Sammy spruce up

Andy B · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 5:30 pm Post subject: Sammy spruce up

I've been meaning to give the old girl a spruce up for... oo.. about 3 years now? Embarassed

i was determined to get it done when i put a vit motor in at the end of last year, and it still didnt get done!

but ive finally pulled my finger out and made a start and even a dead line for the TOR do at KORC..

with paul mac starting his latest sammy offering (see http://forum.difflock.com/viewtopic.php?t=54643 ) and seeing how bad his heater matrix was, i though sod it, i'll go all out and get the interior stripped and do the same...

got the heater out and mine turned out to be 100 times worse!

i didn't expect it to be that bad as it still gave a fair bit of heat out... so, check your heaters folks!

also the drain for the top vent was rather blocked... Confused

so at least thats those bits sorted...

rear arches was the next job.. another thing iv been putting off.. turned out they were worse than i thought! they actually looked OK on the car.. just a little bit gone... not TOTALLY gone...

but nothing a bit of chopping and some hot glue wont fix though..

been a long whilse since ive done any suzuki body work, so im a little out of practice which wasnt helping the enthusiasm but came out ok i think Smile

the offside was a little worse than the nearside, and trickier what with the filler neck through it too... Confused

pulled that apart with my hands! not good..

after 4 and a half hours of graft, they looked a little better

left the rest for my lunch break tomorrow... joy..

so far KORC deadline's lookin' good Mr. Green

might even manage to get pauls sammy's floor al welded up whilst he's not looking at this rate Cool

so even if your arches look pretty good.. give them a decent prod with that screwy! better getting it early rather than too late! Wink

ScottieJ · Guest

Bloody hell only a little bit full of crap and rotten then! Laughing

tidy work on the rear arches mate!

oshimon · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 10:51 pm Post subject:

Andy, you sir are a brave man.

Taking the dash off an SJ................ *shudder*

And I reckon all those dry leaves are fitted at the factory for frost bite prevention.................

..........very cold, heater on for ages, catch fire, equals more heat...... and dripping molten plastic keeping your tootsies warm and toasty.

Simples.

Those Japs think of everything.

Simon 'more blue please' Owen.

gawxo · Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:55 pm Post subject:

I wondered who stole my leaves !!!!

You coming back for more in the autumn?

JP.

Andy B · Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:01 am Post subject:

cheers guys Wink

putting the dash back in is not on the looking forward to list thats for sure!

finished off the welding today! had a couple of days off whilst the girlfriend arrived back from a month away.. so back at it this afternoon!

n/s rear finished off first...

then the rest of the o/s rear chopped out ready..

the rearmost panel was a bit of a pain with the fuel filler going through it..

but i got lucky and managed to get it quite nicely!

gromit fits like a glove!!

bit of grinding to do then its body off so i can get it on its side and do the underneath and underseal the lot! then paint it all BLUE!! Mr. Green

might as well do it properly eh? i DO NOT want to be doing this job again 12months down the line... Confused

john, i have been looking forward to getting back to your site since i left the front gate the last time i was there! still my favourite site in the UK by far! (even if it is short a few leaves) Wink

Andy B · Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 6:21 pm Post subject:

managed to get a bit more done on the old sammy this past week.. not sure if anyones following, but hey, it might come in useful one day Wink

to anyone looking at welding up the floor, seriously consider taking the body off.. its not that bigger a job to get off to be honest.. (ok, so you need three people to lift it off the chassis, but it could be worse)

i welded up my floor about 3 years ago the first time.. and i ended up having to but out my old repairs and do it all again, simply because i couldnt get underneath to weld it both sides and give it a proper paint/underseal... i'll let the photos do the talking..

body off ready

the old repair around the outer middle body mount

bad bits chopped out, and back to good metal...

handful of hours, bit of metal, and a splash of hot glue...

its getting there..

