Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (16 Viewers)

[theglobb]

Alright progress! Following in the exact footsteps of @SNLC from the Troopy Hodgepodge thread, I had seen that they had cut into the floor to access the cross-members that support it underneath. I am SO GLAD I did. Nothing was horribly rotten or rusted through by any means, but another couple years down the line and it would've been a totally different story. Glad I got to this when I did.

Wire wheeled what I could, followed by sandblasting everything else, then rust converted, and finally covered it all with a rust encapsulator paint.

Ground down the backsides of the pieces I had cut out which had minimal rust on them, but still didn't want any chance for anything to grow, and slathered some weldthru primer on them.

To anyone who hasn't done this kind of tedious sheet metal welding before, I truly wish you never have to. At first glance, I figured this would take 4-6 hours tops... NOPE more like a day and a half (14 -16) hours. Every part of the cleaning process takes quite a significant amount of time, alongside the cutting and welding parts aswell.


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Glad you're moving forward again. ....On the sandblasting only thing I've ever used is sand. Which if you're short on cash you can go to a local playground and get a small bucket from the sandbox. Biggest problem with a dirt cheap sandblast setup is the sand getting damp from moisture in the air and clogging. Dump your air tank very often if you don't have a good water seperator. ...I'm actually curious how much better blast media is for simple rust removal. gray closed cell foam 3/8-1/2" "fatique mat is a very good and not expensive sound deadening material for your floor. They sell it at lowes or home depot in the carpet area. It is used for mats on concrete floors in work areas so workers that stand all day have some relief from standing on a concrete floor. You can use the "vinyl upholstery spray paint" to color it to the desired color..............before you weld your windshield frame together you might try bolting it in the LC in pieces and then tacking it in proper pos., before welding it complete so it doesn't warp/shrink/deform enough to become difficult to bolt in........I had a similar LC brake loss experience when I was 20 at Clemson in my FJ40. You are a much more competent mechanic/fabricator than I was at that time. .....My 72' FJ 40 was from Folly beach and flooded with salt water during hurricane Hugo. My wheel cylinders kept getting frozen with rust so I had to clean them which required removing the rubber boots and cleaning them. rubber boots fell apart(brittle), Which then caused them to freeze up more often. One was so frozen I drilled a hole through the wheel cylinder in order to drive out the piston with a steel bolt and hammer. I then put the bolt in the drilled out hole with RTV to seal the cylinder again.........some weeks later I drove up into the mountains exploring some 2 hours from Clemson when it blew and my brakes went out completely........I drove it home turning the 2 hour trip into 5 utilizing low range downshifting and the Emergency brake..........YOU welding it up behind the parts store is above and beyond your years. Outstanding effort.!
Good luck-R.

Thanks for the heads up on the media getting damp, I'm not running any water seperator at the moment. as well as the foam closed cell foam and where to grab it, keeping that in mind for way later in the process and the troopy is all back on the road. I don't know if there's anything to actually bolt to on the windshield frame parts I have received, that is my biggest worry however is keeping everything as straight and as factory as possible.

That Willy's I acquired was the same way! Sat at a house on Wrightsville Beach for the past 25 years or so, my buddy had seen it over the axles multiple times with saltwater whenever flooding would happen. Went to dive into the brake work and good lord... just getting the wheel cylinders out was a battle. I ended up having to angle grind 3 out of 4 of them in half so they would fall apart and out of the drum assembly.

post the rust converter and cavity wax you use! I am glad to see you back to tackling this. getting all the swiss cheese out of the troopy! I am going to do my drivers rocker soon once I get some warmer too. what size welding wire are you using out of curiosity. .023 I am pretty sure is what I used on the salt wagon.

Rust Kutter this is the converter I'm using, seems to be one of the best preforming ones from the various videos I have watched on it and my local tractor supply had a gallon of it for sale for 1/2 off! KBS Cavity Wax is what I bought for the wax but will probably order what @jblueridge linked when I need to coat more as it seems you get much more bang for your buck. I'm using .024 hobart from tractor supply cause its what is closest and cheapest to me, I had .025 lincoln in it before but with a .001-.002 difference I feel like its really splitting hairs at that point

I'm so stoked to finally be posting regularly on here again! It felt wrong not even opening up mud for months.

