RUSH55
SILVER Star
Sounds pricey. Like really pricey.
Builds A pig for Father's Day (5 Viewers)
- Thread starter WarDamnEagle
- Start date
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WarDamnEagle
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- Thread starter
- #42
I was looking for the best pig I could find that hadn't been hacked up by a previous owner to do a frame off. I can manage mechanical stuff and general tear down and build up but I'm not a body guy. The most concerning issue about these bodies when you think in terms of conventional body work (e.g. metal repair, mild skim coat, respray, etc.) are the areas that you can't get to. This E Coating process is the only way I have found in my admittedly brief research thus far that addresses that concern. I don't want to spend a small fortune but I'm also resigned to the fact that I will likely spend more than it will ever be worth........not a huge issue if resale isn't a consideration.
Heck man. I’ve spent 2x what I could ever dream of selling mine for without body work.
Carry the hell on. Giddy up.
Carry the hell on. Giddy up.
WarDamnEagle
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- Thread starter
- #44
This 55 drives remarkably well. The engine and drive train seem to be in really good condition. Brand new OME suspension and zero concerns with the frame. Also the interior is in great shape. One tear in the front seat and the headliner is ripped across one seam; otherwise you would never think you were sitting in a 42 year old vehicle.
When Red Line Land Cruisers sold this 55 in 2015 they claimed it had been in a barn in Colorado for over 20 years. If you look at the interior parts (floor mats, arm rests, pedal covers, interior exposed paint, seat belts, etc.) they all look like they have seen very little use. I have no idea if the 50k showing on the odometer is correct and wouldn't even presume to make the case that it hasn't rolled over but I frankly couldn't believe how good the interior looks.
It has A/C with original pig A/C interior parts......looks factory. Now it doesn't cool like a brand new car but it does pretty good, even in the 95+ temps we've seen this week.
If all I need to do is tear it down and have the body and frame treated, coated, sprayed, etc., reupholster the seats, and install a new headliner then I feel pretty fortunate. Definitely will add a few layers of Lizard Skin thermal and sound deadening during the rebuild; appreciate the great rebuild threads that have convinced me of the effectiveness of those products.
I have the unobtainium rear window seal. I need the front windshield and rear side window seals (preferably for moulding). It also needs license plate lights (the ones on it work but they are in poor condition). I think everything else can be sourced from either Toyota, SOR or City Racer. I have started ordering anything and everything I can still get OEM that I might want to replace. It will be a nice 3 year or so scavenger hunt.
When Red Line Land Cruisers sold this 55 in 2015 they claimed it had been in a barn in Colorado for over 20 years. If you look at the interior parts (floor mats, arm rests, pedal covers, interior exposed paint, seat belts, etc.) they all look like they have seen very little use. I have no idea if the 50k showing on the odometer is correct and wouldn't even presume to make the case that it hasn't rolled over but I frankly couldn't believe how good the interior looks.
It has A/C with original pig A/C interior parts......looks factory. Now it doesn't cool like a brand new car but it does pretty good, even in the 95+ temps we've seen this week.
If all I need to do is tear it down and have the body and frame treated, coated, sprayed, etc., reupholster the seats, and install a new headliner then I feel pretty fortunate. Definitely will add a few layers of Lizard Skin thermal and sound deadening during the rebuild; appreciate the great rebuild threads that have convinced me of the effectiveness of those products.
I have the unobtainium rear window seal. I need the front windshield and rear side window seals (preferably for moulding). It also needs license plate lights (the ones on it work but they are in poor condition). I think everything else can be sourced from either Toyota, SOR or City Racer. I have started ordering anything and everything I can still get OEM that I might want to replace. It will be a nice 3 year or so scavenger hunt.
WarDamnEagle
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- Thread starter
- #45
.........and I need to get that stupid rear window working! Haven't tried troubleshooting it yet but I do have the wiring diagram in hand.
Look in the stickies above. The rear window tech article is there. I used it to get my pig going when it was still just going to be a jihad pig. Getting it going cost me $30,000.....
That is worse than sitting in a field in the AZ desert.
I love your plan and can’t wait to follow along so don’t take any of this as negative.
What Nolen is touching on and I agree that if you’re not familiar with body work or more specifically fj55 bodies and how they’re assembled and need to be repaired once they start rusting in the areas you’ve shown your budget can jump tens of thousands of dollars several times over and the chances of ever being road worthy again is about 1 in 99 if you take it apart first then discover exactly what the cost involved and work required to restore that body.
Condensation kills pig bodies and the rust along the roof line and pillars is difficult and costly to repair, IMHO you would be better off driving that pig and treat the rust like Nolen suggest and look for a desert body that has a good roof and pillars if frame off restoration is what you want. I bought 5 or 6 pig bodies to get enough usable parts to make my 1.5 pigs, most of those bodies are projects that someone started by taking apart a drivable pig then selling them off after they discover the cost involved to put one back together.
