mild resto underway on my first gq

so i got this poor ol girl and have decided to give her a few more years of fun on and off the roads. problem is i just wanna drive it already! but she is not so ready yet.


http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...psb7a50edd.jpg
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http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...psad0ef7b5.jpg


the paint is in despicable condition, cracks and rust everywhere, check the bull bar


http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...ps75884f8e.jpg


so the body needs an overhaul, and theres a fair amount to do inside and underneath aswell but as she is at my mates as that was the closest location for me to "not" drive an unrego vehicle to when i got her. also he has all the tools for panel work i dont have. but he doesnt want it sitting around for 6 months while i do a full resto top to bottom before rego like I would like to do it, I have to get the body work and paint out of the way, pass a quick roady, and drive her home to finish off the mechanical restoration/modification. I would have prefered to do things in a different order and with much less haste but so be it.

so heres whats been achieved so far, and im hoping to get to undercoat by this evening, and final paint next week finances allowing.


http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8ab71906.jpg
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http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...ps378579b1.jpg
http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...psc345cc4c.jpg


all rust has been cut out and whole car copped a litre of rust converter over and under it. plated the rust and smothed over and almost finsihed sanding out the crazy cracking


http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...psc5dc6c76.jpg
http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...psaed19114.jpg


Unfortunately the gas tank is 5 years over due so decided to pull that out and go for unleaded only. as this wont be a daily driver its not such a loss, but it doesnt run quite right on petty, hoping cleaning the carby out and tune it will sort that.

http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...psb6b69ebb.jpg

the bull bar is a throwaway, so ill be looking for a new steel bar soon or perhaps make front and rear bars to suite these that will be going in before final paint.


http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5f7ceedd.jpg


and a nice fire and marshmallows to finish a busy day

http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...ps65b3a803.jpg

To be continued ... :)

P.S. I am thinking for color a beige off white similar to the 60 series cruisers but lightened up a bit. maybe like a new paddle pop stick or pine color? thoughts or ideas? dont want super gloss or to be washing it all time either.

Top start and good to see it done right..

As for colour mate, go nuts.. Your doing it once so why nit stand out.. I'm a fan if the Ford GT tango orange.. But also acid green..

Good too see another one saved from the scrap bin. Whatever you paint it make sure you leave some for the.bead lock rings. I mean if your going to go that far ;)

damn had to take the hire compressor back and mine just will not cope with the flow required to operate the whizzer and so much sanding still left to be done :( any one wanna lend me a compressor for the arvo. :) ha.

Attachment 33602 damn this cracked shit paint

Love your work timeslayer. Rust is the devils work.

ooh yea its a dirty job alright :devilred:

i got about 3/4 of roof sanded today, and found just above the windscreen there was/ is a bog patch thats cracked, and sanding the bog revealed several high spots where the steel came through with a lot of bog still around. combine that with all the fragments of glass all through interior under carpet everywhere and i think its either been rolled slowly or had a tree dump on it.

any how the sanding came to a halt with the return of the compressor so turned my attn to putting body lift in. i thought after reading some posts and the instructions that came with that it was goin to be much harder. especially the rear 2.
ha well i undid all 10 bolts and thought that was too easy wheres these hard ass rear ones. spotted two more rubber pad from underneath and thought aha there they are. grabbed the hole saw and dropped a pair of 40mm holes above the 2 rubber "mounts" and found nothin. turned out theyre just there for body to rest on. grr. oh well some more holes to weld up lol.

moved on went looking for fuel lines, brake lines wiring harnesses etc to loosen up or stretch. nothin needed to be touched at all. i was like this should be harder. so i tentativly started cranking the high lift on the front and up she came, in went blocks and new bolts. got the trolly jack and chunk of 4x4 under rear and pumped the handle and up she came, in with two rear blocks, quickly followed by the 6 in middle. sltill looking for lines pulling tight etc. nothing. its as if its had a lift before. even the radiator shroud has been cut perfectly to match.
the only thing i did have to do was to bash the floor to allow for 4x4 low range selection, and trim the rubber and carpet a little and knock the steering shaft out a tad. very happy with that for now.

sorry didnt get any pics of body lift yet but will do and post if anyone wants to see.

got work for a couple days now, but hopin sunday ill get back onto it.

apologies if im boring crap outa ya all, i hope someone will find my at times long-winded ramblings of ineterest :beer::cheers:

Don't hold back mate I enjoy reading it. But photos are better too.

decided to get a bit more serious with the sanding equipment and just be done with it as this paint is ridiculously thick and gummy/waxy to sand of in places for some reason.gone one side done this afternoon.



http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...ps26172caa.jpg

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so now to repeat untill she all looks like like this. bit of spray butty and shaping to be done here n there, bit more paint, bit more sanding aargh...

good work mate. it looks like its coming togeather well

grr long story short mate has decided to be a wanker and went away on my weekend knowing i was planning on hooking in on my days off, andwont let me work on it properly so looking like im goin to have take it home and paint it in back yard :( at least ill be able to use damn hose to clean the dust off without having an argument over excess water bill ffs. already payed for power an water usage and bought mate gurney for just for letting me do it at his place. i need a shed damnit. been wanting a place with a shed forever but now i really need it

aahh the joy of friendship.

i did get done with bog i hope. got it shaped over the plate welds. spray putty will smooth the rest out i hope.