Be very, very careful using sand (I wouldn't recommend it at all). Sandblasting with actual sand creates extremely fine silica dust, which stays suspended in the air for a long time and is quite a health hazard if inhaled. Regardless, make sure you use a respirator while media blasting, and you'll probably find that a face shield and safety glasses are really nice to have too.

Even with the coal slag that I'm currently using, I saw a bunch of dust in the air while pouring it out of the bag into the blaster; that's my sign to grab a respirator! If I can see dust in the sunlight or if my throat starts feeling a little funny, I'm grabbing something for my lungs. The entire time I was welding today I was wearing a respirator as well, all of those fumes from the residual paint or weldthru primer burning off don't feel good in my throat. It's amazing to me how all of the guys (other than me) at my work don't wear any lung protection, there will be days where there is a thick fog in the shop of welding smoke/grinding dust (cause our ventilation system doesn't work) and my buddy Justin is over there smoking a cig while laying down some nasty stick welds for hours straight. Seriously appreciate your concern for my health.

Be very careful i.p. with the cavity wax.
Wax and welding is literally an explosive mixture. (Nobody knows better than you what that looks and feels like)
Remember that wax will melt and flow by induced heat from welding. It might suddenly show up in unexpected places.
Have a water hose and foam (!) fire extinguisher at hand at all times (don't use a powder extinguisher. Powder totals vehicles)
Also wax is very problematic when it comes to painting the rig.
Needless to say that creeping liquids like FluidFilm are even worse.
I strongly recommend to apply any wax / oil only after you are done with the bodywork.
Good Luck Ralf

Very VERY good to know, I figured it was flammable to an extent but not that it was combustible. Regardless, the cavity wax will be all applied after the bodywork/paint job is complete. I also was not aware of the difference of a foam vs powder fire extinguisher, really good to know. I'm gonna go place an order for 2 right after I post this (one for the Willy and one for my temporary workshop) Last year when I exploded I inhaled a bunch of nasty smoke from when I was on fire and putting the fire out, but I vividly remember how my throat closed up when I had to spray myself with a powdered fire extinguisher in order to extinguish myself. Felt like I had a nasty coating of what I would imagine baking flour in my throat for a week or so, didn't matter how much water I would drink, not fun.

Massive thanks to everyone per usual for yall's concern for my safety and advice yall have to offer. Seriously it is invaluable to me.

 

[robmobile73]

J-Your success is like a springboard for all of us older guys with less energy... Keep moving forward.-R.

 

[jblueridge]

I bought a needle scaler like this one. Very useful sometimes.
Fun to literally attack rust.
needle scaler

 

[sark]

Alright progress! Following in the exact footsteps of @SNLC from the Troopy Hodgepodge thread, I had seen that they had cut into the floor to access the cross-members that support it underneath. I am SO GLAD I did. Nothing was horribly rotten or rusted through by any means, but another couple years down the line and it would've been a totally different story. Glad I got to this when I did.

View attachment 3861834
View attachment 3861835View attachment 3861836

Wire wheeled what I could, followed by sandblasting everything else, then rust converted, and finally covered it all with a rust encapsulator paint.
View attachment 3861841

Ground down the backsides of the pieces I had cut out which had minimal rust on them, but still didn't want any chance for anything to grow, and slathered some weldthru primer on them.
View attachment 3861832

To anyone who hasn't done this kind of tedious sheet metal welding before, I truly wish you never have to. At first glance, I figured this would take 4-6 hours tops... NOPE more like a day and a half (14 -16) hours. Every part of the cleaning process takes quite a significant amount of time, alongside the cutting and welding parts aswell.


----------------------------------------------------


Thanks for the heads up on the media getting damp, I'm not running any water seperator at the moment. as well as the foam closed cell foam and where to grab it, keeping that in mind for way later in the process and the troopy is all back on the road. I don't know if there's anything to actually bolt to on the windshield frame parts I have received, that is my biggest worry however is keeping everything as straight and as factory as possible.

That Willy's I acquired was the same way! Sat at a house on Wrightsville Beach for the past 25 years or so, my buddy had seen it over the axles multiple times with saltwater whenever flooding would happen. Went to dive into the brake work and good lord... just getting the wheel cylinders out was a battle. I ended up having to angle grind 3 out of 4 of them in half so they would fall apart and out of the drum assembly.


