Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (2 Viewers)

[theglobb]

Well the attack on cancer begins. This will be a long ongoing battle for a long time to come, will be much more difficult than the engine swap by far.
Sadly the untrustworthy frenchmen hid alotttttt of issues with this car regarding the body before it was shipped over here to the states. The roof is what really scares me but I'd like to get confident with sheet metal repairs on quarter panels and rockers before I tackle something as big as the roof.

2 hours with an angle grinder and still have alot left to go. Would just like to stop any rust forming in the floor before it gets serious, you can see all of the darker metal was rust that was forming.

Rear driverside quarter panel

Cut it out, man that metal is shot

and here is what fell out of the bottom when I cut it out: earbuds, snakebite kit, dielectric grease, sharpue, bolt, single ear plug, wine cork, finger brace, ROCK, 6in 3/8's extension, and literally like 3 inches thick of wet mud.

what isn't pictured was 5 beer cans and a hay broom head... I can say confidently the 3/8's extension and snake bite kit are mine. Everything else who knows. I'm assuming the crushed beer cans and wine cork are from my college ubering adventures lol.



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A little different but reminds me of my friends.
He swapped an TDI ALH into it. Love these cars.

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man i bet that thing MOVES!

Make it green and that was my first car. I wish I still had it, but Hurricane Hugo wanted it more and filled it up the door handles with salt water. There was a fish on the passenger seat after the storm and pluff mud covered the interior. I bought it back from the insurance company after it was totaled and the thing started right up; ran for about a year with no issues then decided it had enough of going through Charleston tide.

Awesome, wish y'all had smartphones back in the day. A video revealing a fish under the seat of a flooded car would be hilarious

Nice!

Reminds me of 80s Brazilian made Passat. Similar bones. Lovely.

Thanks for sharing Johnathan

Awesome, one of my favorite parts about the red rocket thread is when other cars get brought up. Always cool to see other peoples experiences and past lives with neat old cars

I had a rabbit like that and blew up my engine due to excessive sludge in the pan/motor that caused the dipstick to read full even though the oil was low. Mine was in really nice shape and got 53mpg prior to locking up. Paid $1500 for it drove it about 6 months and had a guy drive all the way from Pennsylvania to NC with a trailer to pick it up for $800 with a locked up engine..............Serious motor flush and be worried if the oil light and dipstick conflict.

another robmobile story for the books! I swear you have owned just about every car... well atleast every car I've posted about: isuzu pup, merc 300d, vw rabbit, and obviously 70 series LC

 

[prwillard2]

I used rust converter from Master series, then covered everything in master series silver.

Good luck with the floor, and exhausting process.

 

[Felde]

Hi
Just feel like a knight in his suit of amor in the medieval. Their biggest enemy might have been rust, too (and 🌩 lightning, probably).
Seriously..
Use a wirebrush only to remove crusty rust.
Use CSD disks for hard rust.
I have mixed feelings about rust converter.
As conversion is a chemical reaction, those products that require washing-off after treatment usually work best, but are difficult to apply.
All products I use are German brands from Korrosionsschutz-Depot - https://www.korrosionsschutz-depot.de/ They also have great tutorials, but unfortunately all in German.
There usually is grease everywhere on our rigs. So, when it comes to painting and welding: Do a proper degreasing with solvent. Cheap brake cleaner does the trick. And, as grease on rust burns like a flare: Get a big CO2 or foam fire extinguisher. Do not use powder. It's highly corrosive and gets in everywhere. A vehicle extinguished with powder is totaled.
And also care for yourself: Wear proper PPE: Gloves, earplugs, goggles, filter mask. (Skin doesn't stand wire brushes and paint and degreaser fumes give terrible headaches. Ask me how I know.)

Good Luck Ralf

 

[robmobile73]

Well the attack on cancer begins. This will be a long ongoing battle for a long time to come, will be much more difficult than the engine swap by far.
Sadly the untrustworthy frenchmen hid alotttttt of issues with this car regarding the body before it was shipped over here to the states. The roof is what really scares me but I'd like to get confident with sheet metal repairs on quarter panels and rockers before I tackle something as big as the roof.

