Two 62s Become One - Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[diesellibrarian]

I then turned my attention to the inner rocker, which was pretty rotten. Here I'm marking the sections that I'm planning to cut/replace:

With the rusty section in hand, I moved over to the bench and crudely hammer-formed a patch, using the rusty piece as a guide.

From there it's just a matter of fine-tuning the patch until the fit-up is close enough to weld. Adding the indents to the panel causes the metal to stretch quite a bit, leading to some distortion of the patch. I tried to counter it by hammer-stretching the opposite side of the panel as well, but really you'd want a proper metal stretcher for that job - something I don't have. Anyway, l made it work. Here's an early test-fit of the patch:

Once all rust was cut out and new metal welded in, I hit it all with some self-etching primer and then glopped a bunch of seam sealer anywhere that water might possibly enter. After a couple of coats of rubberized undercoat. the inner rocker is once again solid and hopefully good for another 35 years? Ok I'd be happy with 20.

My next step is to do this all over again on the driver's side, though the rust is much worse over there.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Here's a little update from the last few days. Have pretty much wrapped up the work on the passenger side of the truck, which feels like a small victory. I welded in the rear mudflap hanger, sealed the seams, and then coated the wheel well with rubberized undercoat:

Before putting the wheel back on, I replaced the rear shoes and wheel cylinder. The old ones still had some wear left, but I had the new parts on hand so I figured I might as well go ahead and put them in.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Then I started work on the driver's side, which quickly devolved in to a rusty, dusty disaster. I started by stripping the paint and factory undercoating from the areas where I'll be working. It didn't take long to see that the rear seat support plate in the driver's side wheel well was 90% rust: the wire wheel was knocking big chunks of it to the floor.

This is a pretty weirdly-shaped piece, and I was at a bit of a loss as to how to go about fixing it. In the end I cut it back to where the (relatively) solid metal started and worked from there. I also had to replace a chunk of wheel well that hides behind it. So yeah, this is what I was left with:

I grabbed a piece of 18ga, cut it roughly to size, and started working it to match the size and shape of the existing piece. I wasn't able to reproduce the bends and curves of the factory stamping, but I think it will do the trick:

Here's the patch welded in place. It's plug and butt welded in place and should be plenty strong.

Glopped seam sealer around the whole plate and across the weld joints to cover any pinholes and keep water out. I really question this design. It's a perfect rust trap, since mud and water spray up from the tire and get packed into the little raised channels (all of mine were packed with dirt and sand), trapping moisture and causing them to rust from the inside out. Anyway, here's the final product:

 

[diesellibrarian]

I then moved on to cleaning up the rocker. The outer rocker was in very poor shape, so I had cut it out months ago. There were still some chunks of it hanging on, though, so I spent some time cutting out the spot welds so that I could better assess the condition of the inner rocker (spoiler: it's bad).

In the process, I discovered that the very front end of the rocker was also very rusty, so I ended up having to pull the fender to get a better look.

And yeah, there were some big holes and areas where the metal was paper-thin.

There are a lot of compound curves in this area, and it was a bit of a struggle to get patches made. In the end, I managed to get them burned in, but it isn't pretty. But it is once again strong and watertight.

The next step will be to get the inner rocker sorted so that I have something to attach the outer rocker to! Then I'll finish up the rear wheel well and wheel arch, and that should be the end of the rust repair on this truck. I hope.

 

[georgebj60]

Great work here. And really good documentation. Coming from someone that has zero body work experience, it gives a good bit of insight into the work required to deal with rust.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Great work here. And really good documentation. Coming from someone that has zero body work experience, it gives a good bit of insight into the work required to deal with rust.

Thanks for that! Before I started this project, I too had zero body work/welding experience (and it shows!). Thank goodness for all of the great how-to content that's out there on YouTube.

 

[diesellibrarian]

A little update from earlier this week. In tidying up the driver's side rockers, I found a previous repair under a heavy layer of filler:

With the outer rocker cut away, this is the perfect time to go back in there and fix it (more) properly. My first step was to shape a patch to match the profile of the existing metal. It's too long on the top and bottom, but sometimes it's easier to shape it when there's extra metal to work with. It can always be cut down to size later.

