Well it's finally here

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Pygmalion

Pygmalion

Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Threads
6
Messages
167
Location
Chico, CA
Well it's finally here (my FJ55 build thread)

Finally got my pig today... whoohoo!

Started the day off by meeting the PO at the DMV where all the title and registration issues were sorted out. The fees were very reasonable in my opinion being that the vehicle hadn't been registered in 8 years.

I then met the PO at his house where I paid for the pig and called for a tow. The tow truck driver was pretty much a d*ck. He thought he was gonna tow the pig front-end first until he saw the condition of the passenger rear tire, so instead he had to tie the steering wheel straight and tow it ass-up. Thankfully it made it here alright, and luckily it was only a couple miles tow.

I took a bunch of photos, and rather than post them all here, I uploaded them to a gallery on my website, linked HERE <---(link).

Overall it's in great restorable condition, and for a bit over $1200 I think I did alright. I have been finding a bit more rust than I initially had discovered, but that just gives me more justification for the welder I bought. :D

The guy that did the V-8 swap may have been on crack, because for some insane reason he routed the exhaust pipes through the front springs, right in front of the rear pivots. I don't see any dings in the exhaust pipes, but I think I'm probably going to figure out a bit different way of routing.

Tomorrow I start my assessment by pulling the wheels and checking out the brakeing system, replacing the battery, checking out the rear window motor, etc. so we'll see how it goes.

I also was in such a rush with the tow truck guy that I forgot to get the ignition keys, but it's only a few blocks to the PO's house and I still have to go back and pick up the F engine he has sitting in his driveway.

Anyway, I gotta get going to work, but thought I'd finally get some pix up.
 
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Thanks guys! I have a bit left in my budget to get me going, and I'd say that about half of it will just be spent on weatherstripping. I swear that just about every piece is rotted off. Thankfully the cargo window gaskets are still in good shape, but I'm pretty sure the windshield gasket leaks.

Trollhole said:
Looks pretty good. Fair amount of rust but should be fixable.
Click to expand...

Yeah. It had a bit more rust than I anticipated, but thankfully none on any compound curves (so far). Once I start hitting body panels tomorrow with the wire wheel it should reveal anything that's hiding.

Of course, this hinges on the weather, and it's looking like rain likely tomorrow.

Here's a pic of the pig for those that don't feel like looking through the whole gallery. I can't wait til it's on the road again. Oh the agony.

DSC_9581.sized.jpg
 
:D
If I buffed it out I'd be left with a drivetrain. ;)

Well, the rain held out for the better part of today, so I was able to tear out a bunch of interior crap and assess the damage. So far the undesirable critter count is at '2'. I found a black widow and a yellow jacket so far as I've been dismantling. I'm now wearing my welding gloves as I work around the vehicle until I've gotten everything either blown or vacuumed out. :D

The passenger side floor wasn't as bad as I'd thought, and withstood the icepick test pretty well. No soft spots.
DSC_9616.jpg


There is a bit of rot along the passenger side front seat mount, which is probably what the fire extinguisher was hiding. :)
DSC_9617.jpg


This is when things started getting scary
DSC_9618.jpg


Thankfully there's still quite a bit of good metal up there, so the holes are pretty much the extent of the damage. Should be some fun fabrication. Or I could just leave it as-is and use my feet for power braking.

The cargo area is probably the best looking part of the pig so far, with just some surface rust and minor scratches. I found the yellow jacket, empty bees nests and the remains of a black widow nest in the passenger side well when I took off the cover.
DSC_9619.jpg


And here's the beginning of chemo. Started nailing a bit of the surface rust so I can at least see some progress. Polished it out with a wire wheel and then shot a coat of primer over it to give it some minor protection until I can get some good stuff on it.

DSC_9620.jpg


The roof rot is kinda scary, though it doesn't go all the way down the side. There's a bit more over the front and rear doors (kinda visible), so I'm hoping it won't be too hard to patch. I'm not going to try to do a perfect sheetmetal patch job, since bondo is much more forgiving, but I'd like to keep my filler to a minimum.

That's about it for now. I'm still assessing the amount of sheet metal I'm going to need, which keeps getting larger the more I tear apart.
 
funny you commented on the fire extinguisher in your pics. A friend of my buddy's had a fire in his cruiser and it burnt to freakin ground. All he could do was stand there and watch it burn. :o :mad: :crybaby: I have one in my milk crate full of goodies in the back of mine.
 
Dang! :eek:

Looks like a fire extinguisher will be among my list of tools that I carry in the pig.

Well, I didn't get out and do much today due to the rain, but I did manage to do some more work on the driver's floorboard in between showers.

DSC_9622.jpg


The sound deadening material actually came up pretty easy once I got a good working edge going (using a hammer and screwdriver). I'm pretty sure that the cold made it easier to chip off. I found a couple more soft spots and holes, but it still doesn't look like too bad of a patch job.

