Biodiesel Piggie #2 Buildup (was Sad Sad day...)

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Tough one, sorry again not too much to report... I cleaned up the shop after the isuzu swap, took about 8 hours (and again put the motor back in)... It is a tough year coming up because (not sure if I mentioned it) but I got engaged (in June actually :) ) And I am still working my full time job and got a couple really big web projects going for mostly mountain bike companies (which is cool). So I am basically down there in my spare time only, which isn't much... I'm also fully currently addicted by the Mountain Bike bug again getting ready for the spring, I'm building a 29er currently... But this is taking up time at work mostly and will peter off soon, you can only build so much on a bike :) But it is interesting, I have gotten really into mountain bikes and mountain biking since the last summer, it is a blast and I cannot believe I wasn't into it before....

And then this year has been a record year for snow, and I've been telemark skiing like crazy... About 25 days this year maybe... When I get a sec I'll post up some pics of life in general, the snow, and that roll cage I did this summer...

My goal was to build a new front bumper, something that is killer and ARB-looking and that ought to get me psyched... Relevant thread:
Bumper principle for animals... - Pirate4x4.Com Bulletin Board

But my friend with the metal connection (Forest - the older guy) moved to Las Vegas for a job so I lost that connection. But still planning to do it, but realized this weekend, when I was digging out the FZJ80 gas tank to sell, my fenders and hood are burind under feet and feet of snow.

Got a massive new gas bottle for the welder, also bought a set of really clean FJ Cruiser steel wheels with lug nuts and center caps from FJ Ferg. They are down in St. George at his house so I need to get them some point soon...


And that is about it... Again when I get a sec I'll post up some pics... It will unfortunately be a tough slow and long year with all this going on. Really the first time in my life in the last few years I don't have a lot of time to put into cruisers. I honestly over-estimated the amount of time required and "life" as I get a little older and slightly (just barely) more mature here... So I am (unfortunately for you guys) looking at it a little differently. I'm thinking of it more as a long-term project, something that I might hopefully finish this year (it has already been over a year and a half) but something it is very possible I may not either... I have applied to a bunch of new jobs. Two unfortunately take more time away from me, but one may add a bunch of time as again I'll be working from home... So we'll see. I really want to get this thing done. I have it all mapped out in my head now pretty much completely how I want to do it, but again the time... :frown:
 
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Well guys,
Here is a little update and sorry for falling off and letting this sleep.

So as many of you know a couple things started happening last summer. 1) I got engaged in June. This should not and did not interfere with the truck. This is with my long time (6 years in March) girlfriend, Carrie. Soon to be Carrie Shoumatoff - scary!

But I also sort of lost the drive here temporarily, some of you are on Expedition Portal Forums - Powered by vBulletin and I have been on that site now fairly religiously since about mid summer last year. So I am still keeping it real but I did end up sort of burning out.

But 2) life changed for me a lot where I was deeply getting in the hole towards the end of last summer, financing my life and work on the truck and parts and shop but not being dedicated enough to work (as a self employed web developer, where I have to focus on getting new projects constantly, where my work level = $$ so if I don't work hard I suffer) so my income was dwindling. Well, something had to change so I buckled down and got a decent 9-5 job here in Park City booking ski vacations. So I have been doing that since August. I was so in the hole that I got a night job too at the local Wild Oats doing produce. This was nice though, let me relax at night with the Ipoc Carrie gave me for my birthday and deal with fruit :) But it left no time.

And 3) finally, mid-late last summer I started getting obsessed with biking and Mountain Biking. I bought an old Specialized Stumpjumper from a friend, rebuilt it so it looked like this (see the photo below) and rallied it hard. It was great, I lost 10 lbs and was in the best shape I've been in. I could also get out right after work and ride as there are gobs of trails right around here within 1/2 a mile from our house. It was awesome. Well anyway, I carried the addiction right into the winter and started getting really into bikes (see my sig!)... But this also ate into my weekend days...

