Hey Ed, good work there! It's coming along well. I cheated with the rusty bits at where the sill meets the firewall and bought the kit off Wayne (Automotive Panel Craft). They're bloody well made I must say.

Keep it up!

Cheers Shoota,

I contemplated Wayne's panels but since I had to replace alot more figured I could fab up the area at the same time. Where the floor meets the kick panel area wasn't too bad and is next on the list with a replacement floor. I will make one up to match the passenger side now.

slowly crossing jobs off the "to do " list.

need to get cracking on the tub next *groan*

Cheers

Ed

I know what you mean about the tub, mines rooted! I may have come up with a cheap fix though. We had some old stock Ford Courier corrugated plastic tubliners (same as piccy below)that spare parts were going to through out. Rather than intensive panel repair I might just seal the floor of the tub to prevent any rust then trim the tubliner to suit the floor. Might work, might not, cost nothing so worth a try! I got two so if I stuff one I've still got another one!

I have thought about cheap versus good and figured I will spend the time to do it right.

The rust in these cars I have worked out it caused by deterioration of seam sealer and leaking seams.

the water gets in behind the outer panels and effectively rusts from the inside out.

the previous owner of my ute has done the quarter repairs but neglected to finish the job properly, leaving a small home open at the top behind the pillar vent... the result was major rust in a very short time.. which negated all his hard work!

what has this got to do with the tub?

The seams around the edges are probably cactus and leaky already with rust. A quick fix wont address this problem.

water will enter between the tub liner and eventually work it's way thru the seams and behind all those nice new sill areas you have painstakingly rebuilt.

so..

I am planning to replace the seam from tub to cabin with a piece of RHS... this will get rid of the rust and allow me to put in anchor points for cargo.

the wheel tubs will either be rebuilt or fabbed from scratch.

the tub edges will be re-built.

a big job but I think it's necessary for longevity.. for me.. (oops my stepson) and whoever may own this ute in the future (nothing is forever).

actually I have already told my step son I have first dibs on the ute and I want to put a CA18det in it...


Cheers

Ed

nice build, next course for me, panel restos i think.

yeah they do all seem to rust from crappy seam sealing. i can also see why some people seam weld them now too.

Hey Unfamilia,

Just have a go, and practice, practice.
that's how I got started, have no formal training, don't even work in the industry.
My first car project took 10 years, and I was lucky enough to win a few trophies with it.. don't get me wrong.. Im no trophy hunter, but it's a nice feeling.



Shoota,

I have found a product which looks decent and is called "UPol Raptor",, It's spray on bedliner which looks quite sturdy. I may try it out on my rodeo and also the Datsun.

IF you do short cut I was thinking try encapsulate any rust using POR15 or similar then spray on this stuff.

Cheers

Ed

A couple more progress shots.
Got the drovers side floor done and outer sill.

got to do some of the tub before I close up the quarter.. joy oh joy... I'm probably almost half way.

still deciding if I should make new wheel tubs or not... prob easier than fixing them.





new floor



new floor and sill



to fix or re-fab.. im thinking refab may be easier.



cheers Ed

this is some really good workmanship mate

go new- the stock ones look terible, especially with all that rust in them

thanks ZigZag

Unfamilia,

I will remove the wheel guards and see. They are saveable as a strip would just need to be welded in on the lower edge, the rest of them are quite OK. This amount of work would probably be the same as making some up tho.

Last night I decide to start to see the extent of the rust in the tray.
started with removing previous repairs from the cab wall to tray floor area.. it was sheeted up and bogged up. the welds just broke away and I blasted the rest away with a plasma cutter.




the plan is to repair the tray floor and add a box section to the lower cab wall, so I dont need to replicate the stamping on the wall.




I've also got more pics etc on my facebook if anybody is interested.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?se ... 75.692052431&l=b8d574a452

Cheers

Ed