Rust Kutter this is the converter I'm using, seems to be one of the best preforming ones from the various videos I have watched on it and my local tractor supply had a gallon of it for sale for 1/2 off! KBS Cavity Wax is what I bought for the wax but will probably order what @jblueridge linked when I need to coat more as it seems you get much more bang for your buck. I'm using .024 hobart from tractor supply cause its what is closest and cheapest to me, I had .025 lincoln in it before but with a .001-.002 difference I feel like its really splitting hairs at that point

I'm so stoked to finally be posting regularly on here again! It felt wrong not even opening up mud for months.


Even with the coal slag that I'm currently using, I saw a bunch of dust in the air while pouring it out of the bag into the blaster; that's my sign to grab a respirator! If I can see dust in the sunlight or if my throat starts feeling a little funny, I'm grabbing something for my lungs. The entire time I was welding today I was wearing a respirator as well, all of those fumes from the residual paint or weldthru primer burning off don't feel good in my throat. It's amazing to me how all of the guys (other than me) at my work don't wear any lung protection, there will be days where there is a thick fog in the shop of welding smoke/grinding dust (cause our ventilation system doesn't work) and my buddy Justin is over there smoking a cig while laying down some nasty stick welds for hours straight. Seriously appreciate your concern for my health.

Very VERY good to know, I figured it was flammable to an extent but not that it was combustible. Regardless, the cavity wax will be all applied after the bodywork/paint job is complete. I also was not aware of the difference of a foam vs powder fire extinguisher, really good to know. I'm gonna go place an order for 2 right after I post this (one for the Willy and one for my temporary workshop) Last year when I exploded I inhaled a bunch of nasty smoke from when I was on fire and putting the fire out, but I vividly remember how my throat closed up when I had to spray myself with a powdered fire extinguisher in order to extinguish myself. Felt like I had a nasty coating of what I would imagine baking flour in my throat for a week or so, didn't matter how much water I would drink, not fun.

Massive thanks to everyone per usual for yall's concern for my safety and advice yall have to offer. Seriously it is invaluable to me.

Hell yeah man.

 

[theglobb]

Finished most all of my welding on the passenger side and the floor, got the Red Rocket turned around and have started rust repair on the driver side! Lots of rot hiding away in all fun sorts of places.

and the somewhat finished product, still have a lot left to do just on this fenderwell alone

Just to give everyone with a 70 an idea on why these rot out, this is how it is designed... Honestly, it seems like planned obsolescence from Toyota. I'm sure there's a great reason for 2 pieces of sheet metal being sandwiched together, such as added strength and all, but seriously it's not surprising that these are prone to rot out. If you own a 70 or similar series Land Cruiser and have easy access on the inside, I would highly recommend spraying fluid film or some sort of rust prevention down into that channel from the inside.

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J-Your success is like a springboard for all of us older guys with less energy... Keep moving forward.-R.

I'm seriously glad to hear! It's really good to be back to posting quite often about the troopy after a long hiatus. I was burnt out and didn't have any want to even look or think about the troopy. Getting these parts for the windshield in hand has revived my drive/work ethic to get this thing back on the road

I bought a needle scaler like this one. Very useful sometimes.
Fun to literally attack rust.
needle scaler

We got one at work, you are right it is REALLY fun to use. I can probably borrow it from work if needed.

 

[AirheadNut]

Great to see all the progress! I've heard people compare the construction of 70-series bodies to onions: layer after layer of sheet metal sandwiched together. Prime ground for rust.

 

[theglobb]

got an order from partsouq today, still amazes me how fast their shipping is. Roughly 100 OEM items, weatherstripping, grommets, cables, plugs, nuts, etc etc.

A new rust spot has been uncovered. Those french boys worked really hard on this one to cover it up, make it look like nothing troublesome was there, AND DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO PREVENT IT FROM SPREADING. Just welded, bondo'd & painted right over rusty metal, a reoccurring theme...