90% of the way done for the passenger side.. just one more panel on the side, on with the panel sealer, , prime it up and then cover it in large amounts of underseal... hopefully it'll last a little longer than the last attempt

with the body off its so much easier to see how everything else is getting on!

fuel lines are past their best... but SO easy to renew with the body off! no swearing for me! be daft not to do the brake line at the same time..

thought the factory bias valve may have needed replacing too..

and just to end with some shiney bits - who'da thought that after a bit of a scrub and a lick of paint itd be back to its former glory Mr. Green

at least being a zook owner for the last 8 years prepared me for the amount of rust these things seem to acquire! gah...

4x4rick · Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 6:28 pm Post subject:

we are following Andy keep it up

R Cool

nugget · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:02 am Post subject:

We are watching Andy, also tell it's going to be another good 'un matey.
Keep on top fella, and keep us posted upto date.
Ste Nug. Wink

P.S. Need you to tidy up my leaf springs after i seen the pics of yours now Andy, brilliant job once again. Razz

Andy B · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 6:00 pm Post subject:

cheers guys Wink

have fun doing your springs steve - what a PITA of a job that was! i still have my rears to do... Confused

got a bit more done today Smile

not as much as i would have liked, but i can now say i have finished all the welding on the passenger side floorpan ad arches! Very Happy

the last poxy panel i neede to glue in

then i thought... i've always wanted a cubby box! suzukis are very much lacking in the way of cubby boxes... so a quick bit of bending and cutting and gluing and i had this:

managed to get it to follow the line of the arch OK....

drain hole in the bottom of it that uses the same size rubber bung as the front foot wells

welded it all up, and threw a tube of panel sealer at the offending areas!

bootiful!

now all i gotta do is do the same to the other side! Rolling Eyes

silver zuk · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 6:43 pm Post subject:

hope you used a etch primer before sealing it up sealer over bare steel will rust underneth in no time

Andy B · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 6:54 pm Post subject:

really? ah ******! Razz

was actually following instructions off the tube for once too! Rolling Eyes

anyone know the best way to get this stuff off now? haha!

silver zuk · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:00 pm Post subject:

use a heat gun and scraper you sould all ways put a etch primer on any bare metal your repairs will last so much longer

d86 · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:32 pm Post subject:

don't worryy to much andy..

if it's on good bare metal once dry you will be able to peel it off really easy.

the work method should read ( as said above).spray all bare metal with a light even coat of etch..( then we give it a light coat of arsol primer).

once dry seam seal.

simple... i bet it say's that in german on the tube.

tony Very Happy

( 3m now do a seam sealer that will take on bare metal..not nice to runny
good as a spray sealer).

silver zuk · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:10 pm Post subject:

you can leave it as is if you want but it WILL rust when ever we do rust work we use a brush on primer that can be welded through then once welding is done it gets another coat you can do it properley or listen to others the choice is yours. this is the primer you want

4x4rick · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:20 pm Post subject:

AndyVerran · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:34 pm Post subject:

great work!

i've got all the same bits to do on mine, looks like i need to learn to weld!

Andy B · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:39 pm Post subject:

been a while, and in the just under 2 months since i last posted, ive manaegd to get a bit of time to the suzuki Smile

(and run out of mig wire Rolling Eyes

)

so to cut a long story short:

cut out the off side rear footwell...

welded it up...

got annoyed about the piddly little bits of repairs work needed on the front seat mounts on the rear seats...

and as if by magic - this happened...

i always liked having rear seats.. they came in handy, and it was good for giving lifts, and having people in the back when off roading... BUT... i really wanted a winch in the back.. and most of the time people moaned that they had to get into the back THROUGH the back, so i gave in to bad inluences (read - paul mac) and did away with them... and actually got good money for the seats on ebay too which was nice..

anyway. i digress Mr. Green

much better...

after about a week of welding, grinding, scraping off the first lot of sealer, cleaning and priming i got this:

etch primer where the sealers going to go, regular grey primer on t'other bits

sealed up top

and down below

old tank off the LJ in the back, and room for a t-max compressor to be fitted in the compartment next to it, just needs a good painting up and a sheet of checker plate to make the firewall complete.

