Rusty Wagon Rebuild (4 Viewers)

[kevinmrowland]

Also got to do a bit of mechanical work (which I much prefer) since I am swapping in a 62 case that I have here (better bearings and the larger idler shaft). The 62 case is vacuum shift and I'll be staying with manual so you have to drill/tap out for the lock ball that is not there on the 62 cases.

Pics are out of order but you can see that I finish off the hole with a reamer rather than a drill, if you can get your hands on one this leaves a much cleaner inner hole, which is good since the shift shaft uses it as a bore. These reamers are really expensive though, I was lucky to pick a few up at an auction years ago.

Here you can kinda see the inside of that bore, fairly clean.
And since this gets bolted to a 5 speed manual, don't forget the oiler cup on the front of the case!

And... I drilled out and tapped for a proper case vent line, this will be plumbed up to the firewall.

...

 

[kevinmrowland]

The big news though was my last trip to the powder coater to pick up shiny new parts.

So after bringing those back and spending two and a half hours taking all this off:

I had a table full of parts with a few more laying around in other places:

The parts came out great, almost makes all the time spent worth it.
My powder coaters really worked with me on this, not only did they set me up with some "super durable" powder, they did a great job on the coating itself. They know me since I am in there almost every week with panels and frames and they know I care about my work. I really took the time to clean, prep, and mask things as best I could and they took it to the next step, when they saw how bad the parts had been they actually baked it all ahead of time to bring it up to 400* and pulled them out in batches, charged the racks and coated them while they were still hot so the impurities were burned off the metal and the powder started to melt in right away, after going back in the oven for a second bake I've got this:

I really get a kick out of these 3rds:

...

 

[kevinmrowland]

So that's it for now, for the most part this is what I've been working on:

Sand,sand,sand,sand......

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Are you using a TIG welder? Looks very nice indeed.

 

[Bomar]

Man o man that turned out great....

 

[chitown40]

Kevin, your work looks great! Nice to see things coming along. I always look forward to reading through your projects.

Can you elaborate a little on the ATF? Does it suck up moisture very well or do you just assume that it will slosh around enough to leave a nice oily coating to prevent rusting from inside out?

 

[kevinmrowland]

Are you using a TIG welder? Looks very nice indeed.

Yes sir, my trusty little helpers:

Can you elaborate a little on the ATF? Does it suck up moisture very well or do you just assume that it will slosh around enough to leave a nice oily coating to prevent rusting from inside out?

I started talking about it a few posts (pages?) back, it's an old-school hot-rodder trick from back in the northeast, the stuff just wicks into the tinniest of spaces, and it also seems to be the only oil that will wick up against gravity, it will come out a seam a foot above where you put in and it is thin enough to actually get in between the pinch welded areas. A lot of rust proofing that I've seen (wax-oil, etc) are much much too thick to get where they actually need to be on the Japanese style body work.

That last pic I posted is not as clear as I thought it was, I am not filling a cavity with oil, I am using the syringe to accurately place it on the top edge of a seam where two pieces of metal are sandwiched together, as I press fluid out the tip it just disappears in-between the .005 gap between the pieces of sheet metal, I am confident that there is no other way that metal would have gotten an oil coating on it.

 

[Dirtgypsy]

impressive the level of detail and committment to these old trucks.

can I be your freind? or at least tell people that we have met

would really love a road trip to your shop and talk cruisers some day. If you ever get the time let me know!

clint

 

[boots4]

would really love a road trip to your shop and talk cruisers some day. If you ever get the time let me know!

clint

I call shotgun!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Damn Kevin, that's a good powder coater you've got!

 

[kevinmrowland]

can I be your freind? or at least tell people that we have met

would really love a road trip to your shop and talk cruisers some day. If you ever get the time let me know!

clint

Yeah, you met me, I remember the first thing you asked me was, "you drove all the way from NY? Do you know that crazy guy who makes storage parts for cruisers?"
;p
Come on by whenever you like, right off i5, real easy to get to. It's just me in a two car garage, but I'm usually in there working on something.

Damn Kevin, that's a good powder coater you've got!

