Builds "Salt shaker" the Suzuki samurai build

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Great progress.
Interested to see how welding the patch goes. You may have to do a tutorial on butt welding sheet metal. I have some fixes I will need to do on my FJ40 that require butt welds and to my limited welding experience its a bit daunting.
 
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SC-Cruiser said:
Great progress.
Interested to see how welding the patch goes. You may have to do a tutorial on butt welding sheet metal. I have some fixes I will need to do on my FJ40 that require butt welds and to my limited welding experience its a bit daunting.
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Bring your 40 when you head to Ocracoke, I'll come down with my 75 series and we'll get schooled in the Salt Shaker crusty rusty welding tutorial series. With beers of course :beer: :beer:
 
Unfortunately it will not be running and driving by then. It seems to take me much longer to get projects done than @Roastchestnuts . Too much thinking not enough action...

I will be there in my GX460 however and :beer::beer: are always a good plan
 
SC-Cruiser said:
Great progress.
Interested to see how welding the patch goes. You may have to do a tutorial on butt welding sheet metal. I have some fixes I will need to do on my FJ40 that require butt welds and to my limited welding experience its a bit daunting.
Click to expand...
I think its going to go well. Ill be sure to take pictures. It takes practice for sure. I feel like I have gotten a lot better at butt welding sheet metal. actually the 20 gage on the samurai has been a little easier to get good welds vrses the 16 on the fj40. I think thats just more practice. For me dialing it in and getting the torch distance right is the more difficult part. I know the sound when it is right. but the settings on the eastwood don't always correlate to the thickness of the steel that well. Also in my mind if I think about it as a metal melting hot glue gun it makes it easier. My eastwood has a tac weld function that I thought would be good for stitch welding but I have learned that it just needs a little more wire time.

I actually really want to upgrade my welder to a ESAB Multiprocess welder emp 210 so I can also have a TIG welder too. (Whoops, we couldn't find that. - https://www.grainger.com/product/852R29?gucid=N:N:pS:paid:GGL:CSM-2295:Y8ZQJW:20500801:APZ_1&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21375667808&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1uHRmqvujQMVFk1HAR2d4giKEAQYAyABEgL50fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds )
But my pockets are not deep enough right now. I need to get a little better and make some money welding stuff and then upgrade. For now my eastwood 140 has been pretty good.
SC-Cruiser said:
Unfortunately it will not be running and driving by then. It seems to take me much longer to get projects done than @Roastchestnuts . Too much thinking not enough action...

I will be there in my GX460 however and :beer::beer: are always a good plan
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I might switch up my land cruiser project soon. I like to be busy with them. Its getting a little stale for me as projects do..... and there are other reasons. I cant afford another land cruiser out right so I would have to trade the salt wagon. I hate to say that. and I hope nobody is upset at me for that decision. I have been hinting that I am going to put up the fj40 for trade for a fj55. I may post that add in the classifieds this afternoon and see what happens. So I have no idea what land cruiser I will have in September but we all need to meet up here! or in Avon! Either way I plan on having some sort of old land cruiser haha.


Some salt shaker updates: I ordered a sand blaster to blast a few things. the upper grill support has some surface rust underneath that I need to take care of. and the rear drums and some other components and body parts that the blaster will come in handy. I orered a steering wheel from an ebay junkyard seller to replace the grody one but it has been a week and its not shipped yet and I may cancel the order on Monday If I still dont see anything. I also got my epoxy primer in yesterday. I am excited to use that when I am ready.

​

My last teacher work day is the 17th so expect this thing to start rolling!
 
Roastchestnuts said:
I think its going to go well. Ill be sure to take pictures. It takes practice for sure. I feel like I have gotten a lot better at butt welding sheet metal. actually the 20 gage on the samurai has been a little easier to get good welds vrses the 16 on the fj40. I think thats just more practice. For me dialing it in and getting the torch distance right is the more difficult part. I know the sound when it is right. but the settings on the eastwood don't always correlate to the thickness of the steel that well. Also in my mind if I think about it as a metal melting hot glue gun it makes it easier. My eastwood has a tac weld function that I thought would be good for stitch welding but I have learned that it just needs a little more wire time.

