The FJ62 Beach Cruiser Thread (1 Viewer)

[Devils Paw 80]

Bought my first Cruiser about a week ago! And it has been exciting...

Rear window wiper gone, license plate light assembly shot to hell-.looks familiar. That stock light assembly is quite expensive
to replace. Must have all factory lights in working order to pass inspection, right? Well, you've got another year before having to worry about it... Very curious what that front hoop is about. Maybe a step for short person to work in engine bay?

 

[Rabango]

If it's like my 60, you pull out the rubber wire grommets on both sides. Once those are out, you can pull the wires out if you have unplugged the defroster wires and unplugged the wiper moter wire. Also undo the water tube for the wiper and pull out. Then it's just the 4 bolts up top and just lift off.

Oh Awesome. I didn't want to accidentally break anything. Thanks

 

[Rabango]

Rear window wiper gone, license plate light assembly shot to hell-.looks familiar. That stock light assembly is quite expensive
to replace. Must have all factory lights in working order to pass inspection, right? Well, you've got another year before having to worry about it... Very curious what that front hoop is about. Maybe a step for short person to work in engine bay?

Yeah thankfully the lights work great it's just rusted to hell. And yeah the front hoop has some tabs on it for lights maybe but they would hang down below bumper which seems like a bad idea. But youre right it makes a great step especially when I have the bumper off.

 

[Rabango]

Instead of bondo, you might consider this product, or something similar. It's underwater marine duty, which seems appropriate for humid oceanic climates. Can sand and paint, just like other fillers.
Your headlight screws look pretty rusty, quite typical, so if you can get them out now it might be a good idea to either soak them in PB blaster or replace with stainless, otherwise they will eventually become impossible to remove easily.

Z-SPAR A-788 Splash Zone Epoxy | West Marine

The epoxy sounds awesome. I'll definetly check it out. And good call on scews. I'm slowly replacing screws and nut and . A lot of them are shot already. I had to use screw extractor on more then a few of them

 

[Rabango]

Alright alright got all the roof rust cut out and the inner roof painted with rust neutralizer as much as I could.
Used some cereal boxes to make to get the shape and transfer to sheet metal.

 

[Rabango]

I used some 1/2 in angle iron to replace almost the entire gutter along the drivers side as a lot of it was rotted out. For the parts that weren't I cut off the vertical part of the gutter and drilled holes down through so I could plug weld to the angle.

I also got rid of all the caulk/ seem sealer in gutter using a flat head and a wire wheel. It seems that this caulking failing is what causes the moisture to get into the folded metal and fxxx everything up. Anyone have a recommendation on what to use to replace it?

 

[Rabango]

Then I cut out the patch panels and shaped them as necessary.
I forgot to take pictures of the panels but I labeled them all and bent the bottom quarter inch to weld down in gutter.
Thankfully most didn't require shaping because that was a PITA. I did most of the trimming with some shears once I was able to see it on truck. I tried to get as small a gap as possible because my welding skills need as much help as they can get. As youll notice below I'm terrible at welding but nothing that a grinder and bondo can't fix... I hope.

Last note. I now understand why body shops charge what they do. This is an insane amount of work.

Also trying out a new color for the cruiser. Not sure on it. would like something lighter I think.

 

[pistonpete]

You might want to cover that glass with something?? Sparks from welders and grinders are not kind to glass.

 

[Rabango]

Whew. Body work is coming along. I can see the finish line anyways.

Took a break and built a side panel and a rear shelf to replace the wonky cardboard ones. And give me some storage. Built them in the style of wagon gear and also another thread I found awhile back that I can't find anymore. For the DS panel I used some 3/4 plywood and used the old cardboard side to get the shape cut it out with jigsaw/ skillsaw. Did the same with the PS shelf but used a 1x6 and 2 sheets of 1/4 plywood. Jigged it out and glued and screwed it together.

 

[Vulin]

I like that storage setup.

 

[Aloha Jen]

Whew. Body work is coming along. I can see the finish line anyways.

Took a break and built a side panel and a rear shelf to replace the wonky cardboard ones. And give me some storage. Built them in the style of wagon gear and also another thread I found awhile back that I can't find anymore. For the DS panel I used some 3/4 plywood and used the old cardboard side to get the shape cut it out with jigsaw/ skillsaw. Did the same with the PS shelf but used a 1x6 and 2 sheets of 1/4 plywood. Jigged it out and glued and screwed it together.

View attachment 1466083

View attachment 1466089

Looks good! Do you still have your old rear cargo panels? PM me if you still do, I would be interested in them.

 

[Rabango]

It's alive!
After a many hours of sweat and blood and cursing the cruiser is on the road again... sort of. Needs a new battery.

Finished up off the body work and hit it with some paint. Fortunately all the body work was along body lines so I'll be rocking the two tone for minute. The roof line isn't perfect by any means but it'll be good enough.*Hopefully water tight* and its much better then it was.

The wife and I are headed out to camp with his week so I had to wrap it up.