Hi guys, my name is Joe (long time lurker, first time poster). A little less than a year ago I bought a 1987 FJ60. This thing was an interesting specimen. No carpet but also no rust as there was 30 years worth of road grime keeping the chassis nice and safe!
The initial idea for the truck was to leave it as is and chuck a big 'ole Chevy V8 in and just dog it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Every time I fixed something I'd find 2 more things that bothered me which eventually devolved into a frame-off restoration.
Here's the truck when I first bought it in Fort Walton Beach, FL. Pretty rust free for having lived next to the beach - none of the typical rust you'd usually see on these things.
First thing's first: We started yanking apart the truck, panel by panel for body work. You don't realize how much surface area there really is on a Land Cruiser until you body work it. The hood was perfect and so were the fenders save for a couple creases in the passenger side.
But the doors were slightly more problematic... Here is a photo of one of the repairs I made to the corner.
There were a couple of doors like this one, but they're all patched up and ready for another 30 years now! I swear, these things are only so rusty because Toyota seems to have globbed every drainage hole with seam sealer.
Looks like one of the previous owners backed into something big. both cab corners were pretty caved in, but they pulled out nicely with the home-made slide hammer!
I'm going to update this build thread in pieces so I don't get bogged down with typing and make it impossible to read. Just know more progress is coming and I'm much further along than the thread currently indicates!
The initial idea for the truck was to leave it as is and chuck a big 'ole Chevy V8 in and just dog it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Every time I fixed something I'd find 2 more things that bothered me which eventually devolved into a frame-off restoration.
Here's the truck when I first bought it in Fort Walton Beach, FL. Pretty rust free for having lived next to the beach - none of the typical rust you'd usually see on these things.
First thing's first: We started yanking apart the truck, panel by panel for body work. You don't realize how much surface area there really is on a Land Cruiser until you body work it. The hood was perfect and so were the fenders save for a couple creases in the passenger side.
But the doors were slightly more problematic... Here is a photo of one of the repairs I made to the corner.
There were a couple of doors like this one, but they're all patched up and ready for another 30 years now! I swear, these things are only so rusty because Toyota seems to have globbed every drainage hole with seam sealer.
Looks like one of the previous owners backed into something big. both cab corners were pretty caved in, but they pulled out nicely with the home-made slide hammer!
I'm going to update this build thread in pieces so I don't get bogged down with typing and make it impossible to read. Just know more progress is coming and I'm much further along than the thread currently indicates!