Got a 1952 NC plate for the Willys for $10. Totally legal to run on it and kinda matches the patina!

and the Willys partook in some college fun this past weekend for one of my friend's birthdays, lots of honking for some reason...

also check out this 1940's metal brake at my work, was made for the war effort and my bosses dad ended up with it back in the 70's. It gets greased regularly and has never had an issue with it.


that's all I got for now! Will update with more rust repair photos this weekend if all goes as planned

 

[robmobile73]

got an order from partsouq today, still amazes me how fast their shipping is. Roughly 100 OEM items, weatherstripping, grommets, cables, plugs, nuts, etc etc.
View attachment 3870449

A new rust spot has been uncovered. Those french boys worked really hard on this one to cover it up, make it look like nothing troublesome was there, AND DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO PREVENT IT FROM SPREADING. Just welded, bondo'd & painted right over rusty metal, a reoccurring theme... View attachment 3870450


Got a 1952 NC plate for the Willys for $10. Totally legal to run on it and kinda matches the patina!
View attachment 3870451

and the Willys partook in some college fun this past weekend for one of my friend's birthdays, lots of honking for some reason...
View attachment 3870453View attachment 3870452

also check out this 1940's metal brake at my work, was made for the war effort and my bosses dad ended up with it back in the 70's. It gets greased regularly and has never had an issue with it.


that's all I got for now! Will update with more rust repair photos this weekend if all goes as planned

Don't know if you've ever seen "preserved patina". I've seen it on some "rat rods" at car shows. More than one method, but this method looks cheap and easy with good results. If I was doing it I'd use scotch Brite pad on a orbital sander hook loop pad with some soapy water in a spray bottle.

 

[janyyc]

and the Willys partook in some college fun this past weekend for one of my friend's birthdays, lots of honking for some reason...
View attachment 3870453

also check out this 1940's metal brake at my work, was made for the war effort and my bosses dad ended up with it back in the 70's. It gets greased regularly and has never had an issue with it.


that's all I got for now! Will update with more rust repair photos this weekend if all goes as planned

They must have already been "drank" when making the sign...

 

[theglobb]

More progress as promised! Picking up right where I left off on the last post, I had discovered a nasty, crusty, rusty mess hidden inside my wheel well/rear rockers. Well I cut out all the cancer, made new bits and pieces, and glued them in. That sandblaster has been a lifesaver for neutralizing rust where a wire wheel cannot reach. The inside was rust converted, painted, and will be cavity waxed when the final paint job is hardened.

This rusty plot of metal on the inner side of the rocker was tack welded in only the corners, slathered in a bunch of silicone to cover it up, then undercoated, to fully conceal it.

And here is my repair, unlike the frenchmen who were in here before me, I have actually fixed the rust problem. Cut out all of the rot, and put some new skin back in place!

And some smaller patches on the inner side of the rockers where there were a bunch of rusty holes through the metal in these spots.

It might not look like much, and surely isn't as interesting or pretty as when I was taking the troopy on adventures. But this is what yall are stuck looking at for the next month or so haha. This all took me roughly 6 hours today. Like I said, it might not look like much, but its so painstakingly time consuming.

Also, I'd like to give a massive thanks to @joekatana for donating a piece of a rear quarter panel, that he had already hacked up previously, to me. I put a massive crater and hole in the side of the Red Rocket while wheeling a year and a half ago, banged it out with an axe, welded up the hole, and it looks horrible... The part I was gifted takes away most all of the really difficult fabrication I would have had to do if I was trying to remake the whole quarter panel from scratch. Thank you man!!

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Don't know if you've ever seen "preserved patina". I've seen it on some "rat rods" at car shows. More than one method, but this method looks cheap and easy with good results. If I was doing it I'd use scotch Brite pad on a orbital sander hook loop pad with some soapy water in a spray bottle.

I've seen a couple of those products before, my main concern with trying to get the patina to pop more on the Willys is that the paint is so flakey... I don't know what would be left on it if I started to even just rub stuff on it. Might be worth a try just to see what happens

 

[theglobb]

I don't work on Mondays so I got right to work on the troopy today. Finished the rest of the rockers and got right to work on the rear quarter.

Got it tacked in place

Due to the massive indent followed by me banging the dent out with an axe, things didn't totally line up. Had to do a lot of little metal massaging here and there but I got it all lined up after a while.

