RevISK
SILVER Star
Radical.
I’ve got a similar repair coming up, looking forward to seeing your next side so I can mimic.
Thanks for posting and don’t forget the pictures next time
Builds Rescuing a Basket Case '72 FJ40 (35 Viewers)
- Thread starter diesellibrarian
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I’ve got a similar repair coming up, looking forward to seeing your next side so I can mimic.
Thanks for posting and don’t forget the pictures next time
diesellibrarian
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #82
Continuing work on the driver's side of the 40 with some repairs to the inner fender. As with the passenger side, it had rusted out wherever there was a support plate welded underneath.
With all of the rusty bits cut out:
Thankfully this side is much straighter than the passenger side, which made welding in the patches a much smoother process. Had to call it a night after getting two of the three patches burned in, but all in all it's looking much better. I still need to repair the quarter panel above the driver's side rear wheel. Will wait for that before plug welding the inner fender to the quarter panel.
Finally: I've been making a pile of the sheet metal I've replaced so far. I clearly I've replaced a pretty significant percentage of the tub! Haha.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all!
With all of the rusty bits cut out:
Thankfully this side is much straighter than the passenger side, which made welding in the patches a much smoother process. Had to call it a night after getting two of the three patches burned in, but all in all it's looking much better. I still need to repair the quarter panel above the driver's side rear wheel. Will wait for that before plug welding the inner fender to the quarter panel.
Finally: I've been making a pile of the sheet metal I've replaced so far. I clearly I've replaced a pretty significant percentage of the tub! Haha.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all!
diesellibrarian
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #84
Getting pretty bored with working on fenders, so I decided to switch it up and start working on the rear doors. I had removed them at the very start of the project, and put them away and hadn't looked at them since. I knew they were rusty and dented, but hadn't inspected them closely. The right door was the less bad of the two, so that's where I started. The lower left corner was completely rotted, but otherwise it was not in terrible shape.
Here's what that corner looked like:
My first step was to remove the latch, so I cut the welds away. The underlying metal was too far gone to be of use in making a template for a patch, so I just cut it away. This allowed me access to the outside panel, which I decided to repair first before working on the more complex inner panel.
My repair to the outer panel was not great, and I accidentally cut through the second layer with my grinder, but all is fixable, and for the rest, there's Bondo.
With the outer panel much more solid, I started work on the inner panel, using tape templates I created from the lower right corner of the door:
Started by tacking the flat piece in place, and then the curved side piece. Was able to pull this off without having to do any stretching or shrinking - that's the nice thing about tape templates: they show you the true shape of the patch, which helps to minimize the metalwork involved.
With those pieces tacked in place, I slipped the bottom piece into place and welded it all together. Here it is, all welded up and partially ground flush:
I got the door finished up last night, but my phone died before I could take a photo. I'll grab a pic later this week. All in all, pretty happy with this repair.
Here's what that corner looked like:
My first step was to remove the latch, so I cut the welds away. The underlying metal was too far gone to be of use in making a template for a patch, so I just cut it away. This allowed me access to the outside panel, which I decided to repair first before working on the more complex inner panel.
My repair to the outer panel was not great, and I accidentally cut through the second layer with my grinder, but all is fixable, and for the rest, there's Bondo.
With the outer panel much more solid, I started work on the inner panel, using tape templates I created from the lower right corner of the door:
Started by tacking the flat piece in place, and then the curved side piece. Was able to pull this off without having to do any stretching or shrinking - that's the nice thing about tape templates: they show you the true shape of the patch, which helps to minimize the metalwork involved.
With those pieces tacked in place, I slipped the bottom piece into place and welded it all together. Here it is, all welded up and partially ground flush:
I got the door finished up last night, but my phone died before I could take a photo. I'll grab a pic later this week. All in all, pretty happy with this repair.
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diesellibrarian
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #85
I then moved on to the left-hand door, which is in much worse shape. It has more rust, and is bent and severely dented.
The inner panel:
I decided that the best way to tackle this one would be to separate the panels, otherwise there's no way to get a hammer and dolly in there to fix the dents. Separating the two pieces wasn't too hard: had to drill out 20 or so spot welds, and they came right apart.
