- Thread starter
- #61
Man, those things are so cool looking. There's something about the simplicity you can't help but love. Nice looking old beast!
Sandy: 2003 Land Cruiser 100 Series Rebuild & Upgrade Thread
- Thread starter WreckDiver1321
- Start date
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Man, those things are so cool looking. There's something about the simplicity you can't help but love. Nice looking old beast!
- Thread starter
- #62
This weekend allowed me to really get some things done for once. I got cracking on Sandy by jacking her up in the air, putting her on jackstands, and pulling the rear tires off for better access. I took a look at the areas of damage, mapped out what needed to happen, and then got cutting. My HF composite die grinder makes pretty easy work of carving through the metal, though I think I need a bigger compressor and better safety glasses. I got hit with some zingers one too many times.
I was able to get all the nastiness cut out before taking an abrasive brush to the surface rust. The only spot around the rear tires left to work on is just behind the passenger-side rear door, and that looks pretty minor compared to the other side.
I'm happy to report the damage isn't as bad as I feared, and since this truck will not live in a salty state for as long as I own it, I'm not concerned about the corrosion coming back. I do have a plan to toughen up the coating on the underside to prevent any further problems, but I don't foresee that being a big issue.
Next, I hit all the surface rust areas with an abrasive brush before coating them with this:
@LCDan2 had good results with this stuff, so I'm giving it a try as well. I painted a good 1/8" layer on all the areas with surface corrosion, then covered them up with plastic to prevent it drying, per the instructions. I'm going to leave it until next weekend and see where I'm at, but I feel pretty confident that I'll be moving on to the "rebuild" stage a lot faster than I anticipated. The final area to clean up shouldn't take too long, I just need to get the motivation up to make it happen.
This coming weekend, I'm going to start peeling apart my patch panels to see what I'm working with. One has a rust hole in exactly the same spot as my truck, so a little metal fab will be needed. Luckily, It's in a an area that isn't very visible and fairly flat, so shaping and patching shouldn't be too bad.
I actually think the biggest challenge will be the area behind the driver's side rear tire. The good news is everything below that sharp inward bend is covered by the rear bumper. The bad news is I need to replace a section of that bend and have it look at least close to original. It's going to be completely covered by trim, but I want to do my best to make it look clean.
A mix of apprehension and excitement is churning my brain. I know I can do it, but I've never done body work before. Should be a fun challenge.
I was able to get all the nastiness cut out before taking an abrasive brush to the surface rust. The only spot around the rear tires left to work on is just behind the passenger-side rear door, and that looks pretty minor compared to the other side.
I'm happy to report the damage isn't as bad as I feared, and since this truck will not live in a salty state for as long as I own it, I'm not concerned about the corrosion coming back. I do have a plan to toughen up the coating on the underside to prevent any further problems, but I don't foresee that being a big issue.
Next, I hit all the surface rust areas with an abrasive brush before coating them with this:
@LCDan2 had good results with this stuff, so I'm giving it a try as well. I painted a good 1/8" layer on all the areas with surface corrosion, then covered them up with plastic to prevent it drying, per the instructions. I'm going to leave it until next weekend and see where I'm at, but I feel pretty confident that I'll be moving on to the "rebuild" stage a lot faster than I anticipated. The final area to clean up shouldn't take too long, I just need to get the motivation up to make it happen.
This coming weekend, I'm going to start peeling apart my patch panels to see what I'm working with. One has a rust hole in exactly the same spot as my truck, so a little metal fab will be needed. Luckily, It's in a an area that isn't very visible and fairly flat, so shaping and patching shouldn't be too bad.
I actually think the biggest challenge will be the area behind the driver's side rear tire. The good news is everything below that sharp inward bend is covered by the rear bumper. The bad news is I need to replace a section of that bend and have it look at least close to original. It's going to be completely covered by trim, but I want to do my best to make it look clean.
A mix of apprehension and excitement is churning my brain. I know I can do it, but I've never done body work before. Should be a fun challenge.
