a welder, grinder, and bondo
anything is possible!
anything is possible!
Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (21 Viewers)
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The foldable windshield frame is also less high than the permanent ones.
So you would also need to either stretch the frame sides (A-pillar), or put a layer on the firewall to make the frame go up. This will anyways interfere with the doors.
To fab that, you might end up needing both: foldable frame + custom A-pillars (AUS).
I'd rather go with a correct size permanent one.
Good Luck Ralf
So you would also need to either stretch the frame sides (A-pillar), or put a layer on the firewall to make the frame go up. This will anyways interfere with the doors.
To fab that, you might end up needing both: foldable frame + custom A-pillars (AUS).
I'd rather go with a correct size permanent one.
Good Luck Ralf
No, it's not, because exactly that hight difference. I stumbled on this when I had my glass replaced.
gilmorneau
SILVER Star
^^This is the source of the problem. It's what the Frenchman who previously owned the Red Rocket did. Now the metal is rotted. You don't want to repeat that mistake.
The best solution is new metal. If you love the car, and you're going to keep it, the "best" solution probably looks something like this:
Step one: Remove the dashboard, windshield, hood, fenders, inner guards, and whatever, until you have clear access to the inside/outside of the firewall/windshield frame.
Step two: Weld up a jig to hold the body securely in place when you start removing rotted metal. This can't be some rigged-up half-assery, it needs to be legit. The body can't move at all when you've removed the rotted bits.
Step three: Systematically remove the rotted parts, noting where and how it's all factory spot-welded together. Lots of photos. Copious notes. Precise measurements. There'll be layers of metal. Try to remove them one at a time via drilling out the factory welds.
Step four: Weld in new panels.
Step five: Paint and reassemble.
New panels should still be available from the Toyota vendor of your choice. Big project, I know, but you've got $4k in Dolphin money and all summer coming up.
Something tells me you never did any rust repair yourself on an old cruiser that had crappy repairs before . Most of the original spotwelds will be no longer visible , the panels needed for this kind of repair are super expensive and hard to come by . It might be cheaper anc better trying trough get a bodyshell in the Middle east trough Nolan and Meshal . If the po screwed it mostly up with bodged repairs you might want to do the math of parting it out and getting another one with a decent body to start from .
Me? I'm sanding it, welding what is salvageable with scrap pieces, and reshaping with bondo and plastic metal. Quite a few writeups on the 60 series forum doing just that. Tedious and painful, but cheap.
Sand smooth then paint
Sand smooth then paint
gilmorneau
SILVER Star
Never like this one, no, but I've done a number of rust repairs over the years. I've learned that I don't much like that kind of work, and I won't do it again. But @theglobb has already demonstrated willingness and ability to tackle the problem. Good on him, I say.
A viable option. The maligned French repair has lasted for at least 8 years that I know of, and that's all that seems to have been done.
Re: buying new panels, contact Onur or Dave and see what can be done. The pillars come as an assembly. You can replace the whole thing, or cut it to suit:
And, yes, I can see that the ones I found in my "quickest of the quick" search aren't available at Partsouq, but if you look for the same parts for a newer Troopy they should fit and be available somewhere. They're still making the cars.
I've mentioned it before somewhere, but the old thread below is a gold mine of information about rust repair on Troopies:
Builds - The '93 Troopy Hodgepodge
This is going to be a slow build for the next few months. But I figured I needed a place to post my progress of the clusterfuck of parts and vehicles that'll come together to make this... thing. After owning a built-ish 200 series for a year and a half, I realized they aren't my thing. They're...
forum.ih8mud.com
There's a lot of chat, but around page 28 they start to get into the body, and it's a rusty sh*tshow. It should be mandatory reading for anyone trying to fix the rust on their Troopy. They work on the body until about page 60 or so, over the span of some 3 years. Ian fixes it all. Besides being a master class in rust remediation on a Troopy, it's also a bit of a cautionary tale. At any normal hourly shop rate, the OP of that thread would have been money ahead to just walk away from that body and find a drier one to build. But that's only because he was paying a very detail oriented professional to be thorough. They don't mention it in the thread, but it had to have been hundreds of shop hours. If a guy like @theglobb wants to tackle the job himself, he may have a lot of time into it, but the parts aren't that much money, really, and there's no need to be as OCD as Ian was on the "Hodgepodge" when you're working on the "Red Rocket". It's not a showpiece, it's a driver/beater.
There's good, and there's good enough.
prwillard2
SILVER Star
Curious what this would actually run. But a lot of bodies in the middle east fir the narrow nose trucks are beat to s***!
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Sorry for the late response on my end, I drove a couple of hours away this weekend to weld a bunch of stuff together for my buddy's solid axle swap on his 1JZ 4runner. Came out well, and ABSURDLY flexible. I guess we got the shackle angle and suspension geometry somewhat right 
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I hope to never do much rust repair to vehicles after this project is eventually done, I'd much rather have a absolutely beat to sh!t car from the middle east, than a rusty one with straight body lines.
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A mixture of both, a tree crew had dropped a branch through the roof after Hurricane Helene. The owner was overseas and came back a week later to find it with a tarp over it and just was done with it, wanted it out of his way, and needed it gone ASAP apparently. Needed some electrical work along with mechanical, I limped it 3 hours home, fixed it up over 2 months, patched the hole in the roof, did a couple of fun trips with it, and then sold it.
