Leaving Las Vegas- 76 Project

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Spent the day yesterday sandblasting the front end and trying to figure out what to do with what looks to be a bend caused by a fender bender at one point. You can see it is off about an inch on the bottom crossmember on the front drivers side. I think we should be able to make a cut underneath in a V and pull it back out to make it even, but you can see from the pictures it is noticeably bent (the frame is fine, this looks to be the only area that was affected). I remember feeling like it was a little off years back when I was driving it and the headlight was pointing more to the right--we found out the PO tried to bend the headlight housing a little to fix it but just made it look like a pig with a lazy eye.

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Wow, you are doing the work. Please keep us posted on how the fix goes...
 
Get that carpet in? Looking for glowing assessment …
 
I am finally getting back into the garage with my pops with the warmer weather coming through and although we didnt get much done over the winter, we made some progress over the last couple of weeks on the front end. We ended up having to take the front end to a body repair shop in Raleigh and they were able to cut and repair the bent front end. We finally got it put back on yesterday and also tackled some of the wiring. We havent installed the carpet yet, though that is not far away and I will be sure to do a full write up. Also, I have a feeling things are going to move a little quicker with putting it back together so I should have a lot more updates over the next few months.

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Pics of the repaired front end:
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I like the red oil dipstick!! Makes it easier to see. Why Toyota put it in that location is a mystery. Did you paint it red yourself?
 
I like the red oil dipstick!! Makes it easier to see. Why Toyota put it in that location is a mystery. Did you paint it red yourself?
He painted it and I originally thought it was an old man thing where he could find it easily, but now I am thanking him and painted our fj40 dipstick red yesterday!

It's a funny thing to look back and think about working on our frame off FJ40 in 2002 when I was a teenager that thought he "knew everything" to now where I make him constantly repeat himself and try to soak in his years and years of knowledge--I hope to pass than down to my son one day.
 
I like the red oil dipstick!! Makes it easier to see. Why Toyota put it in that location is a mystery. Did you paint it red yourself?
If you buy one from Mr T these days the handle is painted a nice, bright yellow.
 
More progress getting the front end back together. I hate that all of his work will essentially go unseen, but its worth doing it right. We should have the front end finished in the next couple of weeks then will start working on the dash and interior--after that is getting the doors off for painting, POR15 the rest of the rear frame, rockers welded on, rear brakes rebuilt, and getting the hood and fenders sandblasted for painting. We are planning to spray the interior with Cygnus White and debating on taking it somewhere for the rest of the original Blue/White paint or doing it ourselves.

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