The Resurection of 'The Beast'

[Southeast Overland]

I got about three hours in last night and I just got about three hours in this afternoon and hope to get a couple more in later tonight. The requests a date so I have to keep her happy.

Both door sills on my rear doors have been cut out towards the rear due to rust. I was able to booty fab up with some 16 gauge sheet a replacement for the passenger rear. I have been looking for a donor but haven't come across anything so far. I didn't worry about exactly matching the stock curves. My main goal was to be able to close up a huge hole in the sill that was a great spot to gather mud and let rust start again. See pic 1. I have one last piece cut to close up the wheel well. The underside is primed and ready for paint but I ran out of time. If I finish up my rear sill tonight then I will weld this piece on.

Primed the factory skid. I ran out of primer so had to use two different colors. Pic 2.

I ran all over town yesterday afternoon trying to find some 2x2x1/8 inch square tube. I needed a five foot piece for the rear sill. My usual source was closed for some reason. I ran to about a half dozen other places before I finally got one on the phone that had what I needed. I told the man I was on my way and would be there in ten minutes. He said "no luck - we closed at 4:30." It was exactly 4:30 on my watch. Fortunately a friend had a spare piece "out back." Game on. Pic 3 shows the rear sill welded to the body mounts.

 

[Southeast Overland]

Pic 4 is a close up of the body mount welded to the sill. This should be beefy enough - at least it is better than what I had before.

Pic 5 is the sill bolted into place and ready for welding.

Pic 6 is a few spot welds thrown onto the sill to hold it into place.

No more pics or progress because according to the I smell like death and must shower before dinner.

 

[cruiserbrett]

the u-joints for the steering intermediate shaft are u-joints from a 70 corolla 1200cc rear driveshaft IIRC. I just ordered some for my 2 piggies. they're only about $13 each from kragen, whereas toyota wants like $38/each. Needless to say, I am not that much of a purist...

I think the part number was GMB 2200011

 

[PabloCruise]

I only got about an hour in last evening but I was able to make some progress - and take some pics.

The play in my front steering is coming from two main places - what Haynes calls my 'Intermediate Shaft.' (See pic 1 and 2.) Most of the play is at the joint near the fire wall with less play but still some at the second joint from the fire wall. Will new bearings fix this? I'm going to try and find bearings online (for a part #) or a rebuild kit.

There was also some play at both ends of my OME steering dampner. What is up with tightening the ends on these things? The driver's end was LOOOOOSE. A couple turns of a nut tightened things up a bit but then the nut just spun without getting any tighter. Is this supposed to happen? Now when I tried to tighten the passenger's end (see Pic 3) the nut and the underside of the pivot point both spun without anything getting any tigher...what's the deal?

More to come...

Those u-joints are the same as 60 series steering column u-joints.

Interestingly enough, I believ they are the same p/n as 1rst gen Corolla 1200cc driveshaft u-joints!

 

[Southeast Overland]

Thanks PableCruise and cruiserbrett - I'll order those next week.

I got about another two hours in this evening. I finished welding the top of the sill (existing body to 2x2). I'm having a problem welding the bottom of the old sill to the bottom of the 2x2. I just can not get access. Everything seems pretty solid so I think I might try to cut the bottom part of the sill out since it won't do anything if its not welded. Does anyone know what others have done who have replaced their rear sill in this manner?

 

[Kaderabek]

I ran all over town yesterday afternoon trying to find some 2x2x1/8 inch square tube.

That took what, like 5 minutes...?

TJK

 

[Southeast Overland]

Finished painting the skid plate and did some more welding on the bottom of the rear sill - that is a PITA. I won't be able to weld the entire bottom b/c I don't have access due to the frame being in the way. Its going to be a busy week at work so I'm just hoping to get everything welded up, and ground down by the end of the week. Closing up the rear quarters will have to wait as I will be off to pick up a donor 2F a few hours away next weekend.

 

[Southeast Overland]

Picked up some donor parts this weekend - basically a half cut of sorts from a 1983 FJ60 that had been parted out. This 2f will be pulled, all smog equipment yanked, and then dropped into my Piggie which you see waiting patiently in the background.

 

[n2666s]

hey Steve; it looks like you have a productive week.....nice score with the motor; do you have any compression numbers?

Lou

 

[Southeast Overland]

no compression numbers - seemed to run well - its all I got so I hope it works

 

[Southeast Overland]

Here are a few pics of my trip to pick up the donor parts...

Pic 1) loading 'em up
Pic 2) shot of the FJC and the trailer w/ parts
Pic 3) I found some other Cruisers during my travels!

 

[Southeast Overland]

I'm trying to collect some spare trail parts. I have a set of rear axles from a 40 (year unknown but I could maybe find out) plus a set of rear axles from a 1983 FJ60. Will either of these fit my 1976 Pig?

 

[inkpot]

Howdy! Depending on year, the 40 series may fit. The 60 series are about 3 inches wider, which moves the leaf spring position outboard by 1.5 inches on each side. They would be a nice upgrade. John

 

[Southeast Overland]

I meant to say "rear axle shafts." I have enough projects at this point on the Piggie before I start doing optional stuff like switching complete axles out. I'm trying to put together a trail spares kit (d-shafts front and rear, axles front and rear, birfs, etc) and was hoping at least the 40 axle shafts I have right now would fit....

 

[nuclearlemon]

I meant to say "rear axle shafts." I have enough projects at this point on the Piggie before I start doing optional stuff like switching complete axles out. I'm trying to put together a trail spares kit (d-shafts front and rear, axles front and rear, birfs, etc) and was hoping at least the 40 axle shafts I have right now would fit....

yep, 40 shafts will fit as long as they're fine spline (i.e. not early -mid 1960's shafts)

 

[Southeast Overland]

yep, 40 shafts will fit as long as they're fine spline (i.e. not early -mid 1960's shafts)

Gotcha - thanks - so now I have a set of spare rear axle shafts...just need to round up a few more trail spares... does anyone have front/rear dshafts, birfs or a front dshaft they want to get rid of?

 

[Trollhole]

Gotcha - thanks - so now I have a set of spare rear axle shafts...just need to round up a few more trail spares... does anyone have front/rear dshafts, birfs or a front dshaft they want to get rid of?

yes..

 

[Southeast Overland]

yes..

what cha want for 'em?

 

[Southeast Overland]

Got a little over an hour in this afternoon when I was chased inside from yard work by a couple of thundershowers. I was able to close up the rear passenger wheel well - specifically the area behind the patch in the first pic in post # 721. This was a pain and required a BFH to make things fit...

Not much else to post. I've been stripping down the half cut I bought recently so I can drop in the donor 2F.

 

[Southeast Overland]

I spent some time this weekend stripping down the donor 2F. I talked to Trollhole this weekend after I helped pull his 2F and was waffling (or some call it 'flip-flopping' ) on if I should install the donor 2F with my desmoged equipment, fix my current 2F the reinstall, or if I should just fix my current 2F and sell the donor 2F. So, under direction of the great Troll I ran some compression numbers on the donor 2F.

1 - 155
2 - 145
3 - 152
4 - 146
5 - 150
6 - 148

On the donor 2F (comp #'s above) mileage is unknown. I still need to run compression numbers on my original 2F.

I was told to make sure the carb was fully open. I had not removed the carb but I think it was open. Take a look below at a pic of how my carb sat when I ran my compression test. Is this 'open?'