New SJ owner - couple of q’s

   

So the tail mount for the body arrived. That’s not a welcome surprise! it’s a decent panel but it does require millimeter precision to fit where the double skinned number plate mounts fit together. This is a head scratcher as it’ll mean instead of aligning by eye (and that’s how success will be measured!) that i’ll either need to make a good jog or perhaps more practically jig off the chassis. This is not ideal given the amount of tin that’s been cut out… hmm. What would help is a good shot of the rear mounts for the number plates all fitted in. I don’t quite understand why we need a double skinned number plate mount so there is a distinct possibility that I might just cut and reweld so the number plate is only mounted to the body and not the body and chassis.  

Before 88 they all had rear bumpers and licenseplate mounts and lights at the chassis but from 1988 they were mounted to the body.
I think.

Brackets and mounts differ then of course.

It was like this for my 1984,85,87 SJ's and my spanish 88 and 92 samurai at least.

Fab, mines a 92 Spanish build. I guess the old mounts rotted off and then some one refabbed onto the chassis.
We’ll sort that out quickly enough!

Cheers for that. It could have been a long rabbit hole

More progress, easier once you know how it fits together! Other side of the cross member is cleco’d in and the new arch. 

Leaves a small curved patch to join the inner sill to the wheel tub. 

The body mounts are a little off but I reckon we’ll be ok. I reckon we are about 4mm wider than stock. But you’ve got a few degrees of freedom to play with to put it back in! Not all of which are in my control.

Next challenge is the front of the sill that is sitting wide of the floor.. may fillet it, may cut it free and pull it in with a ratchet strap. 

Then unpick the old tail mount and repair the back of the floor and put the new inner cross member in with a couple of little patches in the inner sill. 

Then we have a rot free SJ…. For a simple vehicle that body repair is fairly involved! Hope these snaps help someone else in the future. 

       

The bit that had me confused… will chop the brackets off the chassis.

Does anyone have a clear description of which body mounts go where and which thickness? The ones on my car were not immediately recognizable as car parts… and I have a new set from India