Arnold - a tale of a pig
Arnold is our second pig. I found him on e-bay and after no one met the reserve I tracked the owner down in a neighboring town. We agreed to meet on a Saturday morning that ended up being one of the coldest of the seasons along with chitown40 after he finished his 24 hour duty shift. If you’re going to sell a vehicle you normally would make sure that the thing would at least run right? Battery was almost dead, carb was junk (the only thing that got it started was some WD-40 that chitown40 brought with) brakes barely functional, tires were dry rotted – it was a long list although we were reassured that it was used daily all summer long. A couple of e-mails and few days later we had Arnold towed home.
Now why would anyone need, or want, a second pig – other than Landpimp that is. Well after having our first pig for about 3 years the wife wanted one of her own. She didn’t drive stick at the time and didn’t want to bruise Wang while she was learning but when I found Arnold her eyes lit up. Keep in mind that she’s been driving an 89 FJ62 as a daily driver for 19 years so there’s a lot of land cruiser in her back ground. How could I disappoint my wife of almost 20 years. We welcomed piggy #2 into the family.
Brakes new front rotors and a new master were first order of business along with a new Exide Orbital battery, I wanted the thing to at least start and stop. Now to figure out what we had bought.
Arnold is a 78 piggy with California emissions, a Fairey overdrive unit and was miraculously unmolested but had been ridden hard and neglected for quite some time. The good thing is that our other pig, Wang, is also a 78 with California emissions (now desmogged) but I had many common parts and manuals. Time to get to work.
Under the hood things looked pretty well, well used. Cosmetically, the air filter housing was one large island of rust. Most of the vacuum lines were cracked, the radiator had dreaded streaks of blue green in several places. There were extenders on two spark plugs so I kind of new that our latest piggy would be an oil burner as well as a gas guzzler. The parking brake needed attention as well.
The interior is in good shape. One small tear in the head liner and a saggy drivers side seat which is the source of summer swamp ass (piggy owners will know what we're talking about). The heater/defroster hoses have been replaced and the air plenum from the firewall to the heater has been repaired. I've also added a 0 to 5,000 rpm tach and a switch for the fog lights to the dash cluster. The brake light and seat belt warning buzzer work as they should. We also had the original seatbelts rebuilt by SsnakeOyl products to keep the interior as original as possible. I also replaced the speakers that a PO had mounted in the doors. The PO had the Sony head unit installed and with out the dash plate being butchered, very nice.
Cosmetically, rust in the usual places, rear quarter, front quarter, hood (surface only), roof (surface only). It’s been repainted once although the red/white color scheme has been retained. All the window seals are shot as are the door weather seals – especially the rear window/tailgate. The rear window works well but the rear heater, windshield washer and carb cooling fan are in operative.
New antifreeze revealed the radiator needed help so I dropped in a spare that Gumby had given me from the war wagon when he did his engine conversion after a local radiator shop reconditioned it. New BFG TA’s replaced the dry rotted Bridgestones. All vacuum lines were replaced. Several of the bulbs for side markers and tail lights needed replacement as well. The carb went out to Jim C for a rebuild and tune so that when spring popped Arnold would at least be drivable. A new voltage regulator and alternator rebuild were added to the list after we figured the battery wasn’t fully charging. I removed, cleaned and replaced the odometer which is now functional again and had the wife install a new fuel pump – her very first wrenching experience.
With time running tight I had a local shop change all the fluids, diffs, TC, oil, antifreeze plus a tune up. Only problem arose when they failed to completely fill the radiator. I’m only 5-6 miles away from the shop but 2F heads are not tolerant of running hot. Next on the list was a new/rebuilt head and since Arnold still had all its original exhaust manifold/exhaust system it still had the California emissions “thermal reactor” which had cracked to the level of being unusable. I couldn’t find any later exhaust manifolds which would have been an easy swap so I ended up finding a “thermal reactor” that Mark A had buried under a work bench in his shop. One little weld to repair a small casting break and I was back in business.
Since the wife is now a certified master of 4 speed manual transmissions we bit the bullet and swapped the engine this spring with a reconditioned 2F from SOR – it was cheaper than a local rebuild, and added a new clutch, water pump and thermostat.. What a difference. The old 2f had an oil appetite of a quart every 100 miles or so and had zero “umf”. Now it drives, and pulls, better that Wang who’ll be getting Arnold’s old 2F after a winter rebuild (my winter project).
I still have to make the time to get the carb cooling fan to work and run a new wire for the windshield washer pump but that’s what winter’s for. We’re in line for a local body shop to take Arnold in for a winter project – we’ll be keeping the Freeborn red and Cygnus white color scheme.
I know that this stock “restoration” may not be as exciting to some as it is to us but bringing another classic Land Cruiser back to life is certainly a worthy cause. For us cruising around town with the dogs in the back truly or an occasional trip to the office on a nice day is a blast.
Several weeks ago we stopped at the local dealer to get a hitch adaptor for the UJZ100 in Arnold. We almost brought the dealership to its knees. 10 to 15 sales people, the sales manager, 2 service writers and a handful of mechanics circled the truck all to the delight of the wife explaining her truck. That’s what old pigs are all about. Here are some photos.