- Thread starter
- #64
Nice work! Alternative option: cut the rust out, skip the complicated metal repair……….37s
You want to be the one trying to sell that to my wife?
- Thread starter
- #65
Pro tip: when dealing with rusty metal, wear safety glasses with wider coverage than your average pair of sunglasses.
This weekend, I was cleaning up some rusty spots and cutting some metal from Sandy, and something got into my left eye. I didn't think much of it until Monday morning when I woke up and it was absurdly sore, super sensitive to light, and still red. Turns out, a shard of metal had adhered at the bottom edge of my iris and was causing irritation. I went in to the doctor and discovered exactly how that problem is dealt with.
They take a small needle and dig it out. If you let it sit long enough, that piece of metal rusts. That corrosion forms a rust ring that isn't removed with the metal shard, so that has to be scraped with the needle and a q-tip, and occasionally a tiny drill-like instrument, in order to remove the rust. Then they'll give you an antibiotic and send you on your way. Lucky for me it wasn't too difficult and not painful, but it is deeply unpleasant. My eye socket and eyeball feel like a sore muscle, and will for the next few days. Live and learn.
Lie I said, I was wearing safety glasses. I believe mine were even 3M, but they were low-profile versions more akin to stylish sunglasses than a legitimate safety device. Annoyingly, I had noticed some debris get past my glasses earlier that day, but was too lazy to go change into a pair with better coverage. Those glasses are now in the trash, and I have a few different styles on the way. Not taking the chance on that again.
In case you were curious, this is what I was wearing:
I purchased some Uvex Hypershock, which have better coverage and fit closer to the face. They're highly regarded and are an American company (Honeywell), though made in Taiwan.
I also bought a pair of KleenGuard Nemesis, which I have had good luck with in the past. They're a Kimberly-Clark brand and also made in Taiwan. Along with them, I picked up a pair of Ergodyne Skullerz, which I've not had experience with. They have good reviews and look to be the coverage I'm after, though Uvex look to be the best bet to me. We'll see once I get them.
Oh, all of these glasses are less than $15, so there's no reason not to have them and wear them when necessary! I may have just gotten unlucky with the pair I was wearing, but I don't want to be unlucky again, so I will have a good stock of these in my shop.
It's got me thinking about earmuffs too. I do have a good pair that I use in the shop, but I could definitely have one or two more to hand. Also gloves. And masks.
Safety gear, people! It's important!
This weekend, I was cleaning up some rusty spots and cutting some metal from Sandy, and something got into my left eye. I didn't think much of it until Monday morning when I woke up and it was absurdly sore, super sensitive to light, and still red. Turns out, a shard of metal had adhered at the bottom edge of my iris and was causing irritation. I went in to the doctor and discovered exactly how that problem is dealt with.
They take a small needle and dig it out. If you let it sit long enough, that piece of metal rusts. That corrosion forms a rust ring that isn't removed with the metal shard, so that has to be scraped with the needle and a q-tip, and occasionally a tiny drill-like instrument, in order to remove the rust. Then they'll give you an antibiotic and send you on your way. Lucky for me it wasn't too difficult and not painful, but it is deeply unpleasant. My eye socket and eyeball feel like a sore muscle, and will for the next few days. Live and learn.
Lie I said, I was wearing safety glasses. I believe mine were even 3M, but they were low-profile versions more akin to stylish sunglasses than a legitimate safety device. Annoyingly, I had noticed some debris get past my glasses earlier that day, but was too lazy to go change into a pair with better coverage. Those glasses are now in the trash, and I have a few different styles on the way. Not taking the chance on that again.
In case you were curious, this is what I was wearing:
I purchased some Uvex Hypershock, which have better coverage and fit closer to the face. They're highly regarded and are an American company (Honeywell), though made in Taiwan.
I also bought a pair of KleenGuard Nemesis, which I have had good luck with in the past. They're a Kimberly-Clark brand and also made in Taiwan. Along with them, I picked up a pair of Ergodyne Skullerz, which I've not had experience with. They have good reviews and look to be the coverage I'm after, though Uvex look to be the best bet to me. We'll see once I get them.
