Nurture My Pig! (1 Viewer)

[Fitzgerald]

Gotta feeling that Milwauakee's gonna be wore out by the time your project is finished!

Sure hope not, love that saw.

Now blades on the other hand...

 

[Megadoomer]

Now blades on the other hand...

Diablo blades are your friend. They cost more but cut like butter and last a long time. I'm curious if you have stared the drive train. I bought a 55 all Chevy'd out and love it. However, I just put a new radiator and wanted to change from a mechanical fan to the Taurus fan and found that I only have 3 inches from the pump to the rad. So you may want to put that engine as far back as possible. I hear the Taurus fan is 6 inches deep.

 

[Fitzgerald]

I used to used Diablo blades back in my woodworking days (I assume it's the same company) and yeah, they rocked.

Still haven't decided on which way to go with the drive train. Still thinking of a 350 for simplicity's sake, but nothings set in stone at this point.

I've got to get this body mod figured out before I do anything else.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Questions:

Got a couple of questions for you guys & gals:

1) Ideas on the amount of headroom needed for the rear seat passengers. Basically, how many inches to add to the back of the C pillar? I was originally planning on moving up the D pillar up next to the C and welding them together, but not sure that would be enough. Might need to weld in a panel a few inches wide? - Hope that doesn't thrown off the aesthetics too much.

2) By chopping up the rear end, I made a knucklehead move and didn't consider the gas tank until it was too late. Guess I can get a custom tank made? How safe are fuel cells (I'm going to have the kiddos in the back seat)?


As always, thanks for any ideas!

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

what's gunna happen with the tank? I see you still have it all in tact where the gas stuff is concerned...did you do some more cutting?

as far as the read head room goes, clamp the d pillars in place(it does seem to be the easy way to go...)and maybe put some plywood in the window grooves, sit in the back seat and get a feel for it.

by using the d pillars, you have a nice place to have the rear window roll up into already. if there is decent head room, I'd go that route. you could always burn in some spacer material to gain more whip lash clearance...but that eats into the "bed" pocket...decisions decisions...you gunna do a dual spare tire/ fuel can rack/ ladder in the cargo area above the toolbox and trail spares?

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

Gotta feeling that Milwauakee's gonna be wore out by the time your project is finished!

Sure hope not, love that saw.

Now blades on the other hand...

I've been abusing the dewalt sawtool I used to cut up my spare pig since 1998. I use it all the time and it lives in the 60" box behind the cab of my pig up truck. it needs a cord at this point, and maybe a new trigger as it does stick in the growl position from time to time. Your milwakee should be juuuuuust fine for now

 

[Fitzgerald]

what's gunna happen with the tank? I see you still have it all in tact where the gas stuff is concerned...did you do some more cutting?

as far as the read head room goes, clamp the d pillars in place(it does seem to be the easy way to go...)and maybe put some plywood in the window grooves, sit in the back seat and get a feel for it.

by using the d pillars, you have a nice place to have the rear window roll up into already. if there is decent head room, I'd go that route. you could always burn in some spacer material to gain more whip lash clearance...but that eats into the "bed" pocket...decisions decisions...you gunna do a dual spare tire/ fuel can rack/ ladder in the cargo area above the toolbox and trail spares?

Yeah, I cut some more out. About 10 inches (probably closer to 11-12 once I square everything up for welding back together). So, I'll need to shorten the frame if I go through with it, eliminating the tanks home. My pooch doesn't look so happy with me.

Not sure of my plans now. Gonna take some time and let this set in. Thought about scrapping the body and finding a nice replacemnet.... but I love to mess with stuff, so .... ???

 

[Fitzgerald]

A few picks of the rust I'm dealing with. This goes WAY beyond a patch panel. This amount of rust is soul crushing.

 

[Gonzo55]

A few picks of the rust I'm dealing with. This goes WAY beyond a patch panel. This amount of rust is soul crushing.

No hill for a climber buddy

 

[scrapdaddy]

Travis,

My 69 parts wagon has an aux. tank mounted under the body @ the drivers seat. I'm not sure if it's good or it's cap., but when you get ready and would need it, I'll get it out for you.

I don't blame your dog for being mad. You just cut off his spot!

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

HOLY rustoleum...still might have some room back there for the pooch...if you don't need the spare to hide down under, then you can have a deep tank made that will fit your spot and have about as much as the og tanks cap.

