Take 3, the Forever 45- IFS and 1uz-vvti

[Scheefdog]

Agreed on definitely going with gas. In the states most guys typically use 75% Argon-25% CO2 mix. 100% CO2 is also common and is cheaper.

I'm sure you will have the MIG welding figured out in no time and be thankful you purchased it. For some instruction, find the "weldingtipsandtricks" channel on Youtube - Jody has great videos.

 

[Vossie]

Agreed on definitely going with gas. In the states most guys typically use 75% Argon-25% CO2 mix. 100% CO2 is also common and is cheaper.

I'm sure you will have the MIG welding figured out in no time and be thankful you purchased it. For some instruction, find the "weldingtipsandtricks" channel on Youtube - Jody has great videos.

Thanks for that! I'm a big believer in the university of YouTube. My day job is based on it

 

[Vossie]

Well, I got my MIG machine today.

Already very happy with it. Been doing some test and practice welds. 1.2mm to 1.2mm welded end to end.

Then a piece of 1.2mm vertical welded to a peice of 12mm plate.

With a little more practice, I'm feeling much more confident to extend my chassis

 

[A10Driver]

Well, I got my MIG machine today.
View attachment 2941966

Already very happy with it. Been doing some test and practice welds. 1.2mm to 1.2mm welded end to end.
View attachment 2941967

Then a piece of 1.2mm vertical welded to a peice of 12mm plate.
View attachment 2941968View attachment 2941969

With a little more practice, I'm feeling much more confident to extend my chassis

Try welding in cursive e, go a little slower and make sure to overlap behind the puddle, then go back to the front of the puddle as u start your next e. Looking good, just a little different from stick.

 

[Vossie]

Try welding in cursive e, go a little slower and make sure to overlap behind the puddle, then go back to the front of the puddle as u start your next e. Looking good, just a little different from stick.

Thanks, I was trying to do Cs on this one, judging speed is a bit different to stick. One thing I find is if I go slower I get a really high weld, that normal? No undercut or anything, and it looks good, just quite a high weld

 

[A10Driver]

Thanks, I was trying to do Cs on this one, judging speed is a bit different to stick. One thing I find is if I go slower I get a really high weld, that normal? No undercut or anything, and it looks good, just quite a high weld

If you are getting a high weld your heat is low, or your wire speed is fast. Change one of those and try again. The default settings on the welder are close, but everyone welds a little different and will need to match settings to their technique

 

[Vossie]

If you are getting a high weld your heat is low, or your wire speed is fast. Change one of those and try again. The default settings on the welder are close, but everyone welds a little different and will need to match settings to their technique

Thanks, ja, I was messing around with the settings, I guess it will come with time and practice. I'm just super happy to be able to weld 1.2mm sheet and not burn through every time I touch it!

 

[DangerNoodle]

Another great way I like to teach people is the 'hold n jump' method. Establish your arc and build a puddle for a few seconds, then 'jump' over around 1/16 - 1/8". Don't lift the gun, drag it over, then 'hold' for a few seconds. It gives people a good way to establish a simple pattern that works for them, and you can also stack some nice dimes that way. Eventually, start adding in Cs or cursive e's or whatever once you start to feel comfortable and it can lead to some really great results.

A few other tips - Make sure your gun angle is correct. Usually, the more vertical to the material you are trying to weld, the better. Gun angle should be a dead 90 from any fillets as well. The stick out of the wire should be pretty short as well, I like around 1/4". Welding too far from the material will give a very poor weld with low penetration. Clean all the spatter out of the nozzle pretty often. It messes with gas flow and makes a pretty big difference in the visual quality of a weld.

 

[Vossie]

Another great way I like to teach people is the 'hold n jump' method. Establish your arc and build a puddle for a few seconds, then 'jump' over around 1/16 - 1/8". Don't lift the gun, drag it over, then 'hold' for a few seconds. It gives people a good way to establish a simple pattern that works for them, and you can also stack some nice dimes that way. Eventually, start adding in Cs or cursive e's or whatever once you start to feel comfortable and it can lead to some really great results.

A few other tips - Make sure your gun angle is correct. Usually, the more vertical to the material you are trying to weld, the better. Gun angle should be a dead 90 from any fillets as well. The stick out of the wire should be pretty short as well, I like around 1/4". Welding too far from the material will give a very poor weld with low penetration. Clean all the spatter out of the nozzle pretty often. It messes with gas flow and makes a pretty big difference in the visual quality of a weld.

Thanks for all the helpful tips. Spent the whole day laying some practice beads before moving onto my first panel that I have MIG'd in. The top panel...

 

[YODA 88 62]

If you have access, Get an automatic, blue lens welding helmet. It will show you sooo much more detail in your weld puddle.

I vary with my pattern depending on thickness and gap (equal or different). I most commonly use a simple side to side weave and it usually produces a visually pleasing weld with good penetration on the back side.

 

[Vossie]

If you have access, Get an automatic, blue lens welding helmet. It will show you sooo much more detail in your weld puddle.

I vary with my pattern depending on thickness and gap (equal or different). I most commonly use a simple side to side weave and it usually produces a visually pleasing weld with good penetration on the back side.

Thanks for the tip. Not the biggest fan of auto helmets to be honest, a good friend of mine got a bad case of arc eye from using one as the tiny amount of time it took to darken as he started the weld, multiplied by a whole day welding, really hurt him. And coming from stick to MIG is a lot easier using a permanent lense. I will look into a blue lense though!

