Introduction: Sweet Anne Marie (1 Viewer)

[tat2matt]

Well it's time to introduce the truck known as "SWEET ANN MARIE" she's my hearts delight. Story is after loving fj60's for all my adult life I decided it was time to own one. I had barely ever changed oil and knew absolutely nothing about them other than I wanted a truck with no rust and white. So the search began. In 2009 I found a white fj60 in Las Vegas problem was I was in Illinois and owned 2 businesses so the chance to get away and go look at it was near to zero. I trusted the guy ( first of many mistakes) and bought it site unseen. He said the motor was recently rebuilt and it ran good but was going to need a new carb. I wired him the money and had a trucking company go and pick it up and deliver it to me. Fist thing I noticed was the drivers window was down and had no intention of going up. Then the truck driver said the battery was dead and it wouldn't start. We rolled it off the truck and I pushed it into my driveway. A few hours later I got it started and took it for a drive. Massive vacuum leak? NO WAIT he said it needed a new c
Stuck! what have I done? So I figured that I needed to rethink this whole truck thing. I got "unstuck" and home, running like crap and not at all the dream truck I had in mind. I sat back had a few beers ( sierra celebration ale 2009) and thought about why I wanted a 4x4 in the first place. Well mostly because my grandfather had taken me thru the rubicon so many times as a little guy and I LOVED it and LOVED him and really wanted to feel that love of the outdoors he instilled in me and to remember how great he was.arb! Off to the web where Man-A-NOT Free got the first of many hundreds of dollars from me. New carb shows up I carefully installed it ( wow look at all the skills I got!) and took it not only for a drive but into the field near my house!

 

[tat2matt]

Fast forward a week and my dive buddy comes over to help me figure out why she's running so badly. His response is "wow this truck is really clean, no rust! Perfect candidate for a frame off restoration" well not wanting to let him down I struck a deal with my ex wife to move the truck to her garage and the chaos began!

 

[tat2matt]

Fist step take it off the frame. How hard can that be rite? remember I had barely changed oil at this point but 20 friends and some beer later it was off. OK now what? DONOR TRUCK! So I went out and bought a good running fj60 with lots of rust and away we went. By now my ex has realized that her 4 car garage is now my personal playhouse and wants the truck and me out of her life…..

 

[tat2matt]

rust bucket

 

[tat2matt]

So I towed the body home and started working. At every step I found more things I wanted to do and figured if I was going to do it I wanted to only do it once. So I started saving and one thing at a time I started making it happen. By 2010 I had the frame stripped down repainted and the suspension bought and was saving for lockers. By late 2010 the front axle was done and I was on my way to having enough for the rear.

 

[tat2matt]

Lots of wire brushing toothbrushing and simple green later

 

[tat2matt]

By 2011 we had a buddy come over with a crane truck and I put the body back on the frame. LOOK were almost done rite? HA! now the really hard stuff started. I did the interior in cruisercrap and proceeded to start on putting in sliding windows. I saved up and bought Kevin's rear lid and was figuring out how to squeak out a h55 by christmas. I had taken the motor to be rebuilt by Gary Duckworth a local engine builder that was willing to teach me as he went and let me ask a million questions. I can't thank him enough for letting me learn and being so patient with me. The first motor the one that came with the truck was shot. The massive vacuum leak was caused by a crappy helicoil job where the previous owner snapped off a intake/exhaust bolt and helicoiled it. So the head had a big ugly hole and in the process he pushed all the metal into the motor! Oh yeah that was ok rite? The piston walls were so gauged up you could put a tooth pick down between the piston and the walls and it was punched 40 over so there was no hope. I pulled the motor out of the donor truck and off it went to be rebuilt. It too had been punched 40 over. So in the end we sleeved the block and went back to stock.

 

[tat2matt]

By the beginning of 2012 I had sold my bakery and was planning my wedding. My wife to be, was patient and kind and willing to let me spend countless hours in the garage letting dinners go cold and nights drag on. I knew she was "ok" with my obsession because she would just shrug and say" your building a car" but I knew deep down that if this wasn't' done before we got married there was a good chance there wasn't going to be a wedding. SO we pushed hard and got things all put back in. I ended up giving up on carbs and going with a TBI and had it towed off to have an exhaust installed. It took a good month of tweaking before she ran rite and just in time for my coffee roasting business to sell my wedding to take place and 3 weeks later to sell my house and follow my new bride to IOWA! That brings us to now September of 2012.

 

[tat2matt]

To date here are the things I have done.

Safari Suspension with shackle reversal and u bolt flip kit from 4 plus.
FJ cruiser 17 steelies with spacers.
Redneck Ram rebuilt steering box
Stainless braided brake lines
ARB lockers front and rear
Wagon Gear side and tailgate storage (Kevin builds ART)
Tuffy Console
H55 and twin stick t-case. ( thanks Orangfj45)
Lined the whole interior with cruiser crap
Painted the exterior with al's liner ($300 paint Job)
Built a custom rear bumper ( started with a kit from mud member )
White knuckle sliders ( bought from classifieds)
ARB front bumper
BMW heated seats ( soon to go and be replaced with Subaru Outback seats)
Custom Dash and gauge cluster.
Affordable Fuel Injections TBI Kit ( should have waited for Troll's)
42 gallon long range tank
Roof Top Tent ( actually had it for some time it's been used on my outback mostly)

 

[kjedmondson182]

you're my hero wow

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[gregnash]

She is a beautiful truck dude and congrats on the nupuiles!
You are definitely doing it right man and the truck will last you forever!

 

[Wyoming]

Wow Matt, really nice job. Post more pictures, I want to see more of that paint job.

 

[tat2matt]

Wow Matt, really nice job. Post more pictures, I want to see more of that paint job.

Thanks, I have been very aprehensive about posting because there are SO many amazing trucks on here but low and behold…...

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Dude, that grey two-tone looks amazing!!! I guess I'm not the only one who thinks that white, grey and black can all look good on a cruiser together The FJC steel wheels really add to the whole look too.

Mega sweet cruiser man, congrats!

 

[tat2matt]

Dude, that grey two-tone looks amazing!!! I guess I'm not the only one who thinks that white, grey and black can all look good on a cruiser together The FJC steel wheels really add to the whole look too.

Mega sweet cruiser man, congrats!

Thanks. I was on the fence for a long time about it then I saw this truck and decided it was totally for me.

 

[tat2matt]

For anyone looking for FJC steelies I was able to buy 5 from my local stealership for $125. They said that they were just sitting around because the local FJC buyers all wanted "fancy" rims and the steelies were extra. You will need spacers but if your not going to be wheeling super hard it's worth it.

 

[dbleon]

That paint is awesome!!

Nice build...keep it up!

 

[maat]

MOAR PICS!!!1!1!!one!

 

[ashack2004]

Awesome Build Dude!

 

[tat2matt]

I forgot a few things. I put LED reverse lights and interior tights. The interior lights don't actually work and I haven't taken the time to track that down advise is appreciated.
Super loud air horn from a semi that's getting presently re plumbed to have a second air source directly from the 2.5 gallon tank. I found a piece that should allow me to hook a cord from the air valve to perhaps the drive line as a security deterent. If someone were to get past the fuel pump shut off keyed switch and start to drive the truck the air horn would go off and stay going off for a good long time.
Dual batteries with Stainless trays. I put in Sears Die Hard Platinum well see how well they last. A Warn battery splitter.
I opted not to have a stereo head unit instead I have a preamp/Equilizer in my Tuffy console and a Marine amp. I just use an iphone/Ipod to play music and radio possible theft deterent?? Let's hope