Project: "Not going to do a frame off" Frame Off (1 Viewer)

[nicholastheczar]

nice! is your wife home yet?

Ha! Yup and she told me "no big deal, we can park outside until you get it finished"! Didn't bother her a bit. Now if I drag it out over the next year I'm sure her mood won't be the same, she'd probably go from to

and we can't have that! Needless to say, I took her to dinner.

 

[srgould41]

My wife was not too happy when I took her side of the garage, but she accepted it. Then she asked if she could have her side by winter... I tried hard not to laugh. Done with a frame off restore by winter? Right.....

Ha! Yup and she told me "no big deal, we can park outside until you get it finished"! Didn't bother her a bit. Now if I drag it out over the next year I'm sure her mood won't be the same, she'd probably go from to

and we can't have that! Needless to say, I took her to dinner.

 

[kipper]

kiiiiiiiiick asss!! this is my favorite thread ever. sending the wife out of town for a few days at this stage of the project is key. i'll try to call ya tonight, i love it!

 

[nicholastheczar]

Made a little more progress over the last two days. I got the final black overcoat of POR15 on the underside of the tub ... looks pretty good. I thought the silver looked sharp, but I had some chasis coat left over so might as well use it.

After it dried I put the body back on. I used my new poly body mounts I bought from energy suspension. Seemed to be good quality, but did have to buy an 1 different Grade 8 bolt to make it work. I think they sent me the wrong size for one of them.

I don't have my motor mounts drilled yet, wanted to make sure I had enough clearance. I've got about 3.5" from my dizzy to the firewall. Think that is enough? I've heard 5" is good. Should I move my motor forward a little?

 

[nicholastheczar]

Today I had some honey-do's I had to get knocked out as well as the yard needing mowing so I didn't get as much done as I'd would have liked. I did however get the Durabak bedliner in. My plan was to spray it in with a cheap-o spray gun I had but it wouldn't work, so I rolled it. I am actually very impressed with the liner, it came out very uniformed and consistant. But man that stuff is potent! I had the garage door open w/ a resipirator on and still felt like I had been sniffin' glue! Should have borrowed a SCBA from work!

I ordered a front and rear axle rebuild kit from Kurt at cruiser outfitters. While I was at it and the TC is out I thought it would be worth my while to order a rebuild kit for that to, so that's coming in the mail too. If that wasn't enough to keep me busy, I bought rear disc brake brackets and rotors from Poser. That ought to keep me going for a little bit. By the way thanks for the help Poser!

 

[nicholastheczar]

kiiiiiiiiick asss!! this is my favorite thread ever. sending the wife out of town for a few days at this stage of the project is key. i'll try to call ya tonight, i love it!

Dooood! Yeah, it worked out great! A few days to devote totally to the cruza really help get me going! I've got 6 days off next week, probably will get some good cruza time in.

We want to come up to CO in November and see you guys.

 

[kipper]

Should I move my motor forward a little?

I would put it as far forward as possible while leaving room for the fan and shroud since your drive train is so much longer than stock. The rear drive shaft will be very short with this setup, not sure how short but someone will know. Post a pic with the fan on and the radiator mounted. It will be a good idea to decide on your suspension setup now, because that rear axle will certainly move back some and that needs to be settled before you can get the shaft made. Make sure though that there is plenty of room for a fan and shroud up front, if they are too close together the frame flexing under extreme conditions will push the fan into the shroud and/or radiator and really ruin your day. Search for threads about stiffening the frame, I think some people have had good luck reducing frame flex by welding a view riveted seams together and/or adding more bracing. Now you've gone from fixing a rusty floor pan to a full frame off with 350 tbi swap and a spring over (or coils)!!

 

[LCHardriver_02]

Great job! I am looking forward to seeing the final product.

 

[Caddisfly]

Your frame looks like it's brand new.

Great thread!

 

[nicholastheczar]

Your frame looks like it's brand new.

Great thread!

Thanks, it turned out pretty good. I happy with the POR15 as this was my first time to use it. I would recommend it to anyone looking at doing it.

