Build New Iron Pig owner, 1970 FJ55 project

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JD Films

JD Films

10 Year
Joined
Apr 4, 2016
Threads
11
Messages
177
Location
Oceanside, CA
Website
www.offroadaction.com
Hey everyone, I have looked around on the site a bunch of times and finally just signed up. I recently bought a project FJ55 from 1973Guppie. It's going to need allot of work and parts so I'll be posting in the classifieds soon. To start I know I need both front fenders a windshield and weatherstripping but once I get it here to my house I will go through all of the boxes to see what I need.

I've been in the desert racing industry forever and currently have a 1995 Toyota T100 that's built up as a prerunner and to get around the races to film (my avatar photo). I produce the Dezert People off-road racing videos. I also own the Off Road Action website that features primarily vintage off-road related content. I'm looking forward to getting started on this FJ55 project. I've wanted one for about 15 years and couldn't pass this up.

I have no idea what direction I'm going to go with it as far as the suspension goes. Either keep it simple with leafs or go crazy and link it with coil-overs... Not sure on the axles yet either but I'm leaning towards FJ80's right now. For the engine I might have a line on a 2004 Tundra V8. I will most likely be selling the stock engine that's sitting in it right now. There's just an engine no trans.

Except for the hood surface rust the body is rust free. Noah did a great job with the body/frame before deciding to sell it.
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Congrats on the purchase I'll look forward to meeting you when I get in the area later this year. Looks great.
 
onemanarmy said:
Rust free is nice.

Do you have the glass, interior, weatherstripping, etc?
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I have all the glass. The windshield I just picked up isn't very good but would work until I find a better one if I got it running before finding one. I need all the weatherstripping. I talked to John at Slocruisers and he said everything is available except the rear side window rubber. His source for those is gone and he has a new place working on them. He's not sure how long that will take. He did mention that he's seen a good window shop use windshield rubber for those windows as a last resort. I saw the thread with the JC Whitney part #'s also so I'll have to go through that.
And not sure what I'm missing for the interior yet. But I have a friend that has a custom interior shop and I might have him do it all. That will depend on what I have and need as far as all the stock interior goes when I get to that point. I'm not looking to make it all completely stock.
 
Lil'John said:
When you say "rear side glass", are you talking about the pair on the body at the rear? Affectionately known as cargo windows.

For the windshield, I believe there is a company out there that still sells new aftermarket. The name of the company escapes me but when I used them ~5 years ago, it was about $250 for the windshield installed:eek:
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Yes sorry, I meant the cargo glass.
 
Truck is already looking good I hope your able to get it up and running soon I know having a pig and watching it sitting there is killing you. It kills me all the time looking at mine.
 
Walkerm916 said:
Truck is already looking good I hope your able to get it up and running soon I know having a pig and watching it sitting there is killing you. It kills me all the time looking at mine.
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I hope so too. I have some major decisions to make while it's all taken apart. Main one being if I want to put a cage in it. Now is the time for that before painting it and starting to put it back together. And then there's the suspension. I already got the Ironman suspension from Noah that he originally had for it when he was working on it. That will be the easiest way to go if I want to get it running sooner. But I am leaning towards running coil-overs and links which will be a big project. As you can see with my T100 I have a hard time keeping things stock...

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Lil'John said:
Let me clarify, I'm talking about the upper piece that is attached to the body that the tailgate window extends into.

My first one was through SloCruisers I believe... it may have been Cabe Toyota. It was a few years ago:doh:

Last three were Cabe Toyota thru ebay:eek: Sadly, Cabe is now out... I did check and it appears sloCruiser still has stock on the same.

For the lower piece that attaches to the tailgate, I just did felt in the opening. However, I decided I wanted to get the "real" deal for that section and it appears I just put SloCruiser into back order with that:censor:

For the cargo windows, it appears Slo is having issues with the maker of it. I seem to recall Cabe Toyota carried it at some point so maybe try a call to them.
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Do you happen to know the Toyota part #'s for the cargo window rubber? I have a friend that works in parts at a Toyota dealer and I could have him run the number and see if there are any anywhere in the country. He ran the # for the windshield glass and said that it shows 3 in the Boston area. But getting those shipped to CA would be next to impossible...
 
Lil'John said:
The FJ55 rubber parts at Cabe were aftermarket stock that they bought from one of the original reproducers of FJ55 rubber. So I doubt that they have a Toyota part number with them.

Cabe is located down in south CA somewhere and they absolutely ship items... i'm on my second order from them to Placerville this year ;)
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Ah ok, thanks for clarifying.
 
JD Films said:
But I am leaning towards running coil-overs and links which will be a big project.
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I stuck with leaf springs and regret it, I spent more time and money trying to get it the way I wanted it than if I would have went with coilovers and links to begin with.

The new pig I’m working on now is links and coilovers and will sit lower and have more travel than my leaf sprung pig.
 
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