LX450 Monstaliner & body work build thread (1 Viewer)

[jbatx]

I really like the long tail build threads on here and thought I'd add one myself. Only this one is just for the body work and Monstaliner.

I picked up my LX about 6 months ago with the TJM 2.5" lift, engine and trans already taken care of with rebuild of both. The body was pretty rough and the PO was not very experienced with cars, though he meant well and was trying to learn. He pie cut the front fenders but the job was not to my liking. There was a little hidden rust under the platic which I knew about before buying.

Here are some shots of the rust in the rear DS quarter and the patch I made. This was my first time welding body

 

[jbatx]

And wrapping it up..

 

[jbatx]

Started welding up the trim holes last week and fixing the PO pie cutting work yesterday. These photos are following grinding off the fiber resin stuff that was on there.

 

[jbatx]

Getting some visible progress...

Tiger Hair filling the gaps that I didn't weld.

 

[jbatx]

Here's the fender when I took delivery. It was pretty smashed up from a run in with rock

 

[jbatx]

Finished tiger hairing the DS wheel well and welding up the DS door holes. I'm out of time today.

 

[jbatx]

Smoothed out and ready for filler

 

[JaketheSSnake]

Looks like you know what you're doing . What did you use to cut out the little fill pieces for the trim holes? That looks like it would be very tedious!

 

[jbatx]

Looks like you know what you're doing . What did you use to cut out the little fill pieces for the trim holes? That looks like it would be very tedious!

I'm glad it looks that way! I'm handy and have good tools. However, this thread represents the totality of my body welding experience. I learn a little more each weld.

I'm using 22 guage steel from Home Depot and 10" metal snips. I'm using my cordless drill and a wire wheel a lot to clean the surfaces regularly. It would be tedious if this was something I was were rushing. I figure I'll be done in November. Filling and grinding this door took about 1.5 hours.

The best method I've found is clean off a large section of the 22ga sheet, cut a little strip of steel out and trim it to fit. Then use the little rare earth magnets to hold it flush with the door skin's surface. Tack it into place, remove magnets and spot, spot, spot until the seam is completely covered. Trying to make a bead tends to burn through the metal and warp the surface. Too much heat. I'm getting good enough that most of these holes don't need filler after grinding!!!

The tedious route was using a magnet wrapped in copper on the inside of the door to hold the plug. That was tedious and created a poor joint for welding.

...oh, I used Rusoleum undercoating to blast the inside of the plug/seam.

Just filling the holes with no plug created a lot of heat, took a long time and made an ugly booger of a weld that then needed to be ground a lot.

 

[2fpower]

looking great. Be sure to have friends to help with monstaliner install.

 

[jbatx]

looking great. Be sure to have friends to help with monstaliner install.

Did you do it already? What would you do different?

 

[2fpower]

I think that I posted up all my thoughts on this thread, but you should read the entire thread anyway...

Monstaliner Bedliner

 

[2fpower]

Bottom line is that next time I will likely use another product if I care about the finished product. I cannot say anything negative about how well monstaliner puts up with abuse. My only issue is the look of the finished product, either sprayed or rolled.

I don't have an answer of the perfect product....

SEM has a great looking product and seems to take abuse. Only seen it in black, so not sure if they can tint it.

I really like how Raptor looks, you can tint to any color, not sure if it would put up with heavy wheeling.

 

[jbatx]

Driver side rocker is complete. I'm Aluminum taping over the holes at the very bottom instead of welding. Reason being, if I weld them I'll have no way to seal the back of the weld and it will rust out fast. With tape, the factory sealer can left in tact and the hole can be used to introduce new sealer onto the other welds that are visible.

I elected to use Belray sticky offroad chain lube on the inside of the rocker instead of any sort of undercoating. The lube had a powerful directional spray that made it easy to drench the welds. That stuff will stay on there for many years. It also exposed a couple porous welds, resulting from a bad ground.

Leaky weld

New mag ground clamp

 

[jbatx]

Rear DS door is finished! More Rustoleum rubberized undercoating on the inside.

...kids are up, gotta make breakfast

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Not bad, not bad at all. Seems like you had a pretty good general idea on how to patch the body properly.

 

[jbatx]

Not bad, not bad at all. Seems like you had a pretty good general idea on how to patch the body properly.

Thanks! I'm a real quick study and mechanically inclined.... And I watched a lot of YouTube and read a lot of articles and posts

 

[jbatx]

Something I don't think I mentioned is that you have to file the insides of the holes and the edges until they're free of paint and sealer. If not, your welds will get badly contaminated.

 

[dirtyboots]

Please tell me the Yugo is real

 

[jbatx]

Please tell me the Yugo is real

Yeah bro, totally real. I had the seats done in Tijuana when I was down there doing the naked version of the Baja 1000 with the entire cast of Bay Watch. Clearly, I'm dating myself here... Those were the days. Fxxxin' Hasselhoff, that guy Fxxxs!