Weekend home project

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My roof swap project on a 92 Isuzu Rodeo. Look at the pictures and you will see why.O.K. just to answer a few questions first. I know what you're thinking already so here goes.You're thinking why would you bother to do this to an old wore out junker and an Isuzu Rodeo to boot?My answer is threefold                        1st.  answer:  It was free                       2nd. answer:  It was a single owner with 67,000 miles on it                       3rd. answer:   Cause I can.First thing was to take a trip to the scrap yard and find a compatable donor once located we negotiate the price...$40.00 Now we take and grab the battery powered sawsall and start cutting, take a break as my buddy has to go back and get the second battery that was forgotten. While he was gone I took the liberty of breaking out all of the windows. Yes it was fun, no I don't have pics of the junkyard tripO.K. we now have the donor roof back to my house it's time to start stripping it down.1st. We take and put a wire wheel on the grinder to remove the seam sealer on the drip rails, Don't get lazy and forget about getting the gloves, yes those wires do come off and yes they do stick in your skin. Yes I knew better and yes I still did it with out gloves, stupid wins round one.  Next we flip it over and remove the speakers, dome lights, grab handles and head liner.Now we take out the cutting torch and carefully trim all the excess layers of sheet metal to expose the spot welds. All of this has to be done from the inside out so we do minimal damage to the outer skin. Now comes the task of drilling out all 10,000 (or so it seems) spot welds. Once the spot welds are cut out now we very gently take the air chisel and separate the layers that leave us with nothing more than the outer sheet metal.Project for tomorrow is to remove the interior panels and head liner from the Rodeo. Once that is complete we will start with the glass removal.This will be a ongoing project and I will post more as I do more. Hope you enjoy DaveBTW there will be several posts to add all of the pics up to this point so please don't respond til they are all loaded. Dave Attached ImagesI am what I am, Deal with it!If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!
Reply:next set of picturesoops............... forgot the pics.Last edited by dabar39; 09-01-2008 at 08:50 PM.I am what I am, Deal with it!If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!
Reply:next set of pictureson to next post Attached ImagesI am what I am, Deal with it!If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!
Reply:some more of the tear down Attached ImagesI am what I am, Deal with it!If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!
Reply:some more tear down fun.Yes, this is a lot of work but I'd rather spend 40 bucks for this one compared to $514.00 for a brand new one.I'll post more of the progress tomorrow afternoon, I had enough fun for one day! Dave Attached ImagesI am what I am, Deal with it!If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!
Reply:3rd. answer: Cause I can.
Reply:reminds me of when my step dad came home and found me making a convertible out of my 2 week old 1993 isuzu pup.i might have gotten more off the old roof pillars , i found it pretty easy to blend the pillars when i made mine an unvertibleinsert thoughtful quote from someone else2000 Thermal Arc 300GTSW 3.5 hours1946 Monarch 20 x 54 Lathe1998 Supermax 10x54 Mill2004 Haco Atlantic 1/2" Capacity Lasernot mine but i get to play with it
Reply:Keep up the good work!MarkHammerhead RacingEdgewater Fl.  www.hammerhead1320.com
Reply:Didn't get to do anything to it today, too busy getting the generator gassed up and running good, trying to get everything put up so it doesn't get blown away by Hannah when she hits here sometime tomorrow afternoon. Wookie, she'll be coming up the coast after you when she's done with me. Hopefully it'll just be a cat 1 or less when she gets here. DaveI am what I am, Deal with it!If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!
Reply:Originally Posted by dabar39Didn't get to do anything to it today, too busy getting the generator gassed up and running good, trying to get everything put up so it doesn't get blown away by Hannah when she hits here sometime tomorrow afternoon. Wookie, she'll be coming up the coast after you when she's done with me. Hopefully it'll just be a cat 1 or less when she gets here. Dave
Reply:Originally Posted by dabar39Didn't get to do anything to it today, too busy getting the generator gassed up and running good, trying to get everything put up so it doesn't get blown away by Hannah when she hits here sometime tomorrow afternoon. Wookie, she'll be coming up the coast after you when she's done with me. Hopefully it'll just be a cat 1 or less when she gets here. Dave
Reply:Yeah, kinda looks like Hannah changed her mind about coming to visit us in South Florida but, there's always "Ike" or "Josephine" or the next one or the next one.I am what I am, Deal with it!If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!
Reply:Y'all got hurricanes, we got tornados.  Don't know which is worse.  Stay safeNeat project"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Originally Posted by farmersammY'all got hurricanes, we got tornados.  Don't know which is worse.  Stay safeNeat project
Reply:Geez, that does sound a lot worse.  Not only do you have widespread water damage to contend with, but tornadoes on top of it.   A real double whamy!!"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Why all that rust in the roof?  The rest of the body does not look that bad.Carlohttp://public.fotki.com/Naudi2U/