78 PIG (Sundown)

[SFROMAN]

Hello,
I would like to properly introduce myself and my new project "Sundown". It is is 78 Pig that I purchased this past weekend.

I own a 69 FJ40. I love that rig. It has done everything I have asked of it. The biggest issue though, is the lack of space. I have 3 kids so that does not leave alot of storage space when the back seat is down.
I have been searching for a 4 door SUV to use as a camping rig and to travel out west for some exploration trips. I seriously thought about purchasing an 80 or a 100 series and call it done. They are fine examples of what I need and are a proven platform all over the world.
That is where "Sundown" comes in.
Just like my 40 that is unique and distinct in the parking lot at my work I wanted the same for a 4 door SUV. I always wanted an FJ55 and I finally found the right one for the right price a few hours from me.
So here it is when I brought it home

Budget: hopefully less than $20k
Plan:
Rust repair= remove body. Have it sandblasted. Have the metal work done to fix all the rust.
After the body is solid I will do the floorboards myself. I'm going to try to do the same as another member. Rust proof, lizard skin sound and heat barrier.
Body and paint= I am not sure what color I will go with but I will have it done by a body shop.
Mechanical = while the body is at the shop I will rebuild most of the drive train paint everything and rust proof the frame.
Engine= more likely rebuild it while I'm at it not sure yet
Put it together and redo interior.

 

[SFROMAN]

After getting stationed in the southeast I should have invested in Clorox bleach stock. Mildew is a serious issue and I can not stand it. I sparay my house with vinyl siding with the stuff all the time. After getting the PIG off the trailer I sprayed it down with bleach and scrubbed off all the mildew and luckily for me all the green spray paint came off as well.
Here is what it looked like after wards.

here is a picture of the engine after some serious degreasing

here is a few shots of the interior after some serious cleaning (no stock bench unfortanetaly)

Disclosure number 1

Although my goal is to have the 55 built within a year there is a strong possibility that it will not happen. Also, There is a strong possibility that this thread will go cold a few months at a time with no real progress. I am gone for work alot and am usually told by people that I am a busy man so thats at.

 

[SFROMAN]

My first order of business is to control this rust situation. I would like to know if you guys think this body is salvageable.

here are most of the worst parts but not all of them.
DS inner fenderwell

DS outer A pillar

DS front fender and lower section of the body below the doors

rear DS roof corner

driver floor board

DS inner A pillar

drivers floor board- you can see through to the concrete

some of the roof

DS rear fender area

DS lower portion below the doors

DS rear lower panel

DS rear door roof area

DS roof corner

What do you guys think? pretty bad. I found a 72 body hours from me that I am thinking of purchasing in order to use the roof from it. even though it is rusty as well but I am hoping it is not as rusty as mine. Or do you guys think I should just try to fix what I have?

After I cleaned the body there was quite a bit of bare metal exposed. I do not want to contribute to helping the body rust so I looked in the garage and found a can of white rustoluem so I decided to brush it on the truck. I only had a quart size can so I had to make it last. I figured it was better than leaving it bare and I did not have time to paper it up in order to use spray paint.

here is what it looks like now

the hood is the worst part by far

 

[SFROMAN]

Whats in a name?

So Currently Project "Sundown" is at a stand still. I have a honey do list a mile long and it isn't getting shorter. I did however get started on clearing out the garage so I can work on the piggie. You see I just got back from the Ghan (AFGHANISTAN, but you are not allowed to call it that unless you have been there, nah just kidding and making fun of the vietnam vets. you can call it a s*** hole for all I care)

Anyway, Lots of s*** tends to break or go wrong when you are gone 9 months out of the year.So I an currently trying to fix all the s*** that went bad while I was gone. Also, while I was gone my wife decided to use the garage as a storage bay so that is what I am currently working on clearing out.