And here's the finished result!! Much better, it's still not perfect by any means because the whole quarter panel was crunched in from the wheel well to the taillight. But where most of the nasty crunched-up metal was, is now gone!

Near the end of the day I cut into the bottom of the panel just to see what I was dealing with.

 

[bj70bc]

oh man....exploratory surgury

 

[AirheadNut]

I would highly recommend securing that gas bottle from tipping over. If it falls and the valve hits something on the way down the bottle could turn into a missile.

 

[theglobb]

I would highly recommend securing that gas bottle from tipping over. If it falls and the valve hits something on the way down the bottle could turn into a missile.

Noted, thanks for the heads up. Hard to tell in the pics but I dug a hole in the ground to stabilize it some, not by any means safe or a good way to secure it. Will have to weld together some jig to hold it upright. Seriously thanks for your concern.

oh man....exploratory surgury

I find it kinda odd that I didn't even blink twice while cutting massive external chunks out of this thing. It's so much of a POS that I'm not even scared or phased by cutting into my body anymore haha. I remember at first a year or so ago how nervous I was, a horrible feeling cutting into a car you love. Now it's just an everyday occurrence for me.

 

[Broski]

What size wire are you using ? .028 is way easier than the standard .O35 wire when doing sheet metal

 

[theglobb]

Wow, 2 weeks went by fast! Not nearly as much progress as I would have liked to make but I ended up in the ER from a cheese curd... yes a cheese curd... hitting me in the eye at an incredible speed and lacerating my cornea. Took my vision out for a bit but I'm mostly healed! Back to work.

Left off with cutting into the lower section of my rear quarter, lots of rot in there. atleast 10 hours of work put into all the little crevasses inside of there along with remaking the inner and outer panels for it.

I had a few little spots I didnt wrap up on before I lost all steam on the project last summer, dived into them and was pleasantly surprised to find, really no rust at all, peeled back the spot welds where most of the rust on these starts, cleaned up the few specs of rust and just put them back into place.

Finished welding up the back corner that was just left open for the past year. Looks bad in the photos but it'll clean up nice... nice enough especially considering a pop top will be covering up all of it

and finally a public service announcement to anyone reading this. Please dear god, never undercoat your vehicle. This may sound dramatic but trying to get through the 1/8 - 1/4in of rubberized undercoating where I can see it starting to peel apart from rust forming underneath it, is easily the most unenjoyable thing I have had to do to this vehicle yet. Me and my dad pulled and put the engine into this cruiser 20 something times in 90-100 degree weather under a tin roof shack, yet trying to grind away at this undercoating is so much worse. All it will do is trap moisture in-between itself and the precious metal on your Land Cruiser causing it to rapidly rot. The kind frenchmen I'm assuming did this before it was shipped off to make it look decent.

What size wire are you using ? .028 is way easier than the standard .O35 wire when doing sheet metal

Thanks for the heads up, I've been using .024 and have had great results with it

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

So said cheese curd. Curious. You left us hanging, @Broski, the undeclared Mud safety Popo would like to know as well. Great work!

 

[lacalvette]

Completely understand you.
I had to remove the undercoat (like bedliner oem) to fix the rust. It been the worst job ever. Used a needle gun...

 

[Broski]

So said cheese curd. Curious. You left us hanging, @Broski, the undeclared Mud safety Popo would like to know as well. Great work!

Yes ! I even Googled cheese curd Safety is paramount

 

[theglobb]

Welp, this happened

WHY ARE THERE 2-4 LAYERS? JUST MAKE 1 THICK PIECE OF METAL!!! I have been screaming at the middle-aged, elderly or dead Japanese engineers who designed the 70 series way back when.

So said cheese curd. Curious. You left us hanging, @Broski, the undeclared Mud safety Popo would like to know as well. Great work!

HA! My buddy was throwing some cheese curds around and toss one at his POS beater truck, ricocheted off of the truck and right into my wide open eye, cutting my cornea. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, because it is. Cheese curd induced ER visit.

Completely understand you.
I had to remove the undercoat (like bedliner oem) to fix the rust. It been the worst job ever. Used a needle gun...

Didnt even think of using a needle gun, I'll give that a try maybe it'll work better!