HZJ73 rust repair that will last. (1 Viewer)

[luigibella]

Hi everyone! I’m loving my new-to-me 1990 HZJ73 but there is some rather serious rust I need to have dealt with and I’d like to have it done in a way where it won’t be coming back.

I received a quote from one shop for just over 12k, and another shop said they can do it for 7k if I remove the top and front windshield, and order the rockers and quarter panel sections for anywhere with rust so they can be welded in.

Do you know where I can order just sections of the quarter panels? I’ll also need the rear left body mount and side rockers.

I tried searching extensively through Partsouq and couldn’t find these parts or the part numbers.

Thanks again for your help! Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[luigibella]

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Check with @joekatana or Kurt at @cruiseroutfit. They might have some.

 

[sodafeld1]

If any consolation, compared to the wreck I am working on, your rust aint too bad! I don't have salt tho. The worst is a never cleaned rusty and cracked chassis frame. Have you crawled under and looked at your frame? If the frame is good, you are ahead.

Some of your panels and the doors bolt off, which makes it much easier to repair and paint. Sheet metal is much more comforting to work with as most of what you are showing is non structural. Under the window is a bit nasty tho, got to remove the window, to weld, which is doable.

Paying someone to rid the rust would be exy if they have integrity. Diy is time and love, depends on your lifestyle, work, family commitments, tools and workshop facility if any. You have a new hobby! If diy, build confidence on the front fender (check under where the battery sits) or door, bolt them off and clean it up, have a look, proper. Get a toyota fsm manual, you will need it for a car that age.

Body work as far as steel, welding and grinding is not too expensive compared to parts for running gear of drive line and engine. Paint is exy. I still prefer a solid colour buffed gloss to a clear gloss personally, one less step and easier to respray again. You have a clear gloss on top of colour.

Really beautiful thing about steel is that it is cheap compared to almost everything else. One piece of sheet metal goes along way. There is not too many curves on a 70 series. You could do one area at a time, to balance enjoyment of the vehicle, but put something on the rusty spots immediately to hinder it a bit. There is a million anti rust products, few really work long term besides vigilance. Big market; steel, paint and anti rust.

Of course you can't really see all the rust until you have a good dig though, Those pics are just what you can see, there shall be more..check rain gutter seams and the pillars at the front of your doors, especially where the rust is under the window. They are the worst sheet metal rust spots imo, front of doors.

Hawaii wouldn't have too many dealers of landcruiser parts I imagine. My mum is from Vanuatu, cars rust out very quick there from the salt. I don't drive on the beach anymore, salt really gets everywhere. Quickest way to rust a car.

It sucks when folks paint gloss over rust, they are liars. It will get worse as it is. Hopefully you didn't pay top dollar. Gotta admit , of all the aspects of working on old cars, panel work is not my favourite, compared to the mechanical stuff which is really interesting. A good body is probably the most valuable aspect of a car, but keeping a 4wd body in mint condition is a bit of a contradiction imo, they are meant to go off road.
Fight on, they are great cars. Amayama is pretty good for parts.

 

[jblueridge]

Check with @joekatana

I bought panels from him and had a body shop install.

Check with both shops to see if they can and will fabricate smaller patch panels from scratch.
If they are like so many “collision repair” shops they will only want to install panels you provide.
Better to hire techs with more skills.

 

[FJ73Texas]

Get new rubber seals too. Those will crumble when you remove the flares for rust repair.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

@kelly saad does great metal work. Might want to see if you both and work out a deal at his spa

 

[luigibella]

I bought panels from him and had a body shop install.

Check with both shops to see if they can and will fabricate smaller patch panels from scratch.
If they are like so many “collision repair” shops they will only want to install panels you provide.
Better to hire techs with more skills.

Thanks! I’ll check with him.
They said they’ll create whatever panels I can’t order but if I can get the panels for a decent price it’ll keep me from needing to pay more for the custom fabrication.

 

[jblueridge]

Sounds good.
That is the kind of place I used.
They are still waiting to fab the lower parts of my doors which are slowly rotting.

 

[luigibella]

So I can highlight on an image what parts of the quarter panels I need to have replaced, but I’m having trouble figuring out from parts diagrams how to order just sections of the quarter panel.

