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

[cbmontgo]

I got the tub back off the frame today and sandblasted the outside to remove some of the grease. Tomorrow I will blast the inside to get the welds all cleaned up then this thing will get a fresh new coat of self etching epoxy primer.

Looking AWESOME.

 

[broth9640]

Back in epoxy primer

 

[broth9640]

 

[broth9640]

It took all day to blast the inside and reprime this thing.

 

[broth9640]

Ordered the Jackson prefabbed Metal Tech cage today along with the front and rear frame tie ins. I have the tub upside down right now finishing up the last of the metal work before I prime and undercoat it. I was thinking that I might have to remove the backing plates/captured nuts for the jumpseats to get the frame tie in plates to clear. Anyone do this? I just don't want to undercoat it and find out later the plate won't fit.

 

[broth9640]

These j hook shaped plates attach to the underside of the wheel well and bolt up and mate to the same shaped plate attached to the cage as seen in the photo below. It looks like the plates may be in the way of the jumpseats mounting plates that have the captured nuts. The ones mounted under the wheel wells. Sorry I don't have a picture of those at the moment.

 

[broth9640]

Borrowed the picture above from mud member MY64FJ40. Hope you don't mind. Nice rig BTW

 

[broth9640]

Well I decided to remove all the mounting brackets with captured nuts from the underside of the wheel wells. Man I cant believe I thought I could get away with not doing this! I should have done this when the quarter panels were off. It would have been a hell of a lot easier Never the less I am really happy I did. Pics say it all

 

[broth9640]

Here are some pics after I welded up some patches and sand blasted it all. Not bad, but not perfect. I can't tell you how happy I am that I did this. For anyone doing a restoration or dealing with rust this is a must. in hind sight I probably should have just replaced the wheel wells too.

 

[broth9640]

A little scuff sanding to prep for the UPOL Raptor liner.

 

[broth9640]

Finally it feels like progress!

 

[broth9640]

Finally I am having a few
Feels like I am finally getting somewhere with this project. I am going to enjoy it tonight because the sanding starts soon.

 

[thecrazygreek]

Looking sweet!

Did you fill all the blind nut holes before applying the raptor? I used blue tape rolled into little balls and stuffed into all the little holes before I sprayed. It was the easiest way I could figure on doing it.

 

[broth9640]

Yeah I sure did. I actually used ear plugs to fill most of the holes. I saw someone else here on mud do it. Worked like a charm and I shouldn't have to chase the threads, but I probably will anyways to clean them all up.

 

[vegasfj40]

What a great job you are doing! I will be in the Boulder area in a couple of weeks. It would be nice to stop by.

 

[broth9640]

What a great job you are doing! I will be in the Boulder area in a couple of weeks. It would be nice to stop by.

Come on by. I am trying to get this thing done by the end of February so I will be spending a lot of my free time on this. I live in the Wash Park area down in Denver. Hit me up. Will you be driving that cruiser? Sure would be nice to see one that is in one piece

On another note: I spent the day chasing all the threads just to make sure, but I will probably have to do it again once I spray the inside. I also ground down some of the welds on the wheel wells and general clean up before I dig into the filler skim coat followed by lots of sanding followed by builder primer,sanding and a final coat of primer. I can't be to far off from sending this thing into paint, but I am wondering if I should get all of my body parts done and ready for paint and have it all shot at once? Anyone have an opinion? I am worried about color matching!

 

[broth9640]

Lots of body work. I really hate this. I can't wait to do something besides body work!

 

[broth9640]

Back into epoxy primer since I sanded a lot of areas back to bare metal. I just wanted to be sure that it was good and sealed. The bad news was that after it dried I noticed a few spots where it needed to be reworked.
So I called my buddy over to take a look and help me decide to leave it or fix it

Well I fixed it. I just couldn't live with myself if I left it. There were just a few spots that needed it. so I took the wheel sander out and sanded the primer back off and roughed up the surface to rework it. Turned out pretty good.

 

[broth9640]

Gave it some seam sealer then 4 coats of 2K high build primer. I ended up using the reducer withe high build primer as recommended by the guy at my local body shop. He has been giving me some free advice since I might use him to spray the color. I really want to paint it myself, but temps here are getting a bit limiting. It turned out great, but a few spots that aren't perfect Its a cruiser...

 

[broth9640]

A little bit of shrinking on the seam sealer, but I decided I could live with it. Oh and for you Purists.... I covered up the spot welds because I replaced the quarters and made the welds look non uniform and non OEM.
I didn't realize at the time how important those welds would be if I was going to keep the factory look. Oh well hind sight 20/20.