And finally, it was a record ski/snow year here in Park City, I have at least 25 days of "days off I would formally dedicate to working on this project" that I went tele skiing instead...

_________________

So, I am going to start posting up some pics and info of bikes here shortly at some point. Not sure if any of you are into bikes but I grew to love and become obsessed with MTN bikes. Since the fall I have already built two. They are these interesting machines tghat I barely knew the front from the year a year ago (but used a lot as a kid), and I **cannot believe** I was never into MTB this whole time I live in MTB heaven... So for the bike people and potential bike people, sorry I will post quite a bit about them.

I'm also going to (still been meaning to) post up some pics of the cruiser projects we did last summer. I have been getting down to the shop 1-2 a month on a good month. But the guys I share the shop with now have been super active and are doing all sorts of neat stuff. So I have gotten a little sidetracked helping them as well...

Damon Leake (tan BJ42 and now a gorgeous 100 series) has been working on the 100 mostly. It now has Old Man Emu, ARB front and Slee Rear. Scott Ray is doing all sorts of projects on his 80 Series including a 4x4 Labs rear bumper (that turned out killer) and his truck is currently occupying center stage in the shop on a front axle rebuild. And finally, Bill Hartlieb who is also a becoming a good friend (Scott and Damon are some of my best friends) has officially become shop person #4 and we did the Isuzu swap into his truck (a gorgeous blue FJ62) this winter, that also turned out killer... So I want to get all of this updated into this thread and make it more of a "lifestyle" thread I suppose, LOL...

But finally I have re-become addicted and have the bug bad again. I am also liking my job but the place is a revolving door and I have a good skill set I have learned here. I apply for a job down in the town where the shop is tomorrow and if I get it, it also means more work on the Cruiser. But being on the Internet all day has rejunenated it :)

But the big thing is I promised to Carrie (we have a big year with the wedding, etc) that I wouldn't spend too much on the cruiser, with my one big vice this year being a sweet new bling bike. The good news is I have 2-million projects on the cruiser that are low cost and high labor, I just have to get to them. So that is the plan currently.

But it occured to me that it has been over 1.5 years that this project has been going, and that I also haven't owned a 4WD since then too. I have the bug bad now, especialy now that it is spring. So I saved up some cash for the sweet mountain bike but instead blew it on this mini truck yesterday... But I plan to sell the Saab now to recoup those costs and buy the bike with that $$. The bike has already been ordered...

And that's it in a nut shell!

Here is the new mini truck and I am going to post up with progress on all of this.

On the FJ55 front, I still need to place the pedals to the firewall and will start some fab projects for the rear and the roof.. I have some new ideas that I think are going to make this truck even better and more unique :) And finally, I need to build a front bumper. So my goal for the rest of the year is to spend less than $500 on the cruiser in almost all steel (unless I somehow get a really high paying job). And spend that time doing Fab.

Here is the new Mini Truck. I am totally pumped, it is an '89 and it one of my dream childhood vehicles. Old Man Emu now is already ordered for it. The plan is a sweet daily driver and light wheeling machine. Going back to the basics. :)
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It is still very much winter up here as you can tell but becoming very nice during the day :)

Here is a thread on the mini truck that I started over on YotaTech in efforts to get more info. I also had a thread here on Mud too. Steep learning curve but I picked it up quickly. I have a ball joint spacer ordered for the front. Will probably run Bilsteins up front. Then I have Old Man Emu ordered for the rear from Cruiser Outfitters as mentioned :)
https://forum.ih8mud.com/79-95-toyota-truck-tech/213394-school-my-89-v6-pickup-gears-sas-etc.html
Building light wheeler / Daily Driver / Desert Runner - YotaTech Forums


You can see the front end here. The truck has a 2" body lift (read the threads if you have interest), and will be awefully tall with the 1-2" lift the OME and ball joint spacers are going to provide an awefully tall truck... So I may get rid of it. All I want to do with this truck is do some small things to get it dialed as a good DDer and light wheeler and that is about it :)

Thanks for reading guys.. :)
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Andre,

Congrats on everything! I'm looking forward to the continuation of the 55 build.
 
