and gas tank painting today! I am really happy on how it all came together. This piggy will not be rusting anytime soon with the combo of seam sealer and zerorust slathered on there. So here are some pics of a few of the last metal work areas and the finish paint.

Just have a few more things to do, weld in rear motor mounts and clean the garage. And then I will swap the body to the frame and start repairing panels and hang them on the body. It is nice to finally see some real progress, it seemed like for awhile there all the little metalwork stuff was never goingt to stop.

first pic, small rust spot repair
2nd - rocker rust repair, pulled the previous sloppy repair which was a piece of metal lap welded in there, I but welded the piece in there.
3rd - took the handle of my high lift to create a bit of a curve on the piece that I replaced in the above pic, friend gave me the idea, and it worked well.

 

[1973Guppie]

some pics of the drivers corner being redone, had to remake it as close to stock as possible, happy with the end result, don't have a pic of the finished piece.....

 

[1973Guppie]

some pics of the underbody all seam sealed, I used 3m brushable and tube seam sealer, these are both great products that are very easy to use, BUT, wow, they are toxic, not sure if they require a ventilated breather? I had to take breaks from doing this and that was with wearing a good particulate mask and a fan on high. Also cleaned up the gas tank for paint.

 

[1973Guppie]

and the final money shot pics!

so stoked on how the paint came out, zerorust is great stuff and so easy to work with and dries HARD. My right forearm is raw right now because I had to take a pumice stone to my skin to get this stuff off of it.

that's it for now, will post up more as I get some body panels done and hung.......