So with me being gone 6 to 9 months out of most years I to cram a years worth of life into 3 or 6 months with my three kids and my wife. Oh wait, In the months that I am home I still have to work from 0700 to 1700 if I am lucky so that is 10 hours a day if im lucky. Then I come home hang out with kids, have dinner hang out with wife until they all go to bed around 2100. So I have from 2100 to 0530 to work on stuff that I want. So I usually go in the garage until about 0200. that puts me to bed around 0230 after showering. then Im up 3 hours later to get to work at 0630 so I am ready to go for a 4 mile run and hit the gym so Im ready to start work at 0900.

So, as I mentioned before, I stay busy. Or better yet, Uncle Sugar keeps me pretty busy. All this rambling is leading to to the name "SUNDOWN".

So 2 rotations ago my team and I were sent to a very bad place in the Ghan. I ended up getting shot and 2 of my brothers in arms were killed in Action. Also a few others were shot up and blown up pretty bad.
Well, on the day that my two buddies were killed we were on a mission called OPERATION "SUNDOWN". In my unit there is not many African Americans so we would tease my buddy that he was Sundown, the only black guy in the movie TOP GUN. So we jokingly named that particular mission after him. Little did we know that he would be killed on that mission.

My buddy left 2 beautiful girls on this earth with no father. They will never get to enjoy his company anymore. I decided to name my project Sundown mainly because with this vehicle I will be able to explore and spend time with my daughter, two boys and my wife. I can still come home and spend time with mine while he never will.

 

[onemanarmy]

looking forward to seeing the progression

 

[bogus one]

Nice.

Plans?

 

[scrapdaddy]

Welcome! sounds like you're wanting to build the same type, I'm trying to build, a backroads camping truck. I'm excited, the more pigs and ideas, the better.

 

[Atari2600]

Hello SFROMAN , Sundown looks good .I'm in the exact same situation as yourself , having 3 kids and I to pondered the idea of getting a different model but I waited along for a 55 and I pretty sure that was the right choice by both of us.

 

[romegadave]

Nice.

Plans?

Will be fun to watch the progression!

 

[PabloCruise]

She is beautiful!

Where did you find her?

 

[SFROMAN]

She is beautiful!

Where did you find her?

Shes rusty but yeah, beautiful in her own way.

I found the 55 on craigslist in Mobile Alabama which is 2 hours from where I live. I could tell it was rusted up but it was right around my price range so decided to go pick it up. To my surprise it runs great. The steering is shot but the motor purs like a kitten. The frame is in great shape as well. The body, not so much.

 

[NikP]

I'm not sure how much body you'll have left after sandblasting. Anything is possible but that's a lot of work.

I have a parts vehicle that has a much better body. I'll make a deal once I grab some parts.

 

[SFROMAN]

I'm not sure how much body you'll have left after sandblasting. Anything is possible but that's a lot of work.

I have a parts vehicle that has a much better body. I'll make a deal once I grab some parts.

I agree
Unfortanetly rust is a sad reality in the southeast.

I want to explore all my options in dealing with the rusty body. Ideally I would get one of those west coast bodies that are rust free but that would be a logistical nightmare to try to get one all the way back to the east coast.
Oklahoma is a lot more doable for me though. I am assuming that is where you live according to your info.



I will PM you my email address and phone number. would love to see what you got.

 

[missrenaissance]

Ideally I would get one of those west coast bodies that are rust free but that would be a logistical nightmare to try to get one all the way back to the east coast.

Oh we have plenty of rust to share over here on the West Coast... The clean ones here are either garage queens, already repaired, or from the desert.

Looks like a great project!

 

[riderjgs]

Not to rain on this parade, but I'd hate to be in charge of rebuilding that windshield pillar. And I'd check the "Moviestar" resto thread for a tutorial on what it'll take (at least) to redo that roof, even with a replacement skin. Floor pans rust, body panel and rocker rot is one thing...those other two would scare the scrap out of me and there's still body mounts etc. to consider. Methinks a body swap is in order. I'd hate to see enthusiasm turn to regret when reality asserts itself, most likely when you get a body and paint estimate since you apparently plan to farm that out and, I assume, would want bondo to be the last, not first step.
Good luck...

 

[bobm]

SFROMAN, Check out my thread, most of these parts are available. And the ones that arent I am working on.

