Builds Work In Progress aka: Badass (16 Viewers)

[NeverGiveUpYota]

So I have to correct myself because I found while texting today that I did not remove two fuel lines and two brake lines... I removed two fuel, one brake and one fuel vent line. Whoops. Excuse my mistake.
I pulled the brackets off almost all except the end of them so I’d know how and which way the new ones will be situated and where bends will be needed. Interesting that the brackets are shaped different from the brake to the vent line. And still so shiny under the rubber dip (I’m assuming).
The fuel vent line, I’m curious that could simply be hose correct?

 

[tmxmotorsports]

I would think the vent could be switched out to hose

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Haha, I even mixed my hand written notes up. God, what a ditz, it’s amazing I get anything accomplished correctly.

 

[FJACS]

Considering those brake lines are 30+ years old, I’d say they weren’t in bad shape.

If you’ve desmogged, you could vent the tank at the rear of the truck and omit the charcoal canister and evaporative system altogether.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I would keep the evap system. It's good for all of us. And I'll say your vent tube lasted 30+ years and for sure a rubber hose work around will not. Remind me why you removed all of this? Is it to work on the rusty frame? That makes sense to me. Thank goodness, we don't ever deal with that level of rust.

I'm kind of impressed that you went all in on the motor rebuild. Looking forward to updates.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Last few days I’ve been tackling the rust on the inner rear passenger frame rail. It’s pretty ugly.
I’ve learned a few things w/ my angle grinder... as a thin sorta short female I need to lower my stance and spread my feet so I have a solid base. Friday night I started cutting some of the metal I had kicking around for this exact project. I broke three thin cutting wheels. First one caught my wooden work bench that was the first lesson. Don’t work on a wooden work bench w/ an angle grinder. It grabbed the wood and spun out of my hand. Luckily I’m fast and knew to step away. It hit the ground and kept running. I stood looking at it chuckling after the initial squeal of surprose. Wheel busted off in a bunch of pieces. And yes, I wear gloves and a face shield. The second two were just dumb after the first.

Today I finally moved everything (including the cylinder head which is surprisingly much lighter compared to everything I’ve done thus far) off my welding table and did most of my cutting thereafter.
I’ve really taken to the use of cracker boxes for making patterns (others use beer boxes but I’m not a big drinker).
I made a pattern and set to it. Unfortunately that rule of measure twice, cut once... I failed. But next time hopefully I’ll remember. Regardless I’ve got three perfect fitting sections that I’ll begin tacking together tomorrow. I did a quick tack of the curved section but only because I had to overlap it.

Also another tip I realized... when needing to bend metal and have no metal break... score on the inside then add it in a vice and go slow and work your way across. For a deeper bend I put it in the vice and took a 5’ length of 2x4 and used my weight to tweak it down further.
What I accomplished, I’m very pleased with.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Thanks to some welding text guidance I’ve got the inner side mostly burned in. Not too shabby! And yes, that is some fugly ass rot. Well aware, no need to rub it in.
I took the advice of someone on mud and wet a towel to toss over my legs while on my back. And to combat the 90 degree temps here today in CT I wet my shirt as well. Talk about refreshing!

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I was actually pretty extra wise and drilled a drain hole in each lower horizontal section. As well as I chased the threads of the bolt holes for the fuel and brake lines. One has a sheared bolt shaft in it, I tried to extract it but decided to let it go as it was simply pissing me off. Too hot to be worrying about one hole.

I NEEDED to bring one of the patches up tighter to the bottom horizontal so took a ride to a tractor supply and most likely spent far more on the name than the tool.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

From this to this...
Another thing I’ve gotten very skilled at, flushing crap out of my eyes. Rule one, if you feel something go in, don’t rub, flush immediately.
I added a layer of black brush on rustoleum. Next up is the outer side. I done for now. Couch is my friend for a bit then work at 3.

 

[Seth_O]

Every time you post a pic of your frame I am glad I live in Kalifornia.

And try one of these: These Cooling Towels Are Absolute Necessities for Anyone Who Exercises Outside in the Summer

I have one that is shaped like a bandana. I get it wet and tie it on my (bald) head. It DRASTICALLY improves my ability to shed heat. I think I got it at Sam's for like $8. Your hair is short enough it would probably work for you too.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Every time you post a pic of your frame I am glad I live in Kalifornia.

