Introducing Farmer Bob. (3 Viewers)

[sneaky]

Introducing Farmer Bob. Bob is a '73 ish FJ45 that I bought in March, but dragged home yesterday. Its sat in the shed for about 8 or so years and is full of mouse poo.
Bob started life working for the Post Master General (PMG), but I'm not sure is what capacity, it may have been mail delivery as it has dual fuel tanks. Kind of a neat set up, tap on the trans cover to switch tanks, and a switch on the dash to measure levels in either tank. Theres a faint outline of PMG on the passenger door.

 

[sneaky]

The PMG was the precursor to Australia Post and Telecom, and as such were responsible for establishing and maintaining telecommunications and postal services.

Some vehicles had harder lives than others!

 

[sneaky]

So, the plans for Bob.
Bob has sat for a long time. And not in the best environment.
Aesthetically, plan is to replace what has to be, like the roof and possibly the bonnet, and fix other rust holes. I'd like to keep the paint as it is as much as possible. I like the story that original paint has and it keeps the budget down. Plan on fixing the speaker holes in the dash and giving the interior a complete makeover.

Mechanically, this is where I might lose some of the purists. Having gone through the process of restoring drum brakes on my previous FJ45, and subsequently going to discs, and having recently sold my FJ55 that I put full parabolic springs on and converted to disc brakes, I've made the decision that this car is going to get a stretched 80 series chassis with a BMW M57 3.0 Turbo diesel and 6 speed auto, and part time transfer case.

If I haven't lost you by now, check back in as things progress.

 

[sneaky]

Small update on Bob.

Gave him a wash, vacuumed the 5kg (11 lbs or so) of mud wasps and mouse poo out and cut the bull bar off.
Pulled the two fuels tanks out, more vacuuming and cleaning.

Bolted the seats back in and mocked up some air con vents in the crudely cut speaker holes.

Good news is floors are pretty good, rear box section at rear of cab needs some help, but it might just come out. Rear window panel is pretty bad and I might just replace it with a new Chinese one, which was my plan for the roof. Also found some rust under the windscreen frame and on the cab at the windscreen hinge.

I've also snagged a 94 FZJ80 as a donor, so some of the key components are falling in to place.

 

[KT40]

Cool pictures ! Keep them coming!
Might want to turn the bezel right side up too.

 

[sneaky]

Cool pictures ! Keep them coming!
Might want to turn the bezel right side up too.

It's southern hemisphere spec.
The screws are soaking in penetrant. I've found a number of broken screws and bolts already and trying to reduce how many I have to deal with.

 

[sofj45]

love the old dunlop tires on it

 

[Pics45]

Cool pics......and those split rims....scary....but I know some out there likem.......

 

[cppilot]

Lots of fun ahead of you, congrats…

 

[locklaw]

Cool pics......and those split rims....scary....but I know some out there likem.......

The danger factor on Toyota splits is massively overrated. They make them like this today still for selected markets. User/assembly error, which no amount of warning labels or health warnings will ever fix, is generally the cause of injury, not the product.

 

[sneaky]

I had restored split rims on my first 45, and while I never had a problem with them, I think Ill go with another set of these. I had a custom set on my FJ55.

BCI Wheels

BCI can make me a custom set in 16x7 +25 offset, so I picked up a set of wagon wheels in that spec to see if they will work with a 255/85r16 before I commit.

 

[Big Gez]

Just found this thread and what an awesome beast! I think its hard for our friends in the USA to comprehend just how many 45's are sitting around in empty sheds down here. My kids have also nicknamed our 'Bob' after the previous owner!

Tassie Devil FJ45

G’day from Tasmania, Australia Thought I would join and share some pics of my 1/1975 FJ45 seeing as every Google search I do brings me to the forum! What an amazing amount of knowledge here. I’ve been trying to make a deal on this truck since 2019 when I stumbled across the 87yo owner in my...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[sneaky]

Just found this thread and what an awesome beast! I think its hard for our friends in the USA to comprehend just how many 45's are sitting around in empty sheds down here. My kids have also nicknamed our 'Bob' after the previous owner!

Tassie Devil FJ45

G’day from Tasmania, Australia Thought I would join and share some pics of my 1/1975 FJ45 seeing as every Google search I do brings me to the forum! What an amazing amount of knowledge here. I’ve been trying to make a deal on this truck since 2019 when I stumbled across the 87yo owner in my...

forum.ih8mud.com

I put a post on the PMG vehicle group on Facebook and got a bunch of replies from old boys who use to use them in the field. Everyone has an old cruiser story!

