I hit the "frustration stage" today

[offroadkid]

I'm in love with our Patrol, we've only owned it since April 1 and it's my daily driver. I know it's not going to be perfect, (yet!) but I started to make adjustments after work today in attempt to close the gap between the front of driver's door and the windshield and started with the hinges on the windshield as recommended on the forum, then the latching clasp on the interior and it didn't make much difference, then I noticed the door wasn't really adjusted correctly, then I looked at the screwed on fender flares and my excitement to tinker with it kind of just went downhill from there!

I know many of you have spent a lot of time to get your rigs where they are at now, and some even have parts rigs to help.

The chassis and powertrain I believe will be the easier part to clean and rebuild/restore, it's the body that I wish was more perfect. Someone drilled into the body to install fender flares, the fronts I believe are just drilled up into the lip of the wheel well, but it seems the rear wheel well lips are gone like someone cut the opening a little bigger and they screwed into the side to attach the flares, (which are becoming mis-shaped).

I have great visions of taking the body off and setting it on the other side of the garage, prepping and painting or powder coating the frame, rebuilding and painting the power train, but when it comes to the body I just think "sheesh that's gonna take a lot of work to make it back to how it should be.

That's all, thanks for letting me vent!

[faux40]

We've all been there... regularly!

John

[RiverPatrol]

Way, way too soon to be at that stage. You need to back up to the infatuation stage and stay there a bit longer.

[moore_rb]

You need to back up to the infatuation stage and stay there a bit longer.

AGREE !

yeah, your rear fenders have been cut, but hey- that puts you in good company - it seems like 50% of the 60 Patrols still on the road have modified rear fenders...

They can be returned to original- any sheetmetal shop worth its salt can fab and stitch in a set of replacement wheel openings when it's time...

[faux40]

They can be returned to original- any sheetmetal shop worth its salt can fab and stitch in a set of replacement wheel openings when it's time...

Now for some metal porn... big time stuff too! I really, really want to take this guy's classes (they're even within 2-hours of home!). In this video, he shows how to make a fender flare -- the cut part of your fender (although for a different vehicle) -- from a piece of flat metal basically using an English wheel, a bead roller, a shrinker and stretcher. Trust me, only click on the links if you have 35 minutes to spare. It's fascinating... You'll think "I can do that!"

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=491K3bqJ_9M
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8K7RLT6BJY
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od9QeWsor6E

Here are more videos from his site:
http://www.lazzemetalshaping.com/index. ... t/cat5.htm

Like I said, I wanna take his classes... It's just that needing a second mortgage to pay for it! But, boy oh boy would it be cool!

I think we need a NorCal Patrol Party! That will re-inspire you! Em and I will host one soon!

John

[offroadkid]

You need to back up to the infatuation stage and stay there a bit longer.

AGREE !

yeah, your rear fenders have been cut, but hey- that puts you in good company - it seems like 50% of the 60 Patrols still on the road have modified rear fenders...

They can be returned to original- any sheetmetal shop worth its salt can fab and stitch in a set of replacement wheel openings when it's time...

Thanks! That makes it a little better to know I'm in good company!

[moore_rb]

I think we need a NorCal Patrol Party! That will re-inspire you! Em and I will host one soon!

John

Me and my 62 softie will be there! I'll go start pushing it now.... Grapevine hill's gonna be a real pain in the butt...

[RMP&O]

There are body parts available out of Colombia, South America. You can get rear fender skins. That is probably the easiest and cheapest way to fix it. Drill off bad panel, weld on new one. All kinds of panels are available from Colombia, even patch panels for the areas around the kick vents and also the entire A pillar. There is a few suppliers that will ship to the USA. But be aware the body parts match up to 1968+ Patrols so a few items will either require work to fit or will not be correct for a pre-68 Patrol.

If you have a garage and some motivation you can do it! A small welding machine like a Miller 140 set up on gas can be had for $1000 new, much less used. I can weld from super thin 24g to 1/4" with my 140, it is a great little machine. Mig welding is really easy and fun but being on gas is the only way to go, it makes it about 100x easier and cleaner. Body work is mostly about being very patient, going slow and keeping heat down. I enjoy steel fab a lot, it is similar to carpentry. Building things and fixing things is a lot of fun. Once you have a welding machine you can do all kinds of great stuff not just fix cars.

I think you should maybe just enjoy the Patrol for awhile before taking on anything major. Summer is coming, what better time to just enjoy the old beast?

Cheers

[offroadkid]

There are body parts available out of Colombia, South America. You can get rear fender skins. That is probably the easiest and cheapest way to fix it. Drill off bad panel, weld on new one. All kinds of panels are available from Colombia, even patch panels for the areas around the kick vents and also the entire A pillar. There is a few suppliers that will ship to the USA. But be aware the body parts match up to 1968+ Patrols so a few items will either require work to fit or will not be correct for a pre-68 Patrol.

If you have a garage and some motivation you can do it! A small welding machine like a Miller 140 set up on gas can be had for $1000 new, much less used. I can weld from super thin 24g to 1/4" with my 140, it is a great little machine. Mig welding is really easy and fun but being on gas is the only way to go, it makes it about 100x easier and cleaner. Body work is mostly about being very patient, going slow and keeping heat down. I enjoy steel fab a lot, it is similar to carpentry. Building things and fixing things is a lot of fun. Once you have a welding machine you can do all kinds of great stuff not just fix cars.

I think you should maybe just enjoy the Patrol for awhile before taking on anything major. Summer is coming, what better time to just enjoy the old beast?

Cheers

Thanks for the reply! I was just looking at http://www.pacolonline.com and http://citroa.com/product-category/nissan/ last night, but thats a lot of $$$!

I'd love to learn to weld, I learned Oxygen/Acetylene welding a LONG time ago in high school metal shop!

You're right though, I will enjoy her in the meantime, there's no time limit I need to get it how I eventually want it!

[offroadkid]

They can be returned to original- any sheetmetal shop worth its salt can fab and stitch in a set of replacement wheel openings when it's time...

Now for some metal porn... big time stuff too! I really, really want to take this guy's classes (they're even within 2-hours of home!). In this video, he shows how to make a fender flare -- the cut part of your fender (although for a different vehicle) -- from a piece of flat metal basically using an English wheel, a bead roller, a shrinker and stretcher. Trust me, only click on the links if you have 35 minutes to spare. It's fascinating... You'll think "I can do that!"

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=491K3bqJ_9M
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8K7RLT6BJY
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od9QeWsor6E

Here are more videos from his site:
http://www.lazzemetalshaping.com/index. ... t/cat5.htm

Like I said, I wanna take his classes... It's just that needing a second mortgage to pay for it! But, boy oh boy would it be cool!

I think we need a NorCal Patrol Party! That will re-inspire you! Em and I will host one soon!

John

Neat stuff!! And yes, I think a NorCal Patrol Party would be fun! I mean, we're only a half an hour away from each other!!