I actually really want to upgrade my welder to a ESAB Multiprocess welder emp 210 so I can also have a TIG welder too. (Whoops, we couldn't find that. - https://www.grainger.com/product/852R29?gucid=N:N:pS:paid:GGL:CSM-2295:Y8ZQJW:20500801:APZ_1&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21375667808&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1uHRmqvujQMVFk1HAR2d4giKEAQYAyABEgL50fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds )
But my pockets are not deep enough right now. I need to get a little better and make some money welding stuff and then upgrade. For now my eastwood 140 has been pretty good
Click to expand...

I was watching a youtube video with a guy from England yesterday on butt welding sheet metal.
Video
His tip was that it requires higher voltage than the welder calls out for the thickness your welding, he then also used much shorter on times so it penetrated fully but didnt burn through. Hi goal was to get as flat of a tack weld tack as possible with good penetration so he could minimize the amount of grinding and heat that went into sheet metal and there by minimize warping.

Im definitely picking up some scrap and practicing

I have the Eastwood 180 and its more than enough for my needs and skill level.
 
Roastchestnuts said:
Some salt shaker updates: I ordered a sand blaster to blast a few things. the upper grill support has some surface rust underneath that I need to take care of. and the rear drums and some other components and body parts that the blaster will come in handy. I orered a steering wheel from an ebay junkyard seller to replace the grody one but it has been a week and its not shipped yet and I may cancel the order on Monday If I still dont see anything. I also got my epoxy primer in yesterday. I am excited to use that when I am ready.
Click to expand...

Let us know how the sand blasting goes, you have an ample source for sand there. I wouldnt mind doing some small stuff myself, big stuff I will farm out . What aircompressor set up do do you have?

Also interested in how it goes with painting. I have thought about it but with the humidity here I have a lot of moisture in my air, the cheapie water seperator / regulator I have doesnt do much.
 
Roastchestnuts said:
I might switch up my land cruiser project soon. I like to be busy with them. Its getting a little stale for me as projects do..... and there are other reasons. I cant afford another land cruiser out right so I would have to trade the salt wagon. I hate to say that. and I hope nobody is upset at me for that decision. I have been hinting that I am going to put up the fj40 for trade for a fj55. I may post that add in the classifieds this afternoon and see what happens. So I have no idea what land cruiser I will have in September but we all need to meet up here! or in Avon! Either way I plan on having some sort of old land cruiser haha.
Click to expand...

I get it. Im sure you will get grief from some. If the project part is what makes you enjoy then do what makes you happy.
 
SC-Cruiser said:
I was watching a youtube video with a guy from England yesterday on butt welding sheet metal.
Video
His tip was that it requires higher voltage than the welder calls out for the thickness your welding, he then also used much shorter on times so it penetrated fully but didnt burn through. Hi goal was to get as flat of a tack weld tack as possible with good penetration so he could minimize the amount of grinding and heat that went into sheet metal and there by minimize warping.

Im definitely picking up some scrap and practicing

I have the Eastwood 180 and its more than enough for my needs and skill level.
Click to expand...
Yeah from what I have read the voltage varies more than you would think due to things like an extension cord or just the wiring of the house or garage you are plugged into. I bought one of these panel prep numatic tools that helps you make a valley for the weld to sit and it seems to in certain situations. Nothing wrong with the eastwood I have either really. I just want to have tig welding options. It looks fun to do.
 
SC-Cruiser said:
Let us know how the sand blasting goes, you have an ample source for sand there. I wouldnt mind doing some small stuff myself, big stuff I will farm out . What aircompressor set up do do you have?

Also interested in how it goes with painting. I have thought about it but with the humidity here I have a lot of moisture in my air, the cheapie water seperator / regulator I have doesnt do much.
Click to expand...
I will I only have a few things I want to try sand blasting on this project. I have a 60 gallon industrial air 11cfm compressor. (one of the cheeper 60 gallon 220 compressors. so far its perfect for all my needs. I think my water separators are keeping up. with the few projects I have done. I will keep you updated on painting. its one of the bigger things I have taken on.

SC-Cruiser said:
I get it. Im sure you will get grief from some. If the project part is what makes you enjoy then do what makes you happy.
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They love to give you grief on Mud. I already have a 55 in the works I think. More on that later. I am pretty stoked its one vehicle have always wanted. I almost bought one out of college but it just was not the right vehicle at the time.
 
