Repair Options for "RUST FREE" Cruiser thats......rusting

[s4tund8]

Hello,
We are looking to hopefully repair some damage that is occurring on our 60. Has anyone experienced rust in these areas and any ideas on a recommended fix besides making it a convertible

It really is a nice cruiser, and we would hate to let it get TOO far gone (and more expensive repairs).

Suggestions?

1985 FJ60

• s4tund8
• Jun 6, 2016

 

[Major Nelson]

looks to have been resprayed before. how much are you looking to spend?

 

[Major Nelson]

when I got my rig I had one bubble on the passenger side A pillar and one spot behind the rear passenger mudflap. I had planned on a new paint job when I bought it (and knew of the two spots). The body shop took it down to the bare metal, cut out both sections (bubbling is rusting from the inside out. sprayed the interior with rust inhibitor (luckily it looked pretty good/dry in the a pillar).

My thought is you've got to do it right. Seeing the spots where you have the rust bubbles I'd really recommend going with an aggressive approach...there might be a bunch of bondo hiding more rust under there.

 

[s4tund8]

Figuring it will cost a 2-3 grand or so. It has been resprayed which should have been the first indicator when we bought it...but live and learn. This is a keeper so we want to get if fixed right. From what I have learned, we need an auto restoration place and not a bodyshop, the few I took it too would gladly take our money, but no warranty and mostly deal with insurance claims (quick fixes and mindless work). The few restoration places I took it too have a year or more backlog...grrr.

 

[SteveH]

To fix this correctly, you need to sand the rusty spots on the roof above the rain gutter to find bondo and rust, and likely sand the entire perimeter of the roof, since it has been repainted once.

Find and cut out ALL the rust and weld in new metal. Also dig out any caulk in the gutter bottom. Sandblast and treat bottom-of-gutter rust. Re-caulk all, and repaint entire roof. You should pull back or remove the headliner before starting this job, which also means removing the cargo area glass.

The small rusty spot below the rain gutter need to be cleaned out, rust-treated (perhaps spot sand-blasted), metal treated, then re-caulked and repainted. That may have rusted on its own, and/or the rust is connected to leaks in the bottom of the gutter.

These trucks should be stored indoors or under a carport if at all possible. The seams on the roof (many) are begging to rust now, and in the future. If stored outdoors, the condensation that collects on the outside of the roof each night runs into the gutters and keeps this rusting process going. I went through this whole process on my FJ55, which has similar rust problems to those of an FJ60, just worse.

 

[s4tund8]

Good info! Did you do the work yourself?

 

[SteveH]

At the time, I did not have the skills or a welder. I found a guy who fixed it all (on my FJ55) and got it all ready for paint, for $300. Screaming deal. At the time, the headliner in my '55 was junk, so that was one less thing to worry about. Since then, I have done extensive welding on 'cruiser bodies, and wouldn't hesitate to do this.

Any time you see rust partway up the roofline (the vertical portion of the roof cap) of a '55 or '60, it's almost always due to a leaky rain gutter (bad caulk in the bottom of the gutter), and water soaking into the roof insulation and wicking up the side of the roof, causing it to rust through from the inside out. A buddy of mine in Houston has an '83 FJ60 with this same problem, and his gutter caulk was totally destroyed by the Texas sun.

If you do this work yourself, you can buy a used 220v MIG welder ($600-750), some steel ($35 or so), some good primer, a Harbor Freight HVLP paint gun, and likely have it 'ready to paint' (if you want a pro to do it) for less than $1K.

Also, shops may be tempted to just re-apply filler. You want an all-steel repair, and then you want to spray the backside with cold galv. compound and be sure that water never gets to the back side of your repair. If you have a shop do it, be sure you can SEE the work before they cover it with filler and paint. Check out my 'Restoring on a budget' article here: Toyota Trails 2014-4 JA | TLCA to see how I fixed the rust on my FJ62. What you'd be doing isn't much different.

 

[SB Closer]

Just had this done on my '85 FJ60. I had a serious 1-2 ft of big bubbles (like the ones in your last photo) on the driver's side and a few bubbles on the passenger side. I am not well versed in rust repair, etc, so I decided to have a reputable shop do the work. Took it to a resto/refinishing type shop. Just wasn't worth the headache of trying to have my work come out even remotely close to what a "real guy" would do.

Once they got the paint off, they saw that the rust went down into the pillars (mostly the A pillars). They ended up chopping a lot of metal out and patching in new stuff. Treated the metal with POR type product, pulled all of the caulk/seals and re-sealed all. Also had to remove the headliner to get a look at the underside. Went with a new SOR grey headliner. Looks great. Biggest thing I found was that several shops hinted at doing a filler job and not much metalwork. This is why I went to a resto shop. I would humbly suggest that you make sure that your shop understands that you want an all-steel repair as mentioned by ^SteveH^.

Job went to just over 4k. Now bear in mind this was in Santa Barbara, CA where everything is more expensive... Though I would tend to think in terms of 1000s to be fair. One thing, they re-sprayed my gutter rail to match the paint - watch out! I was bummed initially but have since gotten over it . I should have been more specific.

 

[Rao cruise]

At the time, I did not have the skills or a welder. I found a guy who fixed it all (on my FJ55) and got it all ready for paint, for $300. Screaming deal. At the time, the headliner in my '55 was junk, so that was one less thing to worry about. Since then, I have done extensive welding on 'cruiser bodies, and wouldn't hesitate to do this.

Any time you see rust partway up the roofline (the vertical portion of the roof cap) of a '55 or '60, it's almost always due to a leaky rain gutter (bad caulk in the bottom of the gutter), and water soaking into the roof insulation and wicking up the side of the roof, causing it to rust through from the inside out. A buddy of mine in Houston has an '83 FJ60 with this same problem, and his gutter caulk was totally destroyed by the Texas sun.

If you do this work yourself, you can buy a used 220v MIG welder ($600-750), some steel ($35 or so), some good primer, a Harbor Freight HVLP paint gun, and likely have it 'ready to paint' (if you want a pro to do it) for less than $1K.

Also, shops may be tempted to just re-apply filler. You want an all-steel repair, and then you want to spray the backside with cold galv. compound and be sure that water never gets to the back side of your repair. If you have a shop do it, be sure you can SEE the work before they cover it with filler and paint. Check out my 'Restoring on a budget' article here: Toyota Trails 2014-4 JA | TLCA to see how I fixed the rust on my FJ62. What you'd be doing isn't much different.

Hey mate I have got serious rust issues in my roof gutters. Both me and my wife would like to keep it and fix it. We would like to know a few things as we have not done anything like this.
Is it a big job as the quotes we have got is ridiculous 20,000 a$. We don't want a beauty queen but would like to slow down the cancer a bit. Your link does not seem to work for some reason. Can you suggest another way to look at how you went about it step by step.

 

[Prairie Swamp]

Seems like thats server is a little flaky this morning. I got here:

http://tlca.org/wp-content/uploads/restoring-budget.pdf

Eric