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1976 fj45

i have the same nightmares..

apparently they are dipped in a acid bath first, captive nuts will need chasing out. some people swear by it, others think its shite..

no such issues on C section :)
 
Hi Iwan that is one cool looking fj45 I love the look of a good fj45 you r getting on with the big job so well you make it look so easy I bet you can make one in oak.thanks for the picsit's a big :thumbup::greetings-clapping:
 
Inside the chassis rust was a major concern on mine, although it didn't have much, and I ended up using Eastwood's Dinitrol with a hose on the spray can that has a 360 degree nosel. It gets recoated every year and works well, as far as I can see/feel.

Regards,

Rodger
 
Hi wot is going on come on we love pics hope you r well talk soon :laughing-rolling:
 
Hi Tony, sorry for the delay... there hasn't been too much action with the project, the lockdown hasn't been to kind on my finances so back to work in a full on manner!

Have had some semi hits on the chassis,
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I've added rebar to the inside of the chassis on the passengerside, possibly a little over kill but certainly makes the new inner more reinforced!

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When I got the 45 there were 2 doors that came with it. The drivers door is very poor but this complete passenger side door is well salvageable.

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The face on the whole is pretty good.. two areas the lower right corner and the area where you'd rest your elbow on when the window is open.

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Along here!

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This lower corner is in need of attention.

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I have watched a fella on youtube who makes template moulds of panels which you then dress the steel plate over the mould. The lower corners on the doors are the same shape so one mould will cover all 4 corners of the 2 doors.

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Progress in mould making.. kiln dries oak offcut.


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Needs a little sanding, but feel very confident that I can make this repair panel now... I need to make an 18" long patch with the corner on it.

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Also have a replacement 1hdt block which I'm going to power the 45 with.. was inspired by Andy's mate Alan who said to paint it up nice and tidy! Will be painting the head too!

Am planning to do a full day on this tomorow!! :thumbup:
 
Hi Iwan looking good I bet you can make one in oak good to talk keep up the good job r you ok all the best Tony.:thumbup:
 
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Is this possibly one of the coolest builds on here? even my other half is impressed !Brilliant work mate keep up with the photos.
BTW the chassis looks similar to a HiLux LN 85
 
Thanks fella's! @tonytoyota am feeling good mate! Have had a good blast back into this, was good to talk to you last week..

@goodoldboy thanks for the comment maan! Interesting that the ln85 hilux has similar build, guessing they were in development of a pattern of pickup trucks lol!

Had over a 10 hour hit on this today... had prepped the last of the inner curved patches previously.

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Got the reinforcing in and painted it up.. a good move to do but ended up having a bit of a fire in this area when I welded on the cover.

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Have some pretty decent penetration with the welds showing. The underside is a right challenge and as this project goes on there's got to be a point where the chassis is going to need to be flipped over to give the lower side attention.. can't leave it like that!

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A couple of shots of empty beer cans (fuel) Lol! Have made access holes for future oiling of the inner chassis.

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Managed to get it a point where it can be painted and such a welcoming sight.

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Am looking on to rejig thel flat bed that came with it and it is really ready to get it back on now (ish).

It's a good milestone here, away from the long effort that's been put in so far! But real happy to get to this point Happy Days! :thumbup:
 
Superb progress!
Your oak mould is absolutely fabulous!!!
All the doors rot in the corners mainly because the outer glass seals are poor and over the years people don't keep the drain slits clear.
Keep up the good work, it is a pleasure to watch.

Regards,

Rodger
 
Superb progress!
Your oak mould is absolutely fabulous!!!
All the doors rot in the corners mainly because the outer glass seals are poor and over the years people don't keep the drain slits clear.
Keep up the good work, it is a pleasure to watch.

Regards,

Rodger

Thank you Roger! With the mould it has surprised me how relatively easy it was to mark out and make it. To think of fabricating the patch panel straight from a flat piece of steel sheet. Mind you I haven't made it out of steel yet!!! Aand yet to make a mess of it welding it in!!! But hats off to the fella who shared the youtube video content...

Have gathered together some parts with some help from my mate who works with me.

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I've dug out these axles, they're from the 1995 24v hdj80 that was incredibly rusty and I used the engine and box in my trusty 1991 hdj81, converted to manual from an auto.

As I'm at the stage of looking to refit the fj45 original rear axle there's several issues with it... don't want a semi floating rear axle, drum rear brakes and no rear wheel hand brake... this hdj rear axle is fully floating, rear disk brakes, rear wheel hand brake and it has a diff lock! There's no contest there! Need to clean the axle case down to bare just leaving hand brake pivot and to add leaf spring seats..

Front axle is coil sprung, has the bigger front disks and of course the locker. Then add to the chassis the appropriate parts to make it like an 80. The difference between the width where the radius arms attach hdj80 to fj45 is that the latter is 20mm narrower. So it's possible but it's got to be done well!

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Made the discovery quite a few months back that the square light lj70 front arms fit the 80 front axle and vice versa. The rusty one is an 80 one which is also shorter. There's an option regarding castor etc. Food for thought..

The con side of using the 80 axles is that they're manual gearing... re gear to auto or a change of plan to manual trans??? I don't have a manual gearbox.. h151f or h55f??? Any one have either of these that needs rebuilding??


