10 years on the road... (1 Viewer)

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Grand Junction CO
Realized, as I was getting ready to leave for the Pig Party, that today marked the 10th anniversary of the Frankencruiser's maiden voyage after two weekends of combining a couple of parts vehicles. Never did do a build thread but the following pictures will give you an idea.

First shot is of picking up one carcass about this time in 2008 from Dave Gore's yard in Miami AZ. Went to buy a hood for my first pig...ending up with the whole body sans engine/trans/tcase, figuring it would be a profitable parts vehicle.

A few months later, I saw a ad on Mud that Scorcher needed some door and cargo panels for the Moviestar. Offered to deliver them while over on the other side of Colorado. Ended up with another hulk, his parts vehicle, for a few bucks and a 30-pack of PBR, this one running and driving with a small block conversion.

Summer of 2010 I drafted a friend with skills, a home shop and a sense of humor to help marry the two hulks. Two long weekends and the body by Gore, chassis and drive train by Scorcher were on the road. Pic 3 is the actual marriage and pic 4 is the first time legally on the street.

Final pic is from spring 2011 after spending the winter at the body shop gettting flufffed and folded inside and out. FIrst road adventure was to Cruise Moab. In the past decade we've been all over the West and Southwest and leave Wednesday for our fourth Pig Party in ID/MT. The Frankencruiser has taken us to Death Valley, over the Old Mohave Road, to Joshua Tree, San Diego and LA, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, to the White Rim Trail and a couple of Cruise Moabs, over many of those well-known passes you've heard about in Colorado, on too many camping trips to count and most times is also my daily driver.

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You ended up with a great 55 Jim!👍
I know you recently did some engine work. What were you running, and what do you have now? IIRC, you had a Ranger OD. Are you still running that?
Got tired of playing with carburetors. Fresh TBI 350 just before the Pig Party last year. Left for UT with only about 250 miles on it. Did the late '80s-early '90s version of the SBC simply because it was on the stand and rebuilt. Avoided any need to reset motor mounts, etc., so the swap was simpler. Bought and parted out a '93 GMC pickup so we could harvest the factory FI. Still have the Ranger OD...wouldn't be my first choice again but it does what it's supposed to do and maintains the "old school" vibe. Actively avoided anything too exotic over the years, wanting to be able to get parts easily wherever we're at. Over the past 10 years other mods have included mini-truck power steering, the slight lift, and my favorite...F150 captains chairs with adjustable lumbar! Scorcher's parts rig already had a disc brake front axle conversion.
Appreciate the compliment...if I'd known it was going to turn out so well I'd have taken more care in the original body swap. Only spent a couple of hours with a power washer, wire wheel and about six cans of semi-gloss Rustoleum while cleaning up the chassis and the underbody. But we did get 'er done and on the road in two weekends!
Attached pic is from last summer.

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Running 33X10.50R15 All Terrains on white painted late model 40 wheels. Found a set of five at a local auction. Will use the old painted chrome 60 wheels when I get some similar size Mud Terrains.
Rooftop tent is great...we call it penthouse camping. Best $500 I've spent when we bought it lightly used. Also have the annex for underneath and the enclosure and floor for the awning, also found used locally. If pressed, we'd have a three-bedroom Pig for much less than most ask for their used rooftop tents. Only issue with the tent is putting it up and down daily but I figure it takes about the same amount of time as breaking down our old tent camp. We've got it down to about 15 minutes up, maybe a few more minutes down.
 
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Awesome Jim!

Keep the pictures and details coming!

I didn't realize you started after I did - you sure made quick work of her!

Those pictures from @scorcher1967 place are so funny. We had a few get-togethers over there when he was working on @Elyse LC Project Moviestar. I still hope she makes her Pig documentary...
 
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So you had some 60 series chrome wheels you had painted or powder coated? What size tyres are you running?
How long with the roof-top tent and what’s your take on it now that you’ve had it for awhile?

For a while we were both rocking the chrome 60-series 5 spokes! Except I think that was when I had 31s on her.

I will have to dig through the pics of when we met at the RS Rally, we might have had the same wheels then...
 
Tell us a story, Jim...
Short story is keep those body mounts cleaned out, boys, especially up front. About a coffee can full of packed dirt on both sides leads to this. Once again, thanks bobm. He's a savior for sure.
Once floors and mounts are in, final green repaint will be done. Hopefully pick it up and start getting ready for South Dakota when we return from a week or two in NM and AZ. Leaving Monday see our son in Albuquerque for the first time in a year now that we're both vaccinated and restrictions have eased. Maybe extend the road trip to visit some longtime friends in Queen Creek.

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Per Bob, we opened up the lowest point against the rocker to make it easy to hose out and keep clean.
 
Back in town after 10 days in NM, AZ and UT. Front floor and body mount surgery completed while I was gone. Insides of mounts coated. Undersides will also be coated. Re-greening should be done this week. Maybe home by the weekend.

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Ready for Nebula tomorrow...

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Wouldn’t want to infringe on your territory.
 

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