zornff
0
I'd cut the back half off and make an fj45 pu. Oh wait, thats just me 
. Keep up the good work, and get ALL the rust out.
. Keep up the good work, and get ALL the rust out.
FJ40 rear sill rust repair
- Thread starter Jacket
- Start date
slow progress...
It's not that a project like this takes weeks and weeks of effort, except when you only get a couple hours here and a few hours there to work on it. Plus I got derailed with a leaky brake master cylinder, which I replaced with a new OEM unit and bled the system. Brakes are in good shape....
4 new OEM body mounts (coutesy of Jerry at BT).
The body mounts should have been easy, but I wrestled with them for a few hours given the limited space to work in back there. You need to have midget hands to do this job well.
Here's what she looks like now with the new CCOT channel mounted (the black piece) you see extending into the quarter panels. The complete kit from CCOT includes a new piece of sheet metal (the white primed piece), which needs to be welded on.
So now I need to cut new sheet metal for the fenders, and fill in a few gaps in other areas to finish this up. Since I don't have a welder at the moment, this last step could take a while....
It's not that a project like this takes weeks and weeks of effort, except when you only get a couple hours here and a few hours there to work on it. Plus I got derailed with a leaky brake master cylinder, which I replaced with a new OEM unit and bled the system. Brakes are in good shape....
4 new OEM body mounts (coutesy of Jerry at BT).
The body mounts should have been easy, but I wrestled with them for a few hours given the limited space to work in back there. You need to have midget hands to do this job well.
Here's what she looks like now with the new CCOT channel mounted (the black piece) you see extending into the quarter panels. The complete kit from CCOT includes a new piece of sheet metal (the white primed piece), which needs to be welded on.
So now I need to cut new sheet metal for the fenders, and fill in a few gaps in other areas to finish this up. Since I don't have a welder at the moment, this last step could take a while....
Rzeppa
Rising Sun Member
Talk about deja vu batman! That white piece is what I was working on today, on my 76. I had trimmed the ends to fit last weekend, but went to get it ready for welding today. I had to dork around with the two inside body mounts to get it in there. I kind of moved them out of the way, I don't want to melt them when I go to weld it in later this evening. Yours is obviously a later version. When I bought mine, they hadn't been drilling holes in the back to weld through, and I ended up drilling my own. I drilled two rows, I see they have one.
Shark Bait
Rising Sun Member
Looks like a new exhaust system is somewhere on the list, too.
Indeed! That courtesy of the BOWAGW run last summer. It cracked in about 10 places that afternoon..... The backfiring in the mall parking lot can be fun though.
MDH33
Hard Core 4+
Looking good Matt. What are you going to use to replace the cut portions of fender? Are you going to bend flat sheet metal, or did you purchase some of the patch panels from CCOT?
What kind of welder have you picked out??
What kind of welder have you picked out??
Plan A is to bend some flat sheet - I've got a small sheet of 16g cold-rolled that I'll begin experimenting with some time soon.
Welder - leaning toward a Lincoln pro-mig 180. I've got a couple of leads for a decent deal....
If all goes well, a replacement front bumper for the log I currently have attached will be next. Some good inspiration out there from Rezarf and Zepp.
Welder - leaning toward a Lincoln pro-mig 180. I've got a couple of leads for a decent deal....
If all goes well, a replacement front bumper for the log I currently have attached will be next. Some good inspiration out there from Rezarf and Zepp.
Rezarf
Hard Core 4+
Matt- You are welcome to my welder if you want to play around with it before you buy one. Mine is a Lincoln 175spt... or in other words, the old version of the one you are looking at.
I'd love to practice on YOUR cruiser first... you know, get all the bugs out
I'd love to practice on YOUR cruiser first... you know, get all the bugs out
Progress
The new channel wings didn't line up perfectly, and I had to grind a bit off the passenger side and do some creative tacking to get everything to line up as good as possible.
For the new fender pieces, I traced the existing cutout onto a piece of paper, then traced that onto cardboard, and then finally onto the sheet metal. I got pretty close with the cuts, but tried to error on the side of too big whenever necessary.
The 16g bends pretty easily with some clamps, and I tried to start at one end and work my way to the other. To try and control the heat and warping, I just did a series of tacks all along the seam, starting with 2" (or more) gaps, then filling in the spaces. I drilled holes in the custom pieces, and tried rosette welds through to the channel wings.
Driver's side in the middle of tacking it in. I had a bit of trouble getting good welds without burning through.
Passenger side tacked in. Welding got better on this side.
And welds ground down
Next up I'm going to fill in the remaining holes with Duraglass and seam sealer, then cover it with some filler.
The new channel wings didn't line up perfectly, and I had to grind a bit off the passenger side and do some creative tacking to get everything to line up as good as possible.
