September POTM - Cruiser Guy, Guatemala

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hks3sgte said:
LA Traffic is perfect for Land Cruisers...

Potholes, idling along for hours, and of course the stares from "modern" car drivers!
:beer:
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Sounds alot like Central America! At least the potholes and idling part! Here's some more poser shots from this weekend. It wasn't an "off road" trip but it was down in the jungles of Chiapas, MX and the highlands of Guatemala.

The first picture is on the road from the coast near Tapachula to Motozintla up in the mountains of Chiapas, the second is re-entering Guatemala at the La Mesilla crossing and the third is in the hotel parking "garage" in Huehuetenango, Guatemala!

We saw someone from California with a dark green? '80 series leaving the La Mesilla crossing just as we were driving up. I saw them just as they were passing by.

Next up is swapping out the leaky oil pan with a rust free one from down here. Then I'll get the crank pulley changed out so I can get the A/C hooked up.

I'm still looking for '55 PTO parts!
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Great looking pig!!

Awesome pig! Are you happy with the lift?-ride quality, handling? I'm thinking of putting the same setup on my pig. Did you do any steering mods when you installed the lift
 
battle said:
Awesome pig! Are you happy with the lift?-ride quality, handling? I'm thinking of putting the same setup on my pig. Did you do any steering mods when you installed the lift
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I'm quite happy with the ride quality and handling. In the course of the lift I installed some 4 degree correction shims (first they were wrong and the handling was terrible but once corrected it was fine. I also changed out the center arm bearing as there was significant movement there. I think I still may have some slop in the steering box that needs to be fixed. It's either that or the tie rod ends are getting bad. The rough roads here accentuate any slop in the steering.

n2666s said:
Charles, have run across an fj55 carcass with a decent roof; read in your POM thread about the roof transplant but am unsure where to make the cuts........can you please share your knowledge again?

Lou
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Lou, I thought it best to answer your message here since it may benefit others as well.

The third post in the thread should give you a good idea of where I made the cuts. It is by no means the only way to do it though so don't think it HAS to be that way. Basically I was looking for places where I could drill out the spot welds and then slide the now roof back on as near as original as possible while maintaining as much structural strength at the same time. I took the entire front window frame including the hood hinge area and the complete "B" pillar with the new roof and then the "C" and "D" pillars with the lower part of the body. There is three distinct layers in the "D" pillar and I found it easiest to access by removing a section from the upper inside of the "D" pillar. This also allowed me to reweld that third layer as well once it was cut. In addition to all this I removed the roof supports from the old roof and added them to the new roof to get a stronger overall roof structure. I now have four roof "beams" instead of two.



I got my oil pan switched out but it seems that the oil pan from the wrecker isn't dead flat at the plug and I have a leak to fix there. Upon closer inspection it looks like the engine that the oil pan came from may have either sat on the oil pan plug or have been dropped on the oil pan plug. Has anyone tried straightening it out with a pipe welded to an old oil pan plug? I am using a plug gasket but that is not stemming the dripping. I don't want to have to use silicone all the time.
 
n2666s said:
Charles, thank you again for your reply.........just have difficulty in my inexperienced eye picturing where to make the cuts; you took the entire windshield frame when you took the roof; then you drilled out the spot welds correct?.....where are the spot welds you mentioned..........am very inexperienced and this will be a first for me;

Lou
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The spot welds follow approximately along the dashed red line in the first picture. There are also some along the side behind the fender and of course at the door pillar as well that you cannot see with the fender on. Sorry, I'm not taking the fender off but it should be obvious when you look at it!!

The second picture shows this weekends mod. I installed a rear tow hook from a '60 series so that I can pull folks out of the ditch or pull my wife out if she ends up there with the pig!!

The oil pan had to come off again and it will go in to be straightened out at the plug location. They'll either braze a little on it or weld a little and then plane it smooth and flat. Expensive at home but cheap here!

I've also got to get the new crank pulley cleaned up at the seal surface so I can get the A/C going. The crank pulley I have will not accept the A/C pulley. They'll probably sleeve it and clean it up or they may weld around it and turn it down.
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n2666s said:
Charles was just looking them over:cheers:............on the "A" pillars, did you make the cut at the door sill area? and on the "D" pillar am lost about the roof supports..........thought it was all sheetmetal:o can you tell me more about the roof supports and where are they?

Lou
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Lou, this is just the way that I did it and it isn't necessarily right or wrong. Let's call the cut pictured in post #45 Cut "A", it goes across the firewall and horizontally behind the fender and to the front door pillars (that's the pillar the front door hinges bolt to). You'll see where the joint is on the door pillar, it's quite obvious when the fender is off.

Cut "B" is right at the door sill/rocker. Take measurements on where that pillar is exactly so that the doors will still fit once it's all welded back together. I would suggest a measurement from the front door pillar "A" to the rear door pillar "B" and from the rear door stricker plate location to pillar "B".

Cut "C" is directly below the rain gutter. There is a sheet metal plate on the inside that is hidden by the headliner that you'll want to keep with the lower part. There is another plate that goes up between the rain gutter and the perimeter roof support that you'll need to cut.

