Techster’s 1973 FJ55 buildup...

[Gumby]

Progress! not really in the direction I envisioned, but progress nonetheless. I'm on schedule to be driving it by next spring and I have a big incentive to get there as the wheelin' rig will be down until it's done.

I'm going to merge the two threads and see if it works.

 

[Gumby]

Long couple of days. No pics. Both sides are about ready for primer. Hopefully tomorrow. I dug the tailgate out. I needed to replace the bottom three inches or so. It had something mounted to it once and now it's pretty bent. I fixed the rust, but I had had enough of body work. I'm not going to spend 100 hours getting a trail truck perfect only to back into a tree the first trip out. Doors aren't perfect either. I'll fix where the lower hinge ripped out of the driver door, but the dings are staying.

Still on track to have it in paint this weekend.

 

[PhilC64]

The pics you showed me last week didn't do it justice Todd! Amazing work you're doing with it! I'd be more than happy to give you a hand if you need it. Besides, I'll be picking your brain for my 40.

Viva Le' Cochon!

 

[Gumby]

Man, am I beat. I don't know how body guys do this all day, every day.

First problem is that I suck at body work. I do way more work than I need to because I'm bad at it.

The second problem is that when you get this intimate with a repair you know where every flaw is. I have to keep telling myself that it's a trail truck. Fortunately, I had enough of body filler before I got too carried away.

The color choices for the paint system I wanted to try were not that varied. I ended up with a pretty dark color that will show a lot of poor work and bent panels I'm not going to attempt to fix.

The tail gate was bent and rusted. I had to fix the rust so I cut out the bottom three inches and added new steel.

primered

painted on the bottom, but not clear coated. Still primer on top

 

[Gumby]

Door

Primered

Painted

Mounted

 

[Gumby]

I painted the hood, grill area below the windshield, and valence below the front grill while I had the white in the gun.

The fenders need some work to repair a past fender bender on the left side and both sides could use a little work where I patched the bottoms.

The roof seam needs to be ground down and stretched still.

I still have to find out where to cut the bottoms at the rear. I think I'll have to have it on the other chassis to decide.

One corner of the roof still needs a patch panel made. I have the corner from the War Pig top, so it won't be too bad.

The quarters aren't good enough yet for paint, but they're getting close. I need to spend next week getting the wheelin' pig ready for Toys For Tots, then I want to start pulling that truck down so I'm down to two trucks in the shop next semester. I doubt I'll get the rest of the truck in color for a while.

Little Pig and the 45LV

Little pig and the War pig

 

[Gumby]

I have to figure out how I'm gonna paint the tail gate letters. I'll get with the Graphic Arts teacher in the morning and see what would be the easiest and cleanest way to mask it off.

It needs have a big giant TOYOTA on the back.

Apparently the three rigs in the shop are a Jeep wagon, a Scout and a Bronco.

 

[BAMF_CT2004]

not sure how i feel about the blue. looks good but doesnt seem war like. what about a brown??

 

[Gumby]

Brown is not one of the available colors.

BSP200 Jet Black
BSP201 Championship White
BSP202 Brilliant Silver
BSP203 Performance Red
BSP204 Deep Blue
BSP205 Gray
BSP206 Chrome Yellow
BSP207 Hugger Orange

Orange and Yellow are out. Not big on black and white. Gray and Silver don't have enough contrast with the white.

That leaves Red and Blue. I chose blue.

 

[Gumby]

I have to figure out how I'm gonna paint the tail gate letters. I'll get with the Graphic Arts teacher in the morning and see what would be the easiest and cleanest way to mask it off.

It needs have a big giant TOYOTA on the back.
:

I would have never of thought it, but apparently the easiest way to do this is for him to make a tracing of the letters, scan them, reproduce the thing in Illustrator and send it to the vinyl cutter for a mask.

I hope to get the file from him so I can post it if anybody needs a stencil made.

 

[dtrain]

I like this thing!

Off topic though - warpig... do you have any closeup pics of your rear lower quarters (wonderig how you sealed them up, top bed rail cuts, and front quarters where you poked the rollcage through/mounted?

 

[Gumby]

Not a lot of sealing. I used 2" tubing to weld the top bed seam together. I didn't have the D pillar to fill in like you do. For yours I would have made it out of flat sheet so I could have cut that complicated piece out with a template. I tied the lower quarters to the body mounts to keep them from flapping. The fenders aren't sealed at all where the roll cage pokes through. the roof has a piece of sheet metal tacked on and bent over to keep it from being just a sharp edge. For the corners of the roof line I cut flat pieces to match that goofy shaped hole.

The body is completely trashed. It's a rust bucket covered in thick bondo. I didn't put much work into it that wasn't functional knowing it was just going to get worse.

It's been nice to have no care in the least about body damage. I'm going to have to re-learn to wheel.


Or perhaps learn how to wheel in the first place.

I also used the War Pig to teach the students how to weld, so there was a lot of boogers everywhere.

 

[dtrain]

Thanks for the info... keep it up. The new piggy is looking great!

 

[4rnr]

Beautiful! No you wont need a tetanus shot before entering the pig.

I might stop by tomorrow to pick up those parts. Ill have to take a gander.

 

[Trollhole]

Brown is not one of the available colors.

BSP200 Jet Black
BSP201 Championship White
BSP202 Brilliant Silver
BSP203 Performance Red
BSP204 Deep Blue
BSP205 Gray
BSP206 Chrome Yellow
BSP207 Hugger Orange

Orange and Yellow are out. Not big on black and white. Gray and Silver don't have enough contrast with the white.

That leaves Red and Blue. I chose blue.

How do you like the paint? I have about 3 gallons of it that are to go on the 40 that Dupli-Color gave me. Just wanted to know if there are any tricks and how it came out of the gun. I got Hugger Orange for my primary color.

Looks great. Can I send my Big Ugly down to you for a bob?

 

[Gumby]

So far I like it. It went on very easy. No spray booth and still came out pretty smooth. I have heard of fading after a relatively short time (>year). The color is consistent. The no mixing is nice, but it's like buying pre-mixed antifreeze or light beer, you're paying for thinner. The lack of colors is kind of a pain. I would have liked a creamier white.


I won't be using it for the 45LV, but for a trail truck it seems ideal. Cheap, easy to touch up, no re-coat window, no color-matching issues.

 

[Trollhole]

Could probably mix a little yellow and black in it to get the cream?

 

[Farr off road]

I would have never of thought it, but apparently the easiest way to do this is for him to make a tracing of the letters, scan them, reproduce the thing in Illustrator and send it to the vinyl cutter for a mask.

I hope to get the file from him so I can post it if anybody needs a stencil made.

I always just do it by hand but hey a stencil sounds good....can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

[Gumby]

Could probably mix a little yellow and black in it to get the cream?

I thought about that to make green for the bottom color, but that kind of kills the "easy to match" criteria.

 

[Gumby]

I pulled the body of the War Pig off the frame today. Now I have to decide if I want to modify the good 73 frame and do a few thing differently or use the 78 frame and fix some modifications I don't like.

Part of the issue is chopping up a good 73 rolling chassis. I just don't know that it'd even be worth keeping together. Who needs a pig frame and axles? The springs are probably worth more parted out than the whole thing.

I even have a 327/3speed drive train I could put in it. Really what Pig farmers need is sheet metal. I suspect there are more good frames than good bodies.