Slow Restoration of a diesel 45

[Asator]

Nice progress on the 45 Matt!! I don't see any of the little ribs that I have on my roofs. Is yours fiberglass??
If you welder runs out of pieces to fix I've got enough here to keep her busy for a while.

Darren

Thanks! The roof does have the ribs. 5-6 of them if i recall correctly. Just can not see them in the poor quality photo. I will let Joss know that she has more welding to do when we run out here. Which will never happen, since I have the 45 series and a few other projects ahahha.

Cheers,

Matt

 

[Brad 1979 HJ45]

Nice job.

 

[Asator]

Moving in the right direction now. We have now finished the sheet metal work on the interior of the cab. Both sides of the tub floor have been repaired. The driver and passenger side steps have been patched. The bottoms of both doors have been cut out and new metal welded back in. That took some time and messing around to get the shape right. Even after all of that, we still had to use some fairing to make it look less wavy. Oh well. Weather stripping is to be installed next time.

Decided to scrap the tranny hump currently in the truck, as the previous owner decided to do a very poor job at modifying to accommodate the 5 speed tranny. That took a bit of head scratching and cutting/welding, but now we have a tranny hump that looks good and fits quite nicely. Also patched in new sheet metal on the rear bottom corner of the drivers side on the tub. Looks much better now, without the rotted holes haha.

We reinstalled the cab corner glass with new gaskets. Soon to do the rear window too. When we pulled back the interior head liner, we were met with a shower of rust scale. So, off came the roof. A good wire wheel job, and a coat of spray paint later, the rust is gone. No holes were found in the roof. It will go back on as soon as we clean up the areas under the rubber gaskets.

Started to modify the fan shroud off of the parts truck, to fit the rad and location for the fan on the 3B. We also have patched the hole in the radiator. No more leaking fluid everywhere. Now the truck doesn't drip at all.

We started cutting apart one of the spare beds to patch the holes in the bed of the good truck. It is nice to be able to have patches that will match the ribs of the bed floor (if anyone needs bed sheet metal, and are not in a hurry, let me know).

The rims off the parts truck are going to be taken and sandblasted, then painted, as they are far better looking that what is on my truck right now.

Fuel tank is fixed and will go back in as soon as we start working on the cruiser again. The bench seat out of the parts cruiser will be used, so I just need to find a drivers seat.

Cheers,

Matt

 

[Varty Yo]

Um pics!!!!!

 

[Asator]

Ooops. My bad.

 

[ozcrusier]

She's looking good nice work

 

[Pauciflora]

G'day, I reckon she'll be a fine old truck once you get her on the road. BC hey, one of my closest mates is from Abbotsford. His family are lovely people and I'm busting at the seems to visit. More truck and BC pics required. Cheers, Ben

 

[Asator]

First and foremost, Happy New Year everyone. More progress at the end of the year.

We replaced both belts and rad hoses (not a big thing, but hey, now you know). The rear window went in with a new gasket. We tried with just the gasket first, but had zero luck. After we put the gasket on the window itself, the whole thing went in with minimal effort. Just started in one corner and worked our way around. It was much easier with the roof off as well.

After the headliner was removed last time, it was soaked and then scrubbed. It came out amazingly well. Most of the rust stains are gone, and it is now adhered back in place on the roof. That was accomplished with carpet tape in the corners and rim to hold it in place as the adhesive cured. We will see how long it lasts like that.

Finished mounting the fan shroud. Just took one from a 60 series and cut it down. I also cut the whole thing in half lengthwise, so one can take it off and put back it on without removing the fan. Works well enough so far. The rad was installed a little crooked, so there is some tight tolerances with the fan and it, but not really an issue. Will have to keep an eye on that one and perhaps deal with it later.

Joss also finished with cutting the rubber diamond plating for the tub floor. Looks pretty good to us. When all is said and done, it will be stuck down with the same carpet tape that we used on the headliner. It seems like pretty strong stuff, but can still be removed if it does not turn out well. The hope is that the thin rubber will act (somewhat) as a sound deadening barrier, as well as a bit of insulation. Time will tell. I have two of the original tub mats, but they both have holes here and there.

A second battery has now been jammed into the engine bay. Now the truck "should" start on its own without a boost to the one battery the previous owner had setup. Had to remove the rad overflow bottle to fit it, so we may need to make a new mount for it closer to the passengers headlight.

Will post some pictures later.

That's all for now,

Matt

 

[Asator]

We got more work done today. Sure has been nice to get some serious time in on the truck.

On the other hand. What was supposed to be a 10 minute job hooking up the fuel tank yesterday, has now turned into a two day escapade. When whoever had the tank last, they had it dipped to coat the thing. Only problem was that they also filled the pickup tube with the stuff... Being gung-ho to try and get the cruiser fired up, I just assumed it worked fine. Turns out it didn't. And neither did the drain plug in the bottom. After making a mess everywhere in the shop, I did some searching. Cleaned out the tank, filled it with water and cut two access/viewing holes in it. After all of that I was finally able to get flow through the tube (I really missed the removable pickup tube from my 60 series). Now the tank is all sealed up again and drying.

Joss finished straightening both bed sides with the body hammers and then used some fairing in the more rough sections. It is quite apparent that the truck was used as, well, a truck, in its past life. It looked like someone went to town with a ball peen hammer from the inside out on most of the bed sides. Now it looks pretty damn good.

Most of the other time spent was chasing wires that either went nowhere, were corroded and needed replacing or disappeared into the looms never to be seen again. Signals, wiper motor, fan blower and few other things still don't work.

