1965 Moke shaped rust pile.

Started by clm, September 21, 2012, 07:59:09 PM

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clm

I am already documenting this a few other places, but if people are interested, I can post my work here as well.

The vehicle in question is a 1965 Mini Moke I bought from Spank down in California. It is VERY religious, quite hole-y



The first thing I did when I got home was register it, I received the title yesterday, along with putting together a large order of panels. I did buy a complete floorpan from Spank when I picked up the moke.  One of the things I did while waiting for the panels was see if I could make it run, and yes, after much mickey mousery with the carb it ran.



After I got it running I started stripping it as I need to make a body jig for it, during this process the first batch of panels arrived and I proceeded to test fit to figure out what I had and what I needed still to get.



After building a wooden frame to set the moke in, I purchased $250 of steel and proceeded to build a jig that I can build the new center tub in retaining the correct subframe mounting geometry. And Yes, I am using the old rotted out rear subframe as the subframe mounting locations in the body were too bad to be able to be accurately used.

I am only probably half done with it, I still have to finish some front subframe mount tie ins and make some jig points for the upper shock mounts. Once that's done I make legs :)





Chris

P.S. more pics around http://s1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/clm1977/ and in the moke sub album.

94touring

Holey is right!!  That's great, thanks for sharing! 

clm

Thanks 94, I hope to have it on the road by MMW next year at least that is the plan.

Chris

clm

Well I have finished the bottom of the frame jig more or less. I don't have the legs on it, but I'm not quite sure what height I want it at so that will come later. I managed to tie in all the points I wanted except for the "front of front subframe" mounts as I questioned their condition. There was a bit of distortion at those points. At this point I just need to flip it over and trailer it into the garage... once I get my 1960 saloon shell out.







Questions comments critiques?

Chris

wevebeenhad

i think it looks great so far! My wife told me seeing the first pic of it on the trailer, that if i ever brought home something like that shed kill me. I guess my re flooring of my saloon took to long haha.

clm

Oddly I thought my Father would have stern words for me when I brought it home, it is really ripe. My Mom loved it though.. even with it being as bad as it was seeing as it came home under the condition it was the last one until something leaves or is finished!

So... Um... Anyone want to buy a very early 1960 Austin project?  :-X

Chris

clm

Well I have gotten the early shell out and on it's way to where it is going to be stored.. I wish the storage place was in someone elses workshop.



That leaves a largish open area to clean out for working on the moke :)



Along with that I got the moke rolled upright and about to be drug up on the trailer so I can move it into the shop (after taking it to the club meeting... tommorow :-X )



Chris

clm

Passenger Assisted Headlamp dipping, All the rage!



It appears to have been done from the factory as it has the cable guard that is screwed on doesn't appear to fit on LHD fittment!?

Chris

94touring

Keep the pics coming  4.gif   I like that frame you built for it to sit on. 

clm

Soon I will get to torturing the poor moke with... powertools! But for now I am building some shelving in the shop to reduce the horrendous clutter.

Chris

94touring

We flight clutter too.  Have to do the annual cleaning of the shop. 

clm

I have not done much work on the Moke for the past couple of days while I build the shelving unit, 12ftx10ftx2ft out of 3/4 inch ply and 2x6's ouch. But I did receive a panel order I made unexpectantly on Mini Mania's website. They had the front angled sections on clearance for $35 a piece, I ended up ordering both along with the right hand front wing and a couple of bonnet hinge rubber pieces. All together including shipping $150, I was pleased.



The one annoyance I see however is that to retain the body number I am going to either have to transfer it to this new panel or split this down the length and weld the two halves together, minor issue.

Once I had the Moke off of the trailer I finished stripping all of the lights off of the back and went to pull the last of the interior bits out. Who was it that chose these huge number 4 philips head screws for the Moke? I could just... just... have strong words in their general direction! I have one in the right hand drive pedal box mount location that absolutely refuses to budge.

Also it seems a previous owner replaced the brake master cylinder some time back and used a bolt with two nuts in place of the clevis pin, that was a pain to unbolt.

Apparently there was some issues with the engine steady...







Well, I was worried it would be difficult to remove the engine steady... it wasn't... but... Houston, We have a problem!

Chris

P.S. I don't flight clutter myself.. I send it via ground ;)

Willie_B

The lower part of my steady mounting bracket is missing in action also.

clm

I think that may be a magic wand/rod change malady Willie,

Hey all, It's been a few days. But I have the shelves done more or less in the shop, they turned out fairly well.