For the new fender pieces, I traced the existing cutout onto a piece of paper, then traced that onto cardboard, and then finally onto the sheet metal. I got pretty close with the cuts, but tried to error on the side of too big whenever necessary.
The 16g bends pretty easily with some clamps, and I tried to start at one end and work my way to the other. To try and control the heat and warping, I just did a series of tacks all along the seam, starting with 2" (or more) gaps, then filling in the spaces. I drilled holes in the custom pieces, and tried rosette welds through to the channel wings.
Driver's side in the middle of tacking it in. I had a bit of trouble getting good welds without burning through.
Passenger side tacked in. Welding got better on this side.
And welds ground down
Next up I'm going to fill in the remaining holes with Duraglass and seam sealer, then cover it with some filler.
treerootCO
Rising Sun Member
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2005
- Messages
- 5,424
An FJ40 drive shaft is the perfect radius to bend those panels...
Nice job Matt! It always feel good to get ahead of rust! Unfortunately, like the Neil Young song, "rust never sleeps." Even knowing that it is some serious warm fuzzies to know you won another small war in the never ending battle of Japanese sheetmetal!
MDH33
Hard Core 4+
Looking good! Appears you'll have it done and ready for the 40's Only Run. 
Did you ever get your transmission trouble worked out? I have a spare H42 if you want to try a swap.
Did you ever get your transmission trouble worked out? I have a spare H42 if you want to try a swap. 
RicardoJM
Hard Core 4+
It is looking real good Matt
MDH33
Hard Core 4+
Did you ever get your transmission trouble worked out? I have a spare H42 if you want to try a swap.
Not yet. Its drivable as long as I keep it in gear at all times....
Ricardo and I were talking about 4 speed swaps on Saturday - when I get this sill project finished I'm going to try and pull the top cover off and see what things look like from up top - and see if I can get a "4 speed consultant" to advise.
Rzeppa
Rising Sun Member
Hi Matt, that looks VERY familiar! Nice work!. Yeah pop the top on that H42. I'll bet there's a good chance you'll be able to eyeball what's going on, since most of that action takes place up top.
A few things I've learned after my first attempt at body work and painting:
1. I'm not nearly as good at painting as I thought I was.
2. "Pretty good" is not good enough in the world of body work. As soon as you paint, all the imperfections are spotlighted.
3. Finding a sweet spot between paint thickness, spray pattern and PSI is a complicated science.
4. Repainting only the section around the patched area yields less than optimal results.
Since these panels have other rust and imperfections, I wasn't trying to make this fix "show quality." But the perfectionist in me is having some trouble with the finishing work. I'm going to try and rough up the paint (both the new paint and a bigger section of old), and clean it up tonight. Good news is that I'm basically done (finally).
1. I'm not nearly as good at painting as I thought I was.
2. "Pretty good" is not good enough in the world of body work. As soon as you paint, all the imperfections are spotlighted.
3. Finding a sweet spot between paint thickness, spray pattern and PSI is a complicated science.
4. Repainting only the section around the patched area yields less than optimal results.
Since these panels have other rust and imperfections, I wasn't trying to make this fix "show quality." But the perfectionist in me is having some trouble with the finishing work. I'm going to try and rough up the paint (both the new paint and a bigger section of old), and clean it up tonight. Good news is that I'm basically done (finally).
Rzeppa
Rising Sun Member
A few things I've learned after my first attempt at body work and painting:
1. I'm not nearly as good at painting as I thought I was.
2. "Pretty good" is not good enough in the world of body work. As soon as you paint, all the imperfections are spotlighted.
3. Finding a sweet spot between paint thickness, spray pattern and PSI is a complicated science.
4. Repainting only the section around the patched area yields less than optimal results.
Since these panels have other rust and imperfections, I wasn't trying to make this fix "show quality." But the perfectionist in me is having some trouble with the finishing work. I'm going to try and rough up the paint (both the new paint and a bigger section of old), and clean it up tonight. Good news is that I'm basically done (finally).
Sweet! Yeah, BTDT with the imperfection bit. I was totally impressed with the incredible job Phil Simmons did on his first try at painting.
On my resto, I plan on taking it down to the body shop a few blocks from my house where they have a nice downdraft booth and know what they're doing. And before that, I plan on having them up here (again) for last minute tips on final prep. They've been an immense help to me over the years, giving me tips and pointers. If anyone on the West side needs paint or body work, I highly recommend Kittredge Auto Rebuilders.
paint pics
primed
top coat
I'm disappointed that I didn't just paint the entire quarter panel from the hard top down - the tape lines from the first pass over just the selected area are pretty noticible. Stupid mistake....
primed
top coat
I'm disappointed that I didn't just paint the entire quarter panel from the hard top down - the tape lines from the first pass over just the selected area are pretty noticible. Stupid mistake....
Last edited:
Rzeppa
Rising Sun Member
That looks absolutely beautiful! Yours came out much better than mine. Quite impressive!