my fj55

[Trunkz]

About a year ago I started a thread about my fj55, cant seem to find it.

for the most part i has just been sitting in front of my buddies shop waiting for that magic combination of time and money... i went back to school (college) still there but got laid off over the winter so i got a lot of free time right now but no $$

so last night we hooked a tow bar up to it and pulled it over to my house with my buddies 84 4runner (never want to do that again it was kinda scary)

and this afternoon i went out and snapped some more pictures and started taking some of the parts off, i didnt last too long before the heat got to me, but i now have a much better idea of what im in for and what im going to do.

in case you missed it here is the front:

and driver side:

and pass side:
<a href="http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn85/mikkru/?action=view&current=mini-DSCN1461.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn85/mikkru/mini-DSCN1461.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


today i started out with a full can of PBBlaster and ended up with an empty one... got the tailgate open (was an achievement), took off the front fender vents, and tried to get the lights out. removed 2 riveted patch panels on front fenders and wanted to cry lol:

from the looks of things the passenger side fender assembly is heading to the trash can (dont think it will hold up long enough to go to the scrap yard lol) but not sure yet,

and i had a question about the motor:

is this an f.5?

thinking about calling it "Rusty"
Mike

 

[romegadave]

Mike,

Great that you have it home........can we see a pic of the engine? Is the oil filter on the right side under the manifold or is it on the left near the dizzy?

 

[Trunkz]

its located on the left side in front of the dizzy (toward the rad)

 

[cruiserbrett]

looks to be a late 73/74 motor, which would be the f.5

 

[LC_Hamma]

Looks like it's fairly complete. I'm diggin the mismatched turn signals I wouldn't throw any body parts away yet. Take this time to learn to patch & weld in new metal. A can of mapp gas goes along great w/ penetrant heating up rusty old bolts. Are you set up w/ the tools it's gonna take to bring this back to it's once grandness? A small mig welder w/ a C-25 mix should get you started on sheetmetal work. You'll also want at least a 60 gal. air compressor, minimum. Is this your 1st project? We're all here to help out so post up any questions along the way

 

[Trunkz]

answers to questions:
its a 74 body on a 73 frame (transfer done by po).
current plans are a resto mod, brakes need work, engine starts, exhaust is in back of truck.
would like to do a frame off resto but the parked car laws here in town are such that i cannot do this in my driveway and it wont even fit in my garage...
until i find work i cannot afford a shop to do this in.

im a certified welder, unfortunatly the only welder i have is a stick welder but my dad assures me they welded together all kinds of cars back in the day with some 5/64" and 1/16" rods.

probably going to end up borrowing dads miller 251 at some point just for ease of use
planning on getting a larger air compressor with my tax return whenever it shows up.

not really my first project me and my father built a trike from a vw and a motorcycle a few years ago.

i have the steel laying around to build a nice sheet metal brake which is probably what ill end up doing

cannot wait for this little heat wave to break 98degrees and 70-90% humidity do not agree with me all that well.

sorry about my grammer i have a better time keeping my thoughts organised like this.

 

[Trunkz]

ok today i got the inside cleaned out, all the spare parts in the garage, and the inside vacuumed out.

about ready to pull the seats and start sanding, grinding and cutting the inside.

btw planning on getting my star in the next couple of days so i dont have to link to photobucket anymore...

so far im feeling fairly confident about this project: floorboards seem to be in fairly decent shape, sure the pass floorboard is gone and i have to rebuild that body mount, but otherwise it seems to be surface rust on the inside. appears to have been painted with a brush on the inside as well.

My mom stopped by as i was wrapping up and she feels confident about making a new head liner and cover for the rear seats, and then i came inside and posted this because i was getting overheated..

on to the pics:
1. spare door panels and such:

2. door trim in decent shape:

3. original toyota jack, handles and such under back seat:

4. whats this panel go to?

5. pass side floorboards (had a sheet of 1/8" aluminum screwed over it:

6. backseat floorboards:

7. original floormats?

8,9. Replacement corners for the back:

 

[Trunkz]

is there a really good how to on the brakes on these things? im thinking i want to eventually go full disc brakes but want to try out whats currently on there first,
thanks

 

[Trunkz]

im getting ready to order my sheet metal, just wanted to verify, i believe that i read that i need 20g sheet metal for this?