80 donor has been stripped down by the mechanic who will stretch the frame and do the new mounts. Will be sent to my parents place for storage for a while and I can strip the body and engine mounts off it.

Meanwhile Bob has been stripped down to just the cab sitting on the chassis. Photos when the sun comes out.

 

[sneaky]

Bobs chassis has gone to be recycled. Ended up giving it away after finding rust in it and not getting any takers on Marketplace for any of the running gear. Seems a shame, but I needed it out of the way. The 1FZ and five speed have also found a new home.

I've discoverd that the cowl vent recess is pretty badly rusted, does anyone make a replacement recess? I have most of the mechanism and it would be cool to keep it, but removing it would also free up some real estate for the A/C unit.

 

[sneaky]

Making a start on the rust repairs. I may have overestimated my abilities, and underestimated how much rust this thing has....
Starting on things/areas that you won't see.

I picked up a new reproduction roof and rear panel after seeing them in person the other day. Quality looks to be pretty good, though they will both need some work as both are for later models. I've gone this path for both a cost and time efeectiveness, and because the later model rear panel has the provision for the top seatbelt mount.

 

[sneaky]

Been slowly chipping away on the 45. The rear window section needed the side locating pins to be reduced in size to fit the earlier cab and I've rivnutted ( is that a word?) it to accomodate the J hooks.

The roof also needed a little massaging, as it had the flange at the front to bolt to the windscreen and fouled with the wipers. I also need to cut the old clamps off the original and transfer them over, but I'm procastinating and letting my back recover from taking the roof on and off.

I've also picked up a new HF1A transfer case and couple of brackets from McKInnons Cruisers, picked up the tyres ( I know its early on the build but the price was too good to pass up on a Black Friday deal), and ordered a set of wheels.

I'm hoping that my Dad's build will be finished by Chrsitmas and the guy doing the work will be ready to start on mine early in the new year. Dad's build:

80 series chassis, LS & auto, full airbags, etc etc.

In other news, a friend of mine and fellow 45 nut and MUD contributor ,@cult45 , has his first movie coming next year and could use a little help to get over the line. If you feel like contributing or buying a shirt, I'm sure he'd appreciate it, and it gets a 45 as a film character closer to reality.
THE BETTER MAN - an Aussie road trip feature film - https://igg.me/at/thebettermanmovie/x#/

EDIT: Just wanted to add, the plug for Dans film is completely unsolicited, and I have no financial ties or interests in the movie, other than wanting to see someone succeed at an endeavour they've worked so hard on.

 

[cult45]

Thanks heaps Andy, bloody legend!

It amazes me how you keep finding these tidy early girls so close to home!

 

[sneaky]

Chipping away on Bob. Have transferred the clamps from the original roof to the new one and gotten the roof 95% fitted. I'll need to open the holes on the brace above the door as the holes don't quite line up.

Getting rid of speaker holes in the dash. I got impatient and put too much heat into it near the glove box and its shrunk a bit. I'll probably cut it again and see if it relaxes and go a bit slower. This area will be getting an A/C vent at some point.

 

[sneaky]

Happy New Year!
What else do you do an New Years day but go out and buy a donor car! In this case a wrecked 2009 BMW X3 with 170k klms ( about 105k miles) on the clock. This will give me the M57N2 engine and cable operated ZF 6 speed auto, plus all the other conversion bits like fuel pump, go pedal, ecu etc. I already have the transfer case adaptor on order from Fusion Fab ( Fusion Fab Industries - https://www.fusionfabindustries.com.au/ ) and will hopefully send them the ecu for remapping the end of January, and receive a standalone wiring harness for it.

Im hoping the 80 chassis and body will be going to be worked on the end of January as well.

 

[sneaky]

Didn't realise it had been so long..

So the 45 didn't go to the workshop at the end of January, shoud be going in the next two weeks.
I've been chpping away at some of the other things on this build like getting the Vintage air mounted and tidying up the dash, sourcing a few bits and pieces for the M57 engine.
We've just started some house renovations and will be overseas for August, so the 45 got moved to my parents 90 minuntes away. The styleside and the wheels were behind the cab.

Weekend just gone I placed the body on the chassis and strapped it down.

Really happy with the way its starting to take shape, and this has been a big motivator.

And since I'm sure I'll get asked, the tyres are 255/85r16 Yokohamas on 16X7 U.S wheel with a +6 /4.25 backspace. The tyres stick out about 100mm, so I'll be using some rubber flares to keep it all legal.

Thanks for checking in.