Tornado takes the top off 1964 SWB FJ-45 (2 Viewers)

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Did some new year garage cleaning, tore down the Previous garage owners Peg Board, cleaned the concrete, painted with drylock, dug out some old kitchen wall cabinets to replace the pegboard. In the process of painting the cabinets prior to hanging hopefully finished this weekend. Ordered a set of QuickJacks for daily driver maint (delivery tues). Have some maint. to do on the Prius and Lexus Rx400h, Funny how my floor jacks are not a safe way to lift a Prius. I got frustrated trying to change the WS (World standard) CVS trans fluid in the prius thus the QuickJack order. QuickJacks should store under the cabinets as well.
Upgraded garage lighting, changed from quantity 24 8' t12 bulbs (which were dying) to quantity 48 4' ballast bypass LED bulbs. Changed tombstones and rewired each fixture. And chopped up my old fenders for wall art. Basic garage organization and cleanup before the final stretch. My walking foot sewing machine should be coming home shortly to sew up some seat covers.
NOt all FJ45 related but preparing for the next steps..
Happy new year to you..

 

[65swb45]

Close enough for an ETA?

Probably not soon enough for the Roundup. But maybe Black Hills Cruiser Classic? I may finally make it up there this year.

 

[Bear]

middlecalf,

I don't play with this very often, but off the top believe the thread pitch differences were only for the very small screws--M3, M4, M5-- heater intake vent, some mirrors, taillamps, on various wiper motors, and the like. It can be hard to know when you're removing rusted/corroded fasteners. Having an early parts manual comes in handy, as they did list the screw sizes and pitches back in the early days. Some folks just retap/rethread for modern fasteners, but that seems sloppy to me. For original replacements, once in a while some Japanese sites will list for sale NOS fasteners used on early Japanese motorcycles. Many of the bolt lists out there don't reference dates or pitch, assuming standard modern ISO fasteners to be universal throughout production years. A careful restorer knows the difference.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Hoping for May..

 

[middlecalf]

Uh oh, now you've set the bar. Good luck!

Having an early parts manual comes in handy...

Saw one a while back on the auction site for my vintage rig - something like $800. Not going to happen.

A careful restorer knows the difference.

Rules me out.

 

[65swb45]

Of course in a very Mud roundabout way I ended back here, not seeking anything in particular - just checking status. And making sure you aren’t selling anything I might need for my ‘63 SWB. You’ll let me know before you get rid of those rear cab windows, right?

Actually, this intrigues me ... from @Bear ...


I wonder if this is why I’m seeing some issues with new bolt replacement (originals missing) on my rig, including the motor which is ‘64 vintage. And is this (JIS vs. ISO spec) reflected in the bolt lists in other threads?

BTW, Happy New Year.

The biggest problem I ran into with my 64 was the 5mm, which were/are .9mm thread instead of the .8mm which is standard today.

Heater blower grill, windshield cab hooks, SD40 bowl screws to name a few.

Some I re-tapped. Some I re-plated old hardware. Now I finally have enough stock to take care of in-house projects. Nothing to offer for sale.

I have seen an occasional thread as mentioned elsewhere about old European motorcycle hardware. Someone even mentioned the 5mmx.9 was a “French” metric.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Shelter in place Covid-19 update.. Well, my good friend Kelly aka @2fpower said he needed a fix to assist with motivation during these trying times.. So.. Here goes..
While i do work in healthcare I do NOT deal directly with patients, I babysit lawsuits and Work Comp claims.. So i'm mostly stuck at home with the one to two day a week trip to the office. BUT.. Kelly and i have a little side bet to get each of us moving.. Alas..
Lets start with the beginning of the Quarantine.. I had a LOT of trouble getting started.. I was watching way too much news.. Messed with my head.. so head downstairs and begin the lets clean out the bed and get this ball rolling.. Not to mention lets start the fast and furious marathon at the same time..

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Next is to prep for cage tie in's underneath the cab.. Need to finish this before i yank the cab off and pull the exhaust.. THis was blessed by the "dude" giving his approval to a shelter in place one person pulling the cab by myself and not killing anyone! I think a combo of the "force" and beer was utilized.. The Star Wars marathon was actually on during part of this process!

 

[cult45]

The Dude abides, man! And approves!

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Next logical thing was to prep the bed.. this involved a LOT of scuffing, sanding, cleaning.. Moving the bed and frame into the paint booth on the other side of the garage. I did manage to sand off my fingerprints, My phone would not recognize my fingerprint for a week!.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Taped her off, shot a coat of epoxy on it, let it sit overnight before color..

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

While the paint was drying, I received a note from a local 45 owner.. My first outing during the pandemic.. It was for a good cause.. This landed in the back of the parts hauler. Took my trusty protector of the back seat with me but came home with the prize!

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

There are a few steps that i failed to document but lots of earplugs donated their life for this project.. Can we have a moment of silence..
Done, in Al's liner tint matched. lots of cure time because this stuff STINKS.. Off gasses bad so left it in the booth and put the fan on a timer after a day or so.. Once it was not off gassing then spun the truck around and stashed it back on the other side of the garage to think about what it did for a while as it patiently waits for friends to get their turn.

 

[2fpower]

You are making some awesome progress.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

So with limited space I am just breaking this down into manageable pieces and clearing up shop space as i go.. Next order of business is the fenders and headache rack.. These are new fenders from Germany, modified slightly to fit Ford shock towers and an FJ60 steering box. Scuffed, Primed, bedliner underneath and inside the engine bay, color and clear on the top.. LOTS of steps to get there, Before color came some high fill primer and sanding, then seal with another layer of epoxy. All told i think a week went into the fenders and Headache rack. Headache rack just had, clean, scuff, prime, seam seal, Seal with epoxy, color, clear.. My headache rack I did modify slightly to add 2 NMO mount locations for Ham radio antenna and a third brake light goes in the back of the headache rack.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

The sad moment when you realize that your proper painting footwear is ruined because bedliner is now stuck to the bottom..
Lots of little seams to seal on the headache rack..

 

[2fpower]

not ruined..... My Croc's (PPE when painting) look about the same; however, I found that if I walk on my driveway -- that has broom finish -- and twist a little bit with each step, it starts to get through it. (Although it looks totally inappropriate for a 50 YE dude) After a few weeks of this, I am finally getting through it. Amazing how tough liner is. I can't believe it sticks to croks anyway.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

With the fenders, rear bed and headache rack out of the way, the next large piece is the cab. So flip it on it's back and clean up some firewall graft welds that needed some sanding, then out to the driveway for a little sandblasting to clean up the firewall..

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Then back in the garage for a LOT of elbow grease, I decided to start with the outside of the tub, scuff, clean, then into epoxy before a skim coat of filler. Little filler, sand 90% or more of it off, not looking to bad.. For those watching from the sidelines, there is a WHOLE lot of prep and not a lot of paint time.. 12+ hours between SPI epoxy and filler. Afterwards will be high build to fill in a few scratches. I am not going for perfect, just decent..

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Next somewhat logical step is to move to the inside of the cab, i forgot i had not tack welded in the new corner covers. So to do that i needed to clean the metal and put some protection on the metal that was under the boxed in section behind and below the rear wall of the 45.. For those 45 owners that is where the 10, 12 and 14mm sockets go to hide.. Clean, clean, clean, scuff, scuff, scuff, little POR 15 in that area and inside every boxed in cavity on the truck.. tack weld the new hand made covers in place..