Took a whole pickup full of parts up to the body shop today. It’s a 55 minute drive each way. Small shop. Old school. The sky already knows that it's difficult to get most bodyshops to work on something this old. They don't want to do the metal work, they just want to turn insurance jobs as quickly as they can. I've looked around Austin for three years now, and thought for a while that I'd have to put the pig on a trailer and take it to Houston.
If you look along the driver's side of the top pic, you can see the 4x4labs bumpers and the beadlock Enki (JDM) wheels, which need to be refinished. These came off my 1974 FJ40, but I'm going to widened steel wheels on that (rebuild). When they're refinished, I'm going to put some BFG Krawler T/A KX tires on in 37x12.5R17
So
@bobm will get his wish, Pua'a will ride on 37s when I'm done.
From this point, there is some minor metal work (small rust repair in places. I might go ahead and replace the rockers, but the floorboards look to have survived.
The CO2 blaster (dry ice pellets) shows up in about 6-7 weeks, so the whole body is coming down to bare metal before being rebuilt. Total rotisserie job on the body. Probably going all new glass. Some PO hit the PS 2nd row with a sander, and the glass is pretty scratched (not surprising given that the truck is 47 years old.)
I bought a 1hd-ft / h151 / h2fa out of UAE for this pua'a as well (see next post).
The F.5 / h41 / 3-speed case from this truck is destined for one of my 1974 FJ40s, so it will end up as restoration. It just happens to be the same month/year build (Sep 73) as this 1974 FJ55, so it's "numbers matching" (LOL). That truck is Rustic Green (621), and will remain so. The sty can't complain about a green 40, I think.
(Anyone want the old channel iron bumpers? Free to good home.)
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