I'm also trying to bring the battery back from the dead. It's a fairly new Die Hard 525 cca, and although it was deader than a doornail, all the cells looked very clean and all had plenty of water... so I'm hoping for the best. I had it on a trickle charge for about an hour then tested the voltage with my multimeter and it registered about 11.7 volts, though we'll see how it looks after charging overnight. Would be nice to save $50.
 
I didn't even keep track of the insects when I got my Pig home...but am up to 5 mice and a rat from the inside, and half a rat skeleton from on top of the skidplate...the count might go up when I take down the headliner...
 
Dang... I'll trade you a gray and fuzzy for a black and shiny. :D

Well, the battery is toast. It showed about 11.9 volts on my voltmeter until I turned on the headlights, when it dropped voltage rapidly. So I had to go buy another one.

Tomorrow night I plan on fumigating the FJ55. To quote a line from one of my favorite movies "Let's nuke it from orbit... it's the only way to be sure". So I bought three large drop cloths and a few bug bombs. I'm going to make a tent out of plastic for the pig and then light off a couple of bombs underneath it. Then I'll feel a bit better when it comes to reaching into dark places. :D

I'll take pics and post them.
 
Wow... that's a lot of crud.

I'll probably replace both front floorboards so that I can also get to the front body mounts. The driver's side is pretty bad, but the passenger side isn't too pitted.

I did, however, get the front seat removed and was able to chip away the rest of the sound dampener from under the driver's seat and in the passenger area. There I discovered the wonders of the seam that runs right in front of the rear seat, which is pretty rotten. I estimate that I'll have to replace about 90% of the seam.

The door jamb between the front and rear doors on the passenger side is also rotten at the floorline inside the cab. The lower door sills aren't too bad, though the front sill got nailed by the rot in the jamb, so it'll need part of the radius replaced, and also some of the metal that holds the body moulding (the door stop?)

I'm also planning on cutting out the rocker panels from wheel well to wheel well so I can fabricate some sliders. They'll be used more like steps, though, since my wife is 5'2" and my kids are pretty short. :D

Sliders should work out well because of the front fender rot, as well as the rocker rot. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to handle the mounting, and I'm slowly hammering out the design in my head.

I'll have plenty of metal work to keep me busy for the next few weeks at least.

I also haven't had a chance to bomb the pig yet, since it decided to rain for two days straight... :rolleyes:

I've got big plans, so hopefully my budget will hold out. :D
 
Sliders

Congrats on getting your rig. Lance at Iron Pig Offroad has great sliders, give him a call when your ready. Good luck on the rust repair. Check out my thread, the guy's at IPOR did a great job of rebuilding my right front floor support.
All the best

Lou
 
Thanks Lou. :)

I think I'm going to fab my own sliders, but I have checked out the IPOR sliders for reference.

Well, I spent the past couple days at the pick and pull, and I got a Taurus fan, a 3-gang relay box out of a Toyota car, two Taurus fuse panels, the door pin switches from several Ford Probes, the bucket seats out of an Acura Vigor, and other miscellaneous stuff. I'm not even close to being done yet. :D

Now I have to find a power steering setup, though I'm looking more toward the setup like Wayneinraintree has in his POTM... those Sag boxes are like toilet paper at our pick'n pull.

I still haven't fumigated the pig yet, due to adverse weather conditions, but hopefully tomorrow morning I'll get to it. I did manage to throw the new battery in it, and I found that it's going to need a lot of electrical work. I may just get a whole new harness.

While I had the battery connected I gave the ignition a couple bumps with the key, and the starter turns the engine over, so that's a good sign. I didn't try to start it up because it needs the fuel system flushed, the oil changed, etc. before I get that far.
 
I got some photos of my pillage.

Pin switch (one of 6):
pin_switch.jpg


Bucket seats:
bucket_seats.jpg


Taurus power distribution blocks (nothing says power like fuses the thickness of your little finger):
fuses.jpg


Taurus fan:
DSC_9625.jpg


Bosch 30A relays (for powering the Taurus fan) :
DSC_9630.jpg


And in case the Bosch relays don't work (Arrrr, Arrrr, Arrrr) :
starter_solenoids.jpg


:D
 
Made another quick trip to the junkyard yesterday and picked up a Nippondenso 120HS 120 amp alternator for less than $20. Took it into AutoZone and they put it on their tester and it passed with flying colors. Sweet!

Now to find an external voltage regulator and a single Chevy pulley to fit the ND alternator, fab up an engine bracket, and I'll be in binniss.

As far as regulators go, are the Niehoff any good? The local Kragen carries them for like $13, and if it'll work then I won't worry about trying to salvage one.
 
Whoops, hit a little snag. I took the alternator in to work today so I could pull the pulley and clean the alternator up a bit, and as I started really looking at it, the internal fan blades point leftward...

ruh-roh raggy...

It appears it's a counter-clockwise alternator, though I could swear that the Grand Caravan I pulled it from was driving it in clockwise fashion since it was driven off the crankshaft.

Technically I guess I could still use it clockwise, though alternator cooling will be sub-optimal. Or I could get all ghetto and just install it backward. :D

I'm going to do some more searching on the intarweb though I figured I'd toss this out in case somebody had any advice or insight.
 
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