Thursday, November 11, 2010
Another day...more work done...
Well...it may not seem like I got a lot accomplished yesterday but I think I did. My goal was to get the whole front end taken apart...fenders, aprons, bib, etc but I ran into a few hitches along the way. First I had to disconnect the electrical system so I could start taking apart the wiring. I hopefully was smart and labeled everything and drew up diagrams on how everything is connected. I plan on getting a completely new wiring harness since the current wiring is a bit scary...but if I have things labeled, hopefully when I start reassembling I can match up wires with the new harness...we'll see if it works or not. Labeling the wires took up most of the morning and a lot longer than I expected. The next step was the aprons...I had already removed the emblems and all that remained were the nuts and bolts holding them on. I think I snapped about half of them trying to remove them...even after soaking in penetrating fluid. Some bolts are beyond saving...besides it will have all new hardware when all is said and done. Luckily I only had one bolt that caused a problem and I was finally able to take are of it. Next I moved on to the fenders...I had to remove several pieces bolted in. Most came off without a hitch. The main problem I ran into was the four bolts anchored into the frame. I'm going to need an impact wrench to get them out...anybody feel like donating one! I tried penetrating fluid but there is no budge at all! So the fenders will have to wait until I can find a way to get them off. In the meantime I did start to strip the paint off the top sides of the fenders as well as the aprons. The other part I wanted to remove was the front bib. I thought this would be an easy task...3 bolts no problem. Well two of the bolts came out no problem, but the third is unreachable unless the bib is fold down flat. Currently there are the bumper tow hooks and old jack mounts in the way on the bumper. Needless to say it won't lay flat and I can't remove that last bolt. I started taking off the hooks and jack mounts...but once again ran into issues with the last bolt...impact wrench again?! I also tried to kill my hand trying to take out that last bolt...the wrench slipped and I mashed my hand pretty good...ouch! I did run into one bad rust area on each fender...under the turn signals...not sure what was holding them in! Should be an easy fix though...and new turn signals will look great! Well...all for now...
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Looking Good Kyle!
ReplyDeleteI picked up a '74 FJ40 this summer and am in the process of restoring it from the chassis up. It sounds like you might be running into the same issues I did with bolts snapping on the fenders/apron/bib/every other piece that has been sitting since it came of the line.
Cool Cruisers of Texas has most of the parts I needed, but they mostly do 75 and later due to the higher demand for the 2f engine.
As far as the fender bolts go, the nuts are welded to the inside of the frame so when I took an impact wrench to them (all frozen and soaked in penetrating oil) they still snapped right off. So be careful, or just plan on some torch work.
I am currently hanging insulation and drywall in my garage so I can work on the beast in the heart of winter with just a small heater keeping things tolerable up north here.
Are you looking at replacing the full tub/ 3/4 or just the back half? My father just finished his summer upkeep on his '76 and had the tub rhino-lined. It looks great and I am tempted to do the same. It might be breaking from the true restoration, but then again I am changing out the f-engine with a 2f already.
Hope life in Pueblo is treating you well on the other fronts. Hope the next steps in the restoration go faster for you than the snails pace mine has gone to in the last month.
Jon Suk