Builds Mark_BC's Apocalypse BJ60 Build (1 Viewer)

[MarkBC]

Some updates on the refresh. The roof and gutter repair last year lasted all winter through the rain and snow of the Pacific Northwest. Only one small area on the roof ridge needs some paint touch-up because I didn't put the rattle can coat on thick enough last October. The inside of the roof repair welds went unpainted last year and accumulated some surface rust which I recently cleaned up and painted, so hopefully it should hold. I also did my best to remove the rust and repaint some strange spots on the inside of the roof above the cross structure behind the front sun visors. Interesting that those spots were surface rusting -- they don't seem to be spot welds.

I think now it's time to spray some linseed oil rust inhibitor (Fluid Film will stink too much) around the perimeter inside the roof to prevent further rust, in the areas I treated last year by spraying in Eastwood rust paint (the area is totally inaccessible by hand so I wanted to wait one year to test for further rust in the rain since if I needed to redo / repaint I wouldn't be able to do that if I had sprayed rust inhibitor in an inaccessible area -- all this rust repair comes down to strategy and timing through the seasons).

I can't put in the nice new carpet yet until I fix the floor rust (mostly surface; there is rot in only a couple typical locations by the rear wheel wells). But I can't fix the floor rust until I fix the leaks. The roof is great now. But there is a leak coming in the front passenger footwell, and a small one in the driver side. So I pulled the fenders off, removing the 40 bolts per fender.

And cleaned out the cowl which was plugged with leaves (I since taped some bug screen over the wide grille slots above to keep any more crap from accumulating in there.

I discovered some minimal surface rust on the body panels behind the fenders. I cleaned them up, scraped off as much rust as I could (obviously I couldn't get the rust in the seams), degreased and painted with Eastwood rust paint thinned with lacquer thinner to make it thin and easy to seep into the seams. Then I spray painted white rust-oleum overtop. Followed with caulking over the seams to keep the water out, but maintaining some un-caulked sections on the bottom of each seam to allow water to escape. When I go back to the Island in a few weeks I'll see how that repair has held up to the autumn rain since it didn't rain for 2 months this summer!!!

So, overall not very exciting work, and it doesn't look visually like I have made much progress on the vehicle, but it's important work to do. A full time job really cuts into the time I have to work on it. And winter is coming. I have made a list of everything I want to do to make the vehicle usable, and divided up between summer and winter activities. Luckily there are still lots of winter activities to do. No painting though unless it's a small part I can do in a heated space.

Also, the clutch master cylinder previously leaked brake fluid down the firewall and stripped the paint, leading to rust in the bodywork seam underneath. I cleaned up and sealed that seam as well, which was made easily accessible with the fender off.

 

[MarkBC]

Here is the work I did on the roof last September, right before the rains came. The old stock roof rack was missing leaving holes open to the weather which had caused some surface rust to start inside (that's bad). But the rain here is like distilled water so the rust didn't get very deep (that's good). I had taped over them but it was time to do a proper repair. In addition to those holes I removed these rubber and chrome rail guards that were just screwed in with sheet metal screws that had no rust or leak protection. In total I had 32 holes to weld shut, which actually turned out nicely.

Before that I removed the headliner which was harbouring a mold civilization in the insulation on the roof. I'm looking forward to making a custom roof liner which takes advantage of the extra inside height I'll get if I go directly on the roof rather than suspending it down at the same level as the structural roof cross pieces (maybe gain an extra 2" of height?)

I painted outside the roof with with Dupli-color touch up paint from Canadian Tire. It dried quickly and was water resistant overnight. It has held up well through a whole year of weather here ranging from torrential rain to ice to sweltering 45 degree heat. The color is more beige rather than the silver of the rest of the truck. I want it to blend in better with camo colours. Eventually the paint job will probably be a patchwork of different camo colours from rattle cans -- perfect since it won't matter if I damage the paint in the bush, and it won't look professional and expensive.

I also figured out what the loud body banging was previously when driving down the road and going over bumps. It was from the roof flexing and hitting the structural cross pieces LOL. That should be easy to fix, I can just put some spacer in between the roof and cross beam to make the roof nice and tight.

 

[MarkBC]

Poor little Anna's hummingbirds overwinter here and they're freezing their butts off, it's minus 15!!! They sure let you know when they're hungry. My little buddies.

Too cold to work on the 60 but at least there's no condensation dripping from the uninsulated roof!! And once it gets above freezing it turns into a mud pit.

I really wanna get this thing roadworthy next summer. Tons of things to do but what has to happen to get it on the road are:

• Put exhaust back together
• Finish replacing C channels
• Replace suspension with OME heavy
• Fix majority of rust in the floor and install new carpet
• Tidy up what little electrical I plan to use
• Front knuckle overhaul
• Get some usable tires on it that won't explode
• front and rear brake overhaul