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Have the flat bed into an area where I can work on it.. looks pretty sorry..

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But the underside frame is remarkably good! It will do the trick and it'll bolt straight on!!

Plenty to do lol!
 
I've has a few hit's on the project in the last week, some very rusty part's.

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On Saturday afternoon have taken you the rusty corrugated floor up. It was spot welded on every dip of the corrugation! Very laborious but kind of rewarding to get somewhere with it! This bed is 1600mm wide and the fj45 cab at it's widest is 1625mm.

The 80 series rear axle is 1600mm iirc to the inside of the backing plates.. so this bed is way too narrow and the wheels will be outside of the bed... so am going to cut the sides and the head board off it and extend the width by not sure yet how much but at least 6 to 7 inches per side...

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Well impressed with how heavy and strong the 80 rear axle is! This one was thick with rust! At one point I was thinking of taking it to a boat marina to get them to tell me how thick the metal is! But it's not leaking and seems good. So from where the masking tape ends inward is the same width as the flat bed.

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The backing plates front and rear as sooo rusty, with the rear there's 3 layers hand brake shoe plate, the rusted backing plate and the outer caliper mount... there's plenty of work to do to these components..

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There's a hell of a lot of grinding work to be done on this case.. to get it bare from all the metal work thats on it... only want to keep the hand brake pivot point and the brake pipe mounts! going to have to take it to some one with a plasma cutter to lighten the work load..

I'm enjoying it but when things are so rusty then it becomes a bit of a bind!! :thumbup:
 
I've had a good hit and a bit of luck in finding out that an old friend has a plasma cutter!

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It's a cheap chinesium unit! Doesn't matter where it's made as it saves a lot of time compared to a 5" grinder.

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There's some tabs that have quite an acute angle to them... not too good to use a plasma cutter on these, danger of making holes in the case. Ideal if the metal is 90 degrees to what you want to save.

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The panard rod mount was time consuming and it was packed with rust on the inside. The sides of the mount had rusted down to very thin.. I'm now thinking of doing an inner rust treat to this area on my 81.. wouldn't be good to have a failure of the rear panard mount!

So a 4 hour hit on this today, it would have run into days I'm sure with a grinder. have never used a cutter like this before and am seeing how handy they are!!


I've had a bit of luck regarding a h151f gearbox.. a fella has a land rover 101 forward control which he has fitted axles, 1hdt and a h151f... He has trouble sorting out the gear linkages and really wants an early A440f auto transmission, coincidently I have a A440f and desire a h151f! Many thanks and a big shout out to @AndycruiserguyLomas for the great networking for getting us in contact!

Things are happening!! :thumbup:
 
Have managed to get a hit on this today..

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Been pondering how to get the new axle spring perches lined up with the original axle. Settled on centering the two by having them sitting level and using a spirit level to level up to the 80 axle.

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Then to wrap insulation tape around the new axle where the U bolts sit.

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Have 2 rotten spring plates and shocks. Used small rubber bushes to sit the axle on for now.

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And it's temporarily in position, nice to see the hubs on too.

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And it's a roller again, still quite a bit of work to do regarding the axle fitment... but needed to get it on wheels so I can move forwards and try and get the engine and box in. I have the closest offset wheel on it and its 300mm wider than the cab. So a wider flatbed should/will sort that out..

Real nice to see it rolling again!:):thumbup:
 
Hi Iwan good to see you it on its way and a good big wood job on the go good look with it .
 
Hi Iwan good to see you it on its way and a good big wood job on the go good look with it .

Yo Tony was good to see you on friday... it had been a while mate!

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We got the frame together! Those banana beams (two long ones in the centre) got straightened out!

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Had a short hit on this tonight... moving on to the front as planned..

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Have decluttered the front end now and can see whats what! I'm going to change the inner of the chassis just like what's been done in the rear and continue it forwards.


A few weeks ago I ordered a set of 40 series bushes for the rear leaf springs, they arrived and they were too small! When I took the front axle off today... the front has the smaller bushes and the rear has the 35mm with 15mm ID, two different sized bushes front compared to rear! Also found out that mk4/5 bushes are the same 35mm to fit the rear of the 45 series!

All is good!:thumbup:
 
Some good looking framing Iwan & also interesting stuff in the background - an LDV & A Transit?
 
Thanks man! Work has really kicked off.. 4 jobs offered in the last 2 weeks, about time! If all 7 jobs in total come in then busy till april/may next year! Assured to pay off ALL of my cruiser debts off Lol!

The ldv belongs to a fella who moved to Spain about 5-6 years ago. Life's too good there it seems to come back to get it! Lol
 
As the 80 front axle is so ridiculously wide versus a 45. I've been comparing parts from a 70 light and a 60..

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A the top it was interesting to see how the differential offset as in the shaft before the cv joint is very similar when compared 60s to 80s.

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70s top 60 mid and 80 lower cv joint, splines are the same and the square is lined up on the cv stop.

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This shows how much you could shorten the 80 series axle to bring the tyres in so they are closer to the chassis. 95mm on the 70s shaft and approx 65mm on the 60 series shaft.

The bigger 80 cv, housing and hub etc will push it out further.

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The 80 front is really good because the casing is square and to weld back up together is straight forward compared to a round casing where the risk of loosing castor etc.

This is what I'm contemplating to do with the front axle....
 
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