Having the two panels separated will make the rust repair much easier as well. I'm going to have to replace a fair bit of steel on this door, along with the t-nuts that the hinges bolt to. Should be a challenging but manageable project.
The inner panel:
I decided that the best way to tackle this one would be to separate the panels, otherwise there's no way to get a hammer and dolly in there to fix the dents. Separating the two pieces wasn't too hard: had to drill out 20 or so spot welds, and they came right apart.
Having the two panels separated will make the rust repair much easier as well. I'm going to have to replace a fair bit of steel on this door, along with the t-nuts that the hinges bolt to. Should be a challenging but manageable project.
diesellibrarian
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #86
Some more barn door high jinks to share with y'all, starting with the outer panel of the left door.
The lower left-hand corner was the easier of the two repairs the door needed, so that's where I started. The t-nuts are going to have to be re-installed, or perhaps I'll use nutserts instead. But the first step is to install some solid metal in the hinge mounting area.
To do this, I made a tape template which I used to cut out the patch. Tape templates are great because you can fold them around the corners, giving a true pattern for the size of the patch. It really takes most of the guesswork out of making patches. Once I made the patch, I cut most of the rotten steel away, so that I could lay the patch in its final position (because the edges are folded over, I need the edges of the old panel cut away, so that I can locate the patch without interference). After scribing the final location of the patch, I cut away the rest of the old steel:
From there, it was just a matter of welding in the patch, and then grinding the weld. This area was quite dented up, so I did a bit of hammer and dolly work to try to straighten the panel out. Here it is, ready for a light coat of bondo to fill any low spots:
Now on to the lower right corner...
The lower left-hand corner was the easier of the two repairs the door needed, so that's where I started. The t-nuts are going to have to be re-installed, or perhaps I'll use nutserts instead. But the first step is to install some solid metal in the hinge mounting area.
To do this, I made a tape template which I used to cut out the patch. Tape templates are great because you can fold them around the corners, giving a true pattern for the size of the patch. It really takes most of the guesswork out of making patches. Once I made the patch, I cut most of the rotten steel away, so that I could lay the patch in its final position (because the edges are folded over, I need the edges of the old panel cut away, so that I can locate the patch without interference). After scribing the final location of the patch, I cut away the rest of the old steel:
From there, it was just a matter of welding in the patch, and then grinding the weld. This area was quite dented up, so I did a bit of hammer and dolly work to try to straighten the panel out. Here it is, ready for a light coat of bondo to fill any low spots:
Now on to the lower right corner...
diesellibrarian
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- Thread starter
- #87
The lower right corner was in worse shape, so it needed a few extra steps to make it strong again:
I also needed to figure out how to deal with the raised bead on the right-hand side of the door. In the end, I decided to leave it, and to try to weld it to the new patch I was about to install. Anyway, again I started with a tape template:
That gave me a pattern for the flat section of the panel. I cut that out and burned it in. which gave me some solid steel to weld the next patch to:
Made a much smaller tape template of the rusted area on the curved "tray" section of the door:
Transferring that template to a scrap piece of 18 gauge steel. The tape shows the true shape of the patch, something that would otherwise be very hard to measure - especially on a curved piece like this.
After cutting out the patch and bending it to match the curve of the door panel, I laid it in place and scribed around it, giving me accurate cut lines to follow. Because it's pretty tight working inside the raised panel, I used a cut-off wheel on my Dremel to cut out the rust.
From there, it's just a matter of welding the patch in, and grinding it smooth. Still a little more work to do on this one, but by and large the outer door skin repair is complete. Next step is to repair the inner panel, and then reassemble the door by plug welding it back together.
I also needed to figure out how to deal with the raised bead on the right-hand side of the door. In the end, I decided to leave it, and to try to weld it to the new patch I was about to install. Anyway, again I started with a tape template:
That gave me a pattern for the flat section of the panel. I cut that out and burned it in. which gave me some solid steel to weld the next patch to:
Made a much smaller tape template of the rusted area on the curved "tray" section of the door:
Transferring that template to a scrap piece of 18 gauge steel. The tape shows the true shape of the patch, something that would otherwise be very hard to measure - especially on a curved piece like this.
