Builds My DreamCar & Worst nightmare - HJ45 RestoMod (1 Viewer)

[jacubillo]

What's the part number and/or source for that blade type fuse block?

Generic fuse box from the local car parts store. I bought it mostly because it was almos the same size as the one the car had. No part # for this... sorry.

 

[jacubillo]

for the pressure washing .... if you can get your setup to gravity feed it will work better at a lower psi... pulling will take more pressure... but... gravity feed will perform better than having it pull

are the cruiser directionals just that hard to find there? or are the 70 series lights just that cheap? often wondered about that

good luck with ya build

Thanks for the tip!.

Yeah... original cruiser directionals are nearly impossible to find here. And 70series generic ones are ~ $10 a piece....

 

[jacubillo]

Alternator wiring has been fixed. New horns and wiring for the front lights also finished:

I also had to take the steering wheel off to replace the turn signal switching assembly as mine was not working at all. Horn switches also received some sandpaper treatment to renew the metal contacts.

Old and new parts>

Everything got re-assembled... all new wiring tucked under the dash and protected with plastic sleeves... and hey! I have proper headlights!!

And turn signals too!


- Juan

 

[jacubillo]

It's now time to get those bench seats out and replace them with "new ones".

It's amazing what you find in these trucks under whatever you lift:

Seats are out... floor is full of hay, shampoo bottles (wut?), and for some reason... 5 different buckle receptacles...


I also found out the only diesel line out of the tank goes straight into a hole in the floor... I guess there should be a grommet in there?
Also... Anyone knows what these clamps are for? I'd say a jack and tooling might go there but I'm not sure:

Everything was vacuumed and I then used degreaser on everything and hosed it down>

It's HOT in here now so everything dries out pretty much instantly... no worries about any further rust or corrosion...

I also decided to remove the current window "handle".... which is just some bent rebar welded to the window mechanism... A demel took care of this quickly...

I got some BWM E34 seats. Might end up replacing them for E46 ones later as I like more the way the electric switching controls look on them>

Now I have to make some seat supports for them... Job for another day...

- Juan

 

[wimberosa]

bench seats look original to me....don't let those disappear into the dumpster. those clips are for jack rods

 

[jacubillo]

bench seats look original to me....don't let those disappear into the dumpster. those clips are for jack rods

They are originals. Sold them to a guy who had buckets and wanted to return to stock ones.

 

[jacubillo]

Got myself a used mig/fluxcore welder And started making practice beads right away...

Meanwhile... I marked the location of where the seats should be:

I found a cool video of a guy making a rounded 90° bend on a square tube that's really cool. Search on youtube for "Cara bending besi hollow/kotak tanpa alat bending" Or here:



I followed the procedure and ended up with something like this. (once grinded and painted):

I kept adding tubing to make the frame for the seats. Little by little.... measuring 10 times and cutting&welding once...

And now I have seats!

Truck is now almost ready to go pickup an original bed I was able to source. Just one more step before it can once again ride on the streets

 

[jacubillo]

Now that the car can once again be driven... I used it to go pick up the crown jewel... An original Long Bed in good condition!!

I still need to convert my wooden box bed into a simple bed tray to be able to transport the new metal bed:

Started by removing the rear doors and one of the side panels... Nuts are rust-welded to bolts and required lots of WD40 + a small impact driver to remove them. Even then.. several were stripped and I had to either drill them out or just grind their head and punch them through>

The rest of the remaining panels have also been removed. I placed them on facebook marketplace and ... somehow... someone ended up buy them for $200... not bad for what I considered firewood. So now I have a flat surface to go pick up my new bed>

And now it's home!

Bought some beers.. called a few friends... and now the bed is stored next to the garage. I still need to sandblast it and fix a few things before installing it...

I'm planning on coating it with something like LineX or Rhyno linning on the inside and underside of the bed.
What's the common opinion on these coatings around here? Are they useful? Any issues with them?

I'm so happy that I finally have everything I need for the truck I have so long imagined... NOW it's time to strip down the truck again and start the actual rebuild from the ground up.

- Juan

 

[RobE30]

Very cool! Keep up the work

 

[jacubillo]

So... these are the last stages of the work I've done to the truck... I'm now going to dismantle it and will only be keeping the frame (In Costa Rica this is what's legally considered the car in the car registry) and the bodywork. Pretty much everything else will be sold and replaced with newer components from a 80 or 100 landcruiser donor.

Started opening up the engine bay by removing the front and fender pieces. Hood has been "relocated" on top of the roof for now.

Front driveshaft and springs disconnected and removed. I also removed the shocks and steering linkages to free up the front axle. The front of the body is supported on 2 stands that I don't really trust that much... No going under the car for now until I remove the engine to make it lighter....

The rest of the old wooden bed was also removed and taken away by the same dude who bought the other wooden panels:

Surprise surprise... I have coils on my rear suspension lol:

Looks like the previous owner stuck some coils between the bump stop supports. Geez...

And another one for the WTF logbook:

Both sway bar bushings are just hanging out of their "brackets":


Nice :/

Now that I have more access to the rear of the frame I was able to give it a good wash... remove years of mud stuck between parts.. and find out about the horrors of what rust can do to a car frame as well as the abuse this one received for years. Pics on the next post .

 

[lelandEOD]

....my God. I feel for you. What is it with Central/South America and the lack of electrical engineers?


Oh hell, who am I kidding, North America is probably no better.