FINALLY! i can say the body it pretty much all sorted except for a tin of the shiny blue stuff up top, and a tin of the nasty black stuff for underneath Smile

now... just got to try and get it back on the chassis before i go to OZ on monday Rolling Eyes

Gouldy · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 6:32 pm Post subject:

Wow. Thats looking good Andy!

I feel more inspired about the body work I need to do on mine. Smile

Tramp · Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:36 pm Post subject:

keep up the good work it always inspires me when I see these threads! You've only done about a 1000 times more than I have in the last year and a half!

sj_dan · Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 9:08 pm Post subject:

what kind of a job is taking the body off? to weld up id like to do a similar job myself.

mudmenace · Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:01 am Post subject:

thats a awesome job you done there i like that cubby box idea alot cant wate to see the finished photos

ScottieJ · Guest

Kitesurf · Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:09 am Post subject:

Great job there Andy. It makes me wish I had taken the body off Shortass right from the start, however, wherever possible I have welded inside and out, primed and used panel seal/underseal.

sj_dan · Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:00 pm Post subject:

doesnt sound too hard, does the loom unclip and go out of the bulk head? i was thinkin about waiting till some1 locally had a floor pan, doin it all in the garage then swapping it over when im all done on the new pan and gettin rid of the old one.

Andy B · Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:23 pm Post subject:

Finally getting somewhere with this spruce up malarkey now! Smile

enough at least to revive the post..

just a few loose ends now realy.. all the major work seems to be over.. still need to finish the rear bumper.. but im getting there..

sick and tired of having to use the motorbike in this crappy weather!

front started to look like it should Smile

rear bumper about 70% complete.. just need a couple more things..

made a start on the dash re-fitting... heater matrix and bulkhead drain went in ok which was a nice surprise

then faced with this i was a little put off...

but surprisingly wasnt at all too bad... cant wait to experience heat when on the road again!

brand spankers new rad since i clogged the old one up at KORC...

front clip and bonnet now nicely on Smile

i am i happy bunny! Smile

just need to finish off the wiring under the bonnet now, rear shock mounts, anti wrap bar needs tweeking, fuel system, rear brakes, rear bumper, seats back in, turn key and hope for the best Mr. Green

Kitesurf · Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:53 pm Post subject:

Nice job there Andy. How about a shot of the inside now it has been painted? Very Happy

Chris D · Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:37 pm Post subject:

looking good andy Very Happy

petetong · Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 9:09 pm Post subject:

nice to an old sj face poping back up Wink

seem's along time ago now it was in TOR Cool

nice work andy..

Andy B · Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:38 pm Post subject:

cheers guys Smile

pleased with how its all coming along...

blimey... total off road was a good few years ago now! i seem to recall saying in that it wasnt getting any more modifications too.... especially not getting a winch... Silenced

interior is far from finished... half painted for now, needs another coat of blue, and black around the sides.

will be having some ply-wood storage bits up against the fuel tank bulkhead, which will have second battery in it along with a couple of other bits and bobs..

standard seat belts holes will have speakers in them - 3-point harnesses to be used instead, winch solenoid will be up by where the inner arch meets the 'roll hoop'

t-maxx air compressor next to the fuel tank in the back, hoping to get a fitting where the original fuel filler was so i can just hook it up to an air line there and go round the whole car if and when i need it Smile

probably a few other bits and pieces ive been thinking of, but slipped my mind right now..

got my front lights all wired up with new water-proof multi-plugs today along with bumper back on and grill etc...

looking a lot better now Very Happy

Andy B · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:01 pm Post subject:

more updates Smile

got my seats back in today! always a nice landmark to pass

fuel tank is sorted and plumbed in.. just need a couple of extra clips for the fuel lines, fuel sender is in and works as standard! rear speakers are sorted out, floor is all painted and finished, the only thing vexing me is my heater fan doesnt seem to want to work... not happy about that!

fuel lines all routed, with inline filter, and rear lights and fuel sender wiring coming in through the back on t'other side Smile

front seatbelt holes now to be used for speakers

which look a little like this Wink

getting there slowly but steadily