Operation Olive, My 1975 FJ40 Ground Up Restoration (1 Viewer)

[broth9640]

Well life got the best of me lately. I have been really busy with work and life so the 40 took a back seat, but I logged a few hours in the garage today and managed to tack up my first panel. Technically not that tough, but I did make a few mistakes that cost me some time with fitting the panel. I also discovered how rusty these things are in the joints! I spent some time fabricating the section of the wheel well that attaches to the quarter panel. A good chunk of it was way to far gone to salvage. I also discovered some surface rust inside the main Spar of the tub. I ordered up some frame saver from Eastwood. It took almost an hour just to get all the sand,Dirt and debris out of the Spar. I found a nice nest inside. I guess this thing must have spent some time parked somewhere. Enjoy the pics.

 

[broth9640]

Panel removal. More Rust

 

[broth9640]

and more

 

[broth9640]

Applying the frame saver to the main Spar/Channel

 

[broth9640]

A surprise in the Spar! A close up of a few spot welds.

 

[broth9640]

a few more.

 

[broth9640]

You can see that the gap above is a bit wide. That is what happens when you try to do this after a few beers.

 

[MDTyree]

That just makes for good penetration Have another

 

[broth9640]

Some more progress finally! Got the rear drivers quarter finished,tire carrier mounted with captured nuts installed, inner drivers side rocker installed and the outer rocker removed cleaned and fitted.

 

[broth9640]

,ore pics

 

[broth9640]

Seriously all this rust inside these seams and panels really scares me Going to POR all of the areas that had rust in the seams. When its done the only seams left to be cleaned and PORed will be the floor seams.

On another note. These inner rockers from CCOT didn't fit worth a damn! I even had to spot weld a hole closed that they had predrilled because it was so far off!

 

[broth9640]

A few spot welds to seal up the pitted rust holes in the floor

 

[broth9640]

and installation

 

[broth9640]

grind and grind some more

 

[broth9640]

Starting to look a little better

 

[broth9640]

After a little cleanup with the Blaster it looks pretty good. Happy with the results. I still have to do the TAC welds to the floor, but I am going to do all the Floor stuff at once.

 

[broth9640]

Outside rocker removal , fitting , and cleanup with the blaster. I still need to POR before welding this thing up.

 

[broth9640]

Clean!

 

[broth9640]

Still need to fab a piece for the above spot that was rotted out.

 

[hedgehog23]

nice work with the rust repair. im going threw some rust myself right now