I have good news and bad news this morning! The good news: I got the drivers side rear panel mostly done. I still need to spray it with epoxy primer and do some finish work but it looks good!
It was tuff because I had a slight miss measurement when I was using my panel prep tool. and my gaps in the top and rear were a little large. I got it to work but It took much longer than it should have.
IMG_2880.jpg

Used weld through to keep it from flash rusting before I epoxy prime.
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This tool came in and I am excited to use it on a few parts! I got walnut shell media coming.
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and for the bad news (non samurai related) On the way back from my school retreat in Manteo NC I noticed the pup spiked temperature. It never got into hot but it was higher than usual and it seemed to all of a sudden heat up quicker than it did before. It got me from waves NC to Ocracoke with it doing this. Knowing I had some sort of issue I was blasting the heat the whole time. Admittadly I probibly pushed the nearly 40 year old engine a little hard on the way home prior to the overheating. I got home and poped the hood and Noticed the overflow tank was full almost overflowing or maybe overflowing when driving. When I got home I did the quick test to see if exhaust gas is in the coolant. and....
IMG_2917.jpg


The blue changed to green very slowly but it did verses the 2f on the cruiser that changed immediately. I think I and seen signs of this before had some milky under the cap for a while but never seemed to spike or have issues. I thought it was just the condensation like most engines do. No milk in the oil. Some variables: I just put the fan shroud and a 180 degree thermostat in it last week. It was running no thermostat. I purchased a felpro gasket kit. apparently its the best thing down from oem. thank goodness its cheeper than the toyota 2f stuff. going to do a compression test this afternoon. It will be a fun side quest for me at least!
 
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I started epoxy priming some parts and stuff. seems like its going to go well. Plan is to high build urethane prime after. some of the orange peal did level out but I will have to sand some of it out. I am still learning. I want to start sanding the hood and tailgate soon to prime.
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its nice not to care about overspray that much.
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I started test fitting the inner wheel well. it looks like its going to fit in there well. I was mostly seam sealed in place from factory. I am probably going do the same.
IMG_2925.jpg
 
onemanarmy said:
big 2 barrel carb!
gonna be making 100hp in no time!
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Hell yeah! I have not tried it out yet though. I am waiting to get the welding stuff done so I can just install the tank back. I think I have about 2 days of work left on the welding on the other side and in the bed. I am going to need to repair the tank tubing straps. I gotta figure out what size tubing it is and remake them.
 
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I did get the passenger and drivers fenders primed. The drivers side still attached will be sanded again because I need to skim some of the spots where the fender flair things were spot welded and it left pitting from water sitting behind the panel. I just didnt want the drivers fender to flash rust and I had paint I didnt want to go to waist. the drivers rear fender is ready for urethane High build primer. But Ill wait till I have everything ready to do the high build urethane. I might try and do a little sand blasting on the upper radiator support this afternoon if my media shows up. If the weather is good Ill sand and prime the hood as well.

IMG_2944.jpg
 
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dang I wish that was closer. Would have saved my alot of time welding. Thats a fantastic deal for all the parts. Our house is starting to look like a junkyard with all my projects right now. and Rachael may stop supporting my hobbies if get another vehicle in the yard. A fj55 maybe a new project soon!
 
I found a fantastic deal on a suzuki samurai steering wheel. Its the older style that I like better. I got this for 33$ with shipping.

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Just look how nasty the old one is. Somebody in the past painted the whole dash and everything. Now I just have to find the steering column cover. I am sure this is going to make a world of difference in appearance.
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Roastchestnuts said:
@SC-Cruiser How close is Summerville SC to you? I found some oem suzuki wheels out there off a Jimny. The guy is willing to ship them but I am sure it will be pricy for 5 wheels mounted with tires.
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It is 30 minutes from me. Don’t mind picking them up for you when I get back from vacation in 2 weeks.
 
SC-Cruiser said:
It is 30 minutes from me. Don’t mind picking them up for you when I get back from vacation in 2 weeks.
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Nice! I am going to contact the seller and figure it all out. Thanks a bunch! I appreciate it. they are a good price of 150$ for 5 and they look new. Ill let you know what the seller says.
 
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