Need a little bodywork advice...

[kyoso23]

This is my stock (besides the nasty bumpers) '65 40. I am begining to do some work to this beast, more less a nice refresh, not a full restoration. There is very very little rust on the rig, but there is a little in the usual places. Mainly the rear. What I'm looking for is advice on how I should go about the body work. I will probably repalce the rear sill, but that still leaves the corners. As you can see, they're really not that bad but I want it to look nice. Has anyone worked with fiberglass for filling? What else do you guys recommend?

 

[kyoso23]

I also need to fix this...

and here's one for the welding crew...

 

[Pin_Head]

Fiberglass will work fine for fixing the fiberglass top. Otherwise, just weld in new steel. Looks like you could use a few pieces of 16 ga sheet instead of buying entire new panels.

 

[aksnowryder]

x2 on what Pin-Head said. Don't use the fiberglass to fill the metal. Weld new metal in. The trick if it can be called that, is to make sure and cut out ALL the metal that has rust. Weld in the new stuff, grind it, treat it, etch it and then prime it. Don't leave it in primer as it will attract moisture. Paint as soon as you can.

 

[FF LC FREAK]

And plan on your sill being rusted through as well. When I did mine, my sill was rusted through also (see the "winter projects" thread for pics of mine). I cut out the rusted metal, welded in new metal into the sill, and then welded in new metal into the body. Once you start cutting, you will see that the rust goes farther than you expected. I used a piece of 14 g sheet metal on mine. I cut it to fit, then bent and tacked it in. I'm no "body man", so if I can do it, you can too.

Good luck!

 

[kyoso23]

And plan on your sill being rusted through as well. When I did mine, my sill was rusted through also (see the "winter projects" thread for pics of mine). I cut out the rusted metal, welded in new metal into the sill, and then welded in new metal into the body. Once you start cutting, you will see that the rust goes farther than you expected. I used a piece of 14 g sheet metal on mine. I cut it to fit, then bent and tacked it in. I'm no "body man", so if I can do it, you can too.

Good luck!

I planned on replacing the whole sill already, I was going to buy one of the replacement sills on EBAY... Is this a MUD member that sells these?
eBay Motors: '58-'74 Toyota Landcruiser FJ40 Rear Sill Replacement (item 110220280665 end time Feb-07-08 10:23:35 PST)

 

[lostmarbles]

What happened?



Mine has two rivets holding the front of that plate to the chassis rail. Did your rivets break?

But then your plate looks thicker than mine so perhaps it's been modified and never had rivets?

 

[Azrocks]

What are everybodys impression of the patch panels that are made to fix the rear corner panel area?

 

[Jakes40]

X2 pin_head cut out just the bad area and weld in new strips.

 

[flash02]

Replace the whole rear sill. CCOT has a rear sill kit, also look at iron pig off road, and real steal.net or .com. Real Steal is as good if not better then CCOT. Rust is like cancer if you don't get it all it will continue to spread, 40's are relatively easy fix due to the simple square body style. Soon I will be getting another 40, the first thing I will do is replace the Rear sill and tail gate.

Good Luck!

 

[Eco 45]

Never use plastic to try and fix a hole in metal, the rust will just continue to spread. I would cut a generous area out around the areas of rust and put in new metal. Make sure to clean the paint off around the area that the patch panel will go into or you will contaminate your weld. Can you post additional photos of the frame—hard to tell exactly what is going on. For the top use glass to fix. Good luck.

 

[NTAPHSE]

Like everyone else said, DON'T USE FIBERGLASS!!! Its not the correct way to repair a steel body. Also, grind back the paint to find the real extent of the rust, its not just what you see coming through. For example, that paint looks swollen around the rear hinge, I bet if you grind the paint away the rust extends up and around that hinge.

Can you weld? If not find a friend that can or buy a small 110v MIG and teach yourself.

 

[kyoso23]

Like everyone else said, DON'T USE FIBERGLASS!!! Its not the correct way to repair a steel body. Also, grind back the paint to find the real extent of the rust, its not just what you see coming through. For example, that paint looks swollen around the rear hinge, I bet if you grind the paint away the rust extends up and around that hinge.

Can you weld? If not find a friend that can or buy a small 110v MIG and teach yourself.

I gonna have to learn probably. I have a friend that welds, but he's like 1 1/2 away.

 

[kyoso23]

What happened?

View attachment 207590

Mine has two rivets holding the front of that plate to the chassis rail. Did your rivets break?

But then your plate looks thicker than mine so perhaps it's been modified and never had rivets?

I can't tell, I just noticed it the other day. It looks like it's been like that for awhile too. The rivets cracked straight away. Does anyone think I could bolt it back through where the rivets were and torque the plate back down flat to the frame? I think my retarded ass rear bumper might be part of the problem here. It's welded onto the shackle bracket/plate towards the back instead of to the frame rail so any stress applied to the bumper in a vertical fasion would likely put stress on those rivets. You can see the plate from the bumper here...

 

[Nomis]

What else do you guys recommend?
]

New rear sill. New quarer panels - at least quarter patch panels. Also check the front floor pans and under the fuel tank for cancer.

 

[kyoso23]

New rear sill. New quarer panels - at least quarter patch panels. Also check the front floor pans and under the fuel tank for cancer.

The rest of the truck is pretty much rust free. There's a little surface rust in the engine bay side of the firewall, but thats about it. I will probably wash it down with some muratic acid and a wire brush and rattle some rustoleum over it. As far as the quarters go, they're in great shape inside and out besides these rust spots I've posted. I think I will try the patch route first and see how that goes. I'm not looking for perfection really, just trying to avoid diamond plating or having it look goofy.

 

[lostmarbles]

...... Does anyone think I could bolt it back through where the rivets were and torque the plate back down flat to the frame? I think my retarded ass rear bumper might be part of the problem here. It's welded onto the shackle bracket/plate towards the back instead of to the frame rail so any stress applied to the bumper in a vertical fasion would likely put stress on those rivets. You can see the plate from the bumper here...

Worth a try but you may find you need to assist the bolts with one or more G-clamps.

Once the plate is back where it should be I'd weld it in place (as well as having the thru-bolts near its leading edge).

 

[NTAPHSE]

I gonna have to learn probably. I have a friend that welds, but he's like 1 1/2 away.

What city are you in?

 

[kyoso23]

Fountain Hills

 

[kyoso23]

Small update: I've decided to just replace the top completely. A local guy is selling me a refurbed top and sides. This works out pretty good since my top was kind of rotted and the sides had some corner glass frenched in that was broken. So now I'll have a fully stock refurbed top for my '65. I hope to start on some of the bodywork next week. I'm going to get it sandblasted, and have the rust taken care of and then repainted to the stock beige. This has been an extremely slow project, I've barely touched this thing in the last couple years. I have an itch to get it whipped into shape now though, I want to drive it. Here's how it currently sits...(cell phone crap)