Cut "D" is also directly below the rain gutter. If you look closely you'll see a lip below the rain gutter that stays with the lower section. Look closely at the roof picture and you can see where we've taken off a plate on the inside in order to access the third layer of sheet metal that is touching neither the outer or the inner layer. That plate extends about 4" below the roof on the inside. You will see where those spot welds are on your truck. On mine they have been filled over since my rewelding is not as neat and tidy as the original factory welding. Behind that plate is the location of the factory spot welds for that inner section.

When I rewelded the roof I put a cinch strap over the truck at all four points to pull the roof down tight so that the new joints would not be open and that the welding would be good.

You can see the two original roof beams on the roof picture, one directly behind the "B" pillar (Cut "B") with the dome light mount and one at about the "C" pillar location. I removed those from the old roof and installed the one with the dome light mount between the "C" pillar and the rear and I think I put the second one between the original two. I also ran a wire to the rear most beam from the dome light so I could install a second dome light for the cargo area if I want to.
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:cheers:Charles..........thank you again for all the valuble pointers.........in my naivety was thinking all I had to do was to get my sawzall and cut about midway between the pillars...............thus screwing up the rebuild; I owe you again bigtime:beer:;

Lou
 
n2666s said:
...in my naivety was thinking all I had to do was to get my sawzall and cut about midway between the pillars...............thus screwing up the rebuild
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That's exactly how I imagined chopping off my pig's roof. Hee, hee.

Cruiser_guy- Your method sounds a bit smarter.
 
Hey charles, My new nieghbor here in kamloops has a pig he daily drives. Sources tell me he has another in the garage.:bounce:

I may be cool like you and gut my wagon for a diesel powered pig!! Although mine will be spring over;p

glad to see the pics of the build, good job

Dan
 
The latest "mod" was tinting the windows. It's sorta wrong for a pig I know but here it's as much for security as it is for anything else. If they can't see what's inside they are not as likely to steal it!

Here's a poser shot with the tinting at the Guatemalan/Honduran border post known as "El Florido".

Also a shot of a scarlet macaw in flight in the Copan Ruins in Honduras.
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That is one nice Pig! I like all your poser shots :D
 
Nice Pig! I happened upon your thread when i did a search for Guatemala. My in -laws live in Guatemala City on the road to El Salvador KM 16. I am interested in finding a FJ45 SWB w/Diesel and bringing it back to So. California where we live. Can you give me any suggestions as to where to find one in decent condition in this area? Actually i am here now until tomorrow on the 29th and heading back to California. any suggestions would be appreciated
Thanks
Jerry
 
Jerry,
The SWB pickups were never produced with a diesel. I have never seen a SWB pickup in Central America and I imagine that they are very rare. Did you mean LWB? Those are much more common in Central America and came in diesel.

I have never seen a 45 pickup in Guat city. I am sure they exist but are usually found up in the highlands still working. Good Luck with your search.
 
Some more work on the piggy.

I got some rust free licence plate light housings on my recent trip north. All piggy owners should check the drain holes for these lights. Mine were on reversed so the drain holes were up and not draining. I had them 1/2 full of water some times!! The red arrow in the first photo shows the drain hole and it SHOULD be on the bottom.

I also got the dash cap from SOR and installed that today as well as some decent sun visors that hopefully won't drop down at each bump in the road. The cardboard is to keep the cap in place until the silicone sets up.
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cruiser_guy said:
Some more work on the piggy.

I got some rust free licence plate light housings on my recent trip north. All piggy owners should check the drain holes for these lights. Mine were on reversed so the drain holes were up and not draining. I had them 1/2 full of water some times!!

I also got the dash cap from SOR and installed that today as well as some decent sun visors that hopefully won't drop down at each bump in the road. The cardboard is to keep the cap in place until the silicone sets up.
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How do you like the stock A/C?
 
Trollhole said:
How do you like the stock A/C?
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I haven't got it all hooked up yet. The 3B A/C parts (compressor mount, idler and crank pulley) are tough to find but I have them all now so it will be getting done in the next few months. It'll have a new/rebuilt compressor and I'll have it run on R134a so it is compatible with everyone else.
 
Really like this truck, some what along the line of what I would like to build.

Rob
 
I 've been having a bit of trouble shifting into second and my wife has reported occasional problems with first as well. I pulled the tranny and tore it down this past week and there was a spacer that I forgot way back when I did it the first time (it was a mess when we got it then so missing a part isn't that bad). I went looking earlier this week for the parts needed and every part I was offered was worse than what I already had until someone had a complete "B" series tranny. I was actually offered several of them but only one had the right output shaft. Being that this is Guatemala and the 4 speeds are all the H41 low range transmission that is what I found for about $120 or so complete. I needed only an output shaft but according to opinions on my post in the 40/55 forum it seems that the H41 is a better fit with the 33's and the 3.7 axle ratios.

Now the '55 will get the H41 low range non-USA transmission. Watch for photos as we reassemble the tranny and transfer.

The missing part was the spacer between the rear tranny bearing and the transfer gears.
 
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