Another 55 added to the bunch.......

[DieselFJ]

Well, my 79 is still apart in the garage, but I am now the proud owner of a 78. I never thought I would own two 55's just couldn't live without having a running one. I will post pictures when I get home. I am actually going to start the 13 hour trip from Eugene, Oregon to SLC, Utah tomorrow. Wish me luck......wait, it's a LandCruiser, do I really need luck?

Later,
Scott

 

[SAWTOOTH 55 LC]

Yah buddy,bring er home.Pics please

 

[romegadave]

yeah you still need luck........but about those pics! Congrats!

 

[uglyoinker]

how come you have 2 pigs and live within 100 miles of me and I don't know you?

 

[hindsight]

Congrats! It is pretty exciting to find a "new" piggy.

I just had my first FJ55 yard find and am slowly getting it up to showroom condition (lol)

The way I found it....

As of 2 days ago

Doc

 

[DieselFJ]

how come you have 2 pigs and live within 100 miles of me and I don't know you?

I've been so busy building my 40 my pigs have been neglected. What's funny is Andre has been here a couple times as well as Kurt when I was parting out a 62, and when Andre picked up his M416 trailer that came out of Colorado. Anyway, we will have to make time to get together, I would love to see what you have up there.

Scott

 

[DieselFJ]

So we made it home, we left Eugene at 4:00AM PST, and arrived in SLC at 1:30AM MST. Really the Cruiser ran very well, and I was very happy with the purchase and condition. Depending on speed I got anywhere between 14 to 17mpg's which for a 78 2F it really made me happy especially with gas reaching around $4.00 a gallon up around Crater Lake OR. Anyway, as I was driving I found a few things that need repaired and or upgraded before it is road worthy and registered. I will post again with pictures later today and explain the idea behind this 55 purchase and what I would like to do with it.

Hindsight, nice purchase, good first yard find, but don't expect it to be the last.

On a side not, does anyone out there have a stock 55 PS box they want to part with? After driving yesterday powersteering is very high on my list.

Later
Scott

 

[uglyoinker]

I've been so busy building my 40 my pigs have been neglected. What's funny is Andre has been here a couple times as well as Kurt when I was parting out a 62, and when Andre picked up his M416 trailer that came out of Colorado. Anyway, we will have to make time to get together, I would love to see what you have up there.

Scott

What I have up here? A few cruisers and some other things. I also have two pigs. One is just for parts though. Come on up. We can make it a cruiser guy evening and have a bonfire and brews.

 

[DieselFJ]

What I have up here? A few cruisers and some other things. I also have two pigs. One is just for parts though. Come on up. We can make it a cruiser guy evening and have a bonfire and brews.

Still working on getting pictures, just overly busy right now. Next time I am up in your area I will shoot you a PM to see if you are around, and if you are ever in the Kaysville area feel free to stop by.

Also, do you have a bench seat from a 76 or later pig you are looking to sell? I need to get rid of the buckets that came with this 78.

 

[CruiserMoose]

Hey Scott,

Congrats on the new addition to the family.

I want to know the same thing. How come you have two pigs, live within a hundred miles of me and I don't know it?

I am down in Eagle Mountain and I also own two pigs. I also have a 1979 and a 1976 that has a few modifications. You story is very familiar with me as I also have a 40 that I am rebuilding that has taken most of my time away from the pigs. Kind of scary!

Anyway, I do have plans for the 79 piggy that would include me having a stock power steering setup and a bench seat available at some time in the future. We should probably talk.

 

[DieselFJ]

Hey Scott,

Congrats on the new addition to the family.

I want to know the same thing. How come you have two pigs, live within a hundred miles of me and I don't know it?

I am down in Eagle Mountain and I also own two pigs. I also have a 1979 and a 1976 that has a few modifications. You story is very familiar with me as I also have a 40 that I am rebuilding that has taken most of my time away from the pigs. Kind of scary!

Anyway, I do have plans for the 79 piggy that would include me having a stock power steering setup and a bench seat available at some time in the future. We should probably talk.

It is really great knowing there are some pig enthusiast close by, now we just need to get together and do some sort of pig run.

That is funny, two pigs and a 40 within a 100 miles, I wouldn't have guessed, and I thought I was the only one with the disease.

I am definitely interested in your power steering gearbox and bench seat, if you are looking to keep the 79 with seats and drivable I could give you my bucket seats and manual gearbox to replace the parts you take off/out. PM me with more info, I am sure we could work something out. You don't happen to have a set of old steel wheels you are looking to get rid of as well, they were on my list of things to get for the 78 as well.

Later
Scott

PS. Pictures coming soon.

 

[SAWTOOTH 55 LC]

There is another '76 up in the Kaysville area,the guy just swapped in a chev V6.I forgot his name, but I also have a 55 and a 40 within 100 miles

 

[DieselFJ]

There is another '76 up in the Kaysville area,the guy just swapped in a chev V6.I forgot his name, but I also have a 55 and a 40 within 100 miles

I had no idea, I always watch for Cruisers, and I don't see many on the road, especially 55's. Well, I'll do my part to keep them alive.


