Long time Fan of the FJ45 (Australia). Now an owner!

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F

Firebird

10 Year
Joined
Apr 17, 2012
Threads
1
Messages
7
Location
Australia
After years of longing for a FJ45 and finding the right time to buy one, I took the plunge last week and bought a 1974 FJ45 (ute) complete with a mild 308 Holden engine... A fair amount of the work has been completed mechanically and I love the retro tray on it ... However there are things that bother me that I want to change back to original and this is the reason for my post.

1. The dash has been bastardized (behind the silver panel is a gaping hole where the instruments have been installed, therefore, yesterday I bought a second (donor) 1974 FJ to take parts off... Can anyone see any problems in cutting the dash off the 2nd car and implanting it into the working FJ? I admit that I'm a complete novice, however I have a mate that can assist with welding etc... I'm also going to put the original seats/steering wheel back into the red one etc. My goal is to bring the car back to as close to original as possible (with the exception of the engine and the tray). I will also get it resprayed.

2. I dislike the bonnet scoop (hood in the US!)... therefore, I'm going to swap the bonnet over as there are holes under the scoop. As you may be able to see from the attached image, it has a fair amount of rust at the front. Is this easy enough to fix (I guess, like most things, it'll just be time & money!)...

Thanks in advance for your help.
FB.
IMG_0410.webp
IMG_0403.webp
2ndFJ-a.webp
 
Nice mate. The tray's not my cup of tea but you'll have plenty of fun making it what you want!

Any more pics of the donor rig? Looks pretty stock.
 
cult45 said:
Any more pics of the donor rig? Looks pretty stock.
Click to expand...

Must be a daily limit on the amount of pics I can post as the site won't allow me to post more... Will try tomorrow.

Any ideas (pitfalls) in changing the dash back to original using the donor rig?
 
Nice project for sure, congrats and :cheers:

The box is also not really my cup-a-tea but I tend to lean more towards original.
I am sure you'll have fun with it. They are great to work on.

Swapping the dash panel shouldn't be to big of a deal I think. The panel is not structural although it doesn't hurt to weld in a brace first. Things tend to warp once you start welding. And be sure to think twice and cut once. ;)
Others might want to chip in too.

No, there is no daily limit on posting pictures, but you need at least post something like 10 posts before you can post more pics.
 
DeltaT said:
Swapping the dash panel shouldn't be to big of a deal I think. The panel is not structural although it doesn't hurt to weld in a brace first. Things tend to warp once you start welding. And be sure to think twice and cut once. ;)
Others might want to chip in too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input Delta T... If it's beyond my mate, I'll get a professional to weld it.
 
alberta mac said:
I would take the dash plate off and see what it looks like, you may not need to weld.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I looked behind the silver colored dash plate and there is a big hole that's been cut out to make room for the instruments. Are you saying that I can remove a bigger section beyond the forward console to avoid welding? i.e. Just a straight transplant.
 
The front bib is what we'd call the headlight panel and the bezel is what we'd call the headlight surround.

'Hey Mick, bought an old Cruiser.'

'The one with the square headlight surround?'

'Nah, an old one with the round one.'

:)

If you go the FJ25 section back on the forum main page you'll notice the 25 grille looks kinda like yours.
 
cult45 said:
The front bib is what we'd call the headlight panel and the bezel is what we'd call the headlight surround.

'Hey Mick, bought an old Cruiser.'

'The one with the square headlight surround?'

'Nah, an old one with the round one.'

:)

If you go the FJ25 section back on the forum main page you'll notice the 25 grille looks kinda like yours.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I had checked out the FJ25 forum, you are right, looks the same!
 
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