Jballard81's 1994 super cab 4.0 4x4 Restore

[Danny74]

Just noticed this today.
View attachment 107097
Appears that the paint is completely gone from that section of the roof. Guess I will be learning more about body work than I hoped to...

I know many have talked to you about grinding the rust off and sanding it, but you want to make sure you got clean metal all around the area that you send. So you're probably going to be chipping off a lot of that body filler and paint. I'd recommend using evapo rust since you're not going to be dunking it in, get the gel version of it. You can brush it on and it won't run off. And when you're done you can just clean it off and paint over it it'll be prepped.

 

[jballard81]

I know many have talked to you about grinding the rust off and sanding it, but you want to make sure you got clean metal all around the area that you send. So you're probably going to be chipping off a lot of that body filler and paint. I'd recommend using evapo rust since you're not going to be dunking it in, get the gel version of it. You can brush it on and it won't run off. And when you're done you can just clean it off and paint over it it'll be prepped.

I have no real body work experience. I appreciate all advice here!

 

[Danny74]

I have no real body work experience. I appreciate all advice here!

That's fine neither do i. But I've done roofs before and the best thing about him is you don't have to make it look pretty, just have to be sealed well. Nobody's going to look at a roof. I don't know many people that jump on top of a other car just to check your roof out. That's actually one of the reasons why my father's car which he had owned since brand new ended up having a few rust spots on the roof. None of us ever looked up there I checked it out. It even came back from a body shop after an accident a few months before I noticed it. I only noticed it because I went up there to put up a soft car rooftop carrier. Anyway like I said just get rid of the rust,, can you do that by chipping away at that Bondo until you don't see any more rust. You can use a plastic spatula that you can buy at a Dollar Tree or an auto parts store. Anyway after that you masking tape around an area you feel comfortable with. You know using newspaper and masking tape for the edge to protect everything, spray with some primer. I would use Rust-Oleum rust converter, in case there's anything that was missed, and that stuff is also a primer. And then just paint the car color on top. I don't know if you know where you can purchase auto body paint but when there was a store near me I would just go in there and give him my paint code color and it will cost me about $25 for spray can for the exact same color as my vehicle. And then you could just spray paint it yourself once everything is all covered up and protected you don't have to ever worry about it again. Oh except for maybe waxing it a couple of times in the summertime or later on, to help protect it.

 

[jballard81]

Pressure washed the carpet yesterday.
Before:

After:
Still drying, but a nice improvement

How is the carpet finished/trimmed into place in the back area by the jump seats? Mine was pulled out of place when I got it:

Also, spent about an hour with a steam cleaner getting the jump seats and super cab wall part.

It rained today and I couldn't make it out to the boneyard. Might try tomorrow.

 

[RobbieD]

I think that the carpet in the back just runs loose and lays flat under the jump seats.

Carpet looks much better!

 

[Josh B]

Mine has a trim piece that runs around the bottom of it, sticks out about 3 inches all around, and I suppose the carpet runs wild under and beyond the plastic trim.
The seat folds out to reveal several instances of wild(although with some amount of dignity) carpet and also holds the jack inside. I'd try and get you some pictures but it's rather occupied atm due to tearing it down, and my camera having wandered off in my sisters car

The part that runs across the back is carpeted all across. The cab floor carpet comes up to it and continues across it and is tucked inside it I guess. The back wall has one coming from iside the back hump that goes to just below the back window.
The carpet on the sides also goes to just below the side speakers

 

[jballard81]

so the 93 -97 door panels... im not finding many door panels with power windows/locks. is the only difference between a manual vs power the hole for the window crank? I could 3d print a cover for that...

 

[jballard81]

Mine has a trim piece that runs around the bottom of it, sticks out about 3 inches all around, and I suppose the carpet runs wild under and beyond the plastic trim.
The seat folds out to reveal several instances of wild(although with some amount of dignity) carpet and also holds the jack inside. I'd try and get you some pictures but it's rather occupied atm due to tearing it down, and my camera having wandered off in my sisters car

The part that runs across the back is carpeted all across. The cab floor carpet comes up to it and continues across it and is tucked inside it I guess. The back wall has one coming from iside the back hump that goes to just below the back window.
The carpet on the sides also goes to just below the side speakers

There's a few 93-97 models at the bone yard im going to tomorrow. i will see if i'm missing a piece of trim or something from one that might be more complete. thank you!

 

[Josh B]

My apology J, the back doesn't come up to the window, it tucks in just below the cover pull-out, and vinyl covers the rest above there, still even with bottom of the speakers on each side

 

[Josh B]

the 93 and 94 are basically identical, the 95 began another series/generation, and from 95 up I don't what will still be the same

 

[jballard81]

Boneyard was a mixed bag. Well picked over rangers and no easy bucket seats swap options. After looking around for 30 or so I found a 2005 Mazda tribute (I believe) base model that had nice looking manual seats.

I had to cut up the brackets and make some new ones to get the ranger brackets connected. Mazda seats were a smidge wider.

This is how the driver seat ended up and a good look of the cleaned up carpet installed.

Found that black piece of door trim in one of the rangers at the boneyard. That was a good find.

 

[jballard81]

This is my first project of this magnitude and I'm finding that my garage layout/situation is less than ideal. I have about half of a normal size garage to do work in (my wife is parked on the other side) and man i wish i had more space lol!

constantly going back and forth to my toolboxes and work bench, placing a tool down somewhere for a second then having to wander around to find it again is driving me crazy. my fuse box is full and i only have 1 dedicated circuit in my garage so i have to be careful what i run (only 20 amps).
Don't get me wrong, i'm grateful for the dry/warm space to work in, but wow i'm inefficient.

If i had a better working "lane" and maybe a tool cart, that would probably make my life a lot easier. i probably need to divest of some of my other projects to make more room for more efficient tool/part storage.

I imagine plenty here have similar challenges. Would love to hear what you have done for work-arounds or improvements to making working on projects like these more efficient/easier.

 

[RobbieD]

Sell the wife's car.


She'll understand.

 

[jballard81]

Sell the wife's car.


She'll understand.

 

[sgtsandman]

This is my first project of this magnitude and I'm finding that my garage layout/situation is less than ideal. I have about half of a normal size garage to do work in (my wife is parked on the other side) and man i wish i had more space lol!

constantly going back and forth to my toolboxes and work bench, placing a tool down somewhere for a second then having to wander around to find it again is driving me crazy. my fuse box is full and i only have 1 dedicated circuit in my garage so i have to be careful what i run (only 20 amps).
Don't get me wrong, i'm grateful for the dry/warm space to work in, but wow i'm inefficient.

If i had a better working "lane" and maybe a tool cart, that would probably make my life a lot easier. i probably need to divest of some of my other projects to make more room for more efficient tool/part storage.

I imagine plenty here have similar challenges. Would love to hear what you have done for work-arounds or improvements to making working on projects like these more efficient/easier.

There are a few of us in the same boat when it come to the garage. Mine was definitely built for someone who pays someone else to work on their cars.