Well ladies and gents, i found a good place that will let me host pics, so i would like to share a few with you as i get them uploaded.
Here's the horror we had (1978 FJ-40)
http://airborne.alloffroad.com/images/all_left.jpg
More to come:skull:

:eek:
http://airborne.alloffroad.com/images/salt_2.jpg
:eek:

http://airborne.alloffroad.com/images/front_left_stripped.jpg
those are the "before" pics...tomorrow comes the "after" pics:skull:

im tired and sick of wating for DIALUP to upload my pics.:D

J-E-S-U-S that IS body rot.:eek: :eek:

just wait till tomorrow when i show you the "after" pics....

i'll give you one hint....stainless quarter panels!

shhhh dont tell nebody, its a seceret :smokin:

wow some one w/ more rust than me?! how can it be?! omg...:mad3:
lol....i did the rubicon with my rustbucket though be4 the tubswap...lol...im a rebell!:rasta:
http://www.rivercityrockcrawlers.com/~dcruiser138/images/rust%20reer%20lft.jpg
http://www.rivercityrockcrawlers.com/~dcruiser138/images/dsc_012.jpg

Holy krap!!!
I once had a crusier like that, and a little advice: Find a new tub... and get it shipped to you! I am spoiled now, tubs where there is a little spreading by the spot welds is something I turn away from now. More than enough good ones out here-My beater has no rust on the C channel under the rear doors.

Good luck!

Originally posted by Mr McGee
just wait till tomorrow when i show you the "after" pics....

i'll give you one hint....stainless quarter panels!

shhhh dont tell nebody, its a seceret :smokin:

What's so secret about it?? :D :flipoff2: :D

Was that tin foil around the fenders:eek: :eek:

If the body is that far gone, I would have some concerns about the frame. What does it look like, especially around the rear spring hangers??

a couple things i would like to address...

cruiserbrett: money is something that is hard to come by...that being said, we know the owner of a welding/metal fab shop. he got us 4x10 sheets of 14ga diamond plate steel for 40 bucks a sheet. the bed was appx 1/2 sheet. we payed 20 dollars for that bed. *comparison*--ccot wants 540:eek: I know you said used tub but we wanted something beefy and original.

fr8dog: that pic was before we finished the panels, we still had to weld a few pieces on the inside of the fender (mud flap/shield dealys) and where did you get that? was that the one glo posted for me?

Mustard dog: that is not tin foil, it is corrosion--the po (aka "cobbler") put aluminum on the outside of the whole tub. that doesnt sound like a bad idea at first, unless you forget/neglect to seal the outside to prevent water from getting in!:eek: That is what is left when aluminum rots. :D

and finally Medusa: your concern is legit. but, the po, as dumb as he may be, coated the frame with some sort of rubberized/tar/crap stuff. most of it came off, leaving the frame exposed, but it is solid--that was the FIRST THING we checked before purchasing it. also, it is mechanically solid, we drove it home about 2 hours at 60mph with no problems. and it is solid by the hangers.:smokin:

btw, i just snapped some pics, and will upload them in a few minutes and then post em. if you want so see where i upload them, go to http://airborne.alloffroad.com --on the first photo page there are some scenery images that came on the template so disregard those. pic page 1 is before, and pic page 2 is now.

ok im done talking

well, most of the tub is done, just waiting to be removed. here are some "after" pics :D :D
here goes:

driver side tub
http://airborne.alloffroad.com/images/driver_tub.jpg

tranny area
http://airborne.alloffroad.com/images/tranny_area.jpg

tank dropout
http://airborne.alloffroad.com/images/tank_dropout.jpg

passenger side bed
http://airborne.alloffroad.com/images/bed_pass.jpg

finished stainless passenger side
http://airborne.alloffroad.com/images/stnls_pass.jpg

last one:
stainless passenger side rear
http://airborne.alloffroad.com/images/stnls_pass_rear.jpg
:skull: i apologize in advance for those with dialup! :skull:

Nice work Max!


When are you coming down to Indy to redo my floor pans??????


Once again, WOW WEE!!!!!!!:beer: :beer: :usa: :D

Originally posted by rugburn
Nice work Max!


When are you coming down to Indy to redo my floor pans??????