Thanks Bob.

Not to rain on this parade, but I'd hate to be in charge of rebuilding that windshield pillar. And I'd check the "Moviestar" resto thread for a tutorial on what it'll take (at least) to redo that roof, even with a replacement skin. Floor pans rust, body panel and rocker rot is one thing...those other two would scare the scrap out of me and there's still body mounts etc. to consider. Methinks a body swap is in order. I'd hate to see enthusiasm turn to regret when reality asserts itself, most likely when you get a body and paint estimate since you apparently plan to farm that out and, I assume, would want bondo to be the last, not first step.
Good luck...

 

[SFROMAN]

Not to rain on this parade, but I'd hate to be in charge of rebuilding that windshield pillar. And I'd check the "Moviestar" resto thread for a tutorial on what it'll take (at least) to redo that roof, even with a replacement skin. Floor pans rust, body panel and rocker rot is one thing...those other two would scare the scrap out of me and there's still body mounts etc. to consider. Methinks a body swap is in order. I'd hate to see enthusiasm turn to regret when reality asserts itself, most likely when you get a body and paint estimate since you apparently plan to farm that out and, I assume, would want bondo to be the last, not first step.
Good luck...

Thanks for the advise.
also, read the moviestar thread and it was very inspiring. Since I am pretty set on swapping bodies I might do some petal repair practicing on my current body just to see how good I can get with a little practice.
The biggest reason for finding a 55 at a very low cost (in my case basically free) was to leave most of the budget for repairs

This were some scenarios I ran though my head.
Scenario 1
Buy a $10k pig. Not know what was underneath the decent paint, possibly have to do some rust repair spend another $10k to $20k. to get it exactly the way I want it.

Scenario 2
Buy a $20k pig. Not know what was underneath the decent paint, possibly have to do some rust repair spend another $10k. to get it exactly the way I want it.

I was just not to thrilled with those options.
So decided to go the way I did.
As I mentioned before I would not feel bad spending $20K on this project. Currently I am $0.00 into this project. I have a very decent running Piggie. Yeah the body is shot and might not be repairable. But, I have a few options of Mud members offering there 55 bodies to replace mine.
SO, Even If I spend $5K to 10K getting one of those bodies, which are in great shape, sandblasted and rustfree. I will know EXACTLY what I have and have no fear of rust again.

I am also fully aware of my limitations in skill, and tools but I more than make up for it in determination. Not that this truck is ever going to be a show vehicle. Just need it to look decent run good, and be safe and last another 40 years.

I will be satisfied if I can accomplish that.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Sounds like a plan, to me. In fact, it sounds just like my plan. Keep good records, it will keep you in line.

 

[SFROMAN]

Got some garage time last night. Unfortanetly instead of working on the pig I spent most of my time was spent organizing, cleaning, and installing new lighting.

Since it was raining last night I was only able to change the plugs on the pig.
I am having issues starting it. I used some spray stuff in the carb and it starts right up. Let it run for about 20 minutes. Turn it off and it starts right up once its warm. Any ideas about that?

I checked all the electrical switches and everything seems to be working fine under the dash except for one thing.

The ignition was circumvented with a push button aftermarket starter button. Is faulty ignitions common with 55s? I bought a new battery but at some point some body made a battery box that is pretty small. I need to fabricate a bigger battery holder thing.
Other two issues I need to fix are power steering or lack of and the rusted out hood then I will be able to drive it with no issues
I have a video of my first drive that illustrates the issues with the steering. Pretty bad when making turns.

Obviously the rust is still there but I will eventually repair that.

 

[Big Sexy]

"...I'd hate to see enthusiasm turn to regret when reality asserts itself, most likely when you get a body and paint estimate ..."

Ditto on the above... while the mechanical, electrical and other issues are surmountable (albeit expensive) the rust issues you have are absolutely huge and that's just what is seen. Rust will steal your soul and I don't think even Jesus would attempt to resurrect what you are attempting.

Of course you could prove me wrong, but I'd hate to see you go through that effort and expense.

Best of luck on whatever course you choose.

Jeff