Attachment 33878

and bit more sanding

Attachment 33879

let me start out off topic and say *%#! apple and iOS 7. it has ruined my phones performance and my photo stream no longer works making uploading pics a %*&#ing royal pin in the ass. rant over lol.

progress has been slow due to having to tray my gq from a "friends" place to mine, and ive had to buy a welder and some toolage required to get this job done. but im glad i did in the end. so called friend wasnt interested in getting the job done right. so i have now stripped the interior out and found a lot more rust that has now been taken care of along with some cracks in the floor under the back seats also now welded up.

http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4f877c19.jpg

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http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...pse46e6d0d.jpg



http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...psf5071134.jpg

what u see in the last pic is surface rust under 2 or 3 layers of paint and body filler on the bonnet. im finding this anywhere i come across previous body work. dont know wtf they did but they didnt do it properly.

http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...ps56b65639.jpg

http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...psfb38122b.jpg

http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9c2989b2.jpg

looks as if its had a tree fall on it at some point :(

so in short still got a bit of work to do as im not painting over existing body repairs if there's rust under them, looks like it will be a 95% bare metal respray by the time im finished.

After this mate it'll last another 20 year's..
Funny you found those cracks around the middle row seat brackets as I've just repaired mine to.
They seam to crack threw the spot welds..
Anyway, all good. Will be worth it in the end. Any though On colour yet??

yeq thats the idea westy :) although i just want to start painting and getting her on the road already! patience is wearing thin i need to see some wheel action!

still no solid decision on color :( i sorta like the toyota beige but want to be a little different but not too flash or glossy, has to be something thats going to look good with mud on it :)

Dark then mate..
What ever you choose it can't be Toyota.. Lol

i hear ya mate! couldnt defile a NISSAN with a toyota color!
dark colors = hot car + no air con = no fun being my problem with dark colors. otherwise it would be a dark grey almost black.
im always looking at cars wondering what that color would look like on a patrol. at least ive got some time to think it over while i slave away getting this oil based (i think)
paint that seems 2mm thick off :)

Hey TS, where in Brisbane are you. Keep up the good work, your fighting the good fight there mate...

im at ipswich. not really brissy i know but its close enough lol. thanks for the encouragemnt :)

I hear the GQs are worth stealing, look after it when it's done mate :)

Great to see you saving the life of one of the best 4x4 built.:thumbup:

.. android app not uploading pics sorry .. Update nearly there. Bloody marathon effort but it's painted just have to clear it

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eouexb9pey...32249.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eouexb9pey...32249.jpg?dl=0

Gday timeslayer, the patch in the floor, did you just bog it up or is it a patch / sheet metal? I’m in brisbane awaiting arrival of a 1988 GQ which reported hole through the floor so expect will be doing a similiar repair. Just wondered if you found an easy solution to fix and be road worthy?


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Originally Posted by Nowlzy

Gday timeslayer, the patch in the floor, did you just bog it up or is it a patch / sheet metal? I’m in brisbane awaiting arrival of a 1988 GQ which reported hole through the floor so expect will be doing a similiar repair. Just wondered if you found an easy solution to fix and be road worthy?


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Depending how big the hole is I would weld in some panel steel or g9 to the wreckers with an 18v grinder and cut out a piece of floor.

If it is smallish then cut it round with a hole saw and put a rubber bung in it and No one will ever even notice. You can get bungs to 50mm

Any point in trying to repair a rusted firewall?


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Originally Posted by Nowlzy

Any point in trying to repair a rusted firewall?


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think body swap..seriously

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Originally Posted by Avo

think body swap..seriously

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Yeah x 2. Mine had rust everywhere and in the firewall ended up sing a body swap. Not sure how easy the firewall would be to repair but would imagine being an absolute pain in the butt and not sure how good you could do it too. . . Probably come back down the track.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rossco

Yeah x 2. Mine had rust everywhere and in the firewall ended up sing a body swap. Not sure how easy the firewall would be to repair but would imagine being an absolute pain in the butt and not sure how good you could do it too. . . Probably come back down the track.

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I reckon you'd need to take the cab off and weld in a new panel. While the cab's off you might as well chuck a new cab on really.

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Thanks guys, I’ve managed to pick up a cheap GQ with clean body; it even runs with 320k on the engine!


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I’m going to keep the new cars body and chassis etc. and swap onto it the best of my original GQ then respray to bring it back to original cars colour


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http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...2018/03/48.jpg
This is the new body and chassis

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...2018/03/49.jpg
Will strip the original, use best parts including drivetrain and then respray the new car in gun metal grey


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Much easier than a body swap and not $$ either A’s was just looking for a clean body and chassis, mechanically less worried


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Hey,

Have gutted the GQ and found a few spots of rust which I treated and patched as required in drivers floor:

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...2018/04/83.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...2018/04/84.jpg

I found the source of the water ingress was actually from rust in the cowl panel under the grill at the bottom of the windscreen:

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...2018/04/85.jpg

Is a difficult area to access to clean up properly, wondering if anyone has experience replacing the cowl panel in a GQ?

Alternatively I will just do my best to treat the rust and fill the gaps!


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:hijacked::bananarock: