Here goes....66 LV Restore Thread

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Sheesh, I'm crawling back from the FJ45 thread-abyss! I was 3 pages back, so I figured I might as well post an update!

Currently.......
The LV's body is at my sandblaster's shop. Hopefully in a bout 7-8 more days, I'll have it back. It'll get a nice coating of PPG Primer and then it's back to the drawing board. It was getting a little bit rusty sitting in the backyard, so I figured I'd bite the bullet and have the blasting done.

Truth be told, I'm selling my house and I'm moving my family from Colorado Springs to the Denver area. With putting the house on the market, I haven't had much time to do any work on the old wagon.

The plan for the next month is to get my house sold, and moved :( I'm still going to be putzing around on the LV, but I need to make some real progress on it. Can't stand having it be a sitting project!

Thanks for keeping in touch!
 
Today's date- 4-4-07, I actually made some progress again! WOOHOO! And we should all celebrate! So, come over and I'll give you a beer!

I picked up the LV from the sandblaster's shop this past weekend, and things are looking good for the ol' wagon!

Here's the general condition of the body:

Just a few rust spot-holes in the driver's floor pan = not major
Left and Right rear corners, dented and rusted out = R & R
Entire rear area under the rear door needs to be replaced = The Biggest issue!
Left and Right rear kick-panels, dented and rusted out = R & R
Drill and Re-Tap almost every body mount = not major
Little bit of sandblast warpage on the roof = heat and spot - weld

Other than that, she's really really dry!

I'm going to work on the rotisserie and cut it down so that it'll actually fit inside of my garage door! I didn't calculate well enough, the height of the garage door, and the size of the cruiser 18" off the ground! SO, I'm gonna chop the height down just a tad, and get that mounted up. I had it all installed and ready to go, only to find out, I couldn't roll it out of my garage! DOH!

I'm going to be investing in a powered hand shear for all of this sheet metal work. Also, I'm wondering what gauge of sheet stock is best for my application. Any suggestions?

I'll post up some pics once my computer is done downloading Adobe! Thanks for all of your interest!
 
ColoCruiserJeff said:
I cleaned up the 2 dizzys that I have. I'm planning on using the newer model, but I can't identify the years that this distributor applies to. Anyone have a clue as to this distributor's vintage??

Also, I'm gonna be looking for a new intake and exhaust manifold, as I was disassembling them I noticed a really good crack on the base of the intake...typical of this age manifold...from what I've heard. I need to decide as to what carb setup I'll be using. I like the performance of the Weber 38/38 DGAS, works really really well with the DUI dizzy and MAF 6-1 Headers. Any imput from you guys????
Click to expand...

Jeff, i don't know crap about dissy but my mech says the late model one i have (78) requires some sort of vacuum that we have removed when we trashed all the emissions stuff so he wants to use the early one off the 66 F motor? i need to get a Pertronix electronic conversion kit for the early dissy according to him? how big of an improvment/difference will running headers make? i don't have any and was trying to not have to spend the $ on them. here is a link for dissy info from Jim C. this stuff is all new to me. let me know what you come up with. :) Mark

http://www.ih8mud.com/tech/dist.php

http://www.rzeppa.org/tech/jimcdist.htm
 
I had the MAF 6-1 Headers and that really woke up the F motor in one of my previous FJ40s. I also elected to use the D.U.I. Electronic ignition in conjunction with a 38/38 DGAS carb in that truck too. It really helped out! It was amazing, started up before I even had a chance to 'blip' the key. And the power was awesome! Added, this was all on a blueprinted and balanced F motor.

I'm thinking I'll go the same route on my LV. I know its far from stock, but it's going to be driven, alot! SO, I think just shy of throwing a 350 and auto tranny in there, it'll still perform like a LandCruiser should.

I can't seem to get my photos re-sized to fit on here by using Adobe Photoshop! Pretty annoying! Any suggestions?
 
photoshop tips under the pull down menu "Image" got to "image size" you want the physical width/height to be no greater than 8 inches but one side as close to the that as possible ie on a landscape image make the width 8 inches which should make the hieght usually around 6 inches and vise versa for a portrait image. I like to make my resolution 80pixels/inch so that it looks good on Macs too. but you can do 72pixels/inch as well. then save your image as a jpeg with the compression set at 1 or 2 this should make the file size right under the mud limit. good luck
Jason
 
Here is the photo resizer I use every day. It was free, works perfectly and is extremely easy to use. You can do one pic or the entire folder. Oh, and did I say free :)

http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm

Oh yea, file size of 496 seems to work best for Mud.
 
