Project Pig-lite

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

tucker74

tucker74

Moderator
10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
May 12, 2003
Threads
246
Messages
5,221
Location
Austin, TX
This is a brain-storming thread for a little project that's been slow cooking in my head for a while - so feel free to comment at will. Let me start out with saying I've got to many Cruisers in the driveway at the moment, and have been kicking about ideas how to thin down the heard. By my own logic I can rationalize the 40 and 80 because of various practical reasons - but my beloved Pig gets left out other than the fact I like it to much to ever sell it. So I started thinking about what I actually want out of a second vehicle and came up with a couple of requirements:

1) Convertible - I live in Texas and it's too damn hot to be closed in w/o AC.
2) Wheeler - I want to be able to wheel something capable other than my DD.
3) Hauler - I need to be able to haul around my crap and pull a trailer.

Looking at this list, neither my 40 or 55 fit the bill exactly and as much as I lust after a 45lwb, which would, it's not the easiest vehicle to find (not to mention wheel). So I start thinking about this SOA piggy I've partially built already, but it's got way too much body rust to ever be pretty. This is where it gets interesting, lets start with theses -

Chop55.jpg

pig2b.jpg


Now we've got two of the requirements going for us, why not just chop the top as well and make it exactly what we want :D I'm thinking loose the roof and everything behind the front door pillars, chop the rear corners plus about a foot, and weld it all back together with a tray-back Mudrak style.

Image-BE268DDEDE1A11D9.jpg


What do you guys think?

Tucker
 
I love it, but then anyone who has seen my rig in the owners section or reads my signature knows that I chopped part of the roof. There is a thread floating around where they hopped the whole roof and bobbed it 16 or 18 inches that you should hunt down. Pretty sweet if you ask me. But I would say go for it. Ive been trying to think of a way to make it so I can take my roof on and off like in a 40 but havent come up with anything yet. So I will probably just weld up the parts where its coming apart from cutting off the drip rail.
 
clemson55 said:
There is a thread floating around where they hopped the whole roof and bobbed it 16 or 18 inches that you should hunt down.
Click to expand...
That pig was done by Jason at JK Customs here in town and I've seen it in person a couple of times. I don't really dig the "bobbed" look so much, but he's got the build-up progression pics on his site ... and the same theory would work for my idea. You can check it out here.

Tucker
 
I'm doing something similar to what JK Customs did to the piggie, except I am not going to bob it. My roof and pillars were beyond repair, so topless was the best option. Gives the extra room in the back for junk, the rear seat, and I can run the stock fuel tank. Plan on also fabbing up some type of tube front fenders, since the ones I have now are wasted. SOA will follow the body mods.
 
Keep us posted if you dive in! Very motivating pics. I dig the tray-back idea. A pig extra-cab would be cool. Still contemplating exactly what to do on what I think will become my trail/beater rig-if I keep it. I plan on cutting out the lower rot and replacing with rockers and such but, I keep thinking about chopping the roof off behind the front door pillars. This would leave some protection from the elements for the folks up front and keep the pig look. Of course that would require a full roll cage also, which is way beyond my skill. I am just a bit overwhelmed by the rot along my gutters and have no welding experience, yet. Still planning and learning...
Lucy FJ55 043 copy.webp
Lucy FJ55 046 copy.webp
 
I was thinking that if you removed the top from the windshield back, and had a custom soft top made that would be the shat. Then you could make up some half doors and fab a full cage. A topless 55 would be cool !
 
Cut the top and do a full family rollcage. But then again the photo of the FJ55 truck and that flatbed looks fricken sweet. I spoke with Brian when he came thru a few weeks back. I hope he goes thru with the design. Except do the rear of the cab more like that of an FJ45. Someone should photochop a 45 rear window section into the back of that pig.. i'd do it but my photochopin skills suck.
 
I like it! Would be awesome if you were to use the full cage like in the 80's forewrunner with removable top.
 
The third pic is the way my piggie looks. Top is chopped off, I'm working on capping the rails and welding the rear doors. THe windshield frame will be tricky since the top corners are rotted out. Have to remove the windshield to fix that.
The more I get into the body the more bondo/fiberglass I find. Not to mention the expanding foam. The foam made the rust worse, just like a never drying sponge!
My drip rails were completely gone, the PO riveted and bondoed aluminum channel around the entire roof line. Once I removed the bondo and aluminum, the only thing holding the roof on was wooden bracing the PO installed inside and covered it with paneling. Took me about 10 minutes to hack it off with a sawzall.
I'm on tool hold right now since my welder sparked out. Always something!
 
thats great, i'd love to get an old rusty pig oneday down the track and got about doing something like this.

there's a pig cruising the streets here that has been cut into a dual-cab ute (pickup) with a trayback, i might have a chat to him oneday about his rig.

this weekend i might ask someone about a rusty old pig sitting, rotting away in a paddock, that i want to buy for spares etc. that might eventually be the basis for a project like this for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom