Silver Back Lives on (1 Viewer)

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RTP

Joined
Jun 9, 2019
Threads
4
Messages
109
Location
Akron Ohio
This is a continuation of the 76 SIver back Project, just passing of a torch. I hope i can give this as much love as Steve has during this build thread. I purchased this truck last year about 90% complete and want to document the rest of its journey to completion and beyond. Documenting and opening things up for discussion on debugging or problem solving for the benefit of all who may be interested.
Things that will be posted
1) the finishing of the hardtop and doors. My process and progress
2) Vintage AC install Heating and cooling debug/ solutions
3) Drive shaft install
4) Dakota Digital issues solved
5) the perfect sound bar
6) Barns and Bridges of OHIO
7) etc. TBD

Some pics of where it is today

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Hardtop and doors came in various conditions of repair from the PO. The bottom of the Amby doors and main doors where repaired with the typical metal patch kit from what looks like Door patches from Realstealcruiserparts.net but not sure. Nice repair however finishing was required. Grinding and straightening . Even with the best intentions welding a door panel and keeping it straight and not "heat waving" it is difficult even for the experts. I will be repairing another set of main doors. To see if i can improve the straightness of the outside panel. To test out a newer glueing method along the long front seam on the door to see if i can prove out this method of keeping it flat. Plan is to do an outset flange and glue it to the new steel section, eliminating the long weld seem on the face of the door. Gluing is how they do door skins today, so i want to try this on an FJ40 door to see how it goes and test to see how well it holds up. If anyone has already done this let me know some tips. But this is for a different day....

Anyway i am going to fix the doors that came with and get them as straight as i can with hammer and dolly and grinding seams. But there is no way to keep them looking good without a fair amount of mud.

Here was my process
1) Sandblast all Parts using company in Akron - shout out to Northeast coatings. They can sandblast and powdercoat entire automotive bodies
I avoided sandblasting the large face of the remaining door that was still in orginal paint., so it would not warp due to stress relief the sandblasting can impose on the metal. Instead stripped it and used a flapper disk .
2) Had NE Coatings Epoxy Powdercoat all the parts for my primer sealer base. This way i had a durable base primer and PC and get inside all the hard to reach openings of the inner doors for extra protection.
3) applied body filler to areas directly over a roughed up Epoxy PC.
4) primer sealer over Filler
5) High build primer and sand , sand and sand
6) Then took to paint shop for final paint.

Pics are parts before blast , after powercoat epoxy and various forms of body work.

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If you like this blue color here is what it is. It is not a show paint so your not going to look at your reflection in it, but it is a durable paint that can take a rock hit and still look good. It is used on industrial equipment, and it seems many paint shops have never painted with it before. The PO choose this paint. At first i was like i dont know, but the color grew on me and i love it now. So i stuck with it vs change to a different paint and try to match.

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Hardtop matched the paint on the bib; painted and moved out to the driveway , need to wet sand and polish. I did caulk the seams, not sure that is OEM but seemed like it needed it. Wife is happy to get her back sun porch back as i turned it into a paint booth for awhile.

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Paint for Hardtop was

DuPont Nason Ful-Thane 2K Urethane 1 gal Snow White
Part 400-44-01

1 gal Paint

Ful-Thane 400-44 Factory Packaged Snow white provides outstanding durability
for automobiles, trucks, and commercial vehicles.This remarkable finish
provides excellent gloss, chip resistance and ease of application.To 1
gallon of Ful-Thane 2K Urethane, add 1 pint of 483-15 Catalyst. Reduce
with 1 quart Ful-Base 441-XX Reducer.


This matched very nicely with the white aftermarket bid that came with the truck. It is in the white/off-white cat.
 
i have always loved the look of the original hubcaps and had to have them on vehicle! Smoothie rim with original hubcap , four more to go,.....yes the spare has to have one too! ;) What do you think, almost like the original wheel look now?
 
Tires are 35 x12.5 R15 you can see that from the photos but the Rims are Wheel Vintiques 12-580604 - 15 inch 12 Series Smoothie Wheels (Summit Racing PN WVI-12-580604)
i would say with the spring over axle, the lift is about 6 inches

The magic here is the fact that the factory hubcaps are on these.
 
Yes but even simpler than that it is just a hubcap within an hubcap. I found a smoothie hub cap that the dimensions fit into (close to) that of the ID of the factory hubcap. Let me load more pics and you will see how easy it was. Just have to weld the one hubcap in flat and concentric to the Toyota hubcap..... but they kind of self align so fairly easy. I think i need to POR15 the back of the hub cap as i ground off some of the plating when i ground down the welds. The geometry of the smoothie wheel will not be a "flush mount" to the hubcap as they are different diameters. However , to me it doesn't really make that much difference, you can't tell unless your right up on it. Only downside i see is that it will allow a rock to get wedged between the hubcap and wheel. Your 16" rim will use the same hubcap. as it shares a common center rim geometry as the 15". 17" and 18" smoothie uses different configuration hubcap i did that research as well and found one that will work on those as well. I fortunately live close to summit racing so i played around and found the ones that work.
 
and obviously the fronts will need the center of the smoothie hub cap cut out on a lathe to clear lockout hubs
 
Back to paint. Picked up from the hardtop and doors from the painter . Everything looked good, except for one side panel that needs to be reworked and buffed out. So can not start to assemble hardtop until this is done. I did start the assy on the doors. Reverse order to assemble
Main Doors ( from my memory)
1) snap felt into door glass opening. ( wider felt to the outside there is an inner and outer and they are different) not labeled from SOR)
2) put channel door glass in , started with one corner clip to get the distance correct, work in one direction then other. pull into door over the door window felt and into the inner door and leave latch side loose.
3) put lower felt strip in hinge side of door and butt up to above felt channel strip inside door channel to complete that continuous side of door glass channel
Install the glass window at this point. Make sure you have the correct window for the correct door. have to turn it 90 push thru felt, then rotate to normal position and push all the way up
4) Install the window crank mechanism,
5) Attach window to the crank mechanism, by moving the window mechanism up and down with handle to expose bolt holes, then crank all the way up out of the way for the below install. Make sure you have the correct window for the correct door.
6) install door latch in side of door, install all the pivot and connector rods at same time. ALos add in door key tumbler and outside gasket, its rod and retainer clip.
7) Add outside door handle in and connect to latch flange with screw and adjust.
8)install inside door handle and lock mechanism and connect the rods., make sure it all works.
9) I put foam around rod to keep the rattling inside door to min.,
10) I used back rtv to glue down plastic inner door water barrier , pushed plastic female retainer plugs thru plastic to hold in place
11) Snap door panel with male clips in place and install door handle plastic, crank and bushing, and pull handle.

Amby Doors
Found these easy if looking at SOR diagram, / pic. however i had an complete new latch pre assembled, that made it easier. I just started with latching mechanisms and work out from there., no real order that will cause you to have to redo something. Pictures below will help. I lost a lower linkrod so i made one out of a coat hanger.
 
This shows completed door and where i put the foam to prevent rattles on the connecting rods.

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