Builds "The Milk Truck" FJ45 Preservation Sorta (1 Viewer)

[Tank5]

I put the bed on the truck. I still need to finish a few things. A prior owner added some 3x4 tube and angle iron to support a tool box. It has been my plan all along to remove them but I had a second thought to keep them to add a tool box. Probably won’t but I am thinking about it.

They also drilled some holes through the top bed rail inside to out. I have been trying to dream up a creative way to plug the holes outside of the bed. The holes come through at the worst spots right at the corner transition. Best I can come up with would some sort of brass brazing plug that would be obvious but have some character while plugging the holes.


The inside holes I think I will use rubber plugs of some sort, so I can easily access the inside to spray some rust coating or prevention inside the rail.

Any out of box the ideas for plugging these holes? I also considered brass bullet casings and just welding them up normal but those ideas don’t appeal to me at the moment.

 

[Grayscale]

I have it in my head to do something like this after I have the truck all together. I bought a case of red scotch right pads ready to go when I get to it.

I appreciate the steel wool/scotch bright tips. Do you have a build thread showing what your technique looks like?

No build thread. My paint is not original, and it is flaking with bondo in places. I have extra body parts that I've been trying things with.

One of my patina mistakes was treating some of the broad areas of rust with too much polishing - it makes a hammered pewter look that appears over-worked. It was the splash shield by the battery tray, and it had heavy rusting due to the battery leak. Not that the splash shield is ruined, it just needs to naturally rust if it won't draw attention. If you have a panel of steel, you actually see all the cavities, individual sites of cathodic activity where rust propagates. My feeling is to leave heavy rust in a less worked state, and keep focus attention closer to where you find more superficial rust.

I need to get photos.

 

[Michael B]

Have you tried Muriatic acid yet? I used it on a different type of project and it worked very well. It had horizontal surfaces, I applied the acid with a spray bottle, outside over the course of several days to get the preferred result. I applied a satin clear powder coating to keep everything clean and in stasis.

 

[Rigger]

@Tank5 now that the bed is on, roll this bad boy outside and give us some glamour shots. I love this truck!

 

[Grayscale]

Patina. This is what it looks like with just oil, no other treatment.

For when those areas still have enamel, stick with 600 or 1000 and do a wet sanding. After some wet sanding and car wax application, I buff it with steel wool, then a rag. Water beads look nice. Notice the highlights on the corners and stamped area made to resemble a twist drill that were revealed in the process.

You are looking at a section of the outer door skin of a pre-75 front door, the inside face next to the glass. This time it was 220 grit because I have no enamel to protect. On the left, it was oiled, in the middle was auto finish wax, on the right is no treatment at all.

This is what I was talking about when I mentioned, "shiny rust." Because rust expands, it gets all horrible to put your clothing, hands, rags, and equipment on or touching. So, I just smooth it like I was doing primer stages and we are good to go. Again silicon carbide paper in a wet hand sanding technique.

 

[MOTOV8R]

I put the bed on the truck. I still need to finish a few things. A prior owner added some 3x4 tube and angle iron to support a tool box. It has been my plan all along to remove them but I had a second thought to keep them to add a tool box. Probably won’t but I am thinking about it.
View attachment 3215405

They also drilled some holes through the top bed rail inside to out. I have been trying to dream up a creative way to plug the holes outside of the bed. The holes come through at the worst spots right at the corner transition. Best I can come up with would some sort of brass brazing plug that would be obvious but have some character while plugging the holes.


The inside holes I think I will use rubber plugs of some sort, so I can easily access the inside to spray some rust coating or prevention inside the rail.

Any out of box the ideas for plugging these holes? I also considered brass bullet casings and just welding them up normal but those ideas don’t appeal to me at the moment.

View attachment 3215404

View attachment 3215411

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Maybe you could get some soft top doorstrap eyes and use them as tie down loops? (Or something similar with some patina) Might have to weld on a longer bolt and probably sleeve the hole. Or just weld ‘em up and wait for it to rust.

