To Restore or Not? (1 Viewer)

[Reester]

Just purchased a new to me FJ45 troop. Spent some time reading about other builds here on IH8MUD and torn between whether i should strip it down to bare metal and restore everything back to original (time? money?), or just drive it till it falls apart (even with regular maintenance, everything goes, eventually - at least to rust)

At first glance, it looks great, but its an '81 model, so we are talking 36 years of use here. What items will need replacement, what items will simply need a clean? Should i drive it till something breaks.

I would like something to keep forever, so i am leaning towards a total strip and rebuild, with as many OEM parts as possible. I wonder if anyone has costed this out?

So many questions...

What would you do?

 

[tls3601]

Gorgeous rig! I would do all the mechanicals then drive for a bit and enjoy. Based upon appearance that is the rig looks excellent! I think most folks on here would agree. Mine is what one might call a frame on restoration-but I am fortunate being in Arizona, very, very little rust on her. Hope this helps or gives some insight BTW where is Coolum Beach?? Oh, and more pics please, we all love those.

 

[Cleg]

Drive it and work on one piece at a time.
Start by tackling each system, brakes, cooling, ignition, axles etc.

The reality is that if you try to restore it, you can still only work on one segment at a time.
The differences are that it will be in pieces, you won't be getting any use out of it and the value of it has been reduced to a parts truck.

For a restoration, be ready to throw $7,000 to $10,000 at it.
I spent $7,000 over 3 years on parts and materials doing all of the work myself so almost no $$ for labor.

Too many of these trucks get dismantled, never to go back together.
I can provide work lists and parts lists if you are interested but I strongly recommend THAT YOU DON'T TAKE IT APART.

 

[hj 60]

It looks very nice, I never take more then 2 wheels off because I am afraid for the "parked on blocks for years" trap.
Now I have driven 100k kilometers and we did many vacations, plenty of time to do a body off restoration now.
A lot of the base line work is done in between trips, maybe 3 weeks offtime to wait for missing parts.
It takes a lot of time to get to know the vehicle, I did the brake system in different years while if done all in one weekend that would save a lot of bleeding time.

I like to see the frame off builds on mud but time and money must be compensated with driving fun.

 

[Reester]

 

[tweek99]

Drive it until rocks are bouncing around the inside while you drive. Fix problems as they arise. If the rust monster shows up fix the spot. Once you just can't take it anymore do the resto. I'm In the middle of resurrecting my 40. I'll be done in a month but I started almost 2years ago

 

[2003lx470]

First how old are you? If your going to keep this for ever, consider as a long term investment ( like when you get married) before spending 1000s of dollars. If you going to rebuild then go all out. My advice is to drive it for few yrs and see if its worth it.

 

[Living in the Past]

I see your just north of Brisbane. What is the the average humidity there? If it's stays low enough that if you wash it and it will dry pretty quickly and you keep it out of the salt water could probably keep it a long time with plenty of washes and waxing. Then regular rinses on everything else. If you have high humidity with morning dew regularly the salt in the air will take it's toll. In that case I'll happily store for you in Arizona. I managed to keep my 68 FJ40 rust free for forty-four years.

 

[Disasterman]

Be thorough on the maintenance and drive the crap out of it.

 

[rrv333]

As stated above, I'd do the basics(fluid changes,etc..) then drive it like you stole it then fix issues as they arise, but that's me. I have a 76 on jack stands awaiting a transmission/transfer case, it's been like that for almost two months and I'm Jonesing like fat a kid staring at cake. Either way, great looking rig!

 

[cjgoode]

It maybe 36 years old but that does not mean everything on it is also 36 years old. That has either been restored or refreshed or extremely well maintained. I would drive it and maintain it. Do you know the history of it? Form the pics I would see no reason at all to strip that paint and restore it.