New wheels

When I purchased my truck, it came with a set of GM wheels from a 1980s Blazer that looked terrible. I sought out a set of OEM wheels from a friend who has several old Land Cruisers in various levels of disrepair on his property here in town. I had them powder coated, but they were not in great shape. Rust pitting and nicks in the metal made them less than perfect and the powder coating failed to coat them along the welds very well, so they began to rust right away.

I began purchasing OEM wheels from Toyota and after a few months had a complete set. I then bought a gallon of gray paint that was supposed to be matched to the OEM color from Cool Cruisers and had Jim paint them for me. Once I picked them up, I had them installed today.

They look fabulous.

The little things

Bob Hoyt makes reproduction inspection stickers for restored automobiles, sort of icing on the cake. He scans those that people send him as they find them and makes a very high quality sticker that is exact in every way. They are really pretty amazing. He doesn't have every year from every state yet, but he has a 1973 sticker from Arkansas so I bought one.

My hope is that not only does it make me smile to have a neat addition to my truck, but that perhaps folks will see the date and figure out what year my truck is. Not that being asked that question bothers me, it's actually fun to answer questions, but it might be fun to be able to figure that sort of thing out when I am not there to tell people.

Delivery day

Brad helped me hang the drivers side door and then affixed the bumper for the hood on the drip rail. This was the only time that I had a chance to take a photo of him since his hands were full and he couldn't stop me. Brad's one of those guys you find in a business who is totally essential to have on hand. He's a total pro and knows his business inside and out.



The door limiters on my truck, like so many others of this vintage, had lost the hasp on the door to rust many years ago. We repaired the hole left behind and used a set of hasps from a Honda Civic to go with a reproduction limiter from Specter Off Road.



By the day's end, my truck was assembled nearly entirely and ready to drive home.



I need only to recover and install the jump seats and to bolt on the windshield hooks.



Doesn't it look amazing?

I can sit down now!

I hung one of the doors and spent the remainder of my time this week installing the interior in my truck.



The driver-side door is assembled, but I will have to hang it next week since I ran out of time today.



But just a peek at the finished side is really very exciting. Doesn't it look great?

Roof over my head

Using 3M spray adhesive, I installed the headliner and installed the cap onto the hard top. This was a physically difficult task and required Brad's help to complete, but it is so great to see it on finally. The interior has that new car smell now.



It looks like a Land Cruiser all of a sudden.


Next week, I'll assemble the other door and install them both.

Drill holes? In my truck? Really?

I installed the glass in the hatch and all but one of the window of the hard top. The guys showed me how to do it and after watching, I was able to do it without too much difficulty. Soapy water and some string ends up being at the center of the process, and it's tricky but not too hard. The hard part is the beating your hands take. I am going to be sore for a week.



I installed the reverse light, one of the most hard-to-find parts on the 1973 model since they only used this particular light for this one year. It's glass and heavy.

I also installed the rear badges which were difficult since I had to drill holes into the quarter panel to put them in. Nothing like drilling four holes in the side of a newly painted truck.



The passenger side window is the last piece of glass that I have to set in until we install the windshield.

Also visible are the side marker lights that I put in today. The holes for the body of the light were stamped out in the new quarter panel that we installed, but I had to drill the holes for the mounting screws. More holes in the side of my truck, but I did it without making any mistakes and it looks great.

Tired

I installed the header over the rear hatch, the tail lights and the spare tire gate. I need to do some wiring before connecting the tail lights to the wiring harness.



The striker for the spare tire gate had to be relocated after we discovered that Cool Cruisers' rear channel had the nuts misaligned after installing it, but Trevor moved the mounting holes and nuts long ago, and it all works great.


I started assembly on the doors and got the driver's side door put together before the shop closed up. Next will be gluing the weather stripping and then I can hang them.