Working on the Frame

Well its been one hot summer...and yard work has mostly consumed my time...but I finally have had some cooler weather!  I have been out a time or two this summer to work on the Cruiser...but haven't made much headway.  So the past few days I've been out several times to finally do some work!  Lately I've been preparing the frame for paint.  I have it mostly sanded and should finish up soon with the wire wheel...and buy some aluminum oxide to media blast the areas I couldn't get the drill into.  I'll also have some grinding to do in some places where the rust has pitted the frame badly...luckily its not in too bad of shape so that work will be minimal.  Its amazing the difference sanding the rust makes.  I can't believe how much of the factor frame paint is still on the inner frame rails!  I do have a few things left to remove...the axle bumpers...the radiator and I've decided to replace the front bumper (has had the corners bent out and it is dented pretty badly and I don't think I can fix it).  Otherwise the leaf springs are ready to come off and rust treatment can begin...hopefully this cooler weather will stick around!

In other news...I did some research on the Cruiser...things were not adding up as far as how things were put together and the date on the VIN.  The VIN has a production date of Dec 1970.  Well there are 3 versions of Landcruiser...the early years which went through July 1970...the middle year...July 1970-end of 1971...and after 1971 basically.  Mine given the VIN date would fall in that middle year which has a different setup than the earlier or later years...and there are more replacement parts for the earlier and later models.  The parts for the middle year are also more expensive!  Well my brake lines and single barrel master brake cylinder match up with the early year which threw up a red flag and had me scratching my head.  Well...I found a place to look up the VIN...which had matching frame and VIN tag numbers...and the production date was Dec 1969!  So the best I can figure is that it is a 1970 model year that was produced in 1969.  That also means cheaper replacement parts and more readily available parts! 

Here are some of the before and after frame shots...pretty amazing the difference...