 

[Tank5]

@Tank5 now that the bed is on, roll this bad boy outside and give us some glamour shots. I love this truck!

Thanks for the kind words!

The recent storm at my house dropped about 18 inches of snow that has started to melt making my gravel dirt driveway a slushy muddy mess. I will get outside for some pictures as soon as it dries out a little.

I really want to see it outside myself.

 

[Tank5]

Patina. This is what it looks like with just oil, no other treatment.

View attachment 3215655

For when those areas still have enamel, stick with 600 or 1000 and do a wet sanding. After some wet sanding and car wax application, I buff it with steel wool, then a rag. Water beads look nice. Notice the highlights on the corners and stamped area made to resemble a twist drill that were revealed in the process.

View attachment 3215656

You are looking at a section of the outer door skin of a pre-75 front door, the inside face next to the glass. This time it was 220 grit because I have no enamel to protect. On the left, it was oiled, in the middle was auto finish wax, on the right is no treatment at all.

View attachment 3215657

This is what I was talking about when I mentioned, "shiny rust." Because rust expands, it gets all horrible to put your clothing, hands, rags, and equipment on or touching. So, I just smooth it like I was doing primer stages and we are good to go. Again silicon carbide paper in a wet hand sanding technique.

View attachment 3215658

Thanks for taking the time to document the stages and steps for your patina finish. I am not sure I want to remove enough of the red to expose the shinny metal beneath. I am not entirely set yet on how I will or won’t finish the patina, still researching methods. Thanks again

 

[Tank5]

Maybe you could get some soft top doorstrap eyes and use them as tie down loops? (Or something similar with some patina) Might have to weld on a longer bolt and probably sleeve the hole. Or just weld ‘em up and wait for it to rust.

View attachment 3215974

The eyelets would look cool on the inside but I don’t trust my self not to use and abuse them. I would be worried I might cause more fatigue where there would be mounted as a result.

I feel like welding the outside holes is the most likely course to take. I am just not looking forward to trying to clean up the welds along the bed profile I would have to weld through. If I knew how to tig weld and could do it cleanly, I would consider welding the holes with a plug and just leaving it. I would rather the holes were show character and a naked repair, to showcase the used farm truck it was rather that attempt to weld and blend as if it never happened. Without paint and a little filler I am not sure I can make them go away.

If only @Rock40 was my neighbor, some of his plug welds on the M715 are what I think would look good if left to patina over time.

 

[Tank5]

I am waiting for two bolt on bushings for the middle cross member before I can tighten down all the bed mounts for the last time I hope.

I pulled the seats and seat frames out to mount the center console and figure out how to mount the seat belts.

The center console is nice but it is designed to fit a bunch of modular accessories and has been designed with 78 extra holes in it that I don’t currently have a use for. I am trying to come up with a tasteful way of sealing them up. With so many holes welding them up without warping it doesn’t seem likely. I really don’t want to do that. It seams ridiculous but I even considered just putting sticker all over it which lead me to having it wrapped. I am not sure how well the wrap would hold up over the holes. I am even considered buying two of the larger vintage TEQ tool boxes and using a cover on each side to cover them. It would match the shifter console but it might be too much of the same.

Moving on to the seatbelts, I found the seat slides have mounting points on the back of them and decided I am going to use them for the lap belts. I have a set of these old Toyota seat belts I plan on using. The webbing is in good condition but has me wondering if I should send them out to have the webbing replaced. If I do I would like to have sew the TEQ tag sewn back on.

Seats won’t go back in until the wiring is all fitted and wrapped. I look forward to having the wiring behind me.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Love skinning it with a metal sheet. Will hold up better. There maybe some carbon fiber options out there or the plastic sheets (cutting board variant) that hold up well and allow you to reuse only some of the holes you want later.

