The Moon Truck

More progress. For the most part the rear end of the truck is done except for the bed and a few small things.
Brand new OEM calipers that I painted. New Powerstop drilled rotors and pads that have been on the truck for a while but driven about 100 miles.


Timbren overload springs to replace the factory bumpstops.






Independant4x SS aircraft grade flex lines. Hand bent Cunifer brake lines with SS nuts and gravel guard. New skyjacker nitro shocks.




Black hose is extended axle vent.


Next up is to clean and reline the fuel tank. That and bend the hard lines along the frame for fuel, return, tank vent, brakes. I ordered 3 rolls of Cunifer tubing today. It should be here next week. This stuff is 90% copper, 8% nickel, 2& ferrous metals. It's super easy to bend and brake lines seal well. It also doesn't rust!!!!! I had almost enough SS line to make the hard lines. But it is so hard to work with that I went for the easier to use stuff. especially since I'll be doing this under the truck on not on an exposed frame in the drive like I did Red Beans.
http://www.cunifer.com/
 
To me paint is mostly for rust protection. Doing it adds a good bit of extra work to do. But when you put so much work into something I like to be able to stand back and see it LOOK like I actually accomplished something. The pretty only lasts till the 1st trail run or dirt road. but that's the way it goes.

A few weeks ago.


Yesterday.


If you want 30 year old machines to run and be reliable like a new one you have to make them new!
 
I hope everyone is having a great holiday. Take a few minutes to remember the fallen. There is a reason for Memorial Day!

Next step gas tank.


After draining the last bit of fuel I removed all the removable stuff.


Overall the inside doesn't look bad. No real sludge and just a little very light rust.








Not too bad for a 28 yo truck. I'll leave it in the sun for a day or so till it's dry. Then I'll rinse it with a tiny bit of acetone to get rid of any varnish. Then I'll plug the openings and fill it with vinegar for a week or so to dissolve the rust.

I did a practice run last fall on a small outboard motor tank. It turned out well and when I started that one I wasn't sure it could be saved it was so rusty. Same process I'll use on this one.
http://forum.planetisuzoo.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=84397

I have new OEM gaskets, I'll probably get a new OEM sender. But I think the fuel pump stuff is OK. I have an entire spare assembly from a Trooper as well with a new pump. They look to be the same except for the angles of the fuel line tubes. I may just use that.
 
I did a tank on my motorcycle years ago with some white stuff but did not know about the vinegar. The white stuff lined it nicely and I think there was a prep rinse but the vinegar is a much better solution in my mind. Definitely friendlier to the tank and the environment. Thanks for the info!
 
Thanks. That's where I got my info originally was from motorcycle forums. I couldn't believe how well the acid in the vinegar removed the rust. It took a while but it sure worked. Looked like new inside when done.

The stuff you probably used was Kreme. I have read mixed reviews, A neighbor used it years ago on a generator with big holes in the tank. He is still using it. Tank looks like it was coating with cake icing!

Compared to the outboard tank this is like new inside so it should be easier to get clean. I have access to a new tank but they aren't cheap! Last resort.
 
I did my Jeep tank with some white stuff, probably similar to kreme. Unfortunately it began to flake off and plugged my filter. Lucky for me it was after I'd gotten back to pavement. Nothing like crawling under the Jeep hundreds of miles from home after three days on the Dusy. Vinegar sounds like a much better solution.






Btw, I didn't even try to get the white stuff out. New tank time. Fortunately Jeep tanks are inexpensive.
 
I have cleaned tanks by putting several pounds of drywall screws in them and then strapped them onto a cement mixer to tumble all day.Clean and shiny.

cwd
 
I used nut's in the little tank. Probably do the same in this one if needed.

The tank has been cleaned inside and out with detergent. I plugged the sender hole and it is now sitting out back full of vinegar. Took 21 gallons! I'll check on it everyday and add vinegar as needed. I figure about a week. Then I'll drain it and neutralize everything.

All the Cunifer hard line came in today. So I'll have plenty to keep me busy for a while.

I did find a shallow dent in the bottom of the tank. It matched the big one in the skid plate. At one time someone high centered this truck bad. I'll straighten the skid plate but leave the tank alone. it's not bad and will probably only cost me 1/2 gallon of capacity. Trying to fix it would likely cause other problems.
 
Somehow my phone smells like gear oil after reading this . . .

I can't say enough about the workmanship here. Carefull planning, prep, protection and it all looks great. Kudos!
 
Hardlines. 3 new rolls of Cunifer. 3/16", 1/4", 5/16".


I basically satrted at one end and put on whatever end was needed. A double flare bump for fuel lines and a double flare and nut for brake lines. I then matched the factory lines bend for bend. I used tools at 1st but switched to bending by hand. My fingers are sore now. Every few inches I used a small cable tie to hold the lines together.






