Appreciate it - the ambulance door lowers were from www.realsteelcruiserparts.net/, with the mix of banging out some panels from scrap drops of flat steel from the steelyard.
Tub is a CCOT HFS tub, which is also South American but should be from Costa Rica vs Columbia. Tub was generally decent, but suffered from some of the same fitment issues you see on the cheaper Columbian/SA tubs. For the price, I'd frankly expected a better product, and a bit better support to "stand behind their product", IMHO. If I did it again, I'd likely go the cheaper SA route with eyes-wide-open that there'd be work, or at most go with the HFS half-tub. The HFS QC seems spotty, and when the 3/4 tub has issues, they're harder to fix than working forward from a 1/2 tub. I will say the zinc plated metal does seem nicer than the steel used for the Columbian parts, though. (I purchased doors from there.) On mine, the firewall mating surface/floor was bent too wide by 1/2", requiring the floors to be cut and seamed to bring them back in. Dimensions were confirmed to be off at the firewall, originating at the B-pillar after checking other factory tubs as well as those that purchased Aqualu tubs. Oddly enough, the spar that runs across the floor at the B-pillar was marked "MALO" with arrows pointing inward (Spanish for "bad"), so it does seem like there were some known mistakes at the factory in Costa Rica, but CCOT was unwilling to do much about it - after a few weeks of back and forth, the shop crew seemed to agree on swapping it out, but then the owner prevented anything other than a return with no replacement as "they couldn't guarantee any better fitment with other inventory". I decided to cut the tub and moved on, as sourcing an entirely different tub would have set me back weeks if not months on the project, and I have a limited window of time here to work it. The firewall/B-pillar dimension was the main issue, but there's a smattering of other minor quirks, similar to other cheaper SA tubs...some holes were drilled incorrectly (needing to be filled and redrilled), and one set of body mounts is at the wrong height, which will need to be cut out a rewelded when I pull the tub off for paint. The angled flange at the B-pillar is also off for some reason, so there's a lip where it meets the hardtop panel...I'm hoping the weatherstrip can accommodate it, as there's not much ability to rework it. My hunch is that it's going to whistle, so I'll probably need to make a rubber "packing" to go on the hardtop lip to create a better transition. Whether this is a one-off that slipped through, who knows - my suspicion is that over time, the QC has decreased...but like everything, there's two sides to every story, take it for what it's worth. I debated discussing it more as part of a video, but chose to just move on and keep the videos a bit more positive. Good luck on your (assumed) project - they're a lot of work, but fun too.
@@lonewolfworksThanks for that explanation of the work you have had to do. I agree that for what a HFS tub goes for it should be a stellar fit. I have a 1979 FJ40. It has some MAJOR rust issues. I purchased pretty much all the body panels to completely fabricate I rear tub as well as floors and rocker panels. In retrospect, I should have probably gone with an Aqualu tub, but at the time I wanted to keep as much of the original sheet metal as a could. I’ve never done any welding but it looks like I’ll get lots of practice. This vehicle looks like it was stored in a leaky barn for years, and has just deteriorated. I thought about the SA tubs but after reading some of the comments on IH8MUD, I decided to try to fix what I have. I a really long way to go to get to where you are with yours. Can’t wait to see more videos on your project.
It's been a while, and I would've adjusted a bit to account for the condition of the door metal...but my guess is that it would've been around that 15V/200-225WFS with the 035 wire (depending on 16ga or 18ga).
Impressive work and attention to detail! Did you slip the hardtop to tub seals in before you did all the amby door work?
I didn't put the full lip-seal on, but I did put some rubber strips under the inner pan/lip to space the hardtop sides up like they would be.
As always nice work. Get job with the details
Color me impressed !! Where do you find patch panels like these?
Appreciate it - the ambulance door lowers were from www.realsteelcruiserparts.net/, with the mix of banging out some panels from scrap drops of flat steel from the steelyard.
Great work. Did you say that was a South American tub or a Cool Cruiser tub. How was the initial fit. Looking fantastic for sure.
Tub is a CCOT HFS tub, which is also South American but should be from Costa Rica vs Columbia. Tub was generally decent, but suffered from some of the same fitment issues you see on the cheaper Columbian/SA tubs. For the price, I'd frankly expected a better product, and a bit better support to "stand behind their product", IMHO. If I did it again, I'd likely go the cheaper SA route with eyes-wide-open that there'd be work, or at most go with the HFS half-tub. The HFS QC seems spotty, and when the 3/4 tub has issues, they're harder to fix than working forward from a 1/2 tub. I will say the zinc plated metal does seem nicer than the steel used for the Columbian parts, though. (I purchased doors from there.)
On mine, the firewall mating surface/floor was bent too wide by 1/2", requiring the floors to be cut and seamed to bring them back in. Dimensions were confirmed to be off at the firewall, originating at the B-pillar after checking other factory tubs as well as those that purchased Aqualu tubs. Oddly enough, the spar that runs across the floor at the B-pillar was marked "MALO" with arrows pointing inward (Spanish for "bad"), so it does seem like there were some known mistakes at the factory in Costa Rica, but CCOT was unwilling to do much about it - after a few weeks of back and forth, the shop crew seemed to agree on swapping it out, but then the owner prevented anything other than a return with no replacement as "they couldn't guarantee any better fitment with other inventory". I decided to cut the tub and moved on, as sourcing an entirely different tub would have set me back weeks if not months on the project, and I have a limited window of time here to work it.
The firewall/B-pillar dimension was the main issue, but there's a smattering of other minor quirks, similar to other cheaper SA tubs...some holes were drilled incorrectly (needing to be filled and redrilled), and one set of body mounts is at the wrong height, which will need to be cut out a rewelded when I pull the tub off for paint. The angled flange at the B-pillar is also off for some reason, so there's a lip where it meets the hardtop panel...I'm hoping the weatherstrip can accommodate it, as there's not much ability to rework it. My hunch is that it's going to whistle, so I'll probably need to make a rubber "packing" to go on the hardtop lip to create a better transition.
Whether this is a one-off that slipped through, who knows - my suspicion is that over time, the QC has decreased...but like everything, there's two sides to every story, take it for what it's worth. I debated discussing it more as part of a video, but chose to just move on and keep the videos a bit more positive. Good luck on your (assumed) project - they're a lot of work, but fun too.
@@lonewolfworksThanks for that explanation of the work you have had to do. I agree that for what a HFS tub goes for it should be a stellar fit. I have a 1979 FJ40. It has some MAJOR rust issues. I purchased pretty much all the body panels to completely fabricate I rear tub as well as floors and rocker panels. In retrospect, I should have probably gone with an Aqualu tub, but at the time I wanted to keep as much of the original sheet metal as a could. I’ve never done any welding but it looks like I’ll get lots of practice. This vehicle looks like it was stored in a leaky barn for years, and has just deteriorated. I thought about the SA tubs but after reading some of the comments on IH8MUD, I decided to try to fix what I have. I a really long way to go to get to where you are with yours. Can’t wait to see more videos on your project.
what was the setting's on the welder for the 16 ga steel.?
It's been a while, and I would've adjusted a bit to account for the condition of the door metal...but my guess is that it would've been around that 15V/200-225WFS with the 035 wire (depending on 16ga or 18ga).