After cutting out the patch and bending it to match the curve of the door panel, I laid it in place and scribed around it, giving me accurate cut lines to follow. Because it's pretty tight working inside the raised panel, I used a cut-off wheel on my Dremel to cut out the rust.
From there, it's just a matter of welding the patch in, and grinding it smooth. Still a little more work to do on this one, but by and large the outer door skin repair is complete. Next step is to repair the inner panel, and then reassemble the door by plug welding it back together.
RevISK
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Looking great!
Thanks for the reminder about tape templates, super handy.
diesellibrarian
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- Thread starter
- #89
OH YEAH I forgot to add that I finished up the right barn door and kind of test-mounted it on the truck (I'm still missing the lower hinge, mind you). Just a skim of filler to smooth things out. A coat or two of high-build primer and the repair should look at least as good as the rest of the truck, which frankly isn't saying much lol. That's okay, the whole vibe of this build is "beaten, but not broken," so most of the dents and surface rust will remain untouched. The tricky part will be blending the newly-repaired areas with the existing patina.
diesellibrarian
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- Thread starter
- #90
Well, I've spent way too much time on these stupid doors. I probably should have just sourced a couple of good used doors on Mud, but then again where's the fun in that? At any rate, I think that both barn doors are repaired and ready for paint. I spent a good chunk of the weekend on the driver's side rear door. Since the lower hinge mounting area had rusted out, I had to figure out a way to attach the hinge. In the end I decided that some M6x1.0 rivnuts was the way to go. I used calipers to measure and mark the location of the holes:
Here's the front of the door, with rivnuts installed:
With the rivnuts in place, I flipped the door over and started work on the inside panel. Here I've started in on replacing the rusty lower right-hand corner:
I then cut a couple of small pieces of 18 gauge, and bent them in the vice so that they matched the profile of the side panel. Here they are tacked in place:
I then used another tape template to cut a patch for the curved corner, using one of the solid corners as a guide:
Here's the corner piece and the other patch pieces mostly welded in:
Encountered a few frustrations along the way, including some of my plug welds letting go, and some burn-through in areas where the metal had been thinned by rust on the inside. As a result, this door is anything but pretty. It's still dented in some areas and has surface rust. But that will just help it blend in with the rest of the truck.
Also, there's no denying that it's looking a lot better than it did before!
Here's the front of the door, with rivnuts installed:
With the rivnuts in place, I flipped the door over and started work on the inside panel. Here I've started in on replacing the rusty lower right-hand corner:
I then cut a couple of small pieces of 18 gauge, and bent them in the vice so that they matched the profile of the side panel. Here they are tacked in place:
I then used another tape template to cut a patch for the curved corner, using one of the solid corners as a guide:
Here's the corner piece and the other patch pieces mostly welded in:
Encountered a few frustrations along the way, including some of my plug welds letting go, and some burn-through in areas where the metal had been thinned by rust on the inside. As a result, this door is anything but pretty. It's still dented in some areas and has surface rust. But that will just help it blend in with the rest of the truck.
Also, there's no denying that it's looking a lot better than it did before!
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diesellibrarian
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #91
I also went ahead and installed my new Koito H4 head lights, and installed the signal lights just for fun. These signal lights are not correct for the year, but I got them for free so I'm going to run them.
Getting closer to reinstalling a floor in this thing!
Getting closer to reinstalling a floor in this thing!
diesellibrarian
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #92
After all the time spent on the rear doors, it was fun to get them provisionally installed. Obviously they're going to get painted, and I need to sort out the hardware situation (most of the stock bolts didn't survive the door removal process), but for now it's cool to see some tangible progress.
To get the doors mounted, I hung them from the upper hinges, and got things aligned as best I could, and then marked the location of the lower hinges, then drilled the holes in the tub. I had to make up two new mounting plates, since the old rusty ones had been cut out and discarded. Here I'm tapping the new plates for the M6x1.0 bolts:
With the new plates painted and installed, the doors went on pretty easily. I'm thinking that the rear door opening might be just a *little* wider than stock, as there are gaps around the edges, and the doors barely overlap in the middle. When I got the truck, there was basically nothing holding the rear of the tub together, so it wouldn't be surprising for things to be a little out of whack. Not sure there's much I could do about it now anyway, so we'll just go with it.
