1969 FJ55 Build Thread

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T

TuffMudder

Still working on my FJ55!
10 Year
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Threads
42
Messages
758
Location
Fort Smith, AR
Thought I'd start a build thread to document what I believe will be my slow (or maybe not so slow) decent into madness.

Here are pics of my pig right after arriving from Montana courtesy of CarmMontana





The engine wasn't running and after looking it over, it was going to take a full rebuild to get it running so I made the decision to go ahead with a 4bt swap.

Carmon had warned me some rust was beginning to show through, and that there was bondo in the body. We pulled the engine and stripped the interior. While the body is sound overall, there was some rot and structural problems, so I decided to go with a full frame off restoration.

We began removing the dynomat when we ran into our next problem...



This is tar paper from hell! It's lining the entire floor of the vehicle and it appears to have bonded with the metal. No easy way to get it off, so I'm going to go out tomorrow and try out a suggestion Carmon gave to me tonight.

That's where it stands currently and here are my plans assuming my wallet holds up to the challenge:
  1. Remove tar paper from hell, cussing Carmon roughly every 4 to 5 minutes :bang:
  2. Drink lots of beer and possibly go to the local ballet to bring my blood pressure down
  3. Forgive Carmon (For the record, Carmon was very upfront about the rust and bondo, and was very intent on making sure I new what I'd be getting into with this rig :cheers:)
  4. Sandblast entire tub and frame
  5. Box the frame and then have it powder coated
  6. 2 part epoxy primer followed by SEM for tub inside and out
  7. 60 axles if I can find some at a reasonable price (let me know if you have some for sale in the N.W. Arkansas area)
  8. Locking Diffs
  9. SOA conversion
    1. cut and turn
    2. extend out rear sway links with quick disconnect
    3. traction bars
    4. Hi Steer
  10. New rear bumper with ladder (possibly with swing out Jerry can holder on ladder)
  11. Modify front bumper and install Warn 8274
  12. 4bt>Dodge adapter>Dodge NV4500>Advance adapters>60 series split transfer case
  13. Dual batteries
  14. Extend all undercarriage breathers
  15. Custom long range gas tank (will extend to 1" above the bottom of the frame rails
  16. Auxillary tank under back seat with wvo conversion
  17. Custom rear storage drawers
That's the plan. It's pretty ambitious to say the least. We'll see how close the final project comes to this.

Rodney
 
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What kind of tires and rims do you have on it now? You have an ambitious plan. What condition are the doors in? Roof? I could tell you that there will very likely be more surprises for you, but that would spoil all of the fun!

I would suggest dedicating a significant amount of time and money to getting the frame, body, and suspension finished. It will seem to take forever, but once you see it going back together, it is very encouraging.
 
Stock steelies with 33 BFG at's I believe

Front door window frames starting to separate from door up front on both sides. Several small areas of rot sowing through on the roof.

All rot will be replaced with new sheet metal. The initial focus will on getting the frame and body pristine, then box frame and powder coat it, prime an spray the tub inside and out. Once that's done, we'll be swapping in new axles so the suspension will be the soul focus until complete.

My intention is to have a bomb proof vehicle with good off road ability and suited for survival Ina zombie apocalypse


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I say zombie apocalypse but that's really just code for my real fear which is an invasion from the Canadians! You just can't trust a people that are that friendly!


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Surprisingly, a lot like Canadians


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So spent some time tonight trying to remove the ice and water shield from the floor of the body. This is a roofing product found at Home Depot and apparently is supposed to serve a similar purpose to dynamat extreme. This stuff practically bonds to metal and is a nightmare to remove. I'm not man enough to pull it off and a torch just made a mess that was no easier to remove.

Carmon was able to give me a link to a video of a guy using heat to remove the bulk of it (video was actually for removing dynamat extreme), followed by goof off for the residue. This method was easier but still a painfully slow process made only slightly easier by using a box cutter where the material meets metal

IF YOU EVER ENCOUNTER THIS STUFF OR SIMILAR, HERES THE IMPORTANT PART!
Forget the heat. Once you get an edge up, grab it and pull firmly then spray where the metal meets the adhesive with goof off and it releases quite easily. Each time you encounter resistance spray the edge again. Once it's up, respray the surface with good off and scrape with a putty knife. Once this is done, respray and wipe clean! It's just that simple. A complete floor pan should only take about 4 cans of the stuff and 2 people can do it in about 10-12 hours! (Sadly, not a joke).

I have some pics but this forum won't allow uploading from tapatalk, so I'll try to upload them later. I'm posting from my phone, so autocorrect has probably made a lot of "corrections" that I'm too lazy to go back and fix, so sorry if this ended up being a grammatical nightmare


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I'm brand new to Land cruisers and the first time I'd ever seen an FJ55 in person was a couple of weeks ago when mine arrived on a trailer from Montana.

One of my least favorite discoveries was finding out that the back door cannot be opened without rolling down the window using the switch on the dash. I'm pretty sure the guy who designed that is still laughing about it today.

I had initially thought I would have the window frame cut from the body and a new one welded to the tailgate, but of course the tailgate opens up laying flat so my window would not likely last long.

Is this specific to the 69's or is this a feature of all the Pigs?
Has anyone came up with a solution to this issue? Id be willing to try almost any good solution

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d8/Tenagra/null_zpsa10de61a.jpg
 
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TuffMudder said:
I'm brand new to Land cruisers and the first time I'd ever seen an FJ55 in person was a couple of weeks ago when mine arrived on a trailer from Montana. One of my least favorite discoveries was finding out that the back door cannot be opened without rolling down the window using the switch on the dash. I'm pretty sure the guy who designed that is still laughing about it today. I had initially thought I would have the window frame cut from the body and a new one welded to the tailgate, but of course the tailgate opens up laying flat so my window would not likely last long. Is this specific to the 69's or is this a feature of all the Pigs? Has anyone came up with a solution to this issue? Id be willing to try almost any good solution
Click to expand...

