The rescue of Rusty Ute
Hi All, Rusty is an old FJ Ute that was discovered by a work mate while taking rubbish to the tip at Swan Hill. It was a hot day so he was in a hurry to go home again, but noticed Rusty and took a quick snapshot with the camera on his phone. He sent the image to my phone asking if I was interested. I responded with a phone call and planned a trip to Swan Hill to investigate.
I arrived at the tip where the tip manager confirmed that they wanted $100 for Rusty; I inspected the body and returned to the office to be asked what do think? Well, it needy a bloody lot of work, I said, to which he said just take it! OK, so the deal was struck and I left to organise a trailer and tell my wife and club members the good news. Generous members in the club provided me with ample running gear to bolt on to Rusty when we got him home. My wife said I had 3 days to put the Ute in the shed or she would get it towed away. The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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On Easter Sunday 2009 my wife and I left Bendigo with a trailer on tow wondering how we might get Rusty onto the trailer. Upon arrival at the Tip at about lunch time we were told that the tip operator would lift it on with the front end loader, so we lined up the trailer and asked that the front of the Ute face the rear of the trailer. He proceeded to lift the Ute on as instructed, then took out a red motor from another car for a mate & sat down to have lunch, all within about 20 mins.
Once we had Rusty on the trailer it was fastened down ready for transport back to home. There were 2 tailgates doubling as a cabin floor and a front seat on top of them. In the load area was a rear floor pan. This seemed like an abandoned project car that never got started, “just too dammed hard I guess.” I explained to Glenys why we had to put the front of the car facing the rear of the trailer; so that we could pull the front of the car off the trailer to attach the front end while leaving most of the weight still on the trailer.
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We made our way back home, put the trailer on the nature strip and turned in for the night. It was a big day; so far so good, we had achieved a lot in a Day.
On Easter Monday we backed the trailer in to the lower drive and tied the front of Rusty onto the palm tree; then by driving off we pulled half the body off the trailer, allowing the front end to be attached. I had some help from my twin brother Robert (Bob) and my son Matthew (Mat).
Good workers doing the work while I take photos.
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Once the front end was attached, we pulled the trailer off a bit more and jacked up the rear of the car, finally pulling the trailer free. Not much weight without running gear and doors etc anyway so it was easy going.
The front spring hangers had been damaged in the past due to not having any springs attached. We established there was enough of the fixtures remained to put bolts through and attach the springs, so the rear end was then attached to what was left of the spring hangers on Rusty. We put the bluestones underneath for extra safety; without wheels we needed to be sure the car would not fall on us.
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The rear wheels were rolled into place and bolted temporarily in place, for the moment.
With all four wheels attached and a temporary steering bar put in place to keep both front wheels aligned.
We pulled and pushed Rusty onto the nature strip, and up into the top drive under the carport. At this point it was about 1pm on Easter Monday and we stopped work for lunch. We had certainly beaten the three day deadline given by my wife. I could not imagine a Ute body in worse condition than the one now in my carport, we talked about it and how we might attack the project. The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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The three of us pushed Rusty out on to the nature strip and up to the top drive and into the carport
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Rusty is finally pushed into the garage in our back yard. The rest of the Day was Easter as usual.
The following weekend I removed the boards in the tray area and attempted to clean up the mess so we could get a look at Rusty. The photo below shows the boards and strips plus the spare floor and two tail gates that came with the car.
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The photo below shows the rear section that seems to have been used to bash into trees or something similar. My initial thoughts were to cut both rear ends out and try to replace them with other corners found elsewhere. But they were extremely hard to get and I eventually just grabbed a large hammer and went for it.
One of the first things I did was to reinstate part of the spare tyre compartment that had been cut out by someone else. We had located a wreck and cut out the part needed.
We then matched up the piece needed by lining it up with the existing cut and drawing across the loose piece with a marker pen. It was then trimmed and edges cleaned, then clamped on ready for welding. There are tabs on both ends that needed welding on; they give the structure strength so should be left on. The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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This picture below shows what was a petrol tank at some point but now it is more like a bucket, plenty of malley dust was taken out of the nooks & crannies around the car including the petrol tank. Until I took the boards out from the loading bay area I thought I had a petrol tank! I thought I could find another one, but these Ute tanks are another rare find.
