Yet another BJ42 frame off-Dbradford04

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

The Crew!

Sean Kellett, Me, and Deo aka Mel.
the crew.webp
 
Total Murphy's Law

Too many frustrations to mention. Never was a name for a project more appropriate than Murphy's Law...here are some photos none the less.

We spent a stupid amount of time trying to get the PS idler to mount where the AC idler is supposed to go...just didn't pay enough attention, and seemed to be focused on the AC.

Rookie stuff.
IMG_0209.webp
IMG_0210.webp
IMG_0211.webp
 
motor mounts

The one thing that turned out golden, was the motor mounts! Motor stabbed in and dropped right on to them...They look good if I do say so myself..

Also got a look at the turbo sitting in place...This is when we discovered that I had gotten the wrong gasket set...arrrggg.
IMG_0213.webp
IMG_0214.webp
IMG_0215.webp
 
a couple more

A few more pictures.

PS mounted temporarily.

Starter mounted..I am concerned that it is awfully close to the frame, and pretty near where the steering box will mount..make take some modifications.
IMG_0216.webp
IMG_0217.webp
IMG_0219.webp
 
you'll be fine with the PS location since these trucks came with the 3B...
looking fine, real fine.
 
Which gasket are you missing? The one between the turbo and manifold? You should not need one if both surfaces are flat, I don't use one and neither does cruiser_guy I don't think.
In Corky Bells book maximum boost he says you don't really need one there as the flanges are about 1/2 inch thick.
I have had no issues without a gasket there for over a year.
The ebay ones are a good deal, the dealer ones are pricey!
 
back at it

Well while I wait for a few more engine parts to come and some bolts I need, I am focusing on getting the body aligned and in to place.

It's been well documented that the fit and finish of the glass tubs are nice but require some extra work to get everything lined up..not a big deal. Here is a picture of the cross brace that needed to be fabbed up. It's a bit taller than I would have liked, but my metal guy had this lying around and it didn't cost too much.

I need to square up the tub this weekend..do some measuring..drill some very small pilot holes and mark some lines...slow but important work if I want it to go down the road and at least "look" straight!

I'll have to fill in the space between the tub and brace before I bolt it all back together..I imagine this will be the very last thing I get powder coated.
IMAG0277.webp
IMAG0278.webp
 
8 months

So it's been 8 months since my last post. I'd love to say I've made tons of progress, and in some ways I have, in other ways not.

3 things have slowed me wayyyyyy down.

1. The garage I was using at my neighbors house became unavailable. I was forced to move the entire project to a storage unit 8 miles away, so no popping over at lunch time..no going over in the evenings really. Mostly, weekends when I had nothing else pressing to do.

2. This is my busiest travel season ever. Since I last posted, I've been to Las Vegas, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Maui, Portland. San Francisco, Atlantic City, Montreal, and I'm quite sure I've left out a couple. It's just the nature of my business.

3. Tub. If you go back in the thread, you'll see that I chose a Gozzard tub over an Aqualu. Given what I know now, and where I am, I would STILL choose the Gozzard tub for my purposes. Having said that, it is a MUCH SLOWER BUILD!!! I would recommend it for people with fabricating skills and tools, neither of which I have. I got totally bogged down in how to mount the fuel tank and associated parts and alignment of the tub. Taking it off and on and off and on and off and....you get the picture. It's even tougher in a 9X30 storage unit, and I have to have at least one other person to do it.

I'm not bitching..If you don't care about noise abatement, a quieter ride, and adding AC, or looks, go with the Aqualu. It would have been a weekend job, and ultimately more expensive, but it appears to me..much quicker and easier.

Just my 2 cents.

Dan
 
so far

So so far, since my last post in June, I have gotten the following done.

Had every body part powdercoated. This meant stripping down all the doors, removing glass, discovering bondo, ordering special powdercoating body filler...

Ditched the idea entirely of using the OEM fuel cell, (please do not tell Mike Gozzard) and ordered a Man-A-Fre fuel cell,

Gotten all my parts organized and in bins, (totally sick of ordering parts I didn't know I had or couldn't remember I had.

Ordered a ton of parts.

I am now at the point of fitting some firewall stuff, mounting seats, and sending the body parts over to the Line-x guys to have everything lined. This will be an A-Z lined body.

While researching and talking to the line-X guy in town, I discovered that I had LOT of word to do on my top to get it ready for line-X.
 
Last edited:
PO or PPO is making it tough.

So again while talking to the Line-X guy, I determined that I had a lot of work to do on my top.

I had to remove all traces of silicone from the channel or the line-x wouldn't stick. You have NO IDEA how time consuming it was and how hard it was on an old man like me to get it done, but DONE IT IS! I scraped every rivet by hand and scraped and scraped all the silicone, roofing tar??? and god knows what else from my channel. Sanded all the leftover roof liner material etc, and will prime all the exposed material this week weather permitting.

IMAG0154.webp


IMAG0155.webp


IMAG0156.webp
 
and more

All done with a tiny screwdriver on hands and knees one-rivet-at-a-time. Took almost 10 hours total, but it is silicone and rust free and ready to be primed.

IMAG0157.webp


IMAG0158.webp
 
pics to come

I will post some pictures of the body parts powdercoated, and the first holes cut in the firewall for steering wheel, brake booster, clutch etc.

The top and the bezel are on their way to the powdercoaters Wednesday for a WHITE Linex job.

Then I leave for the rest of the month of March. No work on the rig until April.

Oh! I did get the turbo drilled and the pyro sensor installed, and a bunch of the engine stuff mounted like PS, AC and alternator.

More pictures to come on that.
 
sorry to hear you ditched the original fuel cell.
at this point you are dealing with life, if you had the ability to work full time on the build then your joy would show.
the aqualu tub (full) is not much faster than installing the Gozzard but the 3/4 tub is a weekend job.
you still want me to come down when i get time?
 
Tub

Hey Wayne, I hope I didn't come across as Debbie downer. I'm enjoying the build immensely.

The ditching of the fuel cell was just an outcome of ease of installation. Nothing to be sorry about. I'm not doing a restoration..far from it, so not having fuel in an OEM location is no big deal for me, and it will speed up my install.

I'm traveling all month in March literally, so lets touch bases when I get back and. Pick a time if you are up for coming down, but yes. I'd love it, and could use a pro's eye.
 
understood
and yah, we can touch base when you are back to see where i am in my builds.
i want pics!!
 
Linex

So the top and the Bezel are at the Line-x place. Prepping the top was more work than you can imagine. Here are some before and after pictures. When I get back, I will post the pics of the work done.

The Bezel was taken down to metal and then powdercoated prior to going to the Line-x shop...no rust for me!

IMAG0156.webp


IMAG0159.webp


IMAG0160.webp
 
progress

So I am making some progress. To keep things flowing in order, Here are some pictures of the top back from the line-x guy. I will seal the gaps with something, but it turned out very nice IMO.

I'll have to chase the holes with a tap. The guy said I should have told him to put a plug in the holes??

Anyway, its hard to see how really nice it looks. I will try it like this without a headliner or any heat shield for awhile and then decide what to do. It looks nice enough to use as is.

P3090012.webp


P3090011.webp


P3090014.webp
 
bezel

Here is the bezel. Same thing..its hard to see the finish, but it turned out amazing.

P3090010.webp


P3090009.webp
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom