New to the Iron Pig!

[MBOffroading]

Well I recently scored a deal I could not pass up. A friend of mine had a '76 55, that he needed to get rid of, actually his wife wanted it gone... so I picked up it!

A little info and pics!

'76 FJ55
Original Motor/trans/tc.
Interior looks great
minimal rust that I have seen, mainly on the roof
front and rear heaters work!

Looks to have had a paint job at some point, not sure if they are the original colors or not.

To Do:
Tune up!
Drain all fluids, replace (trans/tc, front/rear diffs)
Fix rear window, currently doesnt want to go down.
SOA at some point
Power steering at some point.

Questions - What is the popular power steering setup? I have a mini-truck PS box, from my '40 power steering conversion I replaced.

Won't really do any hard core wheeling, just mild trail driving, Sunday cruising around town.

On to pics!

 

[Fitzgerald]

Wow. Awesome score. Congrats and welcome.

 

[MBOffroading]

Thanks, only 2 major/minor issues, won't pass smog (no smog equip), and $500 in back registration. Not really a big deal though.

 

[fj55tlc]

Nice truck! Mine has mini-truck p/s set up. It was easy to do. Use the bracket that Iron Pig Off Road sells. Mine is sprung over with 37" inch tires and it is plenty for turning those tires. I have a fj60 series box ready to go in however. A sprung over fj55 is a bit much for around town driving. They thrive on hard four wheeling use.

 

[MBOffroading]

Nice truck! Mine has mini-truck p/s set up. It was easy to do. Use the bracket that Iron Pig Off Road sells. Mine is sprung over with 37" inch tires and it is plenty for turning those tires. I have a fj60 series box ready to go in however. A sprung over fj55 is a bit much for around town driving. They thrive on hard four wheeling use.

Thanks for the info. At first, it will see lite offroading, but nothing KOH style, that's what the '40 is for.

I love the look of a SOA '55, which mainly the reason I want to do it.

I'm having trouble finding the bracket you are referring to from Iron Pig, do you have a link?

 

[scrapdaddy]

Congrats on a nice wagon and welcome. Looks like a repaint, white top. When you have some time, take a few pictures of the inside. seems to be in great shape.

Good luck with it, Ron

 

[fj55tlc]

I looked at Iron Pig Off Road and it seems they no longer offer that bracket. Its fairly simple to make if you want to. it also has the shock tower. I am putting a fj60 series box in because it eliminates the center link and that is my weakest link in the set up I think.
I have had my fj55 since I was 16, my brother had a fj40. I also helped start out local Land Cruiser club here and there were several fj40s. I did buy an fj40 for a while but my stock fj55 could hang with the built fj40s in the club, drove better than my 40, and was more comfortable. So I sold the fj40 and this is my trail, camping, sometimes daily driver truck. For what it's worth.

 

[MBOffroading]

Nice score.

For PS, unless you are sticking to stock, do yourself a favor and do NOT go with the minitruck/FJ40ish PS conversion. All those extra wear points suck.

On my SOA FJ55 with 35s, I have a Scout PS box. It is basically the same as the FJ60 and IFS type setups. (see link in my sig for all the fun stuff)

As for the SOA FJ55 being "bit much for around town driving", mine handles VERY nice. I have no problems around town or on the freeway... yes, even up to 80mph Granted V8 + 5 speed help this speed. I would keep the rear sway bar on it though.

What you got sounds like what happened with my old 75 FJ40. Great condition except for NO smog equipment. Spent more money on smog stuff than I did on the rig

Look forward to more pics and progress.

Ill have to check into the scout setup style, I like the mini truck setup because of the basic bolt on design, I have no prob fabing stuff for it, ill just have to see.

I don't have any of the smog equip, and I don't really plan on putting it on, I 'know a guy' that can smog it for me.

 

[Pighead]

A sprung over fj55 is a bit much for around town driving.

Disagree. A sprung over 55 on 37s is perfect for around town, nobody argues the right-of-way with you...
Agree with Lil'John (and perhaps one or two others), the Scout power steering box is the best for the Pig, it just fits so right.
Rear windows are the funnest thing to fix on a Pig.
Love your paintjob, reminiscent of the rare "Creamsicle" paint scheme only available for a year or two, back in the day..

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

do SOA and don't look back. I hear that the scout box is more stout than the 60, but either way should work great for power steering...the later 2Fs have bolt holes in the head for mounting the pump, or a Bill Dorey style bracket can be used if you're not going to run an AIR pump. I have thought long and hard about it, and have come to decide that the 55/40/40 style PS set-ups are not as safe as the 60 series/scout conversion. there is less linkage involved, and less places for slop to develope. IF you do have to smog, I swapped the induction system from a 60 series in all it's glory- CAT computer carb and all into my 77 and it does the trick. The 60 series motor complete is a great swap IMO, you'll just have to get the correct water pump for an oil cooled clutchless fan rig to clear the radiator. I have heard rumors- don't tell anyone here, they'll think I'm crazy- that 95 and older are soon to become exempt...truck looks great BTW. fix that window and keep her mostly stock(put the radio under the seat.....)

 

[MBOffroading]

do SOA and don't look back. I hear that the scout box is more stout than the 60, but either way should work great for power steering...the later 2Fs have bolt holes in the head for mounting the pump, or a Bill Dorey style bracket can be used if you're not going to run an AIR pump. I have thought long and hard about it, and have come to decide that the 55/40/40 style PS set-ups are not as safe as the 60 series/scout conversion. there is less linkage involved, and less places for slop to develope. IF you do have to smog, I swapped the induction system from a 60 series in all it's glory- CAT computer carb and all into my 77 and it does the trick. The 60 series motor complete is a great swap IMO, you'll just have to get the correct water pump for an oil cooled clutchless fan rig to clear the radiator. I have heard rumors- don't tell anyone here, they'll think I'm crazy- that 95 and older are soon to become exempt...truck looks great BTW. fix that window and keep her mostly stock(put the radio under the seat.....)

Ill be weighing my options as far as what to do with the Pig. I can't find anything that mentions the last part of your post. I will probably take the Pig down and see how bad it fails smog, then go from there. Currently it has no real smog equipment, so I don't know of it will be worth it to try and source all the smog equipment.

 

[bigsal]

JT outfitters still sells the IPOR bracket. If you do go that route, you better get thier last couple. I guess they are no longer making new ones. Mine works great, but I can't speak for the other options. Sounds like they are bomber also.

 

[MBOffroading]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I'm on the fense about what to do, since I know the 55 won't pass smog, and I'm not sure If I want to dump the cash into sourcing all the parts.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

dude....let a guy dream once in a while....

 

[Fitzgerald]

Man, I grew up in the LA basin back in the 80's and 90's. I lived at the foothills of the mountains, yet some days I couldn't ****in' see them because of the smog. At football practice, we were all coughing like 50 year smokers.

I don't know if I'd want them to change it (expect maybe for LC's ).

ANYWAY.....

Good luck with getting your 55 to pass the smog test!

 

[MBOffroading]

You should be able to get the smog parts somewhat cheap.

Depends upon if you got one of the "illegal" headers and need new header/exhaust manifold.

Whether you should, I would say it depends upon how well it is running/smelling and how close you can get it to pass with a tune-up. Maybe give it a kick-butt tune up then get your friend to give it a pre-smog check to see how close.

If close, buy the smog equipment and tinker to pass. If not even in same ballpark, 8.1L Vortec it

On the "rumor" of the rolling smog "exception", I haven't heard a sniff of it starting or being adjusted. So 75 and older is all you get

What is this illegal header you refer to? I know it has a header, but other than that, I don't know which.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

What is this illegal header you refer to? I know it has a header, but other than that, I don't know which.

there is a header with provisions for the EGR gas plumbing, and then there are those without.....

 

[MBOffroading]

there is a header with provisions for the EGR gas plumbing, and then there are those without.....

Easy enough, I'm guessing mine doesn't have those provisions, since my co-worker said it won't pass with the carb and header that are on it lol.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Not sure what to do about the header, but couldn't you rejet the carb?

 

[MBOffroading]

Not sure, I need to take it down to a test only place and see how bad it fails... I plan on doing a tune up on it, to see of that helps, so after get it tested, that will determine what my next step is. I really want to get this thing legit!