Red_Chili's body swap

[87Xota]

Well I turned my bodyman Ruben loose on the rest of the weld up of the quarter panel. He's better and faster than I at it, plus it was hot today and i'm lazy!

Here's the top of the quarter where he welded and then ground the welds smooth

Then Bill came by and we determined the final body lift heigth

Looks like Bill's feeling pretty good about it

 

[Red_Chili]

Plus getting at the motor won't even require opening the hood! Can't wheel it without rolling you say? Meh. I'm done with that, I'm building me a mall crawler!!!

 

[Myredyota]

Bill,
You obviously didn't get your body lift from 4Crawler! What kind of vibrations can you expect with 15" steel body pucks?

 

[RockRunner]

Are you going to use bead lock rims? Would make it easier to swap out bodies..............

 

[87Xota]

I put my Bodyman Ruben back on Bill's today, he'll be repairing the small dents in the rt. quarter and also welding closed some holes.

I started stripping out the ratty carpet from this donor body

So I can cut out the floor for the rear shifter.

I know Bill's gonna be upset, but now we can get rid of those 15" body spacers and get a more workable 1" spacer on there. Sorry Bill!

 

[87Xota]

There's six, 10mm holes along the rocker for a chrome moulding that is on some 4runners, and those need to be welded closed, there's also the two holes for the rock guard on the rear wheel well and the top one is pretty big, about 12mm square.

Ruben's using a scrap piece of sheet metal that he holds in the hole and welds around half of it, then he can cut off the metal flush with the body, tap it inward a litle, and finish welding around the hole.

 

[Red_Chili]

Man, this pristine donor body is requiring a bit more work than I had figgered...

Don't forget to nibble the floor for the main shift lever too! 3" forward from stock. Hence, the 'creative' shifter angles to miss the radio! I may want to steal some floor pieces from around the shifter from the old body before we recycle it into raw Jeep material (did I say that? I mean, Chevy material, yeah, that's it...), I have an idea for a cleaner shift console this time.

 

[Uncle Ben]

Man, this pristine donor body is requiring a bit more work than I had figgered...

Don't forget to nibble the floor for the main shift lever too! 3" forward from stock. Hence, the 'creative' shifter angles to miss the radio!

Got second mortgage?

 

[Red_Chili]

Got good insurance coverage. Shouldn't be exceeding it by all that much in fact. Terry is being kind to me - FYI, if you are considering body work this is the place to gitterdun for sure.

Still debating the merits of new beadlock$.

 

[87Xota]

Don't forget to nibble the floor for the main shift lever too! 3" forward from stock. Hence, the 'creative' shifter angles to miss the radio!

Ah, I didn't realize it needs to be cut forward

before we recycle it into raw Jeep material

That ones gonna cost ya!

 

[Red_Chili]

DOH!
Ah, but... but... having already been through the fire, the steel graduates to a jeep... Did I spin it better?

I should be a politician.

 

[87Xota]

Yes you'd make a fine politician Bill (is that something you want to be?)

Anyways, we swapped out the 15" wheel spacers for the 1" pucks

And here's the actual ride height and the body being prepped for paint

In the mean time Ruben is working on the doors, don't know how you get door dings in a truck this tall.

 

[AxleIke]

Yes you'd make a fine politician Bill (is that something you want to be?)

Anyways, we swapped out the 15" wheel spacers for the 1" pucks

And here's the actual ride height and the body being prepped for paint

Can i ask why there is only a hub on one side, and not the other here? Or is that just a trick of the light?

 

[Rezarf]

Can't wait to see it in Paint!

 

[Red_Chili]

Can i ask why there is only a hub on one side, and not the other here? Or is that just a trick of the light?

Yes, you can ask.























Mario.

 

[Red_Chili]

Can't wait to see it in Paint!

You think YOU wanna see it in paint!!!!!
She sits a bit high when nothing is bolted on!
Regards the door dings- they happened in Red Chili's former life as an SUV. Once I drove it to work and parked, and a woman opened her door into it - BANG! - while I was sitting listening to the radio. She didn't even look up, collected her stuff, closed her door and marched into the office.

When I came around and looked, her door had a nice rockslider-shaped new crease in the edge.


OK, OK, the hub- I had it locked on slickrock after a rain, and turned tight. BAM. My wife and I looked at each other, "THAT wasn't good!" we said. Thought I had managed to bust a FRORF chromo rear axle.

Nope- stripped a stock Toyota flange. Replaced with my spare hub and off we went, good as new, splines totally unaffected. Only to roll the next day.

 

[87Xota]

My guy's are really moving on the repairs today. The left half door got one hole up by the mirror welded shut, and a pretty good sized dent down below repaired.

Bill did the work of turning this door into a new right side half door, we have just a couple of areas that are gorund to metal and need some body work

Then the door goes to Jamie and he'll mask and prime the doors, and the hood at the same time he primes the truck side panels.

Matter of fact I hear the sound of the paint gun in the paint shop so he's doing his first coat of primer now.

I'll have some pic's in the morning I think of some gray parts and panels.

Bill probably doesn't really care if he sees them though, I think i'll make him wait until Monday, told him he would pay for that Jeep comment

 

[wesintl]

Wow that is fast and looks great. I might have to see if I can come up with some $ to get the 70 some new paint. I think it's time we stick this til it's done...

 

[Shark Bait]

This is way cool to watch the progress. Thanks!

 

[Evrgrnmtnman]

Excuse me for asking this! But after looking at the pictures and thinking of the man hours(labor) involved in doing this. Wouldn't you just be better off finding another 4Runner and doing a swap on the parts or buying a new FJ? This just seems like a lot of money for maybe something that get's dinged up again..But that's just my humble opinion.....