Some other photos below indicate the extent of the rust & the reason it was named Rusty. The strips on each side of the load tray were unusable, and I resigned myself to get a new pair cut. The remains of these existing strips were carefully cut away to be used as a template.
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The main areas of rust were in the cabin floor, especially on the driver’s side. I knew I could get replacement floor pans and sills etc from rare spares so I was not too worried about it.
Shots below are showing a close up of the front floor rust
These photos below show the RHS rear cabin floor and front section of RHS rear quarter panel, or what is left of it.
Not at all sure how to tackle this part of the body, too much metal missing and no repair panels available to my knowledge. I guessed I would have to fabricate a panel out of sheet metal, although I did try and find replacement rear quarter panels. Basically they were not available. The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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This side on shot shows how extensive the rust was on the driver’s side.
We had to cut the tank out as all screws & bolts were well and truly rusted on
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The right hand rear wheel arch was a bit 50/50, i.e. %50 rust & %50 missing!
Having cut the petrol tank out I kept going with the angle grinder and cut out the front floor pan. The cross members were full of malley dust and when that was vacuumed out we discovered “more rust” of course.
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The rear floor section was next to be cut out, since we had a spare rear floor that looked reasonable it seemed like a no brainer.
Just as well there is a chassis in the Ute; if it was a sedan I would have 2 halves by now! That reminds me I must mow the back lawn soon.
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The spare floor section that came with Rusty looked solid enough. The next step was to cut a hole suitable to fit it in.
I marked out the appropriate cuts on the side of the car and proceeded to cut them out.
Well it is in there, but there was still a lot of work to do, rusty bits in the floor section have reviled themselves The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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Our club had a combined club run to Daylesford and MT Franklyn for a BBQ where I mentioned that I needed 2 Ute doors for Rusty. Bob from Ballarat offered to sell me 2 doors and some other parts as well so I took the offer and ended up with the parts below for the princely sum of $150. Thanks Bob
The doors were not FJ at all; they ended up being FX Ute doors, so I needed to change over the quarter vents. The three guards he provided were in need of repair, the RHS guard needed what I call a cut & paste operation, (cut out The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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the rust and paste or weld in some new metal). I cut and pasted bits from 2 LHS guards to make one good one, one cut was quite a big one as can be seen in the photo below.
Both LHS guards had rust in various places, one had rust at the front and the other had at the rear and bottom. It was a matter of cutting them down the middle and joining them up, easier said than done, but with some accurate measurements we were able to line up both halves fairly well and weld them into one good usable guard. After tacking we tried the guard on the body to check for size & alignment. It seemed ok so we welded up the join. The photo below shows a bonnet which was sold to me by a friend in the club (Tristan) for $20. It also had some rust that needed cut & paste work.
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Before using the driver’s side guard I decided to try some panel beating on the guard that came with Rusty. It ended up being a reasonable panel but we did not use it after all. The Ballarat guard was better, straighter, less rust etc.
The bonnet had been leaning in the mud against a shed and the ends had rusted away, more cut & paste done as can be seen below. I could not see it at the time but there was quite a lot of work to do on the bonnet, there were dents, highs and lows all over it and the reinforcing bow under the bonnet needed taking off and re welding to firm it up. The joints at the front of the bonnet also needed re welding to firm up the bonnet.
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The LHS rear corner looked at me one morning and said beat me, so I cut away the inner panel to gain access to give it a good beating.
There are spot welds at the Top and bottom of the inner panel as well as down the rear were the tail gate closes. I drilled the spot welds out and cut across the bottom to remove the panel. I was informed there is a special drill for spot welds that will help by only drilling through one layer of sheet metal. I tried one which did the job.