After cutting the patch to size and welding it in, this is what I'm left with. The gap at the bottom left of the patch will be filled when I weld the new outer rocker in place.

Here's the back side of the piece I cut out. It's the ol' "Fill a Hole with Weld" school of rust repair. I'm guessing what happened is they welded in a patch, and then just kept burning and filling the thin, corroded metal around the patch. And then, of course, they covered the whole thing with filler.

I have a replacement panel for the outer rocker that I will hopefully get welded in tonight or tomorrow, so more updates soon!

 

[diesellibrarian]

Got a fair bit of work done over the weekend. Being kind of sick of rust and dust, I decided to shift gears and install the access panel for the fuel pump/sender. I had cut this section away after the previous owner used a cold chisel or something to get at the fuel pump:

Luckily I had access to a clean panel from my parts rig that I was able to use to for a stock-looking access hatch. To seal the hatch, I lined the opening with adhesive-backed rubber weatherstripping, and then popped in a few M6 rivnuts to secure the cover panel in place.

With the access hatch bolted in place, it's hardly noticeable! Definitely recommend this as a solution for Toyota's laziness in moving the fuel pump to the tank on the 62 without adding a provision for access without dropping the tank:

Ok, back to the rust repair...

 

[diesellibrarian]

Was finally able to get the outer rocker panel welded in place. Again I was fortunate to have access to replacement panels that a PO had fabbed up for my last 62 that I cut up and parted out. He had simply tacked these on over his rusty rockers, so I was able to cut them off and salvage them for use on this rig. They still required quite a bit of modification, but the basic shape was there.

The first step in installing these was to add in a provision for the spot at the front of the rocker where it curves in a bit. That was simply a matter of cutting the flange and bending it to match the curve of the rocker, and then welding in a piece of metal to fill the void:

With the piece welded in, the rocker panel is ready to install:

Clamped in place (note that the inner rocker is still rusty and jagged. I am fixing the outer rocker first so that there's a baseline to work from when repairing the inner rocker):

And here is the outer rocker partially welded in. I'm using the "cut and butt" method I learned from Fitzee's Fabrications channel, where you tack the new panel on top of the existing panel, and then use a thin cut-off wheel to cut along the joint, allowing the panels to sit flush for final welding. I've also started using a new MIG welding technique I learned from Carter Auto Restyling where you stack tack welds for about half an inch and then immediately grind them flush. I find that it yields much more consistent results compared to the standard approach of tacking every inch, allowing to cool, tacking, cooling, tacking, cooling, etc.

 

[diesellibrarian]

It's always nice to end a project with a before/after.

Before:

After:

Next step is to repair the nasty inner rockers on the driver's side.

 

[diesellibrarian]

With the end in sight for the metalwork on this rig, my mind has been turning toward the mechanical end of things. I've never seen this engine run. I have no idea if it will run. I think it should: it turns over freely, and a cold test shows compression in all cylinders. The previous owner said that it had been running, but he thought something was wrong with the ECU. I now know that the fuel line was rusted through in several spots, so to my mind that is a more reasonable explanation lol.

Anyway, in order to get this thing back on the road, I needed to get a fuel tank into it. I had two tanks at my disposal, so I chose what seemed to be the best of the two and dropped it off at my favourite rad shop to spend the weekend boiling away in the hot tank. It came back pretty clean:

I have all new parts for the fuel delivery system, including a new pump from City Racer, and a new OE sending unit. Here's the pump assembly ready to install in the tank:

Tank will be painted with etching primer, and then my favourite spray bomb undercoating from Duplicolor.

 

[diesellibrarian]

In thinking about the tank install, I figured I'd better deal with the surface rust that plagues some of the underside of the body. So I spent a whole day wire wheeling and scaling the sheet metal and cross members of all visible rust. I then treated the bare metal with a rust converter product, followed by some POR-15. It's now at the point were I can re-spray with undercoating the areas that will be inaccessible once the tank is in. That's really my last hurdle before zipping the tank back into place.

Sharp eyes might notice that I've deleted my LSPV. It will be replaced with a manual proportioning valve that I'll install once I start running brake lines.