Yup, for sure, Altech Finishes here in Eugene. They do a great job on all the WagonGear parts as well, and the coating is actually made right here in town as well. It's funny when locals ask me who I am using for powder coating and I tell them the typical response is; "oh, they are expensive" ...... They also do the best work.

Johnny, that seat pin idea for the lower rear seat in your thread is freakin great, I'm going to steal that, ashamed that I didn't think of it first.

KR

 

[HotelCalifornia]

Great job on the truck. It's always fun to completely rip something apart then rebuild it. I did that with a Toyota MR-2 once, minus the powdercoating. I painted & clearcoated it all. Don't know if I'll ever get around to putting that much detail into my FJ62.

Looks like a Miller Dynasty welder? I'd love to buy one of those sometime soon.

Are you staying in Oregon permanently or planning to come back to NY?

 

[tperry616]

Man, this is an inspiration.

I'm sure I'm not the only person that's said it's amazing the quality of work you do but the attention to detail as well as the organization is just mind blowing.

Thanks for documenting this process for the rest of us.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Yup, for sure, Altech Finishes here in Eugene. They do a great job on all the WagonGear parts as well, and the coating is actually made right here in town as well. It's funny when locals ask me who I am using for powder coating and I tell them the typical response is; "oh, they are expensive" ...... They also do the best work.

Johnny, that seat pin idea for the lower rear seat in your thread is freakin great, I'm going to steal that, ashamed that I didn't think of it first.

KR

No worries man. You know I've stolen lots of ideas from you

I can't wait to see this beast once it's done. It's going to be gorgeous!

What color are you going with?

 

[fj60cruizer]

Awesome thread. You have put in some serious work. I wish I had the time and equipment to be able to do this on mine.

 

[fj60cruizer]

Oh and the MONEY for parts. lol

 

[NM Frontier]

This rig is going to be amazing. I love all the powder coat! Keep up the great work!

 

[jzilla]

Those parts look great! don't want to know much you have spent on those though!
Where did you get the syringe for the atf? Think I might hit some seams with it on the Cali truck I brought up here.

 

[kevinmrowland]

Looks like a Miller Dynasty welder? I'd love to buy one of those sometime soon.
Are you staying in Oregon permanently or planning to come back to NY?

Yup, Dynasty 200DX, it's kinda hidden in that pic sitting behind the plasma cutter, it sits on top of the water cooler for the torch, that is the biggest improvement, so much nicer to use and actually saves me money in the long run since I'm not blowing through torches and gas lenses from all the expansion and contraction. It's a great welder setup and does a good job on things up to 0.25 (even though its "rated for .5" ). I would love to add a MIG to the top of that cart, the 211 range, but the TIG does everything so I can't justify the addition.

Are you staying in Oregon permanently or planning to come back to NY?

We would like to stay in Oregon as long as possible, we love it here. No matter what, we are not moving back into the state that is NY, I plan to never even drive this truck in that state during the wintertime as well.

What color are you going with?

Original color, will match the VIN code that way. Going to stick with the tan, I like the color (classic 80s) and it's easier than changing it completely (you know me, I would have to paint every bit inside and out trying to save myself the aggravation)

Oh and the MONEY for parts. lol

Those parts look great! don't want to know much you have spent on those though!

Yeah, the cash hurts..... a lot.
But it's still way cheaper than a new car, or even a good used car. At this point we have over the years collected almost everything we want/need as far as goodies are concerned. This build, while fairly extensive is mostly working with what I already have.
I'll keep track of all the expenses and post that up for a reality check once it's all set, but the pretty drivetrain parts have set us back $800 with the powder coat and sand blasting, that is a ton of money, but there are a ton of parts there, and they are not throw-away parts either, these are cable locking diffs, full floating rear axles and shafts, all the control mechanisms, so in my mind preserving them is worth it.
I just have to keep telling myself that the money is much less than a new car, and the time is for the benefit of my sanity.

Where did you get the syringe for the atf? Think I might hit some seams with it on the Cali truck I brought up here.

Your friendly local orthodontist, works great.



KR

 

[wyorunner]

You sir do amazing work. I'd like to think my 60 rebuild will be this nice, but theres no way. Hopefully it will be close though. Keep up the amazingness, and inspiration for my rebuild.