Once we got the shape right we had some welding at the top to join up a tear, but it ended up OK. I found a cheap set of panel beaters hammers and dollies at super cheap, some of the dollies are in the photo above; these were good value as the project progressed. The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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I could not believe it, it looked reasonably straight. I found that I could leave it for a day or two then have another go; section by section was progressively better.
I had to try the tail gate in the space to get the gap right so that things were square and true; we did measurements along the top of each side and diagonally across the top to check. With dents on both sides it was logical that the corners would be pushed in toward each other. It did need some adjustment both outwards and backwards which was achieved with a jack and a piece of pipe. The end result was a tailgate that fitted and one corner done.
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I then decided to attack the tail gates to see what we had, so the skins had to come off, so I skinned them!
Having got the skins off I chose the best of them and went with that one. They were both pretty bad though.
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So this was the better one, a nasty piece of rust with steal attached, anyway it was the better one. I sat it in the space provided to take a photo. All the moving parts and screws were sprayed and eventually freed up.
Of course the bottom was in the worst condition as can be seen from the close up photos below. The whole bottom bit needed rebuilding, so we did more cut & paste: one section at a time was replaced so that the measurements would stay the same.
While I had the welder out I replaced the hinge areas and welded on nuts for some new bolts. I also strengthened the middle and top section of the tailgate with some spare steel that was lying around the garage. I think that is a good idea as people tend to stand on these things as well as use them to lever up a load instead of dropping the tailgate down fully.
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I had to straighten out about fifty years of such abuse on the old tailgate and there was not much strength left in the old reinforcement structure. Note the new steel reinforcement joins both hinge areas together making a solid structure. The top section is 1 inch square with some angle gal in the centre bit, where the opening mechanism is mounted.
The inside surface took a lot of panel beating and working with a wire brush on a drill to get it to a suitable standard and finish, but we got there. It’s not perfectly straight but it is a lot better and quite serviceable. The inside surface was treated, etch primed & undercoated. More paint was applied to this surface since it was expected to take some abuse.
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Rusty tailgate hinge bolts don’t come out so I cut the sheet metal off to reveal the framework behind.
The framework itself is then cut out and put in a vice so that the square nuts can be removed.
New square nuts are then fitted into the framework and secured by tightening the tabs with a hammer.
The framework is placed back in the spot it came from, take care to get them up the right way, then weld them in and grind off the excess weld.
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The last step is to weld the skin back on and grind off the excess weld.
A similar process was used to repair the nuts on the door hinges: there are three screws on each door hinge and although the middle hinge nut is accessible from behind the outside ones are not and must be cut out. The cuts can be made behind the hinge and therefore are hidden. In my case someone had cut away the whole LHS pillar to get the old hinge out so some repair was needed. The door stop baffle also bolts onto the bulk head, but the anchor point had rusted away, so new ones were manufactured and welded in as can be seen in the centre of the photo below. Spare hinge screws were hard to find, I could get new ones but they only had Allen key heads. Fortunately Dale (club member) had some spares, thanks Dale, they look original.
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I used some of the off cuts from the front guard to reconstruct the RHS rear wheel arch, however when we did Tristan’s rear wheel aches we used a sedan rear quarter panel, the curve is the same as the Ute; I would recommend using a sedan rear guard if possible as it worked well and went right around the arch.
We ended up taking the whole quarter panel off so we could reconstruct the inner wheel arch panel and straighten out the outer skin. This inner wheel arch area needed reconstructing. It looked as though the driver’s side needed the most work; the passenger side was done without taking it off. At this point I did manage to track down a RHS rear quarter panel but given the success I had beating the LHS I decided to keep going myself; besides, the RHS quarter panel on offer only came back to themed point on the wheel arch. The shape of the wheel arch was done by taking a cardboard tracing from the passenger side arch and modelling the driver’s side arch from the cardboard. The curve at the front of the arch where the stone rubber goes was replaced by using a cut out from a wreck found in a creek bed. Only the RHS was usable though so I had to manufacture one for the LHS.
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The Inner RHS wheel arch had to be remanufactured; I had bought a sheet of cold rolled steel to cut panels out of, but could only get 1.5 mm which was hard to beat, the second sheet purchased was 1mm.