And try one of these: These Cooling Towels Are Absolute Necessities for Anyone Who Exercises Outside in the Summer

I have one that is shaped like a bandana. I get it wet and tie it on my (bald) head. It DRASTICALLY improves my ability to shed heat. I think I got it at Sam's for like $8. Your hair is short enough it would probably work for you too.

I discovered soaking my shirt in cool water, squeezing the excess off and wearing it like that is AMAZING. And I do have one of those but hadn’t thought of it. I typically wear a baseball cap backward so the welding helmet or the face shield grip on my head more snug.

 

[FJACS]

View attachment 2030396

Bit by bit. Nice work. Once you paint it, only you will know how bad it was.

As for the comment about California... 6 of 1, half dozen of the other. To me, frame rust is easy to fix, and easy to envision fixing. I’d take a truck with a rough frame over having to pass CA emissions any day. Reading that poor guys thread who bought the desmogged truck and needs to re-smog it for CA. Forget it.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Frame rot is a bugger. Good work here.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Bit by bit. Nice work. Once you paint it, only you will know how bad it was.

As for the comment about California... 6 of 1, half dozen of the other. To me, frame rust is easy to fix, and easy to envision fixing. I’d take a truck with a rough frame over having to pass CA emissions any day. Reading that poor guys thread who bought the desmogged truck and needs to re-smog it for CA. Forget it.

Thanks! Amazing how nice even one coat of paint looks on it!

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Bit by bit. Nice work. Once you paint it, only you will know how bad it was.

As for the comment about California... 6 of 1, half dozen of the other. To me, frame rust is easy to fix, and easy to envision fixing. I’d take a truck with a rough frame over having to pass CA emissions any day. Reading that poor guys thread who bought the desmogged truck and needs to re-smog it for CA. Forget it.

Not sure I agree. Smog is an evil, but it won't cause your truck to go to the junk yard. Rust is the bugaboo that haunts all Land Cruisers from the start. Rust is death. Entropy. It always wins.

I feel fortunate that my old ones (actually they are all old!) are rust free, but I do realize it can be different. So far at least, smog has been a surmountable obstacle. Though one time my FJ60 required a new cat, carb rebuild and air pump. So smog sucks, but rust is an end game. Good to see @NeverGiveUpYota not giving up, because I would have, and been looking for a new frame!

 

[umpqua]

Love your determination. Wow.

 

[Gretsch]

Love your determination. Wow.

No one on here has more. Great job here Felicity.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Love your determination. Wow.

It’s either I work w/ what I have or I throw it all away. What makes more sense?

 

[Willard]

Frame is looking good.

I do not have a metal brake either, I use square tube or round tube depending on the bend and a a big hammer + a block of wood. Works just fine.

 

[roadstr6]

Fel, A couple of points to ponder:

Going forward, you might want to think about coating your patches front and back with weld-through primer prior to burning them in. Local auto body supply house will have it. The pic I posted is the copper based stuff. I actually like the zinc based stuff better. It welds better IMO. Having a layer of protection on the inside of the patch that you can't paint will help it to last longer and not rot from the inside out.

Also, Fluid Film. When your repairs are done, spray that sh@t everywhere. Try to get it into the inside of the frame through any holes that allow access. Fluid Film will keep the rust at bay. I get the aerosol cans at my local Lowes store. It can be found online as well. It's about $9 / can. Not cheap, but not terrible. Get lots of it and use it everywhere.

Another rust prevention product that I use is called Penetrol. It is meant to be an oil based paint leveler. Its intended application is to mix it into oil based paint and it level out the brush strokes. It also happens to be one of the best rustproofers on the planet. It is available at your local home center in the paint department. For rustproofing, just use it full strength, not mixed in paint. You can brush it on or pour it in a cheapo pump sprayer and spray it on. It is $8-$10 / can.

One last thing. You mentioned that you had broken a cutting disc. That is a very dangerous situation. I have recently begun using diamond carbide cutting discs for cutting metal with my angle grinder. The discs are more expensive than the fiber discs but they last forever, and being metal, there is less chance of them breaking and slinging pieces at you.