Oh, all of these glasses are less than $15, so there's no reason not to have them and wear them when necessary! I may have just gotten unlucky with the pair I was wearing, but I don't want to be unlucky again, so I will have a good stock of these in my shop.
It's got me thinking about earmuffs too. I do have a good pair that I use in the shop, but I could definitely have one or two more to hand. Also gloves. And masks.
Safety gear, people! It's important!
- Thread starter
- #68
It's funny, we were using face shields the whole time we cleaned off the undercarriage. It only took one little piece of wire wheel getting imbedded in a cheek and we picked them up right quick. By the time we were done, they had the opacity of tissue paper, so they were tossed.
I've not had this happen to me before, but I've not worn low-profile safety glasses much. Those promptly went into the trash and I now have much better ones coming, so that should keep me protected. I am going to buy another face shield for aggressive grinding and cutting though. Don't want to deal with this kind of stuff again.
- Thread starter
- #69
Big development from this weekend: I'VE FINISHED CUTTING RUSTY METAL OFF SANDY!
All of the rusty bodywork is now gone. There's some minor corroded sections, but they're able to be coated and protected without becoming worse. The last of it came off of the passenger's side rear wheel arch, and it went up way higher than I expected. Luckily though the repair panels I got from @3_puppies have enough material to fix it.
Now, before we throw the big party, there's still some rusty spots that will require grinding and repair, but I don't believe there's anything that requires welding a patch panel in. Maybe some really small spots, but nothing big and scary. I need to get the Metal Rescue gel on the rest of the cut sections, but it's time to start pulling my patch panels apart. Then I can start getting the repair sections figured out and welded in. I'll go from the inside out until I hit the outer skin, then filler, then sanding, then primer. With any luck, I'll have this stuff done with plenty of time to have it ready for the summer. We'll see how it goes.
Wish me luck!
All of the rusty bodywork is now gone. There's some minor corroded sections, but they're able to be coated and protected without becoming worse. The last of it came off of the passenger's side rear wheel arch, and it went up way higher than I expected. Luckily though the repair panels I got from @3_puppies have enough material to fix it.
Now, before we throw the big party, there's still some rusty spots that will require grinding and repair, but I don't believe there's anything that requires welding a patch panel in. Maybe some really small spots, but nothing big and scary. I need to get the Metal Rescue gel on the rest of the cut sections, but it's time to start pulling my patch panels apart. Then I can start getting the repair sections figured out and welded in. I'll go from the inside out until I hit the outer skin, then filler, then sanding, then primer. With any luck, I'll have this stuff done with plenty of time to have it ready for the summer. We'll see how it goes.
Wish me luck!
D21FJ60
#LiveLaughLove.
What's new with this truck
- Thread starter
- #72
Sorry to keep everyone in suspense, but I do have a pretty big update coming down to explain where everything is. Short version: we're about a day's work away from getting the truck into a paint booth.
STAND BY.
STAND BY.
- Thread starter
- #73
The following is a mishmash of posts from a different forum I'm on, so please forgive any weird formatting or strange tenses or anything.
2/15/2022:
I pulled the front fenders and worked on getting the body shell cleaned up. A few days of sitting outside had built a bit of rust, so I used a wire wheel and cleaned it sufficiently before starting work on the fenders. Luckily, Montana is dry enough that left like this indoors, the metal will remain clean indefinitely.
First up on the fenders, I used a wire wheel and the Metal Rescue gel to take care of any corrosion big or small. I left the gel on for about 10 days before cleaning it off with some solvent and a wire wheel. I scuffed the inside with red ScotchBrite and laid down a coat of self-etching primer, followed by normal primer and four coats of flat black. The inside of each fender cleaned up really nicely, and was a much-needed morale boost on this project that has been languishing in the doldrums for months.