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With the repairs done we placed the skin back just sitting there temporarily until we can weld it on.
A front nose cone and stone tray were found, but needed repair. I had to use 2 stone guards to make one good one.
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OK, so now I decided to scrape some panels and paint them, the bonnet may have been first, I can’t remember; being a big panel I had some lunch on the job.
The Ballarat Driver’s side guard, did not look too bad with some repairs done and undercoat applied
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The nose cone needed repairs, but straightened out OK; this was not the panel that came with the Ute
Bonnet looked reasonable to at this stage, it wasn’t though; It needed much more filler added.
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LHS front guard with the paint stripped off, flash rust exposed, but soon dealt with, a lot of filler was added to that join.
I used a wire brush on a drill to do most of the panel preparation; that drill is now worn out but it did a good job at getting surface rust off and was cheaper than blasting. Panels were done this way then treated with Dioxadine.
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Undercoated panels were placed back on the car for a photo then taken inside the house for storage.
They seem to line up OK just sitting there; it felt good to see Rusty looking a bit like a car again.
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I fitted the doors on for size, not bad, they were FX doors which are the same except for the quarter vents.
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Next we dismantled the front. All panels done so far were now stored in my cellar, note our cat bobby checking things out.
Rusty looks a bit sad again, beaver panels were repaired with sheet metal rather than using rare spares panels.
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I had a spare set of skirts which was just as well because the driver’s side front sub frame was rusted and needed replacing. Instead I just used the other skirt and changed over the chassis number plate and rear flange. I had to rebuild/change over the clutch and brake pedal assembly, not to mention replacing the lower front triangle sections.
I scraped off the surface rust using the same old drill and a new wire brush. Cut & paste repairs needed at the front.
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We had discovered this KCB in the paint shop, it is dear but you treat the metal with rust blast the paint this stuff on with a brush. It goes a long way and comes up with a good finish.
We put the same stuff on the steering and running gear
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When you are onto a good thing stick to it, Rear axle received the same treatment.
Not much spare room on our patio with all these bits scattered about.
We used this area to put the front end together and also to assemble the reconditioned motor for the sedan.
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The Firewall and cowl were stripped and a fatigue crack in the centre repaired. It was caused by a bolt hole drilled to hold a radio. Over the years this caused some stress that produced a crack. I welded a bolt in the hole so that if a radio mount was needed again it was there, but not visible in the engine bay.
The crack is shown here in close up; it also shows a dent that had to be removed along the bonnet rest.
Colour of the paint was written underneath in French chalk (Cockatoo Cream)
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KCB was added to the firewall where the battery and front skirts attached to the body.
Filler, undercoat and putty were applied
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The firewall was sanded back then more undercoat applied before a few top coats and then sanded with 1500 wet & dry and finally a buff, by hand.
The dash was next, RHS shows repairs done on the front, foot rest part of the passenger floor pan.
Both side panels needed new metal added at the bottom.
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The dash and front cowl were stripped back to bare metal and rust sanded off; the Vent hinges were rusted solid and it took months to treat them and free them up. I had to repair the vent space below the vent also as it would not hold water, and if left as it was would soak the cabin. The front foot rest area of the cabin was also repaired and treated at the same time. Repairs were needed on the passenger side, plus new metal added to both side panels. The dash & cowl metal was treated and painted along with the vent.
At this point I thought it was time to buy some rust repair panels from Rare Spares, we bought LHS & RHS floor pans, inner & outer sills, the inner sills come as two parts, (front & Rear)., and left & Right cross members. These goodies cost about $650. When they arrived we started to plan a course of action to put them in
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LHS floor section temporarily in position; I found that I had to weld in some darts in the pan to get the right shape.
A spare rear floor came with Rusty, although it looked ok at the time, when the dirt and paint and surface rust was scraped off I discovered it needed some extensive repair. Seat mounts were replaced and numerous patches welded in.
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The rear (vertical section) of the floor that links up with the cabin wall has supports that apparently rust out. Mine did; but we had enough good parts to replace the rusty ones.
