Well - I finally bought a pig!

[codylabrador]

I have been fooling with FZJ 80s, FJ 40s and FJ 62s but I always wanted a pig. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and finally got it home. 1977 - mostly stock and supposed to be green and white. The seats have been redone and the floor pans are solid. The hood, fenders and body are full of rust (and old bondo). All the guages and switches work as well as the lights, radio, heaters, wipers, signals, etc.

It has been sitting up and needs the carburator rebuilt. Not sure if it is using any oil yet. Brakes, clutch, gears and transfer case all seem OK. I start with the carb and fluid changes this week. I stopped by Piggly Wiggly and picked up a "I'm Stickin With The Pig" bumper sticker and, for Christmas, my daughter gave me a stick-on hula girl for the dash board.

I'd like to get the body metal-worked and set it up as a combo DD and light trail pig. My work commute is only 1 1/2 mile so most of my driving is for pleasure.

A couple of initial questions (and I'm sure I will have more!) - have any of you found a good way to cut out and repair the rusted drip rails of these pigs? Also - anyone have experience with using the fiberglass replacement fenders from SOR? I'd rather have metal ones but the each of them, though straight, need a lot of metal work.

Any general suggestions on where to start working on it? (or warnings on what not to do)

Oh - I forgot, it also has a couple of door dings too!

 

[surfpig]

Welcome to what will certainly be a love/hate relationship!

 

[clemson55]

Randy good talking to you earlier tonight and welcome to the world of the piggy. I'll shoot you an email back soon. As for your rust you look better off then I did on your fenders and hood from the pics, so it might not be as bad as you think, although pics can be deceiving.

 

[fng55]

as for how-to, search in the 45 section last year someone did a great write up on restoring one with the best body work teck iv'e seen.
or contact cruiserguy on this board, he did a roof swap.
good luck, carl

 

[clemson55]

Oh yeah on the drip rail ? I cut mine off and when you do that you basically seperate the roof from the body, so if your going to do that you have to be careful b/c when you attach some sort of new rail or whatever you do you have to make sure that you are attaching to both the roof and body.

 

[nuclearlemon]

sweet!!

mine looked that sad when i tugged it home too..you'd be amazed what a two tone rattle can job will do to improve it's attitude.

 

[sven]

out of middle Tennessee right?

I think this is the same rig...guy was school teacher or something and had other pigs unless it changed hands since then...had some rings issue when I looked at it.....looks pretty good in the daylight....I need one.

 

[FJBen]

Welcome and have fun!!!

 

[porterda]

right up the road

I'm right up the road in Duluth. PM me for numbers and I'll be happy to help any way I can-- I'm in the end stages of my ordeal and have fallen into about every hole you can fall into. Welcome to the Disneyland called pig ownership.

 

[codylabrador]

Yes - middle Tennessee (Nashville area)

Yes - It came from Tennessee but the seller worked for a trucking company. I was not told about any rings issues but I should be doing a compression check on it this week - I hoped the poor running was a vaccuum leak or just a carb that set up to long.

I've never rebuilt a 2F but long, long ago I used to own several 1947-1953 Chevy 3100 pickups and worked on several stovebolt sixes. Perhaps the memories of what I did will come back to me (except with metric bolts)....

 

[sven]

just something to look into...

not trying to rain on your parade or anything, I really liked the pig and knew it had potential. good luck

 

[bonzai]

Congrats on foloowing through with one of your dreams
and welcome to the board

 

[Lucy_FJ55]

SWEEEET! Great-looking piggy and welcome to The Obsession.

(Another shamelessly posted pic of my 'other woman' )

 

[codylabrador]

Much bad news - very little good news

OK - the good news is that the idle solenoid was the carb problem - at least the pig will idle now.

The bad news is (Sven was right) the engine is bad. #3 cylinder is doing nothing and most all the smoke is oil. The rest of the drive train is OK.

I have a friend that rebuilt my son's Supra engine and did a good job. He told me he would rebuild the pig's engine if I pay for the parts and machine work. The SOR kit is $500.00 so, unless something is wrong with the crank I think I am looking at $1000 - $1500 for the rebuild and replacing the other seals while I am at it.

The birfields, brakes, bushings, etc would be about $1000 - $1200.

Radiator recore - $75 - $150.

Miscellaneous hoses, belts. filters - $200.

This totals to around $3000 so I'll have $6500 in the pig - Is it worth putting that kind of money in while still looking as bad as it does? I am trying to convince myself I can live with the rust and just consider it a trail pig.

So - I already have more in the pig than it is worth (but thats not unusual). On my estimates - I am open to any of you who tell me I am off base, crazy, etc.....or should I take a big loss now and try to find a better pig (and look at it first before buying it!)

 

[PabloCruise]

I would build the engine.

If you don't want to, contact me...

 

[RHINO]

fantastic cody, you know were here to help, enjoy.

 

[RHINO]

fantastic cody, you know were here to help, enjoy.


i would start with the D train, you can drive it while doing body work.

 

[poseidon]

Congrats on the new pig!

I hope you like it. I love mine.

Welcome to the money pit! If you are worried about getting more into your pig than it will ever sell for then you had better sell it now! They are like any classic car in that the the money you put into it will never be recovered at more than a fraction. You need to love the pig so much you just don't care. (something I cant get my GF to understand)

To answer one of your other questions I think someone was making replacement steal fenders for the 55s. I cant remember who it is right now.

PVcruiser sells the rear window rubber.

have you considered getting a running 2f out of another rig for the time being? That is what I am looking into doing right now. There are a lot of good ones out there that folks are pulling to put in SBCs.

Enjoy the pig!
E

 

[codylabrador]

Towing it to Winder, GA Tomorrow

Thanks for all the encouragement folks!

I am taking the pig to Winder, GA tomorrow and we will be pulling the engine in a week or so.

I'm committed to pull the engine down and take it to the rebuilder shop used by the GM mechanic family friend. We may also do the the clutch and water pump while the engine is out.

I'll report back in a few weeks - let you know what interesting things we find inside the 2F....

 

[cabron]

Looks like a pretty solid pig man, good find.