Cruiseliner Transformation

[mrsmackpaul]

Looking good, yes this metric thing is a problem at times, lucky we can get both easily in Australia 

Means we have twicd as much crap laying about

Nice touch on the axle housing 

Paul

[mowerman]

Wow, hats off to all the detail. I look at my frame once in a while and think one of these days I’ll have to get into that thing if I live that long, it’s mainly just a lot of dirt caked up absolutely wonderful detail you got there thanks for sharing. That sucks about the tubing sizes.

[cruiseliner64]

Just a few more pictures of the brake valves/pipes cleaned and refitted.We ran into a bit of a problem removing the little window in the sleeper.When we removed the interior trim we realised the cab is fiberglass not aluminum....The roof sleeper sides and rear are all fiberglass.We had a guy ready to weld in new aluminum but now.......we dont know anyone who works with fiberglass and are not sure how to fill that hole!!!!!.

Paul

[mowerman]

Holy cow I don’t any of us knew you were going to go that far wow right on man and thanks for sharing 

[Vladislav]

On 9/23/2025 at 3:21 AM, cruiseliner64 said:

The roof sleeper sides and rear are all fiberglass.We had a guy ready to weld in new aluminum but now.......we dont know anyone who works with fiberglass and are not sure how to fill that hole!!!!!.

Paul

 

 

 

 

Very interesting discovery! I knew the roof was fiberglass. But had no idea on the back wall. My cab is slightly shorter than yours so my guess the side portions are more aluminium at mine.

Working with fiberglass isn't anything extremely exotic. First option in your case would be attaching a piece of aluminium sheet from the inside of the fiberglass wall to cover that window opening. I'd fit it with blind rivets putting their heads slightly deep into the surface so you could cover them with filler later. Than take a big can of glass-filled epoxy filler and wipe 2-3 layers of it onto the alu. After that you need an agressive orbital sander to smooth up the surface and than later a standard pre-paint procedures of sanding-primering-sanding.

That described way has one big negative point though. Aluminium has high thermal expand coefficient. So you'd get risk of local deformation of that alu base when the truck is exposed to bright sun with filled area cracking. Alternative options could be using a kind of net or grill (stainless steel, alu, fiberglass, fabric) instead of the metal sheet. You'd need a kind of support from underneath to apply filler. I'd take a sheet of alu or plywood or so again but just put it temporary at the back. And insulate with a piece of polyethelene film (or so) for the filler to not glue up to it. 

If you're able to position the cab the way its back wall occures horizontal you may use epoxy (or polyether) resin instead of filler. Some kind of net anyway or you may use glass fabric or glass mat (as it's called here). Resin penetrates such stuff better so the mesh of threads could be tighter. You may apply 2-3 layers of glass fabric over each other penetrating with resin so you'd get actual fiberglass. Important point the edges of the existing hole must be grounded and sharpened for your new epoxy material to make overlap on the existing sheet, as more as better.

Ok, one more interesting option is if you may find a sheet of ready flat fiberglass. A portion of a board of a boat or IDK what. This way you use it instead of aluminium plate not suffering thermal deformation effects.

Well, one more idea. You may find a stock rear window off a R-model cab (with rubber), cut your cab for it and go Australian style!

[cruiseliner64]

Thanks Vlad for your interest and suggestions.We made contact with a guy who works with fiberglass and he is making a patch panel and fitting it for us.He is very interested in helping us with the Cruiseliner....

Paul

[Vladislav]

9 hours ago, cruiseliner64 said:

Thanks Vlad for your interest and suggestions.We made contact with a guy who works with fiberglass and he is making a patch panel and fitting it for us.He is very interested in helping us with the Cruiseliner....

Paul

I have two R-model hoods redone to the moment. And discowered plenty of old poor quality repairs in both of them. What I advise you to pay attention to is grinding the base material (the cab wall) mating area to clear solid fiberglass, with no restovers of paint or old filler, and arrange maximum possible overlap. For the patch I suggest you need no less than 30-40mm wide stripe of bare fiberglass to glue onto. Also the grade of degrease and dust remove needs to be a top and well guaranteed mixed components of resin or glue. These simple basic nuances play very big role since quality of the seam is responsible for not only the seam itself but also for paint works and all the followng final assembly works.