2/19/2022:
Okay, back on track now with the Land Cruiser, though time is diminishing faster than I want it to. Ain't that life though?
After finishing the paint job on the interior of the fenders, I moved on to the exterior. They needed some sanding and shaping to get properly cleaned up, and I think one of my arms is now burlier than the other. Unfortunately, no one will jump to "sanding" as the reason.
Once I felt good about the sanding, I masked off the areas of the fenders that didn't need to be touched. Note the gently curved paper rather than a hard tape line. This helps with feathering and should allow me to sand them to the point where the transition is pretty smooth. That being said, all of this will be covered by trim, so it's rather moot. Just practicing. Once masked, I sprayed them with acid etch primer.
With the acid etch laid down, I put on several coats of filler primer. By "several" I mean "six." There's plenty of little pinholes that you can't see until up close, and some sanding needs to be done to smooth it all out. I think I'm going to knock the sanding back and clean it up, then add some of the finer skim filler to help with the curve and the pinholes. Largely though, they're pretty damn close to ready.
2/15/2022:
I pulled the front fenders and worked on getting the body shell cleaned up. A few days of sitting outside had built a bit of rust, so I used a wire wheel and cleaned it sufficiently before starting work on the fenders. Luckily, Montana is dry enough that left like this indoors, the metal will remain clean indefinitely.
First up on the fenders, I used a wire wheel and the Metal Rescue gel to take care of any corrosion big or small. I left the gel on for about 10 days before cleaning it off with some solvent and a wire wheel. I scuffed the inside with red ScotchBrite and laid down a coat of self-etching primer, followed by normal primer and four coats of flat black. The inside of each fender cleaned up really nicely, and was a much-needed morale boost on this project that has been languishing in the doldrums for months.
2/19/2022:
Okay, back on track now with the Land Cruiser, though time is diminishing faster than I want it to. Ain't that life though?
After finishing the paint job on the interior of the fenders, I moved on to the exterior. They needed some sanding and shaping to get properly cleaned up, and I think one of my arms is now burlier than the other. Unfortunately, no one will jump to "sanding" as the reason.
Once I felt good about the sanding, I masked off the areas of the fenders that didn't need to be touched. Note the gently curved paper rather than a hard tape line. This helps with feathering and should allow me to sand them to the point where the transition is pretty smooth. That being said, all of this will be covered by trim, so it's rather moot. Just practicing. Once masked, I sprayed them with acid etch primer.
With the acid etch laid down, I put on several coats of filler primer. By "several" I mean "six." There's plenty of little pinholes that you can't see until up close, and some sanding needs to be done to smooth it all out. I think I'm going to knock the sanding back and clean it up, then add some of the finer skim filler to help with the curve and the pinholes. Largely though, they're pretty damn close to ready.
- Thread starter
- #74
Up close, they're looking fairly seamless, though that curve needs to be softened a bit at the bottom.
Eagle-eyed readers will notice the truck was removed from my shop. My brother in law and I had moved it onto the lift in his shop to speed everything up. The following day, we were able to get working on it further. To make welding the repairs easier, we stripped out part of the interior. Realizing this was a golden opportunity to add some sound deadening, I opted to fully peel back the interior from rear hatch to front seats. It would also allow me to diagnose my parasitic drain problem stemming from the aftermarket stereo and relocate the amp. I also got a good look at the floor pan and discovered almost zero corrosion, save for a few small, unconcerning spots.
I also pulled out the third-row seatbelts and threw them away since I won't be using them, ever. I sold the third row seats a long time ago.
My brother in law started cutting into the body while I cleaned up the small spots of corrosion with a wire wheel, some acid-etch, and some rust inhibitor. Nothing too scary, just a few spots that needed cleaning to prevent any future issues.
My BIL kept cutting away sections until he got where he needed to be. It looks scary right now but doing it this way allows us to pretty much weld the repair panel in as one big piece rather than in layers. That should speed things up and make alignment a lot easier, though it's a lot scarier to look at. Here's where we are at the moment.