 

[nicholastheczar]

Yesterday I tore into my TC after I ordered a rebuild kit from Kurt at cruiseroutfitters. This is my first attempt at rebuilding a TC and it has gone pretty smooth. I've run into a problem with rebuild though. I've got some play in my output shaft assembly. I don't know if it has to do with my new races I put in or how far my bearings are seated on the shaft. Anyone have any ideas? I'll try to get some pictures up of what I'm talking about.

ETA:
Here's my post w/ my TC rebuild problem. Sounds like I need to get some new shims to fix the slop in my output shaft.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/310031-3-speed-tc-rebuild-help.html

 

[3pits]

Pretty cool! wish I had found that GA cruiser while it was in GA,,, I have missed a few of those, but glad to see it is being taken care of!!! Congrats!!

 

[toyman317]

Subscribed.

 

[chicago]

Nick!
This is AWESOME brotha! Im stealing ideas as Im reading.
I had never thought to lift the tub with the hoist! KILLER MAN! Most of my issues come from execution, so that is a really valuable tip.
The work looks BEAUTIFUL. SO about how much did that POR15 run. Someone at the 45 run this weekend recommended it as well...
Looks GREAT!

IMO, Id spring that BEOTCH over!
However, I guess it depends on the terrain you wanna run too.

Great job!

Im in!

Keith

 

[nicholastheczar]

The POR was about $300. I bought the cleaner, metal ready, undercoat, and chasis coat.

After looking at it, I've decided to SOA it. I'll be glad I did after its all said and done. Just add that to my list of things todo!!

Nick!
This is AWESOME brotha! Im stealing ideas as Im reading.
I had never thought to lift the tub with the hoist! KILLER MAN! Most of my issues come from execution, so that is a really valuable tip.
The work looks BEAUTIFUL. SO about how much did that POR15 run. Someone at the 45 run this weekend recommended it as well...
Looks GREAT!

IMO, Id spring that BEOTCH over!
However, I guess it depends on the terrain you wanna run too.

Great job!

Im in!

Keith

 

[nicholastheczar]

Alright so today I started off tinkering with my TC. I had to take my output shaft to a mechanic shop because the needle bearing had been destroyed inside and the housing was left. I tried to get it out but no go. I dropped it off and hung around for about an hour and then decided I had better things to do than watch this guy attempt to get this housing out. I ordered a few different shims from my local Toyota dealer for my TC which didn't have any shims in it at all!

After I realized that I couldn't go any further w/ my TC I decided to break into my extra '78 axle I had and start stealing parts off of that. It went from this:

to this:

That sucker had a bunch of caked on red Georgia mud and grease that made for a big mess.

I took it down and removed the calipers, rotors, and knuckles then cleaned them all up and gave it a fresh coat of paint.

My plan was to take the '78 disc brakes and put them on the '70 axle. But the calipers are shot and I don't know if the rotors are worth anything. I may have to move to plan B.

I did pull the 3rd member out of the 78 and plan on putting in the rear of my 70 to get the fine spline.

I did order a new wiring harness. I ended up going with the EZwiring 12 circuit harness. Seems like lot of guys here have used them and have been happy with them. A lot cheaper than a painless, we'll see how it goes. Electrical is not my specialty by any means.

I also ordered a mechanical TC shifter assembly to replace my vacuum TC assembly. With that I can use my AA twin stick shifter kit I bought.

 

[srgould41]

Looks like you will be a pro at TC rebuilds! Want to do mine next?

Awesome work so far. Keep it up!

 

[CruisinFJ60]

looks nice man movin along quick!

 

[nicholastheczar]

Got my shims from Toyota so back to the TC. Hopefully I can get that done today. I also got my rear disc brackets from Poser (beefy) so I may try to swap out 3rd members and start rebuilding the back today, but we'll see.

The mechanic was able to get the bearing housing out of my output shaft and it cost me $40.00. Not too bad, was worth in flying F-bombs and broken tools to me as it probably would have tested and shot my patience.

 

[goneballistic]

excellent thread. I wish I had your skill. That cruiser is going to look perfect.

I have a dead 81 sitting in the garage right now I want to do this to but keep getting hung up and not doing it.