Keep at it. I look forward to seeing it with the new bed!

 

[jacubillo]

....my God. I feel for you. What is it with Central/South America and the lack of electrical engineers?


Oh hell, who am I kidding, North America is probably no better.


Keep at it. I look forward to seeing it with the new bed!

It's not really lack of knowledge... It's just that these cars are seen differently here... they are just disposable tools. Load them up with as much cargo as you can and go from A to B. If something happens to the car... quickly fix it and keep working. If something terrible happens to the car... throw it away and get another one.

Northamericans on the other hand see them as rich/gronwup toys. And as such... you want to have them in as good condition as possible.
You could say these cars in here are the equivalent of fleet F150s in the US. No one cares for them. That... plus we're also poorer .

 

[lelandEOD]

Touché, sir.

So what's up with the coils in the rear? Were they just added as overload springs?

 

[jacubillo]

Touché, sir.

So what's up with the coils in the rear? Were they just added as overload springs?

I just re-read my reply and noticed it may carry some sort of "bad tone" on it. Hope it didn't come out that way... wasn't my intention. Just explaining how I believe 2 different "cultures" see the same item differently. Neither is wrong or right. Heck... both are right in this case.

Yeah.. If I had to guess about why there are coils in there... it's to help with load. That also means this truck was LOADED god knows how much and how many times. And judging the place I got it from.. roads are BAD in there as well so it got hit pretty hard over the years.

I have already checked the frame now that I have better access to it... and sadly I have found several cracks, welds, plating, rust, etc:

On the left you can see a crack on the top-inside part of the frame... just above the electrical tape.
On the left there's also a crack creeping upwards.
Both of these are just behind the body.... near the middle of the frame. A point of high stress when the car is loaded...

There are so many acumulated layers of rust flakes that the internal and external parts of the frame are starting to separate under the expansion pressure.

The above pic shows an area near the rear spring shackle and how rust expanded the 2 plates apart. There's 2cm or 3/4" of between now!

And here you can see near the front body support how the chassis was welded all around... and with a stick welder most likely.

These welds can also be seen on the front of the car... and near the exhaust there are plates welded as well. Badly welded...


This will take A LOT of work to fix properly. And looking at the amount of rust even on the outside parts... I can only imagine how the inside of the frame might look.
I'm thinking I might have to completely disassemble the frame in its individual components to sandblast them separately on every surface, fix any issues, and then re-assemble the frame before adding extra plating to reinforce it.
Is there any other option I might have to fix this? A frame swap is not an option because in CR the chassis is the registered car. Any other VIN or chassis# means it's a different car to register.

Anyone has any suggestion on how to proceed with this?

- Juan

 

[jacubillo]

So... the plan is now measure the frame on it's diagonals to set base readings, verify how it is as of now and then try to fix the issues it has.

I'm using the FSM manual someone posted a while back as a reference>

I'll have to jig the frame and rip it apart section by section to treat it for rust, cracks, and any other surprises I may find.

I decided to test my own wetsander against a professional one with the front bumper plates. Below are the 2 plates... the clean one took me about 5 mins with a pressurewasher + sand >

I then gave the second plate to a professional wetblast shop and asked them for a test. The result is as expected... perfect>

I'll probably end up sending the frame to the pros to blast... but I do like to know that I can do it myself if I need to quickly clean a part for any reason.

I'll buy the metal either today or tomorrow to start building the jig.

- Juan

 

[jacubillo]

Today I received the square tubing to fabricate a jig and be able to disassemble my frame without distorting it.

My plan is to make something like this:

Any ways... before I start building the jig.. I need to lighten the truck. I started by removing doors and seats. Tomorrow I'll try to remove the roof and top body sections, windshield, and see if I can lift the tub with a few friends.

I REALLY don't trust these cheap made in china jackstands... but I have six of them so they stay lol

I'll probably have to buy an engine hoist to lift the heavy H engine out of the bay... Then it's only a matter of removing the rear axle and the frame would be free to take measurements. Might even use the hoist to lift the tub if possible...

- Juan

 

[lelandEOD]

Keep it up! Looks like you've committed to doing what needs to be done. I don't envy your task one bit, but I bet you can successfully resurrect that frame with enough time and energy.

 

[jacubillo]

Christmas and new year is over now... vacations are done.. and I'm now back to working on my cruiser.

Got myself a hoist! woot woot

I've NEVER ever even thought about pulling an engine from a car.. Took me by surprise that I started at 11am and was finished by 3pm. Only 4 hours... I thought I was going to end up still fighting this thing at midnight lol

Once the engine was out... it was time to remove the rear axle as well:

And I'm now the proud owner of a micro junkyard . I actually sold everything except the frame and body ... tomorrow the buyer will come and pick up this mess.

Next up... removing the cabin and fixing my chassis.

- Juan

 

[jacubillo]

Back to business!
After a short pause, I'm now back to working on the truck.

Currently trying to remove all body panels to have them straightened, blasted, and repainted.
However...having a bare chassis is still priority if I want to fix it.

I was able to remove the screws that allow me to fold down the windshield:

But I CANT seem to be able to remove the bolts that hold down the roof to the rest of the car. I can "feel" them with my fingers if I slide them over the inner lip/edge of the roof but they are extremely tight. I tried forcing 1 or 2 and they broke and the heads are now just turning freely and I can't remove them.

Anyone has some info on the proper way to unbolt these?

- Juan

 

[Marn0]

What engine / transmission do you plan on installing?