When I was a young man, still in high school my dad and I bought a 1972 fj55, thinking it would be a fun first vehicle to drive to school. Safe, reliable and a head Turner for sure. I drove it to school as a senior and on Christmas break I decided to tear it down for paint. I really liked the truck and wanted to preserve it, and make it nice. This led to that, led to another thing and I never put the truck back together after paint. I ended up leaving to go to school and the project languished in my dads shop.
All the rust got welded up by a professional body shop, the paint is done, and nothing got thrown away. Here we are 20 years later and the paint is definitely cured. Life events have been nudging me toward finishing up the iron pig. Dad has developed dementia and doesn't leave his chair much any more. This was our project and I'd like to get it to a state where I can take him up to "the outpost" for a cheeseburger before I loose my chance to do so.
Another factor contributing to my decision was that another 1972 fj55 became available nearby and they're within 2000 of each other on vin numbers.
I've been slowly and methodically tearing into the rusted out pig and acquiring all of the stuff I need to button up mine.
I started with brakes. The brakes go right to the floor, so they're getting a complete overhaul.
I've almost got the fronts complete.
The other order of business is the carburetor.
My dad said he never has taken apart a carburetor and had it work better when he was finished, so he didn't touch it and didn't permit me to touch it....
It never had any action from the accelerator pump since we bought it.
I've developed some carburetor skills over the past 20 years and so I dove in.
My experience is 180° from my father's. Every carb I've ever worked on ended up working better, and adjusted to near perfect. I've owned lots of crappy cars, and so have my friends and so I've had lots of opportunities to hone my carburetor skills.
I did a knuckle rebuild while i had the brake drums off, and greased everything with marine grease.
I'm hoping to have the old girl rolling this spring and drive it to work on my birthday (march 26th) with the intent of retiring my mini truck shortly thereafter.
I'll post some better photos as the build progresses.
This is my donor carcass.
I'll post some shots of the pretty one once I get the garage cleaned up.
All the rust got welded up by a professional body shop, the paint is done, and nothing got thrown away. Here we are 20 years later and the paint is definitely cured. Life events have been nudging me toward finishing up the iron pig. Dad has developed dementia and doesn't leave his chair much any more. This was our project and I'd like to get it to a state where I can take him up to "the outpost" for a cheeseburger before I loose my chance to do so.
Another factor contributing to my decision was that another 1972 fj55 became available nearby and they're within 2000 of each other on vin numbers.
I've been slowly and methodically tearing into the rusted out pig and acquiring all of the stuff I need to button up mine.
I started with brakes. The brakes go right to the floor, so they're getting a complete overhaul.
I've almost got the fronts complete.
The other order of business is the carburetor.
My dad said he never has taken apart a carburetor and had it work better when he was finished, so he didn't touch it and didn't permit me to touch it....
It never had any action from the accelerator pump since we bought it.
I've developed some carburetor skills over the past 20 years and so I dove in.
My experience is 180° from my father's. Every carb I've ever worked on ended up working better, and adjusted to near perfect. I've owned lots of crappy cars, and so have my friends and so I've had lots of opportunities to hone my carburetor skills.
I did a knuckle rebuild while i had the brake drums off, and greased everything with marine grease.
I'm hoping to have the old girl rolling this spring and drive it to work on my birthday (march 26th) with the intent of retiring my mini truck shortly thereafter.
I'll post some better photos as the build progresses.
This is my donor carcass.
I'll post some shots of the pretty one once I get the garage cleaned up.