You can also roll the window down using the key in the tailgate. Turn and hold left or right... Assuming it works! If that is still painful then you could turn it into a clamshell setup like the older troopy or try to find some barn doors (rare in the USA).

Welcome to pig ownership! That is a good looking pig and I am excited to watch your build. I was worried that you might be biting of more than you should... But after hearing about your persistence with the roofing I think you will be fine. Keep the pics coming.

simple is usually right... 1973 fj55
 
TuffMudder said:
So spent some time tonight trying to remove the ice and water shield from the floor of the body. This is a roofing product found at Home Depot and apparently is supposed to serve a similar purpose to dynamat extreme. This stuff practically bonds to metal and is a nightmare to remove. I'm not man enough to pull it off and a torch just made a mess that was no easier to remove.

Carmon was able to give me a link to a video of a guy using heat to remove the bulk of it (video was actually for removing dynamat extreme), followed by goof off for the residue. This method was easier but still a painfully slow process made only slightly easier by using a box cutter where the material meets metal

IF YOU EVER ENCOUNTER THIS STUFF OR SIMILAR, HERES THE IMPORTANT PART!
Forget the heat. Once you get an edge up, grab it and pull firmly then spray where the metal meets the adhesive with goof off and it releases quite easily. Each time you encounter resistance spray the edge again. Once it's up, respray the surface with good off and scrape with a putty knife. Once this is done, respray and wipe clean! It's just that simple. A complete floor pan should only take about 4 cans of the stuff and 2 people can do it in about 10-12 hours! (Sadly, not a joke).

I have some pics but this forum won't allow uploading from tapatalk, so I'll try to upload them later. I'm posting from my phone, so autocorrect has probably made a lot of "corrections" that I'm too lazy to go back and fix, so sorry if this ended up being a grammatical nightmare


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

yep, you got it; the swine flu that is:cheers: you can tell cause no one else would have put themselves thru that:doh::clap:
 
I didn't know about the key for the window. I'll have to see if that is working once she's back together

I'm guessing I'm not going to find the ambulance style doors anytime soon though I'd certainly consider that conversion if I did.

I assume the clamshell is attaching the door at the top to open up? If thought about that but I didn't think it could be done where it was sturdy without being bulky and looking unnatural. Have you seen this done before, and do you know of any write ups on this conversion I could look at?

As for getting the bug, yeah, I've got it pretty bad. This project has grown, but still manageable I think so long as I can avoid getting ahead of myself. I absolutely live the fj55's and the possibilities that come with a full rebuild like this.


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TuffMudder said:
I'm guessing I'm not going to find the ambulance style doors anytime soon though I'd certainly consider that conversion if I did.
Click to expand...

Would you like me to look on your behalf?

Bahaha.

I would be happy to share my notes on potential resources for, but I can tell you that it won't be an economical endeavor.

TuffMudder said:
Have you seen this done before, and do you know of any write ups on this conversion I could look at?
Click to expand...

It's possible, as anything with metal is, but the caveat is altering the pillars to allow for a flat surface for a upper hatch stop.

If you look at the sides of the rear opening above the tailgate, they're tapered (??. Not sure how to term) so they'd have to be squared off to even begin to look right.

I looked at this in every possibly way for the '76. I'm not a pro, but had one ponder with me, and we determined it'd almost be easier to make the rear gate either a single swing, use a camper shell topper style upper glass that sat on the outermost part of gate at the bottom (tried with cardboard and it looked stupid) OR....

The simplest solution, beyond embracing the OE and fixing, taking the crank and assembly from an old K5 and using it for both the glass Ave rear gate operation.
 
I think i found the clamshell mod referred to here
https://forum.ih8mud.com/fj55-iron-pig-preservation-society/586104-option-back-window.html

I was actually thinking you meant make the entire back assembly into a clamshell style door with window. Of course, I will have a rear spare and ladder which will make any of this a bit difficult.

Delancy, I'm not sure I understand what you mean by using the crank and assembly for both the glass and rear gate operation. Could you elaborate?

I think I'm just going to have to hope I can make the key operation work on the glass assembly, but I'm going to give this some more thought and talk with my welder

Delancy said:
OR....

The simplest solution, beyond embracing the OE and fixing, taking the crank and assembly from an old K5 and using it for both the glass Ave rear gate operation.
Click to expand...
 
certain domestic vehicles of similar vintages to your truck used gate housed rear roll up windows in wagon type models. many of these had manual crank regulators that could be adapted to operate the pigs regulator; you'd have a window crank/ tailgate latch handle all in one. it is a viable solution. I no longer have spare factory bits for the tailgate drive, but they are out there. you may get lucky and it may all still be serviceable. the hardest/most expensive bits are the tailgate and window weatherstrip. if yours is ok or you have the repro, or can get one, may as well keep the window operable as factory intended. otherwise, as Chris pointed out, the framed in flip-up rear window is another viable option. the barn doors are ALOT of fab, don't be fooled by some of these nuts;). but also as stated, it's only metal....and rubber, and paint, and glues and glass and gas struts and .... you get the point.




you talk to your welder too? I thought I was the only one to carry on conversations with my tools...
 
LAMBCRUSHER said:
you talk to your welder too? I thought I was the only one to carry on conversations with my tools...
Click to expand...

Lol, sorry bout that. I meant Weldor :whoops:.
 
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