Firewall and wheelwells done; ready to go back on the chassis as soon as I finish plumbing the brake and fuel lines.
That's a great looking truck in your avatar, Harry. I always wanted to build one of those someday. Time to clean up the floor, add some seam sealer and POR-15, and cut a hole for the shifter before it goes on the frame.
We set the body back on the frame and bolted 'er down over the weekend. Plumbing is done and I hung the fenders on it with a couple of bolts just to see what it looks like.
The tough part about building a car you didn't take apart is figuring out how it all goes back together. I've got parts from several different cars so I've spent some time this week going through them to pick out what I want to use and doing some trial assembly. Here's the bumpers and fillers panels, and the dash. I also think I'm going to do a recessed license plate where the big third brake light used to be on the decklid. Right now we're trying to make one good decklid from two junk ones.
We've got the trunk skin off the inner panel and are working on patching the rust at the bottom. My Wheel Vintique wheels came in today; 15x8 for the back and 15x7 for the front. Not sure on tire size yet. If thinking a 235/15 for the front and a 275/15 for the rear. Also I got the LS1 engine valley cover that eliminates the knock sensors.
I'm trying to stay busy despite the heat. It don't look like it's going to let up anytime soon so we're all just trying to live with it. You get used to it after a while, just sweat like a dog and take a lot of showers. This week I pulled all the parts out of the attic storage and went through all the chrome to pick out the best of what was there. I stared cleaning up and painting POR-15 on everything that's not getting body color paint; insides of the fenders, the bottom of the bumper filler panels, bumper brackets, etc.
Cant wait to see more pictures of what you will get completed this coming weekend. I do hope that you have stock in POR-15, LOL. Just kidding. Can not wait till I get the funds to start my project. Everytime you think you have some extra cash to start a project, something else always comes up at the least and unexpected time in which has to be taken care of first before anything else. Death in the wife family so funds have to go towards that for right now which is only the right thing to do right now. The FJ8C will still be their to work on later.
I should have stock in that company as much as I buy from them. I use a lot of their products at work, too. I hear you about the money. Same with time; I havent got a lot done in the last week other than a few minor things. Been working a lot of OT and I bought another project; just what I needed!
Ok, the deck lid is finally coming together after a lot of work. While Kyle's taking care of that mess I started looking at what to do with the doors. The sides and top fit great but the lower edge stuck out pst the body line and I was all out of hinge adjustment. Since I had to do some minor repair anyway on the door bottom anyway, I sliced it about 1/8" wide from end to end on the bottom, pulled it together with a clamp, and welded it together. It came out much better.
This is the outer skin from one decklid, the inner support from another, and a whole lot of patching. Still a ways to go but at least it's all in one piece. I painted the insides of both before we put them together. Also Im planning on one piece windows so I cut out all the vent window supports and patched in the factory lock hole. It'll have locking handles when Im done because the factory locks wont work with the bear claw latches.
I finally got the passenger door finished today; there were a lot of hours in this door. Got all the welds ground and some filler along the bottom, got all the old door gasket off and coated the inside of the door with a rust inhibitor. Next is the drivers door which is not as bad. the bottom fits good so no work there. I got the latch installed and have a small repair to make in the front corner.
Got some time in on this one the last few days. I did the last bit of patching on the drivers door along with cutting out the braces so I can work on the one piece windows. I also picked up this for a front seat. I need to make some stands but it's in way better shape that the original. The frame on the original is so rusted Im afraid it would disintegrate if I had it blasted. Kyle is working on wrapping up the deck lid; it's been a ton of work to get it right but it's getting closer.
Sorry I haven't been here for awhile to see how your project is coming along but alot of personal stuff going on on the home front and I am thinking about getting a divorce soon. Seeing the wife on adult dating websites and she is never home has one thinking. Know they are not old postings either since I see pics of her inside of her new vehicle (2005 HUMMER H2 SUT) which she got back in June of this year. Anyways, I found something that you might like on Ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Othe...8160160?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2317809d20 I think that would be the perfect LITTLE project after you get this one done. What have you gotten done since the last time you posted? Need more pictures of your project to get me motivated in doing something with mine soon. Haven't been motivated in doing anything lately and I am kinda at a lose in what I should do without going postal.