So after all that, the only remaining rust repair is on the driver's side inner rocker and wheel well. I'll get the rocker done first and then dig into the inner fender. Here are the rusty sections marked for excision:

Hard to believe that the end of the rust repair is in sight! Not that I'm particularly looking forward to doing the bodywork (there's a lot of it) but I've definitely had my fill of rusty, jagged metal.

 

[open country]

Awesome work, my friend. Admire the dedication!

 

[BittersweetInfamy]

Just finished reading the thread! great build!
My cruiser was almost identical workwise as yours down to the hatch being cut out for the fuel pump/ lines.
Where in Alberta are you based??

 

[diesellibrarian]

Just finished reading the thread! great build!
My cruiser was almost identical workwise as yours down to the hatch being cut out for the fuel pump/ lines.
Where in Alberta are you based??

Thanks for following along! I'm in Lethbridge. As far as I know I'm the only Cruiserhead within a 200km radius. Would love to meet up with some of you Calgary guys at some point.

 

[Michael Hanson]

Hi, Lot of good work here.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Pleased to announce that I've finally completed the driver's side inner rocker. I think I burned in about 5 patches total. Still working on rebuilding the rearmost cross member, but rocker needs to be complete and solid first.

For this panel I decided to try using the bead roller to introduce some shape into the panel...it kind of worked??

Another shot of the inner rocker. The center section of the cross member had rusted away, so had to weld in a new piece there as well. These cross members act as drains for the rocker panel, but every one I've seen so far is clogged with mud and rusted to crap. I didn't recreate the drain. I think I might drill some other holes in the inner rocker to serve as drains, and plug them with a rubber plug.

Speaking of cross members, I had to cut off the bottom section of the one that comes down just in front of the rear wheel, as the whole bottom half was rotted away. Once out of the car, I used whatever was left to make a tape template for rebuilding the new one:

And here are the new front and rear sections of the cross member (below), along with the pieces I cut out. The replacements are made with 16ga, so nice and sturdy.

I'll weld these pieces in place, and then fill in the center section with another piece of 16ga. Here's the front section welded in:

So yeah, all of the sheet metal repair to the inner rocker is done (still needs a little more grinding). The last piece of rust repair is the front of the inner fender on the driver's side! Pretty exciting to be this close to completing the rust repair. Next step is bodywork, which will be another whole learning curve.

 

[kirvesmies]

@diesellibrarian , the bead roller worked quite serviceably by what i can discern in the picture. details like that i use LVL remnants to make a rudimentary die. i'll router the pattern into the LVL, clamp my sheet metal to it , then get after it with a piece of hardwood dowel n 32oz hammer. the dowel i radius the end with a 1/2'' radius router bit. LVL by the way is laminated veneer lumber. engineered structural material n hard enough to use for a number of pieces
oh, by the way, your handiwork is nothing to be ashamed of. keep after it mister

 

[kirvesmies]

oh yeah, dowel diameter 11/4"-11/2" works for me. for narrower rib type stuff i'll use appropriate diameter bolts with heads cut off or steel rod about 3" long with a handle welded on

 

[diesellibrarian]

Was a busy weekend full of Christmas parties, but despite all the bourbon and eggnog, still managed to make a little progress on the 62.

The first task was to repair the rusty lower lip of the inner fender (driver's side rear). There are two layers of steel here, and the top layer was pretty ragged, and there was oxidized metal building up between the two layers, so I drilled out the spot welds and cut the top layer back to where I figured I'd find solid steel:

After cutting and wire wheeling:

This obviously makes for a weird-shaped patch, so I used the ol' masking tape template trick to cut out the patch panel:

You can find the edges of the patch and rub them with a dirty finger or glove to transfer the shape to the tape. That makes a really accurate line to follow when cutting the template. Then you just stick the tape to a piece of sheet metal, mark and cut. Here's the first test fit (below). I used vice grips to force the patch into following the curve of the fender:

This makes for an interesting-shaped patch:

And here's the piece clamped in place and ready for welding. I make sure to prime the back side of all my patch panels, along with any other bare metal that will be inaccessible once the patch is welded in. That will hopefully delay the reappearance of rust.