Arnold is our second pig. I found him on e-bay and after no one met the reserve I tracked the owner down in a neighboring town. We agreed to meet on a Saturday morning that ended up being one of the coldest of the seasons along with chitown40 after he finished his 24 hour duty shift. If you’re going to sell a vehicle you normally would make sure that the thing would at least run right? Battery was almost dead, carb was junk (the only thing that got it started was some WD-40 that chitown40 brought with) brakes barely functional, tires were dry rotted – it was a long list although we were reassured that it was used daily all summer long. A couple of e-mails and few days later we had Arnold towed home.
Now why would anyone need, or want, a second pig – other than Landpimp that is. Well after having our first pig for about 3 years the wife wanted one of her own. She didn’t drive stick at the time and didn’t want to bruise Wang while she was learning but when I found Arnold her eyes lit up. Keep in mind that she’s been driving an 89 FJ62 as a daily driver for 19 years so there’s a lot of land cruiser in her back ground. How could I disappoint my wife of almost 20 years. We welcomed piggy #2 into the family.
Brakes new front rotors and a new master were first order of business along with a new Exide Orbital battery, I wanted the thing to at least start and stop. Now to figure out what we had bought.
Arnold is a 78 piggy with California emissions, a Fairey overdrive unit and was miraculously unmolested but had been ridden hard and neglected for quite some time. The good thing is that our other pig, Wang, is also a 78 with California emissions (now desmogged) but I had many common parts and manuals. Time to get to work.
Under the hood things looked pretty well, well used. Cosmetically, the air filter housing was one large island of rust. Most of the vacuum lines were cracked, the radiator had dreaded streaks of blue green in several places. There were extenders on two spark plugs so I kind of new that our latest piggy would be an oil burner as well as a gas guzzler. The parking brake needed attention as well.
The interior is in good shape. One small tear in the head liner and a saggy drivers side seat which is the source of summer swamp ass (piggy owners will know what we're talking about). The heater/defroster hoses have been replaced and the air plenum from the firewall to the heater has been repaired. I've also added a 0 to 5,000 rpm tach and a switch for the fog lights to the dash cluster. The brake light and seat belt warning buzzer work as they should. We also had the original seatbelts rebuilt by SsnakeOyl products to keep the interior as original as possible. I also replaced the speakers that a PO had mounted in the doors. The PO had the Sony head unit installed and with out the dash plate being butchered, very nice.
Cosmetically, rust in the usual places, rear quarter, front quarter, hood (surface only), roof (surface only). It’s been repainted once although the red/white color scheme has been retained. All the window seals are shot as are the door weather seals – especially the rear window/tailgate. The rear window works well but the rear heater, windshield washer and carb cooling fan are in operative.
New antifreeze revealed the radiator needed help so I dropped in a spare that Gumby had given me from the war wagon when he did his engine conversion after a local radiator shop reconditioned it. New BFG TA’s replaced the dry rotted Bridgestones. All vacuum lines were replaced. Several of the bulbs for side markers and tail lights needed replacement as well. The carb went out to Jim C for a rebuild and tune so that when spring popped Arnold would at least be drivable. A new voltage regulator and alternator rebuild were added to the list after we figured the battery wasn’t fully charging. I removed, cleaned and replaced the odometer which is now functional again and had the wife install a new fuel pump – her very first wrenching experience.
With time running tight I had a local shop change all the fluids, diffs, TC, oil, antifreeze plus a tune up. Only problem arose when they failed to completely fill the radiator. I’m only 5-6 miles away from the shop but 2F heads are not tolerant of running hot. Next on the list was a new/rebuilt head and since Arnold still had all its original exhaust manifold/exhaust system it still had the California emissions “thermal reactor” which had cracked to the level of being unusable. I couldn’t find any later exhaust manifolds which would have been an easy swap so I ended up finding a “thermal reactor” that Mark A had buried under a work bench in his shop. One little weld to repair a small casting break and I was back in business.
Since the wife is now a certified master of 4 speed manual transmissions we bit the bullet and swapped the engine this spring with a reconditioned 2F from SOR – it was cheaper than a local rebuild, and added a new clutch, water pump and thermostat.. What a difference. The old 2f had an oil appetite of a quart every 100 miles or so and had zero “umf”. Now it drives, and pulls, better that Wang who’ll be getting Arnold’s old 2F after a winter rebuild (my winter project).
I still have to make the time to get the carb cooling fan to work and run a new wire for the windshield washer pump but that’s what winter’s for. We’re in line for a local body shop to take Arnold in for a winter project – we’ll be keeping the Freeborn red and Cygnus white color scheme.
I know that this stock “restoration” may not be as exciting to some as it is to us but bringing another classic Land Cruiser back to life is certainly a worthy cause. For us cruising around town with the dogs in the back truly or an occasional trip to the office on a nice day is a blast.
Several weeks ago we stopped at the local dealer to get a hitch adaptor for the UJZ100 in Arnold. We almost brought the dealership to its knees. 10 to 15 sales people, the sales manager, 2 service writers and a handful of mechanics circled the truck all to the delight of the wife explaining her truck. That’s what old pigs are all about. Here are some photos.
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