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Thanks for the help you guys!! I'll try one pic real quick....here goes!
100_3134.webp
 
SWEET!!! It worked!! Thanks again! Here's a few more pics for ya. My wife and I are in the process of selling our house, and she really dosen't like the LV in the garage! hehehe Well, our new place in Denver has a 3 car garage, so I'll have plenty of room for my toys and her car :)
100_3140.webp
100_3145.webp
100_3151_renamed_17482.webp
 
ColoCruiserJeff said:
I'm going to be investing in a powered hand shear for all of this sheet metal work. Also, I'm wondering what gauge of sheet stock is best for my application. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Looks like a very good start. AFAIK most cruiser sheet metal is 18 guage. Buy the satin finish stuff. I think its a good thickness to work with, I certainly wouldn't want to work with anything thinner.
 
I think what I'll do is run to the Metal shop tomorrow after work, and get a sample 18ga sheet, and try some spot/running welds, and see how it takes. My current welder setup is a 35mm shielded-core wire feed. It has the available Inert gas stuff, I just don't have a tank :(

I'm in the market for a sheet-metal brake if anyone is looking to sell theirs :)

I'll post more as progress is made.
 
FLYINGLOW said:
Looks like a very good start. AFAIK most cruiser sheet metal is 18 guage. Buy the satin finish stuff. I think its a good thickness to work with, I certainly wouldn't want to work with anything thinner.
Click to expand...

20 gauge according to Matt. I bought the Dewalt power shear and it works great.
 
merbesfield said:
20 gauge according to Matt. I bought the Dewalt power shear and it works great.
Click to expand...

Well, Matt is the authority on LVs. I can't argue with that one. ;) I could see them making the body panels a gauge thinner on the LVs with the more complex stampings of the panels.
 
I know its been a few days since my last post, but here is an update!

Yesterday, I got the LV back onto the rotisserie, and everything dialed in. And yes, it actually fits in my garage now! :) Last night I spent the better half of the evening fabricating a plasma tv mount for a friend of mine. Figured I might as well do some pro-bono work for another in hopes of the favor being returned when it comes time to get some serious stuff done on the LV :)

This morning I skipped church, (yeah, I know!) and I got the remainder of the headliner/foam insulation out of the roof. WHAT A PAIN!! Matt, I had no idea those roof braces were as tight as they were, the factory guys had it easy installing that though!

I'll post up a few pics later tonight.
 
Well, 5.5.07, and no new progress. :( I've moved my family from Colorado Springs, CO to Highlands Ranch, CO. Many of you have no idea how difficult it is to pickup and move a LV project! HOLY COW! Anyways, I've got a 3 car garage now, so I've got room for the LV project. My wife really wants me to sell it, and put the $$ to the big debt hole...I'm still debating on that though :)

I'll post up some pics if anyone is interested once I find my camera in all of our boxes of things!
 
Man, I need to post an update!! This is pathetic! Merbe's and Wilma's threads are beating me in the post/reply count big time!!

"whip cracks in the background"
 
ColoCruiserJeff said:
Man, I need to post an update!! This is pathetic! Merbe's and Wilma's threads are beating me in the post/reply count big time!!

"whip cracks in the background"
Click to expand...

i would not judge your build using mine, i am the pathetic one. too many irons in the fire and zero back strength. oh well, i can always sell it as scrap metal. not joking. :frown: and i am sure i would not be the first, but since my back went south so has pretty much everything else. :crybaby:
 
ColoCruiserJeff said:
Man, I need to post an update!! This is pathetic! Merbe's and Wilma's threads are beating me in the post/reply count big time!!

"whip cracks in the background"
Click to expand...

Hey, at least you posted some progress since last May! I have barely touched the LV since then due to surgery. I won't be into it until August at the earliest. I have been collecting parts though.
 
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