The spot welds were drilled out and the old support removed, it was full of dried mud, so I decided to include a drain hole at the bottom so they could be flushed out.
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Once all the patchwork was done the remaining surface rust was scrapped off with a wire brush on a drill and treated with rust blast then coated with KCB
It takes 6 hrs for this coating to dry, both sides were done which saves painting upside down later. Gloves are needed as if it gets on your skin it takes weeks to come off.
When the paint was dry I welded the section into the cabin. The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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With the rear floor of the cabin in more of the rust panels were fitted, the inner & outer sills, front floor pans and cross members were temporarily fitted.
The cross members were welded to the transmission tunnel however there was rust to cut out and repair on each side of the transmission tunnel.
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After some time, trial and error prevailed and we ended up with a new floor, sills and cross members, would have been easier if it was done LHS then RHS. Next time I think I would do this work one side at a time thus retaining the positioning and geometry of the original panels, but when you have an angle grinder in your hand you don’t like to leave the job half done.
After the KCB treatment the underneath was coated with White Knight red Oxide, the flash made it look orange.
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This shot shows the dash painted with the floor in and the steering column, gear stick, dash etc installed
Some parts can be sent away for others to do, I had some chrome work to be done and seats to be recovered. The grill was one of those parts picked up from Ballarat; it needed chroming along with a bumper and overriders that I had in the shed.
The Sharks teeth on the grill were blistered and ugly, Allan a contact from the State Titles helped me out with some replacements, and thanks Allan they look great. The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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Seats could also be done by someone else
I had 2 seats, one that came with Rusty and the other was given to me by Dale, thanks Dale. I only needed one and Tristan needed one so we got both seats restored together. Local trimmer Adrian at Dantrim did the seats for us.
Mine is the red one.
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After painting the firewall, cowl and dash, the front running gear was assembled and added to the body thus enabling the whole thing to be rolled out of the shed again. I wanted to try these panels to check that all was well.
The bonnet and guards were added just to check they would fit.
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Once the dash was painted the gauges were fitted, I know the rings aren’t standard but if you have them you may as well use them. Two wheels were painted to take 2 new tyres that were given to me for my birthday. I had two new tyres from my sedan which had just had 4 new tyres fitted as part of a makeover. That sedan makeover included reconditioning the original engine. The spare engine that came out of the sedan went into the Ute.
Both doors were fitted and a wiring loom was then purchased and installed. Body deadener added to the cabin floor and underfelt and carpet were added to the cabin side of the firewall. I was told to use two layers of underfelt; we ended up using two layers right back to the rear of the cabin. We also put underfelt on the rear cabin wall. The steering wheel was sanded back and painted with many coats of KCB.
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It was hard to find a petrol tank for the Ute so I utilised a sedan tank we had under the house. The filler neck had to be swapped diagonally so it was in the right position for the Ute and the UTE neck changed over.
Metal sheet was cut to insert onto the insides of the tray area, one sheet did both my Ute and Tristan’s Ute. You will notice that the inside corner panel is now reattached to the body. The outer skin from the driver’s side quarter panel was also welded back on.
Side strips were made up by the local sheet metal works using the originals as a template and then welded in. They were thicker than the usual 1 mm thickness: I had them use Galvanised metal so that it would not rust. That meant grinding the Gal off where the metal was welded to the body. The Rescue of Rusty the Ute
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I had to make a cover for the filler neck on the tank as they are hard to come by now. This is the second attempt it was better to do this with the side strip on. I decided to screw it on using self tappers, making it easier to take it off again when removing the petrol tank. The petrol tank is easier to remove and install with this cover off.
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Those wheel arch covers took a lot of beating to straighten them out; the load area in general was in a poor state.
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The load area, finally painted, I had the boards made up from the old ones by a local hardware store for a cost of $120. Adrian had given me the metal strips that hold the wood in place, mine were unusable.
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A makeover on my sedan included installing the original motor which had been reconditioned. The motor that cam out of the sedan went into the Ute.