I had all 4 original lines intact. But they were a bit corroded. The new stuff won't rust. I use SS nuts on the brake lines as well. 5/16" Fuel line, 1/4" Return for EFI, 1/4" vent for tank and emissions canister, 3/16" Brake line for rear brakes.
I had all new plastic clips for the frame. Problem is they are slightly different than the originals. I think these are for Troopers. They are fine and still hold 4 lines of the same sizes. Except just in a slightly different order. Which or course required me to do a good deal of re-bending while laying on my back under the truck. I'm so glad I didn't use SS this time!!!! It's so hard to bend. This stuff is great to work with. One problem is hard lines are one of those items that was installed by the factory onto the frame before the body is installed. Gas tank is same problem. It makes getting to some things with the body on no fun at all. The front tank mount obstructs getting 1/2 the length of each line through a small gap between the frame and body. There was also a small flange of body metal in the way. I reshaped it a bit. It made life much easier.

All these bent lines have to be pulled through here! :shock:


Much better now! :)


This is the bracket that held me up yesterday.
 
Far from perfect but quite functional. Nothing touches anything else or the frame. All factory routing followed as much as possible. Pics are kinda dark. Shot with my headlight on underneath truck.








I also filled up the rear differential with gear oil and Limited slip additive.

I had tried to fit up the rear sway bar. The one I have is not going to be a simple bolt in. It's for a 2 wheel drive and they have drum brakes. The hardware on the back of the disc brakes interferes with routing the end link. That would normally fasten on the bottom end to this bracket that attaches under a U bolt nut on the bottom. So I removed these and retorqued all the nuts. I have some other possible options for a rear sway bar if I decide I need it.

The little gold piece with the hole in it.


I did a few other small loose end type of jobs. Trying to get as many done as possible.

Enjoy the weekend! :D
 
Yesterday I siphoned the vinegar out of the fuel tank and back into the jugs. Except for the last 2 or 3 gallons which were rusty colored the rest looked like it did when I poured it in. The inside of the tank was nice and rust free. I used a baking soda and water solution to neutralize the tank and rinsed it out thoroughly. After that dried I rinsed the tank with about a qt of acetone to be sure it was clean and dry. Acetone absorbs water. I had about 1/2 qt of Red Kote left from the small outboard tank I lined. So I poured that and 2 fresh qts of Red Kote in the tank and rolled it around for some time to coat the inside all over. Then drained the excess back out. I haven't checked it yet today but will later after the sun has heated the tank a bit. If all looks well I'll let it dry for a day and add one more thin coat just to be sure. And then I'll start on the outside of the tank and repaint it. I have a new sending unit coming and will replace the old fuel pump as well. I really don't want to to touch this again anytime soon after it is back together.
 
Time for some pics. The rusty spots around the openings will be wire wheeled and coated with POR 15. It is very thin and gets between stuff due to capillary action. I figure it will be best to seal between the 2 layers of metal rings at each opening. Then the whole tank will get primed and painted like the frame.

Looks a little extra rusty around the openings but a lot of that is just flash rust from the vinegar.


The tank now has a candy apple red vinyl lining inside. 2 coats.


The bright spot is sunlight coming in an opening.




 
I addressed the outside of the tank today. The bottom has a very hard plastic undercoat on it. It is in real good shape so I made no effort to remove it. I just buffed it with a wire wheel and then wire wheeled the rest of the tank and any rusty spots, The upper portion shed most of the paint as soon as the wire wheel touched it. So it needed to come off.


I also made some plugs for all the holes out of some packing foam. I put small bolts in the threaded stuff to keep paint out of the blind threads.




A coat of POR 15. but not on the plastic coating.




Tomorrow AM another coat of POR 15 and when dry the entire tank will get a to coat of black paint like I used on the frame.
 
So painting and coating on the tank is complete. I'm just waiting on a couple of back ordered parts to put it back in the truck and hook the lines and such up.

2 coats of POR 15 on any exposed metal.


Scuff and prime the whole thing.





And a top coat of semi flat black.
 
Excellent build, Squatch. I had a trooper pre FWC and those are tough little machines. Pleasure to watch a master at work. Fire it up!
 
Thanks, More of a determined shade tree than a master for sure. This isn't the 1st early Isuzu I've rebuilt. and I've owned and driven them for years. So I'm pretty familiar with the work. It's one of the reasons I've stuck with them.

I'm getting closer every day. I took a couple of days off this project to go through my outboard motor on my bass boat. It's been neglected for a while and I need some on the water time! I'm waiting for a couple of parts for the truck. When they arrive I'll be back on it.

I still have to swap the gears in the front axle as well. But that should go quickly. My projects tend to drag a bit. I try not to address too many areas at the same time. That would be a more efficient use of my time. But it adds to the confusion and loose plies of parts stacked around the garage. I prefer to address one area. Complete that aspect of the project then move on to the next. I find that's more satisfying to me and helps assure I don't miss stuff in the confusion. For years my job was forced multi-tasking. My take on that is that you aren't doing anything correctly. Now that I'm retired I try to avoid that. One thing at a time.
 
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