*Poor* Man's Frame Off R&R (Rebuild & Restore) ... (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Mar 15, 2004
Threads
70
Messages
1,067
Location
Dry Fork, WV
Finally all the pieces are in the same place (location) and time to get to work.

Knowledge for this project has been accumulated from this board (IH8MUD) so *yes* you all are fully responsible for my success !!!

:beer: :beer: :beer:

Major cudo's and thanks to Tim Coffey for assistance in Los Angeles for help with shipping the replacement frame. Without Tim, the frame would still be in LA.

Majority of the work will be done by my semi-retired mechanic/friend George. He's done bunches of full restores in the past (professionally) and has all the equipment to tackle the rebuild.

The lineup:

1987 FJ60
OME light springs
Weber 38/38 & DUI
lockers front/rear (Aussie)

rebuild will include:

frame swap
1" body lift
1" over stock height shackles (MAF)
15 x 10 widened factory rims (Stockton)
GoodYear MTR 35x12.5 tires
fender flares (MAF)
42 gallon extend gas tank (MAF)
reconditioned factory seats (SOR)
CD/Tape unit
sandblast undercarriage where needed when frame is removed
weld replacement sheetmetal where needed (rear fender wells especially)
integrated class 3 tow hitch strengthened for towing ( front & rear)
class 3 spare tire carrier for 15x10 inch rim mounted 35x12.5 GoodYear MTR
new brake lines
repaint as needed
body panels sealed up to prevent new rust

Oh boy, oh boy ...

I'm excited.

Will post pics when available. (anybody have extra space for pic's ?)

IH8MUD ... I *love* ya !!!

Cahil
 
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this being done in FL? If so, I gotta swing by once you get the body off. I want to hear all about it and you gotta get a pic hosting site for this one. they are free and we are going to need to see tons of pics. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
 
Very cool. Stock gearing in the diffs? Might be a bad match for 35's.
 
So it made it out there ok?? I was hoping for an update...guess I will have to follow the thread....:beer: :beer:
 
sounds awesome! keep us posted and post some pics already we wanna see some action!!!
 
The rebuild is being done in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia @ CJ's Automotive.

Laurie, George's wife has agreed to post pictures directly to IH8MUD. Still need file space for pictures.

Tim, sorry but I still connect by modem so moving picture files around is real tedious. Plus you might actually see the pictures on IH8MUD before me.

And if I make it easy for Laurie to post pictures, she'll post more of them ...

:bounce: :bounce2: :bounce:

Cheers,
Cahil

P.S. Yeah, I know the diff gears might need to be changed but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Gonna try the 3.70's first.
 
I will just watch here then for pics....I will second the gears...I tried to run the stock gears with 35's....not a happy time getting the big boy moving on a steep uphill:frown:
 
Sounds like a lot of fun. Have to keep us updated with the progress.

Goodluck
 
Cruiser Parts has 4.11 thirds @ $250 a pop. Not cheap but definitely affordable if needed.

I'm already a bit behind on time and budget ... but isn't that how it always goes ???

:doh:

Cahil

P.S. Action ? How about this. Basically George is going to suspend the truck from the body and then plasma *cut* the frame out from under the body. Perform necessary metal and paint repairs. Then roll the replacement frame under and lower the body back down. WOW !
 
two things...Why a weber?????

and why 10 inch rims??? a 8inch rim will hold a way better bead with a 12.5 tire. I run 10-12psi on the trail with no problem. You should see the tires flex all the way to the rim in the rocks.


good luck dude and keep us posted.

-Al
 
lowtideride said:
Why a weber?????

Weber matches with the DUI better than the stock Aisin (desmogged) IMHO. I don't like mixing and matching but since I went with the DUI why not go with the Weber.

Note: The other truck is staying stock ... carb-n-all. I'm going to have JimC rebuild the Aisin carb and Aisin distributor that I pulled and then swap them in for the old ones.

The Weber I've got is also a 38/38 double pumper (accel pumps) & double fuel cut solenoids too. Weird but these were more build for race than street but it seems to work fine in my truck.

On your carb rebuild, get ahold of JimC and pick his brain clean. Or the real simple solution is to tell him what you want to end with and have him rebuild the carb accordingly.

Carb rebuilding is a *freakin* art form. There's science involve but I've seen over 100hp difference between two identical carbs which were build differently and tested on the exact same motor setup. Freakish. But then again this was a $2k carb build. The real exotic stuff is to have the carb flow balanced. Don't know if JimC flow balances or not. At his rebuild price my guess is probably not. For flow balancing if you have to ask the price ... it's probably to exotic a service.

lowtideride said:
and why 10 inch rims??? ...

10 inch rims are correct for a 12.5 wide tire. The tread width on a 12.5 is approx. 10 inches which should correspond to the rim width.

If I'm widening stock rims anyway there's no difference in cost between going 8" or 10" inch. There is a small cost but it's trivial. They'll end up being powder coated. I don't have the bucks for a real good $300 chrome job per wheel and I'm sick-n-tired of poor factory chrome issues too.

Too many people having backspace issues with non factory rims. I picked up a bunch of trashed factory rims and am going to have Stockton build me what I want out of the pile of factory rims. Stockton will also sandblast off the old chrome (not simple) included at no extra charge. Nice.

Cheers,
Cahil
 
Good luck holding a bead and also watch for spacing when you go 10" it makes it even more of an issue!
 
yulp if you air down or plan on wheeling...plan on blowing a bead. research all the people that REALLY wheel a 12.5 tire....they all run 8inch rims. Don't listen to the tire dorks at where you plan on getting them mounted. More than likely they nothing about offroading. I had the retards telling me that I should have an 11inch rim for the tires I was running.


I am doing the re-build for the carb. I know Jim C is the bomb, but I rather know how to do it myself. Have you looked into how the weber runs offroad? I really havnt so I dont have much to say in the matter, But I did here they had problems offcamber more so than the AISIN carb.

Hope it turns out great and let me know next time ya bring it down to Florida...
 
Cahil,

You may also want to look into Bolton's Wheels in Gardena Cali...I had a set of stock steelies widened about 4 years ago and have been happy...Let me know if you want more info...
 

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