Hopefully we can get our butts in gear for a few more days before his work schedule gets super nuts and get these pieces welded in. Then the areas behind the rear wheels should be fairly trivial to knock out and replace, but one catastrophe at a time I suppose. Meanwhile I can avail myself with a little work on the fenders, and get the front of the body shell cleaned up. Maybe I'll even pull the hood off and get going on that too. We'll see.
Progress is progress. Onward!
Eagle-eyed readers will notice the truck was removed from my shop. My brother in law and I had moved it onto the lift in his shop to speed everything up. The following day, we were able to get working on it further. To make welding the repairs easier, we stripped out part of the interior. Realizing this was a golden opportunity to add some sound deadening, I opted to fully peel back the interior from rear hatch to front seats. It would also allow me to diagnose my parasitic drain problem stemming from the aftermarket stereo and relocate the amp. I also got a good look at the floor pan and discovered almost zero corrosion, save for a few small, unconcerning spots.
I also pulled out the third-row seatbelts and threw them away since I won't be using them, ever. I sold the third row seats a long time ago.
My brother in law started cutting into the body while I cleaned up the small spots of corrosion with a wire wheel, some acid-etch, and some rust inhibitor. Nothing too scary, just a few spots that needed cleaning to prevent any future issues.
My BIL kept cutting away sections until he got where he needed to be. It looks scary right now but doing it this way allows us to pretty much weld the repair panel in as one big piece rather than in layers. That should speed things up and make alignment a lot easier, though it's a lot scarier to look at. Here's where we are at the moment.
Hopefully we can get our butts in gear for a few more days before his work schedule gets super nuts and get these pieces welded in. Then the areas behind the rear wheels should be fairly trivial to knock out and replace, but one catastrophe at a time I suppose. Meanwhile I can avail myself with a little work on the fenders, and get the front of the body shell cleaned up. Maybe I'll even pull the hood off and get going on that too. We'll see.
Progress is progress. Onward!
- Thread starter
- #75
5/22/2022:
I scheduled Saturday with my neighbor to get as much body work as possible knocked out. We started in at 10am, with me pulling Sandy back into the workshop and getting all the tools organized. He was gracious enough to bring a bunch of his personal tools over to help work on everything. While I was getting ready, he was eyeing the shop. He told me I needed to go do up his. I said, "not if it involves pallet wood."
We pulled Sandy into the workshop and came up with a game plan. Since that driver's side dogleg was the most complex and "scary" part of the repair, I decided we needed to start with that.
It was a symphony of measuring, taping, cutting, and grinding. We had to finish the preliminary cuts that my brother-in-law and I started. We also had to measure out the upper section and cut it to length properly. After that, it was a lot of making minor cuts and small adjustments to get everything as close to perfectly lined up as possible.
Since my neighbor works in a body shop, he's used to and very proficient with the air tools he brought over. It was a bit of a test of my air system, which seemed to handle everything really well despite being on constantly. Good news is I know now that the filter does in fact take out a bunch of water!
Well, my son Dirk was in the shop most of the time, and he loved it. He knows to keep his safety glasses on so he doesn't get hurt. With the air compressor chugging away at maximum volume, I gave him some ear protection too. He loved playing with some of the tools and asking a bunch of questions. If he wasn't doing that, he was playing with his monster trucks.
It was finally time to drag out the welder and go to town. We taught Dirk that he couldn't look at the bright light or it would hurt his eyes, even make him go blind. He was really good about looking away or squeezing his eyes shut, and most of the time he was on the opposite side of the workshop.
Our first welding had to be done on the patch panel. Now I know that your expectation of me is that all the parts we cut were absolutely clean and perfect with no mistakes. Well, I'm sorry to say they... weren't quite as nice as that. We needed to fix a couple of over-exuberant cuts before moving the panel into it's final position.
With that cleaned up, we took a lot of extra time lining everything up as well as we could. There was a lot of tapping and pushing and pulling.
Eventually, it was the moment of truth and time to start making sparks.