Scott

 

[DieselFJ]

So here is the story in a nutshell. About 2 years ago I purchased a 79 FJ55 from Minnesota. This 55 was intended to be our family hauler and daily driver. It looked good online and was what I was looking for. Once home I found that very poor body work was done at sometime on the Cruiser. I began to uncover the problem areas and found it was worse than I thought. When completed I found that pretty much the lower half of the 55 was non-existent. I decided to try to register the 55, but the County would not pass the safety inspection due to the rust. I decided to try and fix the rust in the short period of time allotted, but it was not possible, the damage was too extensive, so I purchased an 80 series to get the family around, and decided to finish my 40 before the 55, so..... I now have a 79 55 that has 70 series cable lockers, OME 70 series springs, and partial body work completed, plus a 1HZ and new H55F for the motor swap (which I believe will be used in a 67 FJ45, and the 55 will be getting a 4bd1t and nv4500, but that's a later story).

Fast forward 2 years...... I decided that with the number of kids I have and dogs I have it was time to sell the 80 and get a 72 Suburban with 3 rows of seat, enough to seat 9. This was slated for a 6bt/Allison1000 conversion. I purchased the Suburban and sold the 80 and was going to drive the finished 40 until the Suburban was ready (When purchased the Suburban was in non-running condition). Well another hitch was thrown in the mix when I purchased a foreclosure and decided to do a very extensive remodel (only 3 walls of foundation left) this was to get the big yard I always wanted and a bigger shop.

Well, with all of this happening the only car I had available for the family was my 40, and that wasn't going to cut it..... So I decided to look for another 55 for the family to get around in while we are finishing the home and until the Suburban is ready. So with a few months of looking for the right 55 this one shows up in Eugene.

I am really happy with the condition and can't wait to get the few necessary things to make it perfect for the family to use. Attached are a few pictures of the Cruiser, as well as my 79. I will post again with the items I would like to complete on the 78 before it becomes the daily driver. By the way, the body is really that clean, very little rust on the entire vehicle, and it had a factory PTO.

Thanks
Scott

 

[DieselFJ]

Here are some more pictures.

Thanks
Scott

 

[DieselFJ]

So......

Here is a list of what I would like to get done to make it roadworthy for the family.

Power Steering
Knuckle Rebuild
Door hinge and window regulator repair
Bench seat
Serviced motor/79 2F swap(could have problems meeting emissions standars with existing motor since there is no emissions left on the vehicle)
Park brake repair
New seat belts
Get jack and jack handles
Replace brake pads/shoes
Spring Bushings
Shocks(hopefully Bilsteins)


Things I would like to do.......

OEM steel wheels w/stock size tires
Brighter dash lights (LED's)
Door Weather Strip
Replace glove box door and instrument cluster surround


I am sure I will think of more, but this was off the top of my head.

Thanks
Scott

 

[uglyoinker]

You must be a pretty cool guy. You talk about a new 55 for you and all the local guys are saying hello. Not a bad thing at all. Just surprised me a little. Not usually very much traffic in the 55 preservation society. It's good to get some buzz going.
all those projects sound very expensive. Especially with the selected goodies. Did you win a lottery or trip over a trunk of gold? I'm diggin' on all of them for sure. I have some similar plans/projects. Sounds like a challenge and alot of fun/pain in the ass.
up in Heber at my barn is a shared space. They're projects belonging to several guys. So there is usually a dozen cruisers or so around. I have a couple non Yota projects. A 76 fiat spyder getting a V8 and vanagon Westy getting a subaru boxer engine and 57 rover of a friends getting Yota mini truck drivetrain. Always something going on.....

 

[DieselFJ]

You must be a pretty cool guy. You talk about a new 55 for you and all the local guys are saying hello. Not a bad thing at all. Just surprised me a little. Not usually very much traffic in the 55 preservation society. It's good to get some buzz going.
all those projects sound very expensive. Especially with the selected goodies. Did you win a lottery or trip over a trunk of gold? I'm diggin' on all of them for sure. I have some similar plans/projects. Sounds like a challenge and alot of fun/pain in the ass.
up in Heber at my barn is a shared space. They're projects belonging to several guys. So there is usually a dozen cruisers or so around. I have a couple non Yota projects. A 76 fiat spyder getting a V8 and vanagon Westy getting a subaru boxer engine and 57 rover of a friends getting Yota mini truck drivetrain. Always something going on.....

Yea, its kind of sad there is not more activity on this board, this is where I spend most my time on mud, I like the atmosphere, it seems like a few good ol Cruiser guys who just like cars. I always like to build what I want to drive, so all my projects have what I want, and if I can't buy it, I wait for the right deal. I have been pretty lucky with the deals I have ran into, that is why I have a 13bt/h55f/ARB locked FJ40, but the real reason I can afford all my projects is I do all my own work, and as you all know make this hobby feasable.

Your right about the fun/pain of a project, I think all of us who build our own projects understand that statement, and in my case my wife, she is out in the shop with me building these projects almost daily. By the way, your setup sounds pretty nice, I always liked Heber, it's definitely high on the list of places I would like to live. I like the randomness of the projects you stated are in your shop, it shows the uniquness of people, pretty fun. What I would like to see is someone going over the top with a diesel generated electric 55, that's what I would spend my money on if I got lucky enought to win the lottery.

I'll keep posting as I go, hopefully I will get the 78 ready for my wife and kids very shortly, then off to the house project for the next 6-8 months. Once that is complete I will be onto the Suburban project, then finally the 79 55. Hopefully life doesn't throw me too many curves, but that is the plan as it stands right now.

Keep posting, any activity on this board is a positive thing.

Scott

 

[PabloCruise]

Congratulations Scott!

Can't wait to see your build(s)!!!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Congrats Scott!

Hope all is well.