81 replies to this topic

[dirtbag]

Well I'm going to post a little story on the build up of this one tonner I'm going to build for one of my long time friends.

It's had some interesting repairs over the years but nothing that isn't normal for a tonner.

It's going to get a smooth chassis, flat firewall, smooth inner guards, shaved door handles (already done but need fixing), smoothed rain gutters, custom tray, 2 bonnets - one with a hole for a bug catcher and one without, but they'll both have flat undersides for a totally smooth look. It has a 308 and 4 speed and will run 17x8 Boyd Coddington Smoothies.




There's a lot of work to do in here before it can be called sexy : )



These plates that have been added to the chassis will be cut off and redone to smooth this section out.



The rear of the cab has had a section added to provide more room inside. Unfortunately when it was welded in it buckled so badly it's not worth trying to fix. I'll end up removing the whole rear panel from below the rear window and replace it.
All the holes in the chassis have to be welded up too. I am a glutton for punishment, but it will look awesome when it's done.



Here's Pete and his tonner. I don't know exactly how long he's had it, but it would be in the 10 year range, probably more.



Let the fun begin!!!!!

Because I'm going to cut the rear of the cab off, it wasn't worth stripping the paint off, but the rest of it is pretty much gone now.



Some of the little rust bits.











And then it was covered in the usual layer of rust converter.



This is going to be a fairly long term project so progress wont be particularly fast. I still have to strip back both the bonnets and all the inner surfaces, but this is a good start. Should be a fun one. I'll be painting this car, as I wasn't 100% happy with the finish on my brothers hatch. Plus, that was the first time I built a car and didn't paint it. It just didn't feel right.

[MRLXSS]

Excellent! I love tonners!

[dirtbag]

Looks like an awesome project. What do you use for stripping paint off exactly?

Hi Mick. I use a 2 speed sander/buffer with 24 grit sanding discs to remove paint.

[Struggler]

Hey DB, while your playing with the chassis step the rails in and gain some tyre room !!

Here is how its done (scroll about 2/3's of the way down)..... http://www.mcdonaldb...kprojects1.html

[dirtbag]

Yeah Andrew I love their stuff, but if I did that it would NEVER get rego in Qld. They're really strict about commercial vehicles since they got the shits with all the lolux boys and their dodgy 4 link/airbag set ups. Plus it's only getting 8's on it, which will look good for a tidy street car.
How's the UC going?

[Struggler]

Yeah Andrew I love their stuff, but if I did that it would NEVER get rego in Qld. They're really strict about commercial vehicles since they got the shits with all the lolux boys and their dodgy 4 link/airbag set ups. Plus it's only getting 8's on it, which will look good for a tidy street car.
How's the UC going?

Don't bother with the 4 link etc. Just narrow the chassis as they did (it would be almost impossible to spot, shorten the diff housing and original cross members etc and run with it !

I hope to get some colour on the UC in the next week or 2. Will update my thread soon.

[dirtbag]

The one tonners chassis are the the only ones with that big triangle gusset in them too, just behind the cab.

[dirtbag]

Well I did a bit more on the tonner last week. I went in on the saturday and primed all the bare metal bits. I had to paint the kombi and camaro bare metal anyway, so what's another car matter : )



You can see here that the door is fairly ordinary.



The panel at the back of the cab got welded in too hot and has buckled everything, so I'll cut this whole piece out from under the window and replace it.





Usual door rust. There is also a little bit in the sill but it's not visible in this pic. Still, not bad for a tonner.





OK, so I left it for a few days and when I came back I figured I'd better strip the bonnets. Yes, two of the bloody things : (

The bonnet on the car has about 16 layers of paint on it and it took AGES to strip back. Thanks Pete : )



After half an hour I had this -



Nearly an hour and I was sick of the bonnet already so I did a bit on the dash top. Found some rust there too, but nothing too unusual.





This bonnet has a fairly drastic dent in the front of it. Most of them do from where you push the bonnet down to close it, but I've never seen one this good : )



Here's the hour and forty minute mark.



Found this lovely repair (?) on the left side of the bonnet.



Finally : )



I also stripped around the windscreen, the rest of the dash top and around the left door frame.



There's a few little holes around the top of the windscreen, but nothing major.



Some more rust in the dash top.



I also stripped the paint from above the rear window.



Then I was lucky enough to start on the second bonnet.



It's not bad except it had a lot of surface rust spots under the paint and a few tiny rust holes.



Here it is all rust converted. I'll give this lot, the kombi and the camaro another lot of etch primer tomorrow to seal everything up. The kombi is getting stripped back at about the same rate as this so priming them together makes it a bit easier.



You can just see the kombi in the background. The cab is now totally stripped back and rust converted. I'm not going to worry about stripping the side panels as I'm going to make new ones from scratch.

[dirtbag]

Hey 2DR. Basically yes. Once I've applied the rust converter I let it dry overnight, then I dry sand it with 80-120 grit sandpaper to get all the loose stuff off and key the metal. Then I etch prime. It's good and simple and seems to work well. I've been doing it this way for a few years now with no dramas.