 

[DangerNoodle]

Thanks for the tip. Not the biggest fan of auto helmets to be honest, a good friend of mine got a bad case of arc eye from using one as the tiny amount of time it took to darken as he started the weld, multiplied by a whole day welding, really hurt him. And coming from stick to MIG is a lot easier using a permanent lense. I will look into a blue lense though!

A quality shield should get rid of all of the harmful UV and infrared on a newer helmet. Cheap helmets don't always do this, make sure you invest in your safety.

 

[Vossie]

A quality shield should get rid of all of the harmful UV and infrared on a newer helmet. Cheap helmets don't always do this, make sure you invest in your safety.

thats a good point. cant vouch for the helmet my friend used, but getting good quality stuff around here can be a challenge.

 

[Vossie]

Well, after burning in my first panel, I redid the firewall hump and flattened it out.
Cut out the hump.

Then welded in nice clean steel

And learnt my first lesson about seam welding a large panel like this... it shrinks. Pulled my body mounts off by about 8mm. So I had to cut a slit up the middle of panel to reset the distance, then put the tub back on the chassis and then started on the transmission tunnel.

Started with wedding in some angles to form the base.

From there I added in the top stays

And then cut and welded in the plates for the sides of the tunnel.

Next up I will do the seat mounts, get them in, then come back and do the top plate of the tunnel so I can get the gear lever positions correct. The top plate will also be bolt in so if I ever to get at the gearbox I can

 

[Vossie]

Well, seats are in!

And there's actually plenty of space available. Got the Mrs to double check she was happy with leg room

 

[Vossie]

With the seats in, next up was the gear shift and 4x4 hi lo selector. The gear shift was simple enough, although took a fair bit of fiddling to get the action right and all gears where they should be.
The hi lo selector was a bit more troublesome as it came out directly under the gear shift housing. Thankfully its just a simple 3 position, hi-N-low straight up and down. So I built a linkage system to bring the shifter handle out just in front of the main gear shift handle.

Its a simple mechanism but it feels good to get it working just right and having made all the parts myself.

Now for the center console. Originally I thought that the console from the Ls400 would be too big, but on a whim, I thought I would see just how too big it would be....

Turns out, it's pretty much perfect! Maybe a touch long, but it fits, and if it fits, it sits.

Made some brackets to mount it to the gear shift assembly, then a bracket that supports the rear for when I put all my weight on it by accident.

Then had to figure out how I want the front of the console to tie into the dash

I made a steel bracket that bolts under the dash, with reinforcing plates welded up under the dash. That bracket supports the front of the console nicely and provides a nice transition point to the dash and a place other stuff.

Tomorrow I will start filling all the spaces out with plate steel and figuring out air con placement.

 

[Vossie]

Got the air con unit all cleaned up. This is the one from the surf as the one from the lexus is just too big to go into the cruiser.
I had some serious clean up to do. I think a whole family of rats was living in that Aircon unit way before I even got the surf! Took it all apart, thoroughly cleaned it and cleaned out the condenser core as well.
Then put it all back together and started to figure out where it's going to go. There's really only one place for it, front and center.

I made up 3 brackets that the unit bolts to, nice and firm.
This will be a cold air only unit. There's not enough room for the heater side and to be honest, it's really not needed. Although our winter mornings can be a little chilly, they're nothing the seat heaters can't fix.
I still need to figure out vents. My plan is to have this unit venting out the sides of the console and maybe the back too. I don't want to cut holes into my dash for vents to be honest.

So here's what the interior looks like so far.

 

[Vossie]

It has begun....

Starting point, using the LS400 main fuse box mounted on the passenger side fender against the firewall. Nice fit and out of the way yet accessible.

I've cut both looms going out of it to isolate what I need and will then solder connectors back on to what I will keep

 

[Vossie]

Well, got the main fuse box fully mapped out and ready to be wired in, once I have a more complete idea and drawing of what is going into the cruiser.

It became apparent that I would need an in cab fuse box too, so once again another LS400 part makes it's way into the build

Fully mapped this one out too. There's alot of now redundant stiff there, like the rear cigar lighter fuse, but there's also room for other stuff now which can only be a good thing.

Finally sent some power into the seats so I could raise them and see of they really will be tall enough. Passenger seat works fine just applying 12v and ground to the connector, everything works. Driver side not so much. Turns out the driver side seat has an ECU for memory and other non necessary things.

Passenger left, driver right. Lot more going on under that driver seat.
My initial plan was to just replicate the passenger wiring in the driver seat, but that's not really possible because even though the switchs all have the same positions, they work completely differently.

The passenger side works like a 3 way selector switch, which ever way you press, the 2 wires going to the motor are given 12v + and -. Flick the switch the other way and the reverse happens.
The drivers side works as a ground common single position switch which communicates back to the ECU which then feeds 12v + and - to the motors.
So with out having to find a new switch panel that doesn't need an ECU, I had to make the seat work with the ECU, which meant giving it what it wants to work.
Well, took me about 3 hours, but I finally figured it all out.... just give 12v + to the violet/yellow wire.

So now it all works, sort of. Only thing is I managed to strip the plastic worm gears that slide the seat forward and back.
Oh well, will need some new worm gears but other than that it's all working as it should, and..... the seats are too low. Oh well, nothing a bit of grinding and welding can't fix

 

[Vossie]

Finally started on my chassis extension as well. Did a lot of reading and research on that, thanks to @YODA 88 62 for the info.
Nothing to it but to do it I guess...

Bit of a scary moment when your chassis is in 2 prices, no going back now!

Extentions in on a 45° angle.

Side fish plates on and Rossett welded