Hey all you fellow "LV"ers -
As a relatively new Forum member, I am starting this thread because admittingly, I have benefited greatly from a lot of the info that others have posted of their restoration endeavors, and now I want to contribute to the cause as well.
When I started my own restoration, I did not know that there was such an exclusive community of 45LV peeps out there, and I am stoked to be included as one of "Them" in solidarity.
So, if You have documented your progress and posted on this forum I, for one, want to say "Thank you".
Now check this out :
The short and sweet of my LV experience is this :
- I acquired my 1966 FJ45LV back in 2012.
- I found it located in Washington State, on Craigslist, and I was connected to it the minute I saw it in person.
- The gentleman who had it up for sale at the time accepted a "more than fair" price for the condition that it was in.
- The vehicle had sat pretty dormant in his yard for many years, but He had decided to put it up for sale because He wanted to see a better future than He was able to provide. Upon my first inspection I would have to say "She" was a little rusty in the floorboards so to speak, but by no means what I would call decrepit. -
This was the day when I first picked it up.
Pretty good starting point actually.
After trailering her home I got her into my shop, I replaced the battery, plugs, wires, drained the gas tank, ran all new fluids and she surprisingly started right up and ran really strong ; great compression, although high on the single barrel carb idle, sloppy tie rod/ball joints/ front end gear, with bad brakes etc. but all super simple easy fixes.
Parts wise she was pretty complete and all original. I was missing one door handle and for some reason one of the hood latch "holds" mounted on the fender side aprons, and there were plenty of scars from antennas, mirrors, ashtrays, cup holders, and even a leather gun holster that was mounted on the dash, but overall not too molested. It looked like someone had stripped the paint off at one point with solvents of some sort without removing the gaskets or plastic light lenses so the chemical drip damage means I'll be making silicone molds to remanufacture my taillights.
The floor boards had rotted out because of sitting outside for years with the front windows rolled down (in the Seattle area
) but I cut them out and fabricated replacement metal. The upholstery was all there, but tattered and torn. All Door hinges and latch mechanisms were fully functional. Glass was intact. She was Good Enough to be road worthy for me.
So I ran her as a "Rough Rider" for the first few years. With the original F motor and 3 speed transmission she runs like a happy … tractor.
We went a lot of places together, but we never went fast !
However, time continues on, and as of last year, I excitingly can say that I decided to tear her down and embark on a complete frame off restoration. Unfortunately I have somehow managed to loose all of my initial teardown pictures so I'm kind of picking up the process and sharing with some time lapse missing in my recording. Oh well. Luckily I have found Ih8mud and all you LV nuts to help me piece my project back together again. Already I have bought door seals and gaskets from member "c2dfj45" as well as gleaned info from many restoration postings as your builds have progressed.
And so here I am now :
I pulled the motor and sent it to the machine shop - I pulled the body and have sent the frame to the powder coater - my large body panels have been sent out to be sand blasted. The ball is rolling … !!!
As a relatively new Forum member, I am starting this thread because admittingly, I have benefited greatly from a lot of the info that others have posted of their restoration endeavors, and now I want to contribute to the cause as well.
When I started my own restoration, I did not know that there was such an exclusive community of 45LV peeps out there, and I am stoked to be included as one of "Them" in solidarity.
So, if You have documented your progress and posted on this forum I, for one, want to say "Thank you".
Now check this out :
The short and sweet of my LV experience is this :
- I acquired my 1966 FJ45LV back in 2012.
- I found it located in Washington State, on Craigslist, and I was connected to it the minute I saw it in person.
- The gentleman who had it up for sale at the time accepted a "more than fair" price for the condition that it was in.
- The vehicle had sat pretty dormant in his yard for many years, but He had decided to put it up for sale because He wanted to see a better future than He was able to provide. Upon my first inspection I would have to say "She" was a little rusty in the floorboards so to speak, but by no means what I would call decrepit. -
This was the day when I first picked it up.
Pretty good starting point actually.
After trailering her home I got her into my shop, I replaced the battery, plugs, wires, drained the gas tank, ran all new fluids and she surprisingly started right up and ran really strong ; great compression, although high on the single barrel carb idle, sloppy tie rod/ball joints/ front end gear, with bad brakes etc. but all super simple easy fixes.
Parts wise she was pretty complete and all original. I was missing one door handle and for some reason one of the hood latch "holds" mounted on the fender side aprons, and there were plenty of scars from antennas, mirrors, ashtrays, cup holders, and even a leather gun holster that was mounted on the dash, but overall not too molested. It looked like someone had stripped the paint off at one point with solvents of some sort without removing the gaskets or plastic light lenses so the chemical drip damage means I'll be making silicone molds to remanufacture my taillights.
The floor boards had rotted out because of sitting outside for years with the front windows rolled down (in the Seattle area
) but I cut them out and fabricated replacement metal. The upholstery was all there, but tattered and torn. All Door hinges and latch mechanisms were fully functional. Glass was intact. She was Good Enough to be road worthy for me. So I ran her as a "Rough Rider" for the first few years. With the original F motor and 3 speed transmission she runs like a happy … tractor.
We went a lot of places together, but we never went fast !
However, time continues on, and as of last year, I excitingly can say that I decided to tear her down and embark on a complete frame off restoration. Unfortunately I have somehow managed to loose all of my initial teardown pictures so I'm kind of picking up the process and sharing with some time lapse missing in my recording. Oh well. Luckily I have found Ih8mud and all you LV nuts to help me piece my project back together again. Already I have bought door seals and gaskets from member "c2dfj45" as well as gleaned info from many restoration postings as your builds have progressed.
And so here I am now :
I pulled the motor and sent it to the machine shop - I pulled the body and have sent the frame to the powder coater - my large body panels have been sent out to be sand blasted. The ball is rolling … !!!