Once again, WOW WEE!!!!!!!:beer: :beer: :usa: :D
heh, do you like the passenger pan, it took a while...we wanted to keep the dropout for the tank in there.

i love the fact that it only cost under 200 buks, and the fact that ccot wants appx 180 for their quarter panels (18 ga i believe?) when we got two panels for 110:eek: not to mention that ours are stainless, along with our kick panels (which are scrap from the wheel well cutout. :D :smokin:

Originally posted by Mr McGee

fr8dog: that pic was before we finished the panels, we still had to weld a few pieces on the inside of the fender (mud flap/shield dealys) and where did you get that? was that the one glo posted for me?



hehehe, I clicked on these words --> MY PICTURE PAGE (COOL) :D

The newly posted pictures look great!! Nice work!! A real inspiration, since I just started stripping the floor in my 40. I can save everything but the wheel wells! :p

Keep us updated on the progress!!

yeah, i just noticed that the pics are not working :mad:

i hope they come on again....

yeah, the only thing we could keep was the dropout for the tank.

and another tidbit of info, the main support is an air tank!:D :smokin: :rasta:

Looking good! I was kinda joking about getting a used tub, that's a pain in the balls to get shipped... I was only commenting on the fact that I had "been there/done that" before and I was not happy with the fact that SO many hours were tied up in time and lots of money in supplies. It caught me off guard once I was done and figured out what I had spent in the end(time and $$$) to restore the rusted hulk of a landcruiser that I owned...

Not trying to stop you!!! good luck, looking forward to seeing the "after" shots

damn, i can't see those pictures... is it just me or am i the only
one?

-LCL

they didnt work for a while, now i can see them again--keep trying!!

(and check back later)

-Max

Cool. i dig it.
what did you use to tie the SS into the mild for the rest of the tub?
I JUST got that same DA sander today, god it makes life easy. just hope that $34 POS will last long enough to finish the cruiser:D

Nice job. only question is, why didn't you just make the tank drop outta diamond plate too? 6 panels of scrap, and it woulda looked trick, and if your gonna do a project that big, it wouldnt be that much extra time to fab it up. nice job though, how long did it take?
Matt:smokin:

we used stainless wire in our 110volt lincoln. (borrowed) and spot welded it to the uppper lip and fenders.

well, the only good part of the tub, was the dropout. so we thought we would weld that in (just cut a hole in the diamondplate and welded away.)

how long did it take?? a long time. i dont work on it a LOT (school) but try to spend as much time out there as possible. My dad also plays a huge factor in this project--he has a lot of metal skills (machinist).

-Max

Bitchin'

I can see all the pics now!! Lots of work there. Are you going to cut the fenders after fiinishing it???

-Brett

Right on. sheet stainless is a bitch to get the machine set on. PITA.

I like the tub. Im replacing my bed and rockers, and everytime i see someone replace a bed, I ask why they dont build a tool box in... now i know, you have a million other things to do, and just plain dont feel like it! haha.

Matt:rasta:

fixer, we thought about the toolbox idea, and realized we could add it in the future--we already had enough work!

cruiserbrett--NO! we welded a 1 inch lip to the inside of the fender(rigidity and looks) and it would be a pita to cut.

keep the thoughts comin--let me know what you think; good or bad.

-Max

I think it sux.... :flipoff2:


Actually, coming along nicely...when you gonna get that thing trail ready?? (Oh yeah, and when are you gonna get a drivers license? lol)

And you do realize, after passengering with me this coming Saturday, that you'll have to redo all yer plans so you can fit 38's! lol

Originally posted by woody

And you do realize, after passengering with me this coming Saturday, that you'll have to redo all yer plans so you can fit 38's! lol

That sure can happen!! I visited Nolen a couple weeks ago when he took Kate to get her "new coat", gone are the plans for 35s and along come the plan for 37s and RAM assist, though I did just get a great deal on some used TSL 36s!!:smokin:

did you plate over top of the old crap or did you cut it all away?

Dan

Originally posted by crawlin cruiser
did you plate over top of the old crap or did you cut it all away?

Dan
:laughing: of course we cut away all the old crap!! at one point, all we had were the rails the hard top sits on (only good parts)!

anybody got any suggestions/questions?

-Max