Appreciate the heads-up! Like I said, glad someone more knowledgeable than me could chime in and tell me why it would be a potentially bad idea.
precisely... it is some terribly shoddy work, as seen in the pictures below. It seems as if there was no more good metal left to weld to so they just started brazing in brass instead, slapped it with a half inch thick of bondo, then painted it over and shipped it overseas to get it off their hands.
I've thought about this route plenty of times as well. Didn't really know where to start with that and the more I thought of it the more I realized I don't have the ability, space, lift, or proper equipment to bodyswap a car. As well as the price of shipping a whole troopy body over, along with the price of the troopy would pose issues to me. This may be a thing that happens 10-15 years down the line when I have the proper means and funds to do so. If I were to part out the troopy currently I don't think it'd be worth much at all lol. I am genuinely curious as to what someone would currently pay for this absolutely molested pile of sheet metal and gears. Its such a POS but I love it nonetheless
I hope to never do much rust repair to vehicles after this project is eventually done, I'd much rather have a absolutely beat to sh!t car from the middle east, than a rusty one with straight body lines.
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Also sorry to taint this thread with something other than Landcruiser content but as this is also somewhat just a thread of my life told through my automotive adventures (the most important being the Red Rocket) I figured I would clue y'all in on yet another project that just fell into my lap by chance.
My boss was nice enough to give us 2 weeks off for Christmas break, had fun with my friends back at home as usual and then one morning I got a message from one of my great friends about a free 1952 Willys M38A1... I would never buy a jeep but when it's 70 years old, technically a Willys, and FREE how could I say no??? An older lady in his neighborhood had her husband pass away recently and just wanted it out of her way, I was busy so my buddy ran over and picked it up for me. it had been sitting for a couple years, we tinkered with it for the next couple of hours and finally got it running! the next day we got it fine-tuned and took it out on the 4WD beach access right before we left town as the ultimate revive and drive.
Towed it 6 hours back to Boone on backroads with my $400 little Toyota Pickup, that was interesting to say the least...
Got some new (used) 32x10r15 UTV tires and some old ford rims for it, looks much better now
Don't worry! I only have roughly $500 into it as of right now and its going to stay around that unless anything else breaks. It won't be sucking any funds or attention from the troopy. I replaced everything to do with the braking system as it was terribly neglected and did some minor engine tune-ups here and there. The price of parts for these old American cars is spoiling me! I'm used to the expensive (for a reason) Japanese parts. Anyways, that's all I'll post on the Willys, just figured some on here would appreciate.
My boss was nice enough to give us 2 weeks off for Christmas break, had fun with my friends back at home as usual and then one morning I got a message from one of my great friends about a free 1952 Willys M38A1... I would never buy a jeep but when it's 70 years old, technically a Willys, and FREE how could I say no??? An older lady in his neighborhood had her husband pass away recently and just wanted it out of her way, I was busy so my buddy ran over and picked it up for me. it had been sitting for a couple years, we tinkered with it for the next couple of hours and finally got it running! the next day we got it fine-tuned and took it out on the 4WD beach access right before we left town as the ultimate revive and drive.
Towed it 6 hours back to Boone on backroads with my $400 little Toyota Pickup, that was interesting to say the least...
Got some new (used) 32x10r15 UTV tires and some old ford rims for it, looks much better now
Don't worry! I only have roughly $500 into it as of right now and its going to stay around that unless anything else breaks. It won't be sucking any funds or attention from the troopy. I replaced everything to do with the braking system as it was terribly neglected and did some minor engine tune-ups here and there. The price of parts for these old American cars is spoiling me! I'm used to the expensive (for a reason) Japanese parts. Anyways, that's all I'll post on the Willys, just figured some on here would appreciate.
Awww man. Another hot college chick mobile. Lucky man!! 
The old Willy’s are just plan cool !! Nice score
My first 4x4 was 58 Willy’s wagon
It’s your thread and it’s just plain interesting to follow your adventures!
My first 4x4 was 58 Willy’s wagon
It’s your thread and it’s just plain interesting to follow your adventures!
Lol, I would have grabbed that thing too for free. I am amazed you got it home with that tow bar mounted to the sketchy wooden bumper! Good on you, and it looks like it was the highlight of your time off back at home! Don't worry about these little sidelines in your thread. It's your thread after all. Fun to see all the crazy things you get yourself into. Just please don't blow yourself up again. 
Were you looking for just an empty body shell or a complete body with interior (excluding the frame and drivetrain)?
I’m still a decade+ away from Troopy ownership but after reading through this plus a few other threads, straight up buying a brand new or lightly used GCC 78 and shipping it back in a container without the frame and drivetrain somehow doesn’t seem that crazy relative to what some people spend fixing rust, paint, etc…
Lots of people like old jeeps you might find a bodyman willing to rebuild your windshield frame in trade for that jeep.
If you get interested in old jeeps you might check this out.https://mdjuan.com.ph/
A large number of people in the PI speak English. They might even have a source for a windshield frame. That would be an epic summer trip to go look for parts. Just stay away from Mindanao, Jolo, Basilan.
Depends. I found some with body and interior but I was open to whatever. It never came to fruition as my troopy wasn’t a priority for me as I have an hj61 that needed a rebuild. I only inched down the rabbit hole. The Ute idea came because the ones I did find included everything and shipped pretty simple.
