Builds My First Landcruiser: 78' Frame Off Resofication

[90 Weight]

More of the tub

 

[90 Weight]

And some more.





Taillights rebuilt.

 

[90 Weight]

Ok so with the date I leave for college aproaching quickly, and all of the parts necissary for the rest of the build sitting in my garage, my buddy and I sat down and made a time chart with goals for each week. A basic list of what is left (the bulk of it); (We set out to have all of the following finished by the first of November, and then drive it down for paint no later than the first week of Nov.) Here we go....Finish the front and rear axle assembly, run brake lines and test booster, finish engine (not too much left), wire it up (painless wiring kit), send out the front cowl so that the engine compartment can be painted, mount the front cowl on the frame and bind it to the aluminum tub, install all the guages and seats, steering assembly, mount up the new MAF 21g. rear tank, and fire it up! (I'm sure ive forgotten somthing, but that should be the bulk of it). At that point it should be ready to be driven down for paint (freeborn red) and then its all done!

 

[projektdotnet]

Alright so the needed knuckle parts still havent arrived, but some progress has been made in the mean time. Here is the pic with the tranny in.
View attachment 95415

That pic belongs in the artistic cruiser pics thread too!!

 

[corsair23]

Love Freeborn Red! Great choice...Thanks for taking the time to keep us all up to date and with pics to boot!! We're all cheering you on behind the scenes to get the 40 done!!

 

[okie]

wow x2 for another college age kid getting a resto done! nice!

i also love freeborne red! But i have one question... you gonna daily drive it or what??

 

[Hugh Heifer]

HOLY CRAP -- Thats a bitchin tub, and heck of a schedule. Good luck, Eli! Hey, where is college??

 

[90 Weight]

Thanks guys.

Yes its going to be my daily driver....atleast for the next few years.

Hugh- college is in Santa Barbara, Ca....brooks institute of photography

Hopefully I'll have the transfer case painted, and possibly the back tires on by tonight, so stay tuned for more pics.

 

[90 Weight]

More Pics

Alright. Time for more pics. I just brought back the trailer full of body parts fresh from the soda blaster. (Specifically told him only to blast body parts, and from the cowl forward, since I will be installing the Aqualu tub.)

 

[90 Weight]

 

[90 Weight]

 

[90 Weight]

 

[90 Weight]

Soon to chop up the tub to make rooom for the new portion, but in the mean time we have several things schedualed. On thursday it will be back to the garage to finish the front and rear axles, and get the thing on tires. From that point most of the attenttion will be focused on the brakes and steering assembly.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

Alot of body filler on some of those panels! And better get some sort of paint on the bare metal or you are going to be getting them blasted again! I was surprised to see you had them blasted with the windows in.

 

[90 Weight]

yea I guess the soda blasting doesnt hurt the windows/seals. My two door windows shattered just from moving them around!. Its been raining tons here which is not characteristic of our weather...Nothing seems to be reacting to the moisture, and its been bare for several weeks now. The hood actually got rained on when one of the tarps came loose, so it does have some rust drops...but merely surface stuff that should come of really easily. Im leaning away from putting anything on it in regards to a primer or somthing to protect it, so that the painter can make all of those calls, but I was considering taking it down to the painter to have him do all of the prep/priming he wanted to do before the paint goes on, and then taking it back to my garage and putting it together. That way I wouldnt have to worry. Either way I need to get ahold of him and figure out the best way to address the situation. My Warn hubs arrived this evening from MAF and man do they look nice! Also recieved the seal retainer kit from SOR to finish the axles.

 

[UNO_RACING]

Looks real nice!

When you get around to sand blasting the bottom of the tub, I would suggest using sand (specific for autos) for blasting. The is stock undercoating is a real pain in the ass to get off. You'll go through 300lbs of sand!!!

For some reason the stock undercoating seems to reatain moisture. It's very important that you take it all the way down to the bare metal if you'll be putting all the $$$ into paint.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

Looks real nice!

When you get around to sand blasting the bottom of the tub, I would suggest using sand (specific for autos) for blasting. quote]

I am sure Eli isn't going to bother. He has that sweet aluminum tub to put on!

 

[Volunteer]

Alot of body filler on some of those panels! And better get some sort of paint on the bare metal or you are going to be getting them blasted again! I was surprised to see you had them blasted with the windows in.

If you don't get something on that bare metal after its blasted moisture can get in the metal and cause paint bubbling later. Been there done that and don't care to repeat it. I'll use rust prep this go round http://zero-rust.com/zero-rust-prep-step.html Just a pointer I would do all your cutting, drilling, and welding on your new tub so that you can send the tub and all the body parts off to be painted. Unless your painting it yourself. While your tub and parts are off to the paint booth it'll give you alot of assembly time for the axles and other things so when the painting is done your ready to plop the tub on the frame and get to the tub assembly. Worked out great for me.

Looking good.

 

[90 Weight]

Thanks for the pointer

 

[90 Weight]

Pain

Alright so the painter is going to come by on Saturday and decide the best way to go about everything. Its been sunny out and since its colorado...very dry, so im not too worried that rust will form on the bare metal in the next 3 days....but then again its colorado so the weather can change from sunny to snowing in a matter of 15 min. Ill keep my fingers crossed.