Hi been checking out this forum for a while now love looking at what some of you guys are doing the passion and expertise in some of these posts are amazing
Aussie fj55 lover hi new to the forum
- Thread starter donniefj55
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So l guess my story starts with big red my wife and I was sharing a car and I needed some wheels of my own after trawling gumtree for a while I found this cruiser I just had to have my wife thought I was crazy but with my cash in my pocket I headed off on the four hour bus trip to pick up my cruiser to say it had some character was an understatement I think my wife was worried when I told her I would have to pull up to buy a rear vision mirror any way she made it home and that weekend I headed up to the paddock with my mates with my bed made up in the back from then I was hooked
Welcome! It's a Love--Hate thing. Enjoy the highs!
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Yeah knees deep big red started out brown and white with the barn doors by the time I got her it was a motley grey brown and white and had a 2h diesel put in her roughly I loved it the freedom of my own car my wife even enjoyed riding around on the bench seat with me there was something I started to notice though pedestrians at intersections would step back when I drove past so I figured I had to do something about her appearance so the only logical thing to do after my very poor - read wire brush and lots and lots of bog was to hand paint with a brush and roller rust kill delicious red hence big red talk about lipstick on the pig well I rolled around like this for a while using it for what it was made for my wife even said one day this would be nice with a bit of alift to which I replied no it's right like this I don't want to spend too much on her you know simple reliable comfortable any way not long after I was up the paddock the paddock is my mates place with a shed built off the back of an old truck over looking a dirt circuit where we could rally around cars a moto cross track down through the woods and a short four wheel drive circuit he has been digging out and "improving" there is a steep down hill then a sharp right hand and a few steps up through some ever deepening after my third attempt I had to be snatched out of the top and driving back to the shed she just didn't feel right on closer inspection with beer in hand we realised I had bent the front passenger side springs so that's where it started
We need to see some pictures of Big Red mate!
I am with Pablo. .
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Hi can't seem to find privacy settings to post photos will keep trying
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First day I brought Big Grey soon to be Red home, May 2009
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so i know now i had a lot to learn about body work and painting but thats why we have these old trucks to learn all this. anyway i had bent the springs so i got talking to a good mate of mine he is a diesel fitter mechanic one of the smartest guys i know when it come to machinery etc. his dad many moons ago done an apprenticeship as a spring setter and was only too happy to pass this knowledge down to matt. sooo i convinced the wife that while this work was being done that we should upgrade the shocks give it a 2 inch lift plus 2 inch extended shackles and swaybar extension with all new bushes. obviously this all takes time so to say i was keen as mustard one i got her going again to put some miles on her.well best laid plans and all a couple of days later i rolled out of the driveway to just go around the corner and the knocking that started in the motor made my heart sink . yep the motor was cactus i went and seen a guy and got him to have a look at it he told me the 2h needed a rebuild and he could do it for $2500 well me and the wife sat down and talked about what to do this pig already had me i had the fever there was really no choice and truth be told i think she was pretty partial to the old girl too. so i got talking to matt and he says man i can do that cheaper than that so it was on we sent the motor to the machine shop. well the bill came back from the machine shop i think i can say we was all suprised $4100 for the machine work the machinist explained the other guy might have been able to rebuild it for $2500 but id probably be in the same predicament 6 months later . so knees deep we pressed on matty agreeing to rebuild it for a carton of jim beam stubbies because he felt so bad about the cost blow out yeah i know i looked after him what goes around im forever in his debt long story short the diesel has been rebuilt it currently has 21,928kms on it
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my wifes favourite photo which is funny i didnt think she was too happy when the water was coming in around her feet. yeah mate youll get through there my mate said i would of too another foot either side and i did once they pulled me out
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im not the only one that likes red
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So I got a mate that buys and sells a lot of cars he calls me up one morning and tells me he's found a 55 in this guys yard and will sell it to me for $300 I went and had a look and it wasn't in too bad condition I got matty to have a look and he convinced me to buy it and that he would help me to fix it up properly. It didn't take too much convincing so here's some pics of the white one
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Once we got the doors on and everything pulled out we realised it wasn't in too bad a condition . Did I mention it was sitting for three years we put some fuel down the carby and drove it onto the trailer. The sill panels were pretty rough and had been cut open at some stage so I got a mate woofa to have a look at the body he's a boiler maker welder and he gave me a price that he should of quadrupled to do all the body work
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So the plan now is to do the white one up and keep it original but with 60 series disk brakes and power steering we kept the 55 diff and cvs as the 60 is 60mm wider and shortened the tie rod and steering to match. The metal work that woofa done is mind blowing the sill panels were replaced and folded to keep them piggy lines the rear of the roof was replaced again the lines sorted
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So all the diffs were given an oil change swivel hubs etc kits put through a real learning experience matts patience with me is amazing once we pulled the motor out I organised a painter to do the prime coat only as he was leaving the state and wouldn't have time to finish it
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Next step was to find some one to paint it I decided on 033 toyota white it's a little creamier than the newer whites. Quotes ranged from $10,000 and six months down to a guy starting up a small business at $3500 who I was going to go with until a friend who's a house painter promised me he could do a great job for free just the cost of materials and some barter. Suffice to say I wish I had gone with the small guy but we got it painted with only a few small runs and once I paid to have it buffed and polished I was quite happy with the paint job and moved on to other jobs including headliner cleaning up door and window rubbers etc
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The headliner cost me $1000 it come up really well and I have plans to get the seats done later in a skin on cowhide like in the photo this was my wife's idea and she has me won over especially seeing as this is a bus we will be using and our dogs are usually covered
in the delights that nw tas has to offer
the cargo windows I cleaned up the rubbers and got the windscreen guy to put them in at the same time