Do yourself a favor see if you first can find a body shop that would even take the job of fixing that body and second how much time and money it would take to get it done, double the number they give you and if you accept that number then as Nolen said “carry on”
WarDamnEagle
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- Thread starter
- #48
Thanks. I will definitely have my ducks in a row before I disassemble it. Call me naive but I really don't think this body is that bad. A really good paint job with no body work these days can cost $20k so I think I have some fairly realistic figures in my head for what it could cost......but maybe not.
A FJ55 is not a Chevy Camaro or C10 pickup, a pig has zero aftermarket support and the bodies are literally a jigsaw puzzle with hollow channels that’s only purpose is to encourage rust and make it difficult and costly to repair.
Again I’m not trying to discourage you, I’m trying to give you the benefit of what I learned the hard way and save you some of the time and money I spent doing it wrong.
WarDamnEagle
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #50
This is exactly why I am intrigued with thermal and/or chemical stripping followed by an electrolysis based coating system. It's frankly the only way to get into all of these areas without cutting the body apart into dozens of pieces.
The worst thing someone could do, in my way of thinking, is to spend $30k+ on rust repair and body work only to have the rust continue to manifest from the inside out. I don't want to go there.
The best thing is to find a body that doesn’t need 30K in rust repair, like I said you cannot buy replacement panels (with the exception of some BobM panels) everything has to be made by the hand of a skilled metal man and at body shop labor rates 30K gets you about 200 hours of labor with a little leftover for materials. Frame off restorations on simpler cars typically take years not weeks and I don’t believe 30K will get you far unless you do the work yourself.
You very well might have better luck than I but I never found a body shop willing to take on the job and do it right regardless of budget.
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bobm
WTF, WTF, WTF!!!!
WarDamnEagle
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- Thread starter
- #53
Unfortunately I don't live in 11.66" per year avg annual rainfall. Well actually I do since I live in Saudi Arabia but I won't in a couple of years.
I'm equally concerned about rust manifesting in a rust-free body once it gets exposed to high humidity and 60" of rainfall per year. Do you really think a rust free Arizona body won't rust once it gets here?
WarDamnEagle
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- Thread starter
- #54
I agree with @J Mack. If you dont think the body is that bad, then do the mods you want to do, and drive and enjoy it. Life's to short to do body repair on a. Something is always under the
I will absolutely drive it and enjoy it for the time being. I really need retirement projects though and this one is in the queue.
I’m kinda on board with the whole just drive it plan.
My first hand experience with a dipped shell was my dad and an Alfa GTV, his first one was a bucket of rust holding parts together so he wisely went shopping and found a very clean one already apart. The clean shell got chemical dipped and phosphate coated as you describe.
It came home on a sunny day and other than a few flat panels you could literally see right through the shell almost everywhere.
Needless to say it never went together, one less GTV in the world
My first hand experience with a dipped shell was my dad and an Alfa GTV, his first one was a bucket of rust holding parts together so he wisely went shopping and found a very clean one already apart. The clean shell got chemical dipped and phosphate coated as you describe.
It came home on a sunny day and other than a few flat panels you could literally see right through the shell almost everywhere.
Needless to say it never went together, one less GTV in the world
The best thing about owning a 55 is not having to make it perfect for it to still be cool. Your truck is already cleaner than 90 percent of the pigs on this forum. It’s a nice truck and I know you are proud of it. I would be. I just hope you spend some real quality time in it before blowing it apart.
Any and every pig body is rusty and will continue to rust.
My suggestion to find a desert body to send out to dip was founded on my belief your current body (based on the limited photos I've seen) will look like a screen door when you get it back and that sweet pig will never get driven again.
We’ve seen many more pigs torn apart than we’ve seen put back together and the common denominator is the time, money and resources to address the known pig body issues. I’m not trying to poop in your parade but reading what you wrote and looking at your pictures you said you want a retirement project to build a frame off pig (my assumption is you want something really nice that will last for a while) and you also said you don’t possess the skill set to do a lot of the body work yourself.
As Ol Yeller mention above the process of automotive chemical stripping you are talking about will remove a lot of what you are thinking is solid metal leaving you with some hard choices, unlike American muscle cars and trucks you can’t buy complete reproduction body panels for a couple hundred bucks and weld them on in a couple hours so when your pig body comes back looking like Swiss cheese you’ll need to find someone willing to build you most of a pig body from scratch. Conversely if you keep your current body as a driver and have some fun fixing it up mechanically and keep your eyes open for someone else’s stalled project that has a better body (typically I see and have bought several for 2-4K) and send it out for the dip process, if it comes back semisolid then start your frame off process once the new body gets out of paint.
On the plus side you’ll be driving you current pig for the couple years that process takes working out all the bugs and if the dip process yields some unexpected results you’re only out the cost of the second body and still driving your current pig.
Good luck, I’m really on your side and hope this doesn’t come across as anything other than me trying to be helpful.
I like that ^^
Well written Jim.
Well written Jim.
What Jim just said is exactly what I'd like to do. Have a "body in wait". I always wanted to try the dipping process, then after all the welding is done have them treat it again. When the time comes, just switch out bodies and in the mean time you get to use the 55.
bobm
WTF, WTF, WTF!!!!
And remember we're all here to HELP. That's the Big plus with this group 