While he was working on that side, I started making the repair panels for the rear corner. I cut down a piece of sheet steel to the right shape, then waited for my neighbor to take a break and tacked it in.
He gave me some pointers on welding sheet metal that really helped my skills, and he even took the time to watch me and offer tutelage while I was stitching the panel on. The basic idea was higher heat and wire speed, with a very short arc time. Basically build spot welds into a continuous weld, alternating different sides of the work piece to avoid warping.
I'm getting dangerously close to looking like I know what I'm doing.
On the bottom I just plug-welded some holes I drilled and will go over the whole thing with seam-sealer later on. Overall I'm extremely pleased with how this patch came together. Especially considering no one will ever see it.
He then had me come over and do a bunch of welding on the dogleg section, giving me a little more instruction. I did most of the back side and a good chunk of the visible side. It's looking really nice now with that panel replaced and holding itself in!
We did a little grinding to clean it all up and before we knew it, it was time to call it a night. Holy crap what a marathon day. It was a lot of work, a lot of fiddling, and a lot of welding, but this is a massive leap forward compared to where we were last week. It's also given me more confidence to tackle another section of the body repair (driver's side rear corner) myself. I have the tools and thanks to working at home, I have the time. Maybe there's hope for this project yet...
I scheduled Saturday with my neighbor to get as much body work as possible knocked out. We started in at 10am, with me pulling Sandy back into the workshop and getting all the tools organized. He was gracious enough to bring a bunch of his personal tools over to help work on everything. While I was getting ready, he was eyeing the shop. He told me I needed to go do up his. I said, "not if it involves pallet wood."
We pulled Sandy into the workshop and came up with a game plan. Since that driver's side dogleg was the most complex and "scary" part of the repair, I decided we needed to start with that.
It was a symphony of measuring, taping, cutting, and grinding. We had to finish the preliminary cuts that my brother-in-law and I started. We also had to measure out the upper section and cut it to length properly. After that, it was a lot of making minor cuts and small adjustments to get everything as close to perfectly lined up as possible.
Since my neighbor works in a body shop, he's used to and very proficient with the air tools he brought over. It was a bit of a test of my air system, which seemed to handle everything really well despite being on constantly. Good news is I know now that the filter does in fact take out a bunch of water!
Well, my son Dirk was in the shop most of the time, and he loved it. He knows to keep his safety glasses on so he doesn't get hurt. With the air compressor chugging away at maximum volume, I gave him some ear protection too. He loved playing with some of the tools and asking a bunch of questions. If he wasn't doing that, he was playing with his monster trucks.
It was finally time to drag out the welder and go to town. We taught Dirk that he couldn't look at the bright light or it would hurt his eyes, even make him go blind. He was really good about looking away or squeezing his eyes shut, and most of the time he was on the opposite side of the workshop.
Our first welding had to be done on the patch panel. Now I know that your expectation of me is that all the parts we cut were absolutely clean and perfect with no mistakes. Well, I'm sorry to say they... weren't quite as nice as that. We needed to fix a couple of over-exuberant cuts before moving the panel into it's final position.
With that cleaned up, we took a lot of extra time lining everything up as well as we could. There was a lot of tapping and pushing and pulling.
Eventually, it was the moment of truth and time to start making sparks.
While he was working on that side, I started making the repair panels for the rear corner. I cut down a piece of sheet steel to the right shape, then waited for my neighbor to take a break and tacked it in.
He gave me some pointers on welding sheet metal that really helped my skills, and he even took the time to watch me and offer tutelage while I was stitching the panel on. The basic idea was higher heat and wire speed, with a very short arc time. Basically build spot welds into a continuous weld, alternating different sides of the work piece to avoid warping.
I'm getting dangerously close to looking like I know what I'm doing.
On the bottom I just plug-welded some holes I drilled and will go over the whole thing with seam-sealer later on. Overall I'm extremely pleased with how this patch came together. Especially considering no one will ever see it.