 

[Tank5]

I tackled the rear lights tonight.
The reproduction steel version of these rear taillight housings are awesome I added some holes to match the stock mounting holes in the bed. Then transferred the hole pattern to back rings.

I ordered some 1/8 inch stainless steel rings to pair with the cone cover from the back of one piece 40 series transfer cases.

I bolted them up see them installed. I know the outside housings are normally painted to match the body color but I think I may paint them pewter to match the bumpers and turn signal housings.

 

[Tank5]

I have been working to finalize the rear chassis wiring from the cowl to the rear lights, so the bed could go on for the last time. It is not all that interesting in pictures but imagine the harness wrapped in painless classic braid wire loom secured by TMR SS bolt on fasteners and zip ties and that is it.

Quick way to spend $100 but they worked well.

I ended up adding some stainless steel nutserts as well as tapping the rear cross member and frame to make mounting points, it is all pretty tight and serviceable from the underside of the truck if there is ever a need too.

I added a trailer plug from a tundra. If it ever needs replaced I can simply unplug it from the harness and replace it by plugging it in to the factory plug. The rusty bolt heads annoy me but they were the only ones I had on hand long enough for the job. I will swap them out eventually. It is mounted high and back far enough that it is out of the way.

The bed is on and hopefully not coming off again. I will be working on the rest of the harness when I have down time on my 2uz 80 series swap. I hope to make quick work of the 80, so I can back to this.

 

[Tank5]

I needed a break from the 80 series and decided to play with the license plate light. I have a NOS light but I want to try and retain the old beat up cover if I can. The PO must have resorted to backing up by feel or at least the back of the truck makes it look that way.

The cover is pretty crunched.

 

[Tank5]

Well that took a few minutes but I got it back to a form that would allow the new lens and mounting plate to fit securely. I spent more time working the sway out of the license plate. All refitted and wired up.

 

[Tank5]

I took a moment to add a ground to the rear taillights. The light itself grounds through the housing but I was a little worried about the connection since the housing will get fresh paint and mounted to the patina body.

I snaked a ground wire through the loom and soldered it to the back of the housing. It plugs into the common shared ground for all the rest of the taillights.

 

[Tank5]

I took another break from the 80 and opened up the front to clean up the front chassis harness. There is a lot of extra wire to clean up.

The Kioto harness that came with headlights is twice as long as it needs to be. I am planning to cut a section out of it and solder it back together to make it fit reasonably without a bunch of excess.

I have eliminated unnecessary sections of wire in the harness but have decided to retain pigtails that that run through the factory plugs in the event I need to add something to it in the future. I placed heat shrink over the ends but none of them should be live.

I am creating diagrams with the pin outs for each plug, to keep track of what I am doing. This includes any dead end pigtails that I would dig out later. It slows the process down a bit but will be super helpful in the future if I have any issues.

 

[Vossie]

Best way to do it. I still have my note book from when I did my loom of where all my wires go. Since then I've added other stuff like the remote start and alarm and other stuff, so when i strop down for paint will take the loom and re group it all and tape it all up again. But at least having all the notes I know where everything comes from and goes to.

Never wasted time mapping out the loom

 

[Tank5]

Fitting the front chassis harness is complete with a bunch of new connectors where needed. I purchase some wire management mounts that I hope will work to secure everything on the front end. I am not going to wrap it all until after I finish the dash section of the harness to confirm it functions as it should.

Sadly I think I punctured the ac cooler with one of the studs that mounts the mesh grill. It is not plumbed or charged yet but there is some moisture coming from the area where the stud damaged some fins. I am going to replace it but this time I hope to find a unit that has a ac line on each end to simplify pluming the ac lines.

Next I have to sort and clean up the dash harness. There is still a bunch to trim, so I hope it cleans up well. Not looking forward to it.

 

[thatcabledude]

That sucks about the condenser. Sure looks like trans fluid. No chance some just happened to spill by that mangled fin? Maybe see if you can pull a vacuum before you swap it?