1979 FJ55 restoration

[DedVassaby]

Hi all! Let me tell you story of restoration of my FJ55.
I thought i will never be able to get FJ55. Rare car in Europe.
I already had BJ40 which was restored for me in workshop, and it was done as restomod, with 1Kzt engine and automatic transmission.
So i was in Finland when covid started and at one day i found adv in one local car sale website in department “Fj Cruiser” (where it was wrongly placed i guess) that there is FJ55 for sale and i decided immediately to buy it.
It was in April 2020.
And i got it. The car was new for me, rusted a lot, and many places were done with fiberglass. Front fenders almost did not exist, frame was more or less ok. Roof, doors, sills, floor, radiator support - everything was completely rusted.
I was happy).
I those time i was doing resto of my 60, so 55 was waited. I just played a bit - clean carb, changed same gaskets and parts on engine, and was looking for spare parts for 55. But there were not so much of them. I everything cost like a hell!

 

[DedVassaby]

 

[Pighead]

Good find, they are rare in the US as well.
There is a small forum on 'Mud just for the 55s...https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/fj55-iron-pig-preservation-society.51/

 

[DedVassaby]

Typically in Finland all the cars become rusted from the bottom. So to side parts and rubbers usually could be found in quite good condition.
So slowly slowly i started to search the parts. At the same time (spring 2020) i bought another 55 in Australia but due to covid it could not be send to me and thanks to the seller it was staying with him almost one year and waiting arrangement to be shipped to Finland. And it came to me only in 2021 April

 

[DedVassaby]

In winter time i met some nice local guys and get from then another 2 FJ55, 1 FJ55 i bought before (it was without engine, floor) - and later in 2021 i got another one earlier model 55 quite rusted also with broken engine but with interior (which is on my avatar photo).

 

[DedVassaby]

So i decided that i will do my 55 using mix of parts from Finnish and Australian cars. 55 from Australia had quite solid body from the bottom. So both cars were totally disassembled.
Parts were blaster, Australian car body was completely striped from the top.
Roofs were disconnected from the both cars.
But 55s had different tails. Finnish car had ambulance doors, and austalian - buffet door.
As i decided to use as a base australian body we were needed to change tails gates.
At the beginning at looks complicated but in reality it was quite easy. Thanks to my friend Henkka who made a lot for this 55.

 

[Chamba]

That's an impressive assortment of Pig parts. I can't wait to see where this all goes.

Are you keeping the RHD or going LHD?

 

[DedVassaby]

So we changed tails and firewall. Actually making swap from RHD to LHD you need change not only firewall but also all top panels. They are diffrrent. And using both frame one good was done.

 

[DedVassaby]

Stripped body and parts were sand blasted and covered with epoxy primer.
Then i was focused on other projects - i got 80 and decided to rebuild axles, 60 came from painting and needed to be assembled.
A! From the beginning i decided that my 55 will be with 2 colors - white and blue).

Interesting moment - with australian car as it was really good from the bottom a got almost all body parts and different protection plates which i even did not know exit and should be on the car, and also i ve got understanding how the car body assembled, as everything were in place and i know how it should look at least)). Before i searched in internet pictures how these or those body parts should look, especially internals like front side body panel which under the fenders.
As with Finnish cars it is impossible - everything rust eaten!

 

[DedVassaby]

Next year came - 2022 and we started in a new place boughten for this purposes to continue with 55.
Body was fully striped from the bottom, cleaned from mastic and sand blasted

 

[DedVassaby]

Frame was finally painted.
The frame was quite clean inside, i washed it a lot with chemicals and hot water and then we painted even inside using a tool gun with bottle and hose for rust prevent liquids. You just need to find a right fluidity for paint. And try it with some pipe)). And we made some kind of supports/legs from zip ties at end of the hose. Actually we later use it for painting all internals at the body - inside sills, pilars etc

 

[DedVassaby]

And we started with body works.

 

[DedVassaby]

View attachment 4022834

View attachment 4022835

 

[DedVassaby]

Many small and big parts were done by Henkka’s hands!!

 

[DedVassaby]

New leaf springs were ordered and produced as 55 has its own size of leaf springs.
New floor for the cargo space were made and roof was prepares for installation but in reality we weld the roof only after half year.

 

[DedVassaby]

In winter 2023 we started to assemble the frame and axles. And we cleaned, prepared and zink plated huge number of small parts and bolts and nuts…

 

[Augustiron]

Wow!

 

[greenbeast]

Wow, nice work. Your going to have a nice pig when it’s all done!

 

[DedVassaby]

i decided to use axle tubes from australian 55, but the front axle was kind of “old type” and it came with Warn hub locks but i wish to use my new axle shafts for standard “ASCO” hubs so i was needed to grind a bit cv joint to fit them to the balls.
Cv joints for WARN hub locks much longer then for ASCO /AISIN hub locks

 

[DedVassaby]

Actually later the brakes were disassembled and assembled back as firstly i put them in wrong order for hoses/pipes. I finally we were needed to changed/turn break cylinders one more time to press break pad in right order.)))
Fuel and break lines were zink plated, on the top i put termocover with the glue. Based on my experience it is bad idea to zink plate small tubes as they could be pluged with some s*** and it will be not possible to clean them - this is about industrial coating of course