I also got this last week, but photobucket was having issues so couldn't show it. I purchased a NOS workshop manual in original box to replace my water damaged original pages for £4.99 plus not much shipping. I am afraid to take it out of the box now! :D




Once I got the shelf up and a bunch of stuff moved onto it I was able to drag the Moke off of the trailer and set to work on it, I had to pull the last of the loom out and the pedal box out. I swear whoever decided to fill this thing with #4 philips head screws..... But I won in the end, vice grips trump shoddy striptastic screws!



As it is I have been working for the past several days to get the inner jig built, it is probably 3/4 or 2/3 done at this point, but it is looking ok :)





There are more pics in my photobucket I just didnt want to flood you all with pics. I am hoping to be done with this inner jig shortly so I can actually pull the shell off and start fitting panels together, I can't wait!

I am however on the fence about picking up the new welder I have my eye on, the prospect of being able to "not have to grind down thousands of plug welds" is very appealing. That and I have several projects to use it on. I have some good first hand reviews on it from family friends. What do you think? I plan to not use it to make two welds at once, but to reach around funky shaped structures making one weld at a time.

http://lencoautomotive.com/index.php?q=product&p=l-4000

Chris

Mudhen

Trying to avoid the word 'holey' is tough in this case, so Wow what a project!

As a newbie to this stuff I'm finding the welding tricky at best.  All my 'learning' has been on thicker, fresh metal not sandblasted thinner stuff.  I'd be interested in hearing about that spot welder if you get it!

Thanks for keeping us in the loop on the moke!

Pat

Nicholasupton

The trick to removing the screws is to stick a 3/4 nut on it and weld through the center. This brakes the rust on the threads and allows you to use an impact to take the screw out.

I read though the manual for the lenco and it clearly states that it is only intended for nonstructural welds, so if you end up using one plug weld to be sure nothing comes apart.

clm

I did notice that on the Lenco, however they are also intending it for a 2 spot welds per spot machine instead of splitting it and using it both sides of the same spot. Which in itself would lower the strength of the weld, spotting top and bottom in one weld should strengthen the welded joint. I am trying to find a used one so the outset cost is not so high, But being a quality 220 welder it has to have better spots then the handheld 110 welder that welded the front of my car back together in the mid 90's. If push comes to shove I will do the drill and fill... but assembling a whole car that way will be annoying :)

Chris

clm

Hey all

It has been a lazy while, but I finally finished my inner frame and can start pulling the body off the jig.



I also picked up a chinese rollbar/seatbelt mount to modify to fit the moke.



The main hood frame fits over it perfectly however the rear does not, the hood frame lines up almost exactly with the rear legs of it, that is going to require a bit of fitting to make it work.



The other issue with fitting it is that this moke is a top fill moke with the large filler, I don't see this as a major issue as I have decided I will make up a J tube that connects down to the main floor allowing me to trim off the third hole/interfering  metal around it.

Next step is going to be to remove the body from the jig and likely add some legs so it isn't so dang low :p

Chris

Willie_B

At least your moving on your Moke. Mine has been parked since I got it home. Though I am just starting to build a house and THAT eats my time.

clm

And all your spare money too I bet!

Chris


clm

Another update already?!?

Well yeah, I managed to pull the old shell off of the jig today with some help. 3 of my rear subframe bolts have the shank broken off in the subframe mounts though that wont be much issue as I have at least one good hole in each mount so I can still cinch things down.

With it off I was able to start assembling panels for a test fit of the floor, I sat the top jig off to the side as I wont need it until I go to mount the seat mount. I did run into two issues though, one I duly corrected, and one that will require me chopping the center of the rear subframe out.





The floorpan was missing subframe mount holes.



Easily corrected.



I am ready for some weld through primer and a spot welder now :)

Chris




94touring

You're not fooling around, gona have this thing back together in no time looks like.   

clm

Actually the assembly should be quick once I have a few things set up, but I still lack a spot welder and other items. AND I still have to dismantle the old shell for panels I need to salvage.

Chris

MiniGene

Wow!  That jig is awesome!  You could go into the Moke re-production business and give the Chinese a run for their money.

How much of the original metal do you think you'll be able to save?

clm

Thanks, the jig is not going to stay in this state once I am done with the moke shell, the rear part will be removed so I can fit the wagon to it to set set up the rear load floor replacement as well as straighten out the bent 61 woody I have.

As for the moke, I hope to keep some of the original metal, pannier tops and dividers will be repaired and reused, as will much of the front third. The back needs to completely come apart for me to figure out what I can save.

Chris