Last but not least, we went and picked up a turbo for the Cruiser. I promised myself that the truck wouldn't get one until it was on the road. But hey, looks like I lied to myself. Off to a good start for this year. The sale came with turbo, compressor, cross over tube, gaskets, hoses and most of the bits needed. Still need to pick up some gauges and find some way to get an air filter to work behind the power steering pump.

The to-do list seems to be growing faster than the one where we check stuff off.

Cheers,

Matt

 

[Asator]

Seems I have hit my post to picture limit and need to keep posting pictures in the comment after. Also an unrelated picture of the New Years Snow, and Joss brushing off the truck.

 

[Pauciflora]

G'day Matt,

Keep at it man, I reckon that truck will give you plenty of years of enjoyment.

Man, that looks cold. I picked up a mate's father from the airport yesterday. They come from Abbotsford, BC and he said he drove to the airport in a snow storm. He has a couple of days to acclimatise. It is going to be 36 degrees celcius (97 fahrenheit) on Saturday, followed by a cool change on Sunday........ back to 32 degrees celsius.

Cheers,

Ben

 

[Asator]

Here we go. Another flurry of activity. We replaced the starter with one that was rebuilt, along with all the wiring and grounds. Engine cranks over strong and fast now. Second battery helps with that as well. Fuel lines from the tank onwards were replaced. That seems to have cut out the air that has been sneaking into the system while it sits. Maybe... Got the fan blower working after some messing around and finally finding the issue to be the pull switch itself. That was an easy fix, for once.

More bodywork was done by Joss on the back end of the truck. It is looking great there now. Tailgate is back on and quickly spray painted. When we have bare metal, we just do a quick rattle can job to protect it from rusting. When we officially paint the truck it will all be either ground off, or removed with aircraft paint stripper.

Joss also got the seats together (covers purchased from Mud member 76 FJ40, thanks for them!). We put them inside and were very happy with the fit. It was also neat to see some visual progress on the interior. A big step forward on the progress report.

Installed the turbo and bolted everything together. Put a silicon air intake system together. I am not 100% happy with the routing, as it does a 180 turn, but we don't have many options for that. We decided to put the oil return into the valve lifter cover, so that was drilled out and welded up. So far it seems to work nicely. Still have yet to get the exhaust together, so it currently is just running with the down pipe. Nice and loud while filling the cab with fumes. Will need to cobble something together there in the near future. Also looking at finishing wiring/hooking up the pyrometer and boost gauge. Ended up going with Autometer ones as they were analog, and were at a decent price online. We will have to see how they work out in the near future. Also had a friend of mine who has a 3D printer make me a turbo badge.

We have fired the truck up, and after a bit of smoking and things settling out, she runs pretty decently. Sure is neat to hear the turbo whine with the 3B. Last but not least, we put a bottle opener on the inside of the passenger side headache rack. That is for camping trips and whenever the time calls for it. It works great.

Pictures to come later as I bought a silver star, but am waiting for that to go through.

Cheers,

Matt

 

[Michael B]

Looking forward to the pictures Matt!

 

[Asator]

Today was a slow day. More grinding of surface rust on the bed. Soon to be cutting out the holes and welding in new metal from the scrap bed. Also going to swap out the rails sometime soon as well. We decided it would be easier (and look better in the end) to just cut off ones that are dead straight. As opposed to trying to make the ones on there look better. That would be impossible. Too many years of being pulled too tightly.

Another bit of progress today was fitting the boost and pyro gauges. Just need to hook up the backlights, and they will be good to go. I hate cutting holes in my truck, especially in the dash. Also after patching the larger hole from the previous owner who had a hydraulic pressure gauge there. Measure twice. Stop. Think. Look. Measure 15 more times. Have a beer. Looks about right. Drill pilot hole. Looks wrong now. Cut a hole. Done.

Also got the wipers working. That was one of the first jobs I ever started on this truck, and then left it alone for some reason. Had to cut apart the window de-fogger vents as a previous owner had decided that steel pop rivets would be best to secure them. Instead of the plastic ones with the plastic insert you punch out. Swapped out the seized linkages for a more supple unit. Now the wipers work like a charm.

I also think that I am done adding stuff to the engine bay.

The goal is to have the truck out in the sun in two days, and to take it for a spin around the block. Partly to figure out/troubleshoot what else may need fixing or replacing, and partly because it have been indoor for over two years. And partly because we want to get the damn thing out and driving! Still a long road to go before it is done though.

 

[Asator]

More pictures.

 

[Michael B]

Looking good Matt! I wish I were that close to driving mine.

 

[PG45er]

Great progress Matt !! Are those stock tires.. look the same as the brand new spare under my 1980??

 

[Asator]

PG45er, I have no idea. Wish I did. All I know is that they look pretty good. They say "Jeep Service" on the sidewall. When these go, I am switching back to stock rims, and going to stay with the tall/skinny tires.

EDITED:

Thought I would add the bit we did today. Just more body work. Wiring and replacing old bolts with new ones in the body and other miscellaneous parts. Also insured the truck yesterday so we could go do some laps of the block and make it see daylight for the first time in 2.5 years.

She fired up perfectly and idled nicely. Both Joss and I were thinking this was going to be a great time and our hard work has paid off! We managed to drive forward about two and a half feet and then the clutch slave cylinder boot blew. Now we can't shift it while running. So much for the grand plan...

 

[PG45er]

Hey Matt,that will just make the smiles even bigger when you do hit the road with it.

I did a little digging and the Bridgestone jeep service tires were factory installed tires for our vintage of 45's

 

[73fj]

Stupid slave cylinder! Guess it did not understand what a momentous occasion was about to transpire..........