Seems like rust is a theme this year. The Toyota has been parked for nearly three years while I rebuilt the engine. Ever since I got the truck running again I have been dreading the state inspection. The truck is now 21 years old. Winter salt has done a job on it. But I was determined to resurrect the thing and get it on the road again. So I had to make an effort to clean it up a bit underneath
This gives you an idea of what 21 years of winter salt does to cars here in Maine.
So after pecking away at it for a about six weeks with a welder's hammer,
steel brushes, grinding wheels and other assorted implements of
destruction . . .
. . . and making multiple piles of rust like this one . . .
and filling a 5 gallon bucket with rust
. . . and coating it with Rust-Prep
. . . I get it looking somewhat better. New gas shocks were installed.
No, I am not done yet.
The rear axle, brake lines and related brackets got disassembled, cleaned of rust, hit with Rust Prep and two coats of Pettit Marine Trailercoat, a moisture cure paint. New gas shocks and brake pads went on all around. New shocks got coated with 3M rubberized undercoating before installing.
Rebuilt a broken exhaust hanger
Made a new tail pipe and hanger out of a suitable bend of old stainless pool stair tubing I had saved in my junk pile.
Snappy looking tail pipe.
The home made bumper got a new coat of Pettit Trailer Coat as well
The aluminum wheels were looking rather sorry as well
So I hit them with paint remover to take off the old damaged clear coat. After that it took about four hours of elbow grease per wheel with steel brushes on the drill to get them clean.
Mask off and re spray with gray self etching primer and new clear coat
Looks a lot better now, repeat entire process X five.
Then I took it for the state motor vehicle inspection and it did not pass.
New front sway bar bushings were required, so I installed new sway bar bushings and end link kit. Repaired a minor exhaust leak and a minor tightening of the front driver's side wheel bearing.
So on Monday 10/26 I took it back for a second go at the state inspection and nearly three years after I blew the head gasket on the truck it is now fully legal again.
The resurrection has been sanctioned and approved by the powers that be.
You must be a glutton for punishment; that's a LOT of work!
ReplyDeleteYea Gorges, I've been called worse. LOL. But success does provide satisfaction as well.
DeleteIt's nice that you have the talent and determination. Most people don't know how to fix anything anymore.
DeleteGorges, Most of the time I was so broke I did not have a choice, if I wanted something fixed I had to figure it out and do it my self or I'd bee walking otherwise. I could not really justify paying someone to do it. I don't know that I could have hired anyone to do this sort of job. And hiring someone to rebuild the engine would have surpassed the value of the truck. In the end I enjoyed bringing it back to life.
DeleteWe are still having very high humidity here, which is unusual for late October in the mountains. Rust is an issue because of that , I'm running dehumidifiers when usually by now I am running humidifiers.
ReplyDeleteHi Harry, here they use salt as well as a calcium chloride solution on the roads in winter and it just raises hell with the cars. Its hard to find a ten year old car that is not rusted through. Hope all is well down in GA. Haven't seen a post from you a a bit now.
Delete¡Halleluja! ...sang the resurrected. Good job Mike, as usual. May be you could have sprayed the undersaides with oil at the time of parking it.
ReplyDeleteHey Doug, it was already too rusted to just spray it. The rust had already set in way before that. The rust treatment I did this time should hold for a while. I have a product called Corrosion X I am still going to coat it with underneath. Its a wax and lanolin combination that is supposed to work well.
DeleteI don't miss the rust. I have an 86 Nissan....just a smidge of rust! However, when I lived in the County I had an 87 pathfinder. The holes in the floorboards above the exhaust kept my feet warm in the winter.
ReplyDeleteHey Mark, haven't heard from you in a dogs age. Rust, as you well know is just part of living in Maine. All us PWT types always drive rust buckets until we get smart and move away to somewhere they don't spray salt on the roads like you did. Twenty five years ago I had an old International Scout like that Pathfinder of yours, eventually the body rotted off and she lost 2ond gear so it wound up at the Allen Range road junkyard. Unfortunately unlike most locals I didn't have a buddy whom I could trade a sticker for a bottle of booze and keep the rust bucket on the road.
DeleteHi Mike, good job, I'm sure glad we don't have State inspections. What I do like is, when you turn 65, you get free lifetime registration. That saves a lot of money. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteHi John, here in Maine those of us who drive old cars always have to sweat inspection time. If the vehicle is 25 years old you can register it as an antique and then you don't need to have an inspection but you are limited to driving it less than five thousand miles a year. Unfortunately this truck is not yet old enough as that would be OK for me because I am unlikely to put more than a couple thousand on it a year. The only ones that get free registrations here in Maine are veterans.
DeleteThat's awesome. Simply Awesome. My brother is a top-notch mechanic, but I don't think I'd ever try to tackle something like that on my own.
ReplyDeleteKudos!
Yea I was very exited when it finally passed inspection after working on and off on it for three years. Took a lot of work to get it done, but it sure felt good when I got there. The key to success was having the Dakota as an alternative, so the pressure to get the Toyota done was off my shoulders and I was able to walk away from it when I came to an impasse. The first half of the saga was even more monumental. Here it is in full color:
Deletehttp://isserfiq.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-infernal-combusted-engine-lives.html