That's a cool rig, Sarge. I wish I had the room and $$ for it. As far as this one i've got a guy doing body work but he's been working a lot of hours lately so I'm waiting on him to finish before I can do more on it myself. I bought a 49 four door as a quick throw together project so I can have a driver this spring; it's just about done. Here's a link if you want to take a peek. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=615448 I sent you a PM, also.
Looked at your other project which turned out to be great and not costing you an arm and leg. Still waiting to see the outcome on this project. Good things come to those who wait and in this case its good things come when taking your time. I have been thinking of what I want to do with that FJ8C and I think I will have the 258 rebuilt and have a 4.0 intake installed on it from a mid 90 Jeep so that it will have the EFI and get rid of all that crappy looking vacuum lines and miles of wires. The TF999 will need a rebuild also but I need to get a new speedometer housing cover for it. The one on it now is plastic and leaks like crazy so Id like to find a metal one. Like to get the rear Dana 44 rebuilt and at least make it so it has positive traction. Right now, the rear end just spins when stuck in just a little wet grass or mud, LOL. For the paint scheme, I am thinking about painting it the new Camaro Synergy Green inside and out and for the roof Im thinking maybe a Pearl White. Found a paint store online (http://www.paintscratch.com/cgi-bin/makepaint2.cgi) that carries the synergy green but I do not know how much paint I will need to order if I am doing a complete paintjob. You can help me on that (how much paint) since you are familuar with it. I will need to start taking pictures of it soon (before and after shots). Hope to get this project going soon but most of all have everything ready before starting. Looking foreward to seeing your finished project and again seeing what your next project will be. Sarge!!!
Sounds like a great plan on your FJ, Sarge! That 258 was a pretty good motor. I should be starting back on this shortly; I'm doing some serious cleaning in the garage right now. It got trashed during the last few months of finishing my other car.
I guess it's time to get back to the 48; she's been feeling neglected. Here's where I left off last time. My next step is to get the vent window eliminator kit and the power windows installed. I bought a kit from Hagan to do the vent widows. Basically it's just four pieces of track with 4 pins and some misc hardware. You could probably built one out of Home Depot parts and do just as well. Also, I did not follow Hagan's directions to a T. They called for replacing the rear track but it was the same dimensions as the original so I just used the factory rear track. Didnt see much sense in making more work than necessary. In a nutshell, you cut out a window pattern from thin plywood ( I used some leftover underlayment), then cut out another piece 1/4" longer as a locator for the front track, use a pin to secure the top of the front track, and adjustable bracket for the bottom, and finally weld in a small filler piece. It took about 4 hours to get it all lined up and welded; and the plywood widow mock up slides nicely up and down in it. Next step will be to install the power window on this side and then do it all again on the other side.
Yeah, the car was free but honestly looking at the condition after blasting I probably could have bought one in similar condition for less than a grand. 40's Mopars aren't exactly like buying a 32 Ford; even two door coupes come pretty cheap. But it was very nice of Mike to set me up and I'm grateful he did. It's taken a ton of work to get the body right on it; I can see why he didn't want to tackle it. Here's the Dolphin power window kit I ordered last year. The only complaint I have about this is that there were no instructions at all. That said, once I laid it out it was pretty self explanatory about how it should go together. This kit was perfect for this door. One side of the upper support bolted right in where one of the old window stops were located. From there I just made a couple of simple mounting plates for the other three mounting points. The kit had two different size spacers to set the glass angle. I tried it with the plywood mock up glass and after some minor adjusting it went up and down smoothly with no sticking. Now onto the other door.
I've got a few days off so I got a little garage time in. Note to self: Check if fabricated motor mount is going to hit the header before you weld it all the way around. This sucked! I had to cut the whole thing loose and move it forward. Live and learn; it wont happen again. I also took another 3" off of the steering column; it fits really nice now and plenty of header clearance on the drivers side.
The Jalopy Journal
