Some more rust gone

Have been working a lot on other projects lately, but did get a little more rust off last night. It's starting to look more like something that will see the road again and less like a rust bucket! I have been stripping the paint and rust off and down to bare metal. There are still several dents that I need to massage out. The passengers side front corner will be replaced as it is mangled up pretty good. The extra cab I have has a decent corner that I will cut and weld into place. I am really wishing I had a plasma cutter for this, but can still manage with the tools I have now.

A little more done today

Not much, but it is a little progress. Had to run out to pick up an air angle grinder today and trips into town from out here usually are an all day event for us.

Got a little more sanded and a lot of surface rust taken off. I decided to throw a little primer on it to keep the rust away. I am glad that the metal is not all pitted under the rust.

I will have some body work to do on it after I get the paint and rust stripped down. The passengers side front corner is pretty mangled up, so I am debating on cutting the front corner out of the other cab and welding it into place. That would be the right thing to do, so I am thinking I am going to tackle that when I get all of the rust off of the body.

The frame is in real good shape on it. The engine looks like it is 53 years old, but is pretty clean. Not coated in oil like most of the other cars I buy. :) It looks like it will clean up real well with minimal efforts. The transmission and transfer case are both in the same condition. There are pine needles down in the crevasses of the transfer case and transmission that I couldn't get with the shop vac, so next time I pull it outside with the fork lift, I will blow it out with compressed air and get it ready to clean up with engine degreaser and a good scouring before paint.

Over the next week or so, it will be sand, sand, sand. Picked up a sand blaster the other day also to get the hard to reach areas and to get down in between the body lines.

Plan on putting a full day in tomorrow, so should have a lot more bare, rust free metal tomorrow about this time or later.

Keep checking back!

First post

Here is yet another project that I am going to be putting some time into. It is a 1957 Jeep FC 150. They are real cool little trucks that were only manufactured in the US for 9 years. The 1957's were a short wheelbase and narrow as they were built on the CJ5 frame. (in 1958, they were widened and lengthened to be a little more safe)

I had a diesel generator that I had put on Craigslist to see if someone was interested in trading for a classic car/truck project. Will, from Iron Range area of Minnesota emailed me and told me he had this one. I found one online before winter and really wanted one, but it sold real quick, so all my hopes and dreams were crushed. When Will emailed me and told me he had one, I wanted it, no matter what shape or condition it was in.

It came with a snow plow and an extra cab that I am going to pull parts off of as needed. The extra cab is pretty rusty and it would take a lot of work to get it back to usable condition. The cab that is on the truck is pretty rusty, but it is mostly surface rust. There are a few spots that will need patch panels welded in, but nothing that is too serious. I have worked cars that were in a lot worse condition than this and they turned out real good.

After removing the extra cab and snow plow from the wooden bed of the truck, we pulled the wood bed off and got some sanding done. I figure I have about 20 hours or so of sanding to get the whole cab down to bare metal and ready for patch panels to be welded in and the dents to be worked out with little to no bondo. (you know...the right way to do it).

Here are a few pictures of it the first day. I forgot my camera last night, but pretty much have the front of the cab down to bare metal.

The engine is supposed to run, but the fuel tank (that was mounted onto the back of the cab!) was rusted pretty bad, so I pulled it and will be replacing with an aluminum beer keg that will be mounted to the frame behind the cab (think: semi fuel tank). I do plan on rebuilding the carb before trying to start it. Everything in the engine compartment looks to be in decent condition.

I am guessing that I will have it in driving condition within about a month of working on it. Need to replace brakes, some glass (expensive) and finish getting the bodywork done and in primer.

This is going to be a project that I will be working on along side of the 1975 Jeep CJ5 and the motorhome.

Keep checking back!