2 hours with an angle grinder and still have alot left to go. Would just like to stop any rust forming in the floor before it gets serious, you can see all of the darker metal was rust that was forming.
View attachment 3511104

Rear driverside quarter panel
View attachment 3511102
View attachment 3511100View attachment 3511112
Cut it out, man that metal is shot

and here is what fell out of the bottom when I cut it out: earbuds, snakebite kit, dielectric grease, sharpue, bolt, single ear plug, wine cork, finger brace, ROCK, 6in 3/8's extension, and literally like 3 inches thick of wet mud.
View attachment 3511096
what isn't pictured was 5 beer cans and a hay broom head... I can say confidently the 3/8's extension and snake bite kit are mine. Everything else who knows. I'm assuming the crushed beer cans and wine cork are from my college ubering adventures lol.



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man i bet that thing MOVES!

Awesome, wish y'all had smartphones back in the day. A video revealing a fish under the seat of a flooded car would be hilarious

Awesome, one of my favorite parts about the red rocket thread is when other cars get brought up. Always cool to see other peoples experiences and past lives with neat old cars

another robmobile story for the books! I swear you have owned just about every car... well atleast every car I've posted about: isuzu pup, merc 300d, vw rabbit, and obviously 70 series LC

You make me feel better about my rust. In my opinion a troopy has alot more potential worth than a 70 or 73 series, it might be worth doing a better quality repair than some more expedient methods. "Repurposed materials" often has out of date surplus aircraft epoxy paint. 2 part paint that comes in a 4 gallon kit they had for $40 earlier this year. I'm not seeing it now on the website, but it might come back and you also may find super high quality surplus at a large suplus store like Delks: Delk's Army-Navy Surplus Store · 4705 U.S. Hwy 64 W, Asheboro, NC 27205 - https://maps.app.goo.gl/vwb6XcADrgn7GmZt7 , or maybe Stricklands out past monkey junction on the way to the beach in your home town might have some. Something like that would be a good durable base coat on steel floors or inside body panels with a top coat of some color matching enamel in areas you will see sometimes(floors).

I've considered filling some of the rusted out areas with spray foam and then grinding out the rust and having the foam as a good base to glass over. Artful cutting and welding in new metal is obviously a better solution. I recently successfully mig welded mild steel to stainless using mild steel wire and straight argon as a shield gas..No research, just tried and it worked. I may go find some stainless at the scrap yard (old sink or commercial kitchen equipment parts)the next time I make patch panels.....If someone knows why this worked or why it shouldn't be done please chime in.

Numerous big drain holes and your inside panels get wet but do drain. Small drainholes get wet inside and then clog up. No drain holes and it stays dry until you go through deep water and then it stays there and doesn't drain. Not sure the optimum drain hole is but probably 1/4" or so.

My much talked about method of using rust converter has not had the longevity with my LC like it did with the 71' chevy PU. I'm thinking that has more to do with the thicker low tensile strength steel used back then that was also a bit more rust resistant than the modern thinner high tensil steel they started using in the mid 70's. Our 80's LCs are in the era before great coatings for this steel were developed and in use on car bodies.

I really wish you could buy AL diamond plate cover panels to cover common rust out areas of the 70 series like you can for a 40 series(I have not seen them). They don't look bad and it's a really fast easy way to cover up some rust out when your not good at doing body work and then someone or someday when there is a plethora of time and money someone can do a restoration.

 

[Felde]

I've considered filling some of the rusted out areas with spray foam and then grinding out the rust and having the foam as a good base to glass over.

Rob, that's a terrible idea.
The foam traps moisture. Also the non-reacted components (where there always is some residues) as well as some side products of the foam reaction are corrosive.
The foam provides a real flowerbed for rust to bloom.
If you need a support for the glass, it's too big of a gap for that material and technique anyways.
Cheers Ralf

 

[theglobb]

well I learned 2 things today #1: i am an absolutely horrible fabricator #2: for my first time really mig welding I'm pretty decent at it where my metal doesn't have a MASSIVE GAP which was most of the metal lol. You will see what I'm talking about in the pics below

look at those GAPS!!!! absoutley horrible

somehow managed to "save" it... not pretty since I had to bridge such a large gap at so many places

my 2nd attack

did a bit better of a job angle grinding out this piece of metal, welds were obviously much better

however still where there are big gaps it gets absolutely horrid

Well what I have learned is a angle grinder just wont do, at least not for me as I don't have the finess or skill to masterfully cut out replacement metal the exact same size as the metal that I cut out. Good thing I bought a plasma cutter for my dad's birthday this summer, looks like in the long run it will have just been a present to the both of us lol. I need to get it running and all hooked up and then religiously use that instead of an angle grinder. Hoping that once I ditch the grinder that my work will improve drastically.