 

[luigibella]

I’ve found rockers but I can’t find a source for the quarter panels or sections of the quarter panels that has them available.

Any leads would be greatly appreciated.

 

[luigibella]

I’ve been quoted $2500 to replace each quarter panel if I provide the part, which seems really high to me. Am I mistaken?

 

[sodafeld1]

If done well , paying someone to do your panel beating is always really expensive, anywhere in the world.
The expense is why it creates half jobbers to bog and paint and charge half the price of doing it properly. Then the rust comes back in 3-6 months.
This situation created the market for domestic mig welders.

Matching paint and getting perfect surfaces is really hard to do, let alone being super toxic. I have known a few panel beaters that have died young from the chemicals, use to be worse, but still bad.
Most panel beaters are kept very busy from insurance claims, so , often they are indifferent to personal love jobs.

It is not my favourite job, hours, days, weeks of grinding and sanding, trying not to get paint or sanding dust in your lungs. I kind of feel sorry for full time panel beaters honestly. One or two cars for myself ok, but a lifetime, day in and out, of grinding and sanding is not for me.

If you do a show room body, I recommend a garage to tuck her in from sun and moisture. Grand scheme, only a few man made things are 100%uv stable. Anywhere that water can pool or be held is a rust prone area, especially salt environments. Roof racks invite rust, I got rust on a 40 series by neglecting to clean under the rack clamp rubbers, when I was younger. Driving on the beach is inviting rust, salt is very hard to get rid of.
In oz, it is preferred to get old cars from inland, away from the coast. But everywhere in Hawaii, like Vanuatu, would be near the coast.

I have an old merc I keep in a garage, she is pretty. I chose a single pack acrylic and buff the gloss for ease of re-application.

But my cruiser goes bush and gets hammered and scratched by everything at least half it's life, I keep rust away by spraying scratches with the factory kubota orange farm implement paint and boat enamel (you can't do that to your paint job). Even then, still wish I could garage her too. Cruiser is a bit feral, kind of don't mind her having a few bumps on the body, she does what she is built to do and more.

Simply put, rust is steel's natural state. It is every car owner's constant struggle over years. Clean steel requires a protective surface and a dry climate. Arizona would be good for that I imagine.

I am trying out some rust bullet, which is meant to seal rust. Even then, I still cut out rust steel, it is like cancer.

 

[joekatana]

I’ve been quoted $2500 to replace each quarter panel if I provide the part, which seems really high to me. Am I mistaken?

You are either at a shop where they are used to getting to work with insurance or one that can pick their own resto projects ! Doing sheetmetal work is not hard nor complicated but it can be a dirty and time consuming job . If you can't find a reasonable priced shop then it might be worth looking at investing in some tools and do it yourself and that way you can go down the rabbit hole as far as you want. Youtube and google can teach you just about anything these days .

Looking at the pictures of your cruiser I can see that it already had some work done wich usually results in more work once you start peeling the layers off . You might want to start taking it apart and see what the damage is , Toyota still sells full quarter panels for these and almost every other panel you need.

Joe

 

[mt72]

You are either at a shop where they are used to getting to work with insurance or one that can pick their own resto projects ! Doing sheetmetal work is not hard nor complicated but it can be a dirty and time consuming job . If you can't find a reasonable priced shop then it might be worth looking at investing in some tools and do it yourself and that way you can go down the rabbit hole as far as you want. Youtube and google can teach you just about anything these days .

Looking at the pictures of your cruiser I can see that it already had some work done wich usually results in more work once you start peeling the layers off . You might want to start taking it apart and see what the damage is , Toyota still sells full quarter panels for these and almost every other panel you need.

Joe

I agree with Joe your truck was previously worked out... When I started my LC I had no idea what the truck had been through. The rear quarter panel had to be replaced we did it ourselves. The part was not expensive from Toyota but shipping ouchhh. I found building mine that removing all paint working previously done give you a very good picture of the metal underneath and also a good base to start with you can sandblast and repair if needed

 

[Smalls68]

Here is where I purchased my quarter panels. It was pretty simple shipping from The Netherlands to Texas.

Quarter panel 73, left

Left hand side quarter panel rear for the LJ, BJ and HZJ73. Original Toyota.

www.cruiserworld.eu