Glad to finally be done with doors for a while!
To get the doors mounted, I hung them from the upper hinges, and got things aligned as best I could, and then marked the location of the lower hinges, then drilled the holes in the tub. I had to make up two new mounting plates, since the old rusty ones had been cut out and discarded. Here I'm tapping the new plates for the M6x1.0 bolts:
With the new plates painted and installed, the doors went on pretty easily. I'm thinking that the rear door opening might be just a *little* wider than stock, as there are gaps around the edges, and the doors barely overlap in the middle. When I got the truck, there was basically nothing holding the rear of the tub together, so it wouldn't be surprising for things to be a little out of whack. Not sure there's much I could do about it now anyway, so we'll just go with it.
Glad to finally be done with doors for a while!
middlecalf
SILVER Star
These will help with those gaps. I thought city racer sold them too but don’t see them on his site.
www.sor.com
Rear Swing Out Door - 1958-1974 40 Series (Page 133) - Specter Off-Road
Toyota Land Cruiser parts since 1983. From the oldest FJ25 and FJ40 to FJ45 BJ40 FJ55 FJ60 BJ60 FJ62 FJ70 BJ70 FJ80 and 100 Series, SOR has the largest selection of top quality new and used OEM and aftermarket Land Cruiser parts in stock in the world. Specializing in restoration parts for both...
www.sor.com
diesellibrarian
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- Thread starter
- #94
I recently bought a small lot of FJ40 parts, mostly to get a fuel tank but also a few other things like seat belts, etc. One of the items in the lot was a spare tire carrier, which my truck was missing. Unfortunately the carrier is from a later 40, so it mounts on the drivers side instead of the passenger side. Nevertheless, I decided to use it because I have it and and because it's in great shape (looks like it's been sandblasted).
Since there are no mounting holes for the carrier, I had to measure drill a bunch of holes, and also fab up a support bracket for the upper mount (the lower mount bolts go through the sill). I didn't have enough hardware to get it fully mounted, but this is good enough to see that it will work well and look cool.
Also missing is the latch or whatever it's called that mounts to the sill. Will need to source or fabricate one, but that will happen after the floor is in. I'm also going to have to move the back-up light and the badges to the passenger side, since the tire carrier covers all of that stuff.
Fun stuff!
Since there are no mounting holes for the carrier, I had to measure drill a bunch of holes, and also fab up a support bracket for the upper mount (the lower mount bolts go through the sill). I didn't have enough hardware to get it fully mounted, but this is good enough to see that it will work well and look cool.
Also missing is the latch or whatever it's called that mounts to the sill. Will need to source or fabricate one, but that will happen after the floor is in. I'm also going to have to move the back-up light and the badges to the passenger side, since the tire carrier covers all of that stuff.
Fun stuff!
Chungas Revenge
SILVER Star
BTB will have the catch for the driver side mount. The latch mechanism can be troublesome to find.
Edit: Disregard the latch comment, I see you already have one.
Edit: Disregard the latch comment, I see you already have one.
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diesellibrarian
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #96
Good intel, thank you! That's the part I'll be needing, all right.BTB will have the catch for the driver side mount. The latch mechanism can be troublesome to find.
Edit: Disregard the latch comment, I see you already have one.
View attachment 3534663
middlecalf
SILVER Star
... and license plate bracket and light.
diesellibrarian
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #98
Yes, I have one of those from a later model that I'll install on the right rear door.
I have a passenger side tire carrier and latch I can be reasoned out of...not planning on using it anymore and it's in good shape.
Not sure what the shipping would be to CO though. Do you ever come to the Salt Lake area?
Not sure what the shipping would be to CO though. Do you ever come to the Salt Lake area?
@diesellibrarian Great thread man, I've read the whole thing now. I too live where the flat land meets the bumpy land, and I too come from the 60 world - I've been daily driving one for four years now. I'm slowly hunting for the right 40 project and your work gives me hope that I can pull off something similar. My budget isn't going to allow me to get anything much beyond what you started with, but that's ok - you prove it can be done. Anyway, nothing to add except "thanks".