So, when it comes to painting and welding: Do a proper degreasing with solvent. Cheap brake cleaner does the trick.

I got a can of acetone, will get some cheap brake clean whenever it runs out thanks for the heads up and caution about safety aswell.

 

[svsisu]

well I learned 2 things today #1: i am an absolutely horrible fabricator #2: for my first time really mig welding I'm pretty decent at it where my metal doesn't have a MASSIVE GAP which was most of the metal lol. You will see what I'm talking about in the pics below

look at those GAPS!!!! absoutley horrible
View attachment 3513124

somehow managed to "save" it... not pretty since I had to bridge such a large gap at so many places
View attachment 3513123

my 2nd attack
View attachment 3513122
did a bit better of a job angle grinding out this piece of metal, welds were obviously much better
View attachment 3513121
however still where there are big gaps it gets absolutely horrid
View attachment 3513120

Well what I have learned is a angle grinder just wont do, at least not for me as I don't have the fitness or skill to masterfully cut out replacement metal the exact same size as the metal that I cut out. Good thing I bought a plasma cutter for my dad's birthday this summer, looks like in the long run it will have just been a present to the both of us lol. I need to get it running and all hooked up and then religiously use that instead of an angle grinder. Hoping that once I ditch the grinder that my work will improve drastically.


I got a can of acetone, will get some cheap brake clean whenever it runs out thanks for the heads up and caution about safety aswell.

As you know, you can't fill big gaps welding, and it is all in the cuts and filler pieces. Angle grinders are very coarse tools, plasma cutters are the tits, but probably hard to dial in with thin material. I have some electric shears that I used for cutting off the roof, that you can use for cutting if you want to borrow them, not the best but make good cuts once you get the hang of them. Best would be air tools... die grinder with thin cut off wheels etc. If you have a big compressor I can probably round up a tool package for you to use/borrow. Also, I have the cut off troopy roof if you want a metal mine, you just have to come pick it up.

You're doing great, the good welds look good! Please seal it up before our road trip, I don't like drafts.

 

[bj70bc]

dont use chlorinated brake clean to prep for welding, the chlorinated part and your welding process make some kind of really toxic science experiment and you will breath death fumes, not good.....
....write that down

 

[jblueridge]

Depending on what I am cutting and welding, I cut thin strips of sheet steel then use them to bridge gaps. I also have several diameters of torch welding rods that I use for gap filling. Cut them long so you can use one hand to hold it and the other hand on the mig. Tack in place then cut off excess.

 

[Felde]

dont use chlorinated brake clean to prep for welding, the chlorinated part and your welding process make some kind of really toxic science experiment and you will breath death fumes, not good.....
....write that down

Yea, some of those chemicals make for a good intoxication or a good bang or a good fire (or all of it). Use high caution , in particular with the acetone.
Have a great Season!
Cheers Ralf

 

[robmobile73]

dont use chlorinated brake clean to prep for welding, the chlorinated part and your welding process make some kind of really toxic science experiment and you will breath death fumes, not good.....
....write that down

That and electric contact cleaner as well. I used that stuff to clean an old Coleman catalytic heater once where you saturate the woven platinum catalytic cloth and burn it off. Absolutely horrible toxic smoke and fumes..Probably worse than being near burn pits in Afghanistan while lithium batteries are burning.

