Out of Liberia - Prepping 86 LJ70 for the road

[richmason]

Moving quickly now

Fenders are off and substantial progress has been made in patching the holes. The welder cut off the end caps from the cowl drainage area and patched up the rusty holes. New windshield frame channels have been fabricated and welded in and piece by piece they are cutting out as much rust as they can and welding in patches. Its not pretty work by any means but it is water tight and should hold me until I can get to a friendlier climate. Any thoughts as to whether or not: 1) we should drill out holes for drainage from the windshield channel like the original and 2) would a waxoil like product be useful to prevent future rust in the cowl/drainage area?

Here are some new pics.

 

[In2cruisers]

Just for giggles...whats the labor rate for something like that out there??

 

[richmason]

$25 or so an hour. Minimum wage here is 6$ a day.

 

[richmason]

Closer each day

Here are some shots after some early primer. He actually called it "glue" around the end caps and along the windshield frame. Must be some sort of epoxy. My various other paints and treatments came from Eastwood yesterday. Fenders will go back on after another coat or two of proper paint.

 

[richmason]

Ironman kit installed pics

The car is rapidly coming together. Should pick up early next week. Roof is being painted today while the windshield is still out. Here are some pics with the Ironman kit installed. Tires are 265/75/16s that I had laying around. Rear tire is actually slightly smaller than that as they mounted the wrong one. Be advised that the Ironman kit has different shocks for the rear of the truck AND different bushings for particular LJ70s. The bushing that is pressed into the driver's side shock from the factory won't work on my rear axle without a larger inner diameter bushing that should have been included in the kit but was not.

All the rust has been cut out and patched and repairs have been covered with primer to keep it until I can paint it in the next month or two. Rainy season is over so it should last for a bit. Total bill for repairs with roof painting, rust removal, reconstruction of windshield frame and firewall, underside frame repair and rustproofing, new drivers side rocker panel (fabricated), dash removal, painting and reinstall $2200. Now comes the mechanical side...

Cheers,
Rich

 

[richmason]

Windshield in and jerry can mount needs some work - more pics

Wife went by and took a few snaps after the roof painting. Windshield is in. Improvised jerry can cage that was built for my dead Montero needs a bit of a trim to fit properly. On track for a Tuesday delivery. I'm finding it hard to resist the urge to take this truck to Sierra Leone on Thursday instead of our Pajero. One stretch of road is estimated 6 hours for 82 miles. Maybe not the best initial shake-down cruise.

Cheers,
Rich

 

[richmason]

Sierra Leone and back - Landcruisers rule!

Picked up the truck at 6pm on Wednesday and was on the road to Sierra Leone at 6am the next morning. One section of road is rated 6 hours + for 80 miles. It was rough going by my first world standards. Shop put tubes in the 265/75/16s before I left and it turned out to be a big mistake. 5 flat tires and 23 hours later we arrived in Freetown. Besides a lower shock nut coming off and a blocked exhaust from the steep drop from the ferry, the truck was 100% awesome. I bought 4 new 235/85/16s in Freetown and had no issues coming back. What a vehicle! I'll do a separate post with trip pictures. Here is our crew during the first few hours of the trip (it was tight with 5 people for sure):

 

[NGray]

congrats! Looks like this will be quite the journey!

 

[richmason]

Bull bar!

Not a great picture but the shop is still finishing up. There's a Warn winch buried in there. Needs a cable and some TLC. Bar came off of an old 75 series I believe that I saw parked at a place here that seems to build new cars from scavenged old ones. $500. Snorkel should go on next weekend along with a wide front seat from a Landcruiser as my new 1/2 sized back seat. Due to security concerns on the border, we aren't driving to Ghana over xmas. Instead we'll do a whirlwind tour of Liberia from Mt. Nimba all the way down to Harper, Sapo "National Park", Greenville and back on the coast road through Buchanan. Promises to be an adventure as the rains have stayed in Liberia much longer than usual. I'm sure we will learn to h8 mud before the end of it.