Advice from the experts

[riderjgs]

Ranger. Pretty anxious to cut my highway rpms by almost 25% and still retain the 4.10s for off road.

 

[Ming89FJ62]

You'll be a happy camper. Arnold has a Fairey. It's nice to be on an interstate running 70 MPH at 2200 RPM. Easier on the hearing too.

 

[riderjgs]

Sorry for the long delay...Ranger is going in this weekend. Drive train is out and apart to make things easier. Cleaned up all the PO welding off the frame and starting from scratch with new mounts, etc. in order to get driveshaft angles, engine positioning, etc. right.

 

[scorcher1967]

Heroic may be a bit premature....but thanks!

And for advice, definately avoid the rust buckets. Always apply the Rust Rule of 3. Any rust you see, is 3 times worse than it looks, and add in the FJ55 adjustment (usually double the result, or square the original).

I've survived/enjoyed two of your three options, buying a good one and building a Frankencruiser (see my sig line.) Like you, my uses are daily driver, hunting/fishing/camping and moderate trails. Our skills seem similar, some mechanical but no body/point.

The blue/white '73 I found on Ebay in 2008 and bought that same day on a whim. (pic #1) Filled it up and checked the oil and drove it home from AZ a week or so later. SBC/Toyota 4 spd. conversion but otherwise pretty original, including mostly original paint. Fair price but required some additional cleanup. Heavy on patina, only one quarter-size rust spot in the rear sill, crease in the driver door, interior. About a year later I decided I had too much into it and found someone who wanted it as much as I had. Broke even after driving it for a year, including acquisition of a '73 AZ parts rig that had been sitting for about 15 years, sans drivetrain. (Pic 2)
Tried but couldn't get rid of the parts rig or get rid of the "pig on my back" so...
When I was delivering some interior panels to Scorcher (hero of the "Moviestar restoration") some months later I saw his '74 parts rig. (pic #3) Sans roof, glass, rear corners and most of the front clip, it ran and drove. Had a SBC/4spd with a front disc axle. "One of us should take your parts rig and mine," I said. "They'd make a pretty nifty Pig." A month or so later, that "one of us" was me. The exchange involved a few bucks and a 30-pack of PBR.
(to be continued)