 

[robmobile73]

well I learned 2 things today #1: i am an absolutely horrible fabricator #2: for my first time really mig welding I'm pretty decent at it where my metal doesn't have a MASSIVE GAP which was most of the metal lol. You will see what I'm talking about in the pics below

look at those GAPS!!!! absoutley horrible
View attachment 3513124

somehow managed to "save" it... not pretty since I had to bridge such a large gap at so many places
View attachment 3513123

my 2nd attack
View attachment 3513122
did a bit better of a job angle grinding out this piece of metal, welds were obviously much better
View attachment 3513121
however still where there are big gaps it gets absolutely horrid
View attachment 3513120

Well what I have learned is a angle grinder just wont do, at least not for me as I don't have the finess or skill to masterfully cut out replacement metal the exact same size as the metal that I cut out. Good thing I bought a plasma cutter for my dad's birthday this summer, looks like in the long run it will have just been a present to the both of us lol. I need to get it running and all hooked up and then religiously use that instead of an angle grinder. Hoping that once I ditch the grinder that my work will improve drastically.


I got a can of acetone, will get some cheap brake clean whenever it runs out thanks for the heads up and caution about safety aswell.

That's great practice trying to cut and weld those pieces in perfectly. It looks pretty good too. If it is going under a floor mat or somewhere you won't see you can overlap it which is probably easier.

Someone else give an opinion on this because J. will get there next: When making a patch panel on the outer body that has to look good do you 1. Weld it in place, heavily grind the weld and area deeply and then thin fill over the top?.....or 2. Weld it in place, dent it down with a hammer grind lightly and fill?

 

[Felde]

I know a technique where you tack in the patch with a bit of overlap and then cut 45° trough the weld (both layers) again with a very thin disc. It creates a phase on both sheets that allow them to join seamless. Then weld over again: Tacks, few a time, consecutively filling the gaps between, to avoid waves.
But it needs practice, I guess, and space for the cutting.
Never did it myself (I'm a lousy welder).
Merry Christmas Ralf

 

[Ragnaroek]

Just keep welding and trying, the rest will develop over time...

Use the thinnest cutoff discs you can find. Your angle grinder will suddenly become a precision instrument. Take your time playing around with your welder's settings. One can weld half Inch gaps without additional fillers if the welder is set up right. You really shouldn't do that, but it's totally possible.

Buy a cheap bead roller and a small metal brake if you can, it makes life a lot easier. I started learning sheet metal work this way a few years back, and while they aren't pretty, those repairs (pictured below) still last today.

 

[svsisu]

Thank you everyone for the advice! I've been using my trip meter and fill up every 400kms, if that breaks then I'm kinda screwed. Guess I'll get a partsouq order together and replace my sending unit and speedo cable at the same time. I'll lube up the brake cables

Buddy of mine picked up a very mint VW Rabbit with a 1.6 diesel. He's knowledgeable when it comes to cars but has never owned a diesel. Gave him a run down and he loves it
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Oh, he got a fancy one, Rabbit LS, mines just an L.

Yesterday, while driving home from holiday festivities with family, I found a blue diesel Rabbit L in middle of nowhere Tidewater Virginia.

And what drives by while I’m snapping photos for @theglobb on his next fixer upper… a RHD 79 series!

 

[prwillard2]

That Kronos install looks absolutely great!

Curious how the 79 is driving around here in CONUS!

 

[onemanarmy]

Could be a 79 built from parts on an 80 chassis. A few people on MUD have done that.

or a visitor on a short term permit

 

[svsisu]

That Kronos install looks absolutely great!

Curious how the 79 is driving around here in CONUS!

Thanks on the top install, it's pretty dang cool.

No idea on the 79, all kinds of different ways I guess, but it looked OG, not built. In any case, it was surprising to see. I think the driver was equally surprised to see me, and probably wondering why I was checking out the bad a** VW

Not far down the road I saw these big, diesel powered, amphibious machines, Wild Sally and Big Jack! I should have put the troopy in for scale, the tires were taller than my truck, and everything about them was massive. One of those would be perfect here on the outer banks for getting to the grocery store when we get some tide.

 

[sark]

Could be a 79 built from parts on an 80 chassis. A few people on MUD have done that.

or a visitor on a short term permit

This is what most people I've seen have done, but this is RHD and pretty much every 80-to-79 build is done LHD. Cool either way tho.

 

[robmobile73]

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Could be a 79 built from parts on an 80 chassis. A few people on MUD have done that.

or a visitor on a short term permit

There are also companies that import up armor and re-export 70 series for use by the US government overseas. They do occasionally do limited test drives with them out of necessity even though it isn't completely legal.