 

[Fitzgerald]

No hill for a climber buddy

Thanks...I think?

Travis,

My 69 parts wagon has an aux. tank mounted under the body @ the drivers seat. I'm not sure if it's good or it's cap., but when you get ready and would need it, I'll get it out for you.

I don't blame your dog for being mad. You just cut off his spot!

Thanks for the offer!!! Might have to take you up on it if I can't find another solution.

And for the pooch, the poor thing gets soooo car sick on easy drives, I couldn't imagine taking her wheeling.

HOLY rustoleum...still might have some room back there for the pooch...if you don't need the spare to hide down under, then you can have a deep tank made that will fit your spot and have about as much as the og tanks cap.

Good idea. I plan on going big with my tires, so they will probably have to be up and out of the way.

Hmmm.......

 

[Fitzgerald]

Bit of a problem.

Ran into a bit of a problem today.

While trying to match up the C pillar and D pillar for welding together, I realizes that the D pillars are about an inch to two inches narrower than the C pillars.

So, to pull this off, I'm going to need to widen the D pillar section.

And not to mention what I'm going to have to do to the roof!



Thinking about scrapping the current tub, focusing on just the frame / drivetrain, then finding a less rusty 55 to sit on top.

From what I've seen, just about any pig has to be less rusty that mine.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Hey Travis,

Sorry it's so rusted out and things aren't lining up. I know it means alot to you. Maybe do like you're thinking and focus on the frame, while thinking about what you can do for the body. Stuff always seems to work out the right way, if you give it some time.

Good Luck, Ron

 

[Fitzgerald]

Thanks for the wise words Ron.

I'm already formulating a new plan.

I guess today's lesson is don't post when you're in the heat of battle!

Thanks again,

 

[Gonzo55]

Thanks for the wise words Ron.

I'm already formulating a new plan.

I guess today's lesson is don't post when you're in the heat of battle!

Thanks again,

Fitz, I was in your shoes 2 years ago.I bought my Fj and rust was everywhere.I worked night and day for 100 hours to get a handle on it only to start a fire in the headliner and burn it down ( pics on my build tread).I was deflated to say the least.I ended up buying a whole donor truck and then had 2 trucks in pieces all over, overwhelmed to say the least.I was going to give up.A good friend gave me some good advise,he said get your work space clean and organized and then work on you rig for only 1 hour each night when you get off no more.Do small steps cut a small area of rust out maybe clean a rattle can some brackets anything and before you know it you will see progress and the troublesome areas that seemed to a disaster with not hope. This is what I stuck to a even put a couple of 8 hr weekends into it when possible. This truly brought the fun back into it for me. 2 years later:

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

nice post, Mark. Cheelout Fitz, I been there a hundred times. you're doin fine. the nice thing about steel is, you can always weld more on.....add 2" to the width of the D pillar panels.....

 

[PabloCruise]

nice post, Mark. Cheelout Fitz, I been there a hundred times. you're doin fine. the nice thing about steel is, you can always weld more on.....add 2" to the width of the D pillar panels.....

Right!

2 inches, that's nothing! (or at least that is what she said to me - )

 

[Fitzgerald]

Fitz, I was in your shoes 2 years ago.I bought my Fj and rust was everywhere.I worked night and day for 100 hours to get a handle on it only to start a fire in the headliner and burn it down ( pics on my build tread). I was deflated to say the least.I ended up buying a whole donor truck and then had 2 trucks in pieces all over, overwhelmed to say the least.I was going to give up.A good friend gave me some good advise,he said get your work space clean and organized and then work on you rig for only 1 hour each night when you get off no more.Do small steps cut a small area of rust out maybe clean a rattle can some brackets anything and before you know it you will see progress and the troublesome areas that seemed to a disaster with not hope. This is what I stuck to a even put a couple of 8 hr weekends into it when possible. This truly brought the fun back into it for me. 2 years later:

Thanks Gonzo, great advice, great looking rig. I've got to learn to me a bit more patient with this project. I've gotta bring the fun back, that's what it's all about right!

nice post, Mark. Cheelout Fitz, I been there a hundred times. you're doin fine. the nice thing about steel is, you can always weld more on.....add 2" to the width of the D pillar panels.....

No worries LAMBCRUSHER, just got another shipment of Cheelpills in today.

Right!

2 inches, that's nothing! (or at least that is what she said to me - )

...

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

the trick is to stew for days before a major cut- and NEVER look back