He then had me come over and do a bunch of welding on the dogleg section, giving me a little more instruction. I did most of the back side and a good chunk of the visible side. It's looking really nice now with that panel replaced and holding itself in!
We did a little grinding to clean it all up and before we knew it, it was time to call it a night. Holy crap what a marathon day. It was a lot of work, a lot of fiddling, and a lot of welding, but this is a massive leap forward compared to where we were last week. It's also given me more confidence to tackle another section of the body repair (driver's side rear corner) myself. I have the tools and thanks to working at home, I have the time. Maybe there's hope for this project yet...
- Thread starter
- #76
2/5/2023:
We're getting really close to having the body work wrapped up honestly. I have a small patch to complete on the passenger's side, which I've already shaped and dry fitted.
Got the underlying structure of the driver's side panel figured out and started the outer panel. We got it pretty close and are almost ready to burn it in fully. We tacked it in place in order to see how it plays with the backing panels, then made those and burned them in before taking the skin off and doing final shaping. Right now not a lot left to do on that front other than final fitment and welding.
We spent a few hours sanding and cleaning this up. In the meantime, we were able to get the final patch put in on the passenger, fully welded and sanded down to smooth. I also went through and popped all of the trim off, expecting we are going to be blending paint underneath that trim piece to minimize the amount of painting, and therefore prep work, that needs to be done.
With that done, we focused on finishing work, cleaning up welds, applying seam sealer and undercoat, as well as began the process of thinking about filler and sanding. At this point all of our progress and work started to feel real and like it was coming to a legitimate conclusion.
Fast forward to last weekend and here we are. Fully welded (and I mean it. There's no more welding to do on the body.), sanded clean, and with the first layer of filler on the rear quarters. What a difference!
So what's next?
Well, we need to finish seam sealing and undercoating, then a few rounds of filler and sanding, then scuff the paint below the trim line to prep it. Then it'll go in for paint. Once that's out we'll start the long road of rebuilding, which includes a new set of steel bumpers. Going to be a completely different machine when it's out of the booth finally.
All that being said, my impatience and frustration with Sandy may have landed me with a different project that will greatly change this truck's future:
We're getting really close to having the body work wrapped up honestly. I have a small patch to complete on the passenger's side, which I've already shaped and dry fitted.
Got the underlying structure of the driver's side panel figured out and started the outer panel. We got it pretty close and are almost ready to burn it in fully. We tacked it in place in order to see how it plays with the backing panels, then made those and burned them in before taking the skin off and doing final shaping. Right now not a lot left to do on that front other than final fitment and welding.
We spent a few hours sanding and cleaning this up. In the meantime, we were able to get the final patch put in on the passenger, fully welded and sanded down to smooth. I also went through and popped all of the trim off, expecting we are going to be blending paint underneath that trim piece to minimize the amount of painting, and therefore prep work, that needs to be done.
With that done, we focused on finishing work, cleaning up welds, applying seam sealer and undercoat, as well as began the process of thinking about filler and sanding. At this point all of our progress and work started to feel real and like it was coming to a legitimate conclusion.
Fast forward to last weekend and here we are. Fully welded (and I mean it. There's no more welding to do on the body.), sanded clean, and with the first layer of filler on the rear quarters. What a difference!
So what's next?
Well, we need to finish seam sealing and undercoating, then a few rounds of filler and sanding, then scuff the paint below the trim line to prep it. Then it'll go in for paint. Once that's out we'll start the long road of rebuilding, which includes a new set of steel bumpers. Going to be a completely different machine when it's out of the booth finally.
All that being said, my impatience and frustration with Sandy may have landed me with a different project that will greatly change this truck's future:
Whats the aftermarket tpms? I like it.During the intervening phase while waiting for my wife's car to be fixed, I did a couple of small fixes along the way, including replacing a couple of missing screws and clips.
I started in on modding with some simple things. I installed an oil catch can with a new PCV valve.
I put on an aftermarket TPMS system to keep an eye on tire pressure and heat.
Great thread of Montana ingenuity when many would give up on the truck.