Thanks a ton guys.. Seriously I don't know a lot of you guys but some of you are seriously almost like a second family... I really appreciate the support!

Anyway here are some pics. Scotty when he was doing the rear bumper. Damon's BJ42 roll cage, and a couple bike pics :)
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And I finally wanted to post these links which give a better understanding of our whole shop and now that there are four of us.. This is from a couple months ago on Expedition Portal... Here is a photo of Bill's diesel swap that he more or less finished earlier this year :) This is an Isuzu 4BD1T into a gorgeous rust free FJ62. Bill is now dude #4 in our shop...

Expedition Portal Forums - View Single Post - ExPo Garages: Lets see them!
Expedition Portal Forums - View Single Post - ExPo Garages: Lets see them!
Expedition Portal Forums - View Single Post - ExPo Garages: Lets see them!
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And finally the S-works ultra-light ultimate townie. You can see how small it is for me. Ironically the largest size they make at Specialized :) And the Stumpjumper I just gave to my little brother to hopefully get him on a bike again as well...
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dieselcruiserhead said:
Some more.. Had a great night last night, friend Damon showed up around 6 and we really cranked...

First, picked up a cheapo Harbor Freight HVLP spray gun, gallon of zero rust, and POR marine clean and metal ready...

I wasn't sure about the Harbor Friegh gun cause it seems about 1/3 of the crap I have bought there I regretted but I heard good things about it from Berg and his friend who actually prefers it (uses more poaint of course with more overspray) than a really high end gun for painting cars. I have a cheapo paint sprayer gun that came with my airtools kit a few years ago but it usues something like 13 cfm and this uses about 4. Even then, my 26 gallon compressor could barely keep up...
Click to expand...

Andre,

Did you compare Rust Bullet to Zero Rust when deciding what product to use?

I am thinking I like the looks of Rust Bullet over POR, but I don't know as much about Zero Rust...
 
Hi guys,
Sorry been sort of MIA. Been riding bikes in the early evenings but am doing some work here and there down at the shop. I bought a mini truck that I have been getting around in which is nice (haven't had a 4WD since I sold the 55). Some very interesting developments from 4x4labs on the diesel front that will be announced shortly, I am planning to possibly put into the mini truck. Also, been doing a vegetable oil conversion into a mid 90's Tahoe for a friend, that is going pretty well and I am learning a lot. I'm planning to post up on that as well. And hopefully resume here, just busy as hell, working a lot, and hardly have the time to get down to the shop. Sort of a bummer...

Anywhoo,

PabloCruise said:
Andre,

Did you compare Rust Bullet to Zero Rust when deciding what product to use?

I am thinking I like the looks of Rust Bullet over POR, but I don't know as much about Zero Rust...
Click to expand...

Never had a chance to compare but I heard a lot about Zero Rust from the hotrod guys. They all swear by it. I personally don't believe it's a good sub for good old rust removal, just slows it down. I think any one of these options is probably fine...


Will hopefully have osme updates, we'll see. Of course I haven't forgotten aobut the good onl beast here. I also acquired all the parts for engine regasketing which is killer, gotta do that. And a set of FJ60 hubs for the front... Pumped :)
 
Well, now the snow is about to fly again and no more work will get done because Andre is out skiing again.

[sigh]


Someday.....
 
Hey Dan,
Actually I'm super pyched to get working on it again including a couple really neat surprises... I got my t case parts in, almost of my Cummins parts in... And best of all, I have the time to work it. Also the shop had kind of gone to hell in a handbasket with 4 of us in there but we will have a little more room pretty soon and I literally swear, by months end there will be some updates! So no worries at all and sorry for the delays guys! Andre
 
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