Build The Sheepdog this thing is hairy! july 1977 blue fj40

[secretsquirrel]

so update on the progress! getting right on with it. rear sil and both fender wells to floor pan. got a shipment in from 1979 FJ40ish the upper rear hinges in all their glory. soon to be reproduced and measurements posted in another tread. Now to finish welding the rear fender skins on along with just s little grinding on the high spots of the welds. This is a remake not a restoration. On to the front floors. Anybody know where a decent gas tank well can be had? By the time i grind back to good metal mine will pros be more then half gone.

 

[secretsquirrel]

plowing into the front floors. got the rear heater hoses out of the way and the heater box also. then the transmission hump came out! scraped the crap off the top of trans.

 

[secretsquirrel]

current state of affairs.. i don’t know why it’s underlining everything. i tried for 5 mins to get it to quit..... moving on! sprayed some sealer on the rear part of the tub to slow the surface rust. Now moving to the front drivers floor.....wtf now all of a sudden it quits underlining... hmmmm yeah ok. Got the old PO’s 3/16 sheet steel patch cut out. 3/16 must have been on sale cause that is what the back sil was crafted out of also. I can feel the the mpg s raising after losing 30 pounds of steel. So pressing on!

 

[secretsquirrel]

Floor brace needed to be remade mostly cause i wanted to. the old one did have a bit of rot on the one end. Made a few extras cause i bet the other side needs on too.looks like a match except for the bend radius. it’s a bit larger but i don’t have access to metric punches. Larger radius are stronger from what i understand.

 

[65swb45]

Impressive as always.

 

[secretsquirrel]

Impressive as always.

that means a lot coming from the likes of you man. hopefully i can get it back up and running before i need to send you the carb to have it rebuilt.

 

[05CTD]

I read alot on here and look at about all the threads dont post to much but I have to say your fabrication skills at top notch. I have been a millwright for 30+ years and know what it takes to fabricate like that from experience. Good luck on your beast and as you say keep plowing thru. I am positive the end result will be great...

 

[secretsquirrel]

Had an expert come over and take a look. Poodle says i’m screwed.

 

[secretsquirrel]

Some progress over the last week. Making the real steel center floor panel play nice with the ccot drivers side floor. The little panel clamps are nice to work with in this application.

 

[secretsquirrel]

A few more hours out in the garage netted some good results. Now i need to find gas tank panel or patch the mess of one i got. Feels good to get the panels in there. Got a side project done while waiting for things to cool off. I have to take my old seats apart to see if the foam is worth saving or not.

 

[secretsquirrel]

Cut out the lower part of the driver side firewall. It had some major rot around the support. I gonna save the support and re make the firewall section. I’ve located a die to put the rib section in. to just some measurements and a few hours i should be able to make one. I got some time to kill cause i’m waiting on a gas tank well floor panel to be made or grown however they do it. I guessing they grow them cause it been out of stock since february

 

[secretsquirrel]

Woot woot got my firewall patches done! Not a bad part to make once you get past forming the ribs in. Ready for a another saturday morning of homework! The rib is not perfect but it’s close and this is a rusteration!

 

[secretsquirrel]

Im glad i sandblasted bracket that holds the body mount. There was a hole hiding in there. a new part was made up and welded in. Now to get it ready to mate to the lower firewall panel. More to come

 

[middlecalf]

I’m not sure what impresses me the most with this build, there are so many things. Maybe the ability to find access to drill out all those spot welds, with the tub still on the frame! (How many spot weld drill bits have you gone through?). Or maybe it’s access for cutting panels. (What’s your choice of panel cutter?). Possibly the number of clamps. That’s my problem, I need more clamps. Or more skill, lol.

Amazing, Watching. Rustoration, love it. I’m going to merge that with another person’s “Revival” and call my build the Rustival.

 

[secretsquirrel]

I’m on my second spot weld cutter. This one has 3 in a pack. Panel cutting is done with a combination of a jig saw with milwaukee metal blades and the norton abrasive disc. Finding the spot welds..... some of my panels are so swollen that if you look at the joint you can trace where it is pushed up and where it is still tight to the opposite panel. But other times i take a 2” sander and go over the joint and it will usually show up as a divot where you sand the panel around it and there is a sunken paint dot left.

 

[secretsquirrel]

So a few things happened. I decided the stock seats are too far gone. So i picked up a set of pro car seats. Guess i’m going to part out the old seats. The foam was trashed as were the bottom covers. The firewall patch panel got welded in. It needs a bit of clean up sanding but i’m happy with the piece. Unless your experts like you guys on here no one will never notice. I guess i need to move to the edge of the transmission tunnel. Anyone have a paper template or something. I have nothing to go on from the floor or the cover. I would be doing more but my shield gas bottle is empty and i got a wedding i’m being forced to go to.

 

[secretsquirrel]

Did a bit of work didn’t have time to take any pics. Had to stop and listen to one of the greats in my personal opinion Marty Brennaman. If you live anywhere near the 700wlw listening area you know this guy. In our current times he is a pillar of barely filtered commentary which will likely not be repeated in the future. Been the radio broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds for 46 years. Longer then i’ve been alive. This was the soundtrack of my childhood as the radio was on in my grandparents kitchen 24/7. I think just so they didn’t miss a game. Along with that it was played in my uncles/step dad garages for years and still is along with mine. Although a lot of the time mine is usually covered up my the sound of tools. Sometimes it’s the times when it’s just the sounds of the radio with a few souls sitting around having a few oat sodas. Those are the best. This is just one more thing that linked my grandparents, father and me that is just like they are is a thing of the past. Plus i ran out of shield gas. Plenty of oat sodas tho!

 

[secretsquirrel]

Plowing thru some more work. Tried a little bending with a hammer on the flange for the floor trans edge. It turned out alright enough for this rusteration.

 

[secretsquirrel]

After months of waiting the gas tank well was available again! So i ordered one and some side steps from ccot. Both parts were nice but the steps were very nice indeed. So i got to work out with the old and in with the new..... well fitting up the new. I thing the support infront of the gas tank well is going to have to be replaced. As luck would have it i made extras when i did the other side! And i put some epoxy primer on the fenders

 

[secretsquirrel]

A bit more work on the gas tank well. Got the back section welded on fitting it all up on to the main beam and the area around the trans tunnel. Lost a week of my life to the kids obligatory trip to Disney world. It good to be back to the land of reality where the beer is less then 8 dollars and I can sleep in my own bed. Tomorrow tack up the edges of the well and then cut out the passenger rocker panel. Also found another jerry can at the dirt mall before i left for evil mouse land