project nuclearmarshmellow

[nuclearlemon]

Whats the plan for the slider?

that's another fix i gotta deal with.

 

[nuclearlemon]

well, no turning back now. the first cuts have begun. first i cut the frame sections on the rig to where they were equal, and now i'm working on making the puzzle sections for the frame. the first couple pics show cut lines and the two pieces with the sleeve

 

[nuclearlemon]

the rear frame section is notched and test fit. i didn't quite get part of the original frame cut far enough back to match my template...you can see on the below pic where the issue is, and on the right, i need to clearance a little bit on the new chunk as it's a touch too wide, but otherwise, the hardest part is almost over

i was a bit excited though and had to stop to test fit the bumper!

 

[nuclearlemon]

now i just need bearings for the spindle, the pad for under the latch, the two spring loaded latch deals, bolts for the bumper and the tire and hi lift brackets and i'm rockin'

best part is no more obnoxious stink bug

 

[TOTONKA]

homeland security might like it

 

[nuclearlemon]

welding is done. my arms, boobs, back, belly all have been hit with the little hot bits of death. they're all glad the welding is done.

i haven't done final measurements yet, but i should be dang close to right on. i did have some welding issues where i was getting pockets in my weld and i thought i was out of gas, but i realized that in all the times i'd stuck my helmet on the bottle and pulled it off, i'd moved the adjustment so the mixture was off. welds got a bit better after that.

man i'm wiped out.

 

[nuclearlemon]

while some of the welds are atrocious looking, i am pretty confident in the weld holding them. i got good puddles. welding upside down sucks and it drips, but it can be done. welding under a body sucks even more.

all that's left is to drill out two holes for the side bolt holes (the spacers block the holes) and the bumper will be ready to mount. i've already chased the holes in the frame and bought my $55 worth of metric bolts and rattle can ($10 in rattle can...all the rest is hardware)

i got to looking at slee's website and it appears there are a bunch of parts that i need to be truly complete. like most of a hardware kit and that doesnt' even include the required land cruiser bottle cap opener for the backside of the spare carrier

 

[Romer]

Looks great Ige

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I think it looks great too, though those really porous welds I'd grind out and re-do. It looks like no gas was flowing at all.

Just a vote for the bottle cap opener. Ya gotta have it to be cool.

 

[SteveH]

Good job Ige - you're doing right by that 'cruiser!

Steve

 

[nuclearlemon]

I think it looks great too, though those really porous welds I'd grind out and re-do. It looks like no gas was flowing at all.
.

already done.

got the bearings/races and seals today. also started making a new plate to cover the pto hole so the bolts sit flush....little at a time. still need to get some smaller 12mm bolts since ace was out of the small ones.

getting closer though and that makes me happy ive got some plastic material at home to make the pad under the carrier when it's closed and i'm guessing the slide piece is just a chunk of stainless or aluminum sheetmetal and i've got some heavy aluminum that i can cut up and rivet in. i've also got a lp lamp that i was going to mount on the 40, but i never made that carrier.

now need cap for the spindle, the two brackets for the wings, tire carrier piece (iirc, nathaniel has that somewhere), the two plungers and the hilift upper bracket, which i think i can get around.



woooohoooooo!!!!

 

[nuclearlemon]

ok, tire carrier is mounted. bearings worked great. it does appear that the plastic pad i have won't be thick enough, so i'm going to try to find something thicker, if i can't, i'll just cut multiple layers since they're held by bolts.

 

[Convert]

ok, tire carrier is mounted. bearings worked great. it does appear that the plastic pad i have won't be thick enough, so i'm going to try to find something thicker, if i can't, i'll just cut multiple layers since they're held by bolts.

I have a piece of black nylon that is 2 1/2" or 3" wide and 3/8"-1/2" thick that I used when building mine.I can cut you off a piece if it will work for ya

 

[Convert]

2" wide by 1/2" thick. Just confirming the dimensions because I was not sure

 

[nuclearlemon]

that'd be awesome...thanks dan

 

[nuclearlemon]

got the plates made and finally got the right combination of bolts to get the bumper officially bolted on wooohoooo! i even marked almost all eight bolt holes dead on...only one hole was a tad off. two plates underneath, and one across where the hitch would be (eventually, i'll add one, but that's a ways off). got the license plate moved, light wired up (still need to properly secure the wiring on the swing arm) and even got the hi lift mounted.

of course, before i drilled anything, i had to finish mounting the "new" top to my bench and mount the vises. kinda nice having a top that's not all beat up.

 

[nuclearlemon]

even got a little work in on the 45...can you count the number of fj60 parts that are now on it

of course, in the "my life with cruisers" fashion mentioned throughout this thread, one bolt is giving me fits. i thought it was started when i tightened the rest and it wasn't...it just won't go in. and, of course, it's in a most hideous place. for now, i tightened everything else up, so i don't screw up the seal between the gasket and the block...i'll loosen everything and try again next weekend. meantime, the dizzy is just sitting in place to keep any dust out.

 

[nuclearlemon]

today, finally tackled the valve cover....what a pita somewhere there was a little japanese engineer laughing his butt off

didn't spend a whole lot of time cleaning it up..would've been a great time to polish a turd, but i'm more about function than beauty. the plug gaskets made a very eery crunching sound as i was attempting to get them out.

also, readjusted the side cover on the 45 so it's officially done and wired a 40amp circuit breaker to the high side of the fan for the 40, so hopefully i'll stop melting fuse holders. put some dye in the radiator, hopefully it will leak a bit overnight and i'll be able to determine if my new radiator is bad.

 

[Romer]

Good time to change that PCV valve while you have the cover off.

 

[nuclearlemon]

already done. i actually managed to get the old grommet out a while ago, with no chunking, so i've had the new pcv in for about three or four months.

today, i got the radio and cb mounted in the dash. it ain't pretty, but neither is the huge gaping hole that the po hacked out. it's functional though and now all the radios are securely mounted and the ham isn't in the way of my park brake. although the ham would've fit in the dash better, i have multiple cbs and one ham, so it's cheaper to permanantly mount the cbs and have the ham in a spot where i can easily unhook it and move it to another rig.

i still need to make some sort of "bezel" to finish it all off, but i think i may need a new dash trim piece...you can see my pocket doesn't exactly fit in the dash. the original crosspiece was hacked out and it was held up by the monstrosity. a lot of things don't fit in like their supposed to.

i will need to figure out a speaker setup for the cb, but that's not a priority (since it involves money). also trying to figure out someplace to mount the gps mount. has anyone mounted into the pad, right in front of the clock? is it solid enough?