An old air cleaner given to me by Adrian was given the business and looks %100 better. We used KCB again to finish it off; it is UV sensitive but should be OK for engine bits.
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Bonnet hinges were picked up from being plated and installed along with the compliance plate, rubber kit & warning plate.
A Decka calcium 6 volt battery was selected and installed; we modified the battery holder to accommodate the battery in a sideways position by moving the coil over a bit. No new holes were needed due to the slots on the coil.
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An exhaust system was purchased for about $320 and installed
The engine is going at this stage, radiator was recored
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Son in law Hayden had fun driving Rusty out of the shed, in fact we all did. Duel horns were fitted by then along with the RVB relay seen on the firewall, above the battery.
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I spent a few days preparing the roof and took a few photos so we could remember where the dents were.
I stripped the doors at this point as well as the roof.
Primer undercoat & guide coat were applied
Final sand before applying a top coat, 2 or 3 pots, I can’t remember
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I sanded the roof back with 1500 wet & dry to get all the orange peel out before buffing it.
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Started work on the driver’s side front guard
Finished it with one full pot of paint; put extra coats on the top section as I thought I would be polishing that bit more than anything else.
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Driver’s side door needed some rust repair on the bottom front corner, so I cut it out and put in a patch. Filler was then applied to the door and sanded.
A bit of shade is welcome on a hot day
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This photo shows the driver’s side rear quarter panel with all holes repaired and preparing to bog.
Same for the passenger side, not as much metal added to this side but still quite a few hours spent beating the dents out.
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Filler applied and rough sanded before applying more; this process was repeated many times.
Same process for the passenger side
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Primer undercoat applied then a guide coat.
Same on the other side
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Rear as well.
The process of applying filler & putty and guide coats was repeated until we got it right.
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What can I say but keep on keeping on, it took quite some time
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At last, a top coat was applied. I used 2 pots each side & one at the rear, I think.
We just taped up the rubber fuel filler surround, it’s new and soon bounces back.
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After a day or two I gave it a sand & a buff
Quite pleased with the result
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I had already painted the wheels, so I decided to put them on, I think it made a big difference.
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At this point I put on the D light
The boards & rails were laid inside the load area to see what the whole thing would look like, I could hardly wait to see it finished.
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I decided to cut up an old FX rear bumper to make a set of bumpettes that I had seen on another Ute.
It took some trial and error to get the bracket angle sorted out. I needed to position the overrider so that the tailgate would still open down to a rubber stop.
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We finally got it all sorted but it took me all day. When it was all done they were dropped in to get chromed.
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Passenger guard was next; this was the guard with the join in the middle.
Then the bonnet; we sanded it back to see what needed doing
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We discovered a low spot, which took quite a lot of filler. I did not expect that but there it is, it was already painted underneath, all I could do was fill it.
After a guide coat we sanded and added some putty
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Then another guide coat
Sanded and another guide coat, and another sand then a top coat or two
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The car is starting to look like a car again
Here is the other side, it looks so different!
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I thought I would add some chrome and some lights next
Yes, we have lights!
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Floor and then seats were next
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Roof lining was bought over the internet and did a great job
I put in the sun visors to help keep some tension on the vinyl until I could trim and glue the front on.
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Reflectors went on next
I installed a voltage doubler to run the radio and a power plug.
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I put on the bonnet mascot; I had originally filled the holes for the mascot, but changed my mind and drilled them again after painting the bonnet.
Door trims were made & installed. I used 3 ply as it is stronger and more water proof
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After the glass was installed the sun visor was next, I had painted this some time ago.
We got the bumpettes back from the chrome works, look great, well worth doing
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Indicators installed front & rear plus an extra D light
We bought 30 marine grade stainless steel bolts for about $20, they won’t rust on!
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We were ready for a permit then, I purchased a one month permit so I could get a roadworthy. The gearbox needed changing as I found out. We did that one week end then booked it in for a roadworthy. It passed and the following day I went to Vic roads and purchased a club rego. I had the club paperwork organised prior to this so there was no hold ups. Low and behold we are now driving the thing.
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