Whats in the box?

[trainbufftony]

My friend Brandi found this iron pig in the woods while at work. She asked her client about his ol iron pig, and he was surprised that she knew exactly what she was looking at. Heck, I didn't even realize that she had an eye for fine swine, but that's neither here nor there. It took me about a month before I got the dudes number, and another month before we could meet. I looked it over and decided to sleep on it. 3 things did it for me.


#1 nearly zero rust. It's got 2 tiny sections that need a patch, but everything else is very solid.
#2 the license plate frame from "Rex Mc Ferrin, Oro dam motors in Oroville.
I bought my fj55 in Oroville 22 years ago.
That license plate frame just brings the whole rig together man.
#3 the truck came with mystery boxes.
Owner bought the truck with totes inside, but in 17 years, has never dug out or opened the boxes. If I can look something over know what im getting and sleep on it I'll probably make a reasoned and logical decision.
This isn't like that. There's mystery boxes, and mystery boxes tickle me just so, and I become the proverbial fool, who can't be parted from his dollars fast enough.
Mystery boxes you say?
Haven't been opened in 17 years you say?
Hold my beer, I'm about to do something dumb.

Surprise! Someone stripped this landcruiser down and stashed all of the parts, plus some K5 blazer parts, and some other junk which isn't any more or less useful than scrap metal.
There's actually 2 landcruisers worth of parts stashed inside.
Estra doors, extra hood, new, straight, front clip.
2 sets of data plates, one for a 1971, the other doesn't show a year.
Overall I think I did ok for $1000.
The plan is to put the good body, back on a Toyota frame, and put it back into service as a landcruiser. There's plenty of parts here, between my stash and what came with this thing, I'll have no trouble putting something together.

how bad did I do?

 

[greenbeast]

You stole it!! And the hidden treasure likely hiding in the mystery boxes??

 

[trainbufftony]

Close ups of typical rust prone areas.

 

[riderjgs]

You’re on the right track. I owned 5 to make 1.

 

[trainbufftony]

Hoping to make 3 into 2.
I'll keep mine as original as possible for me to keep and enjoy.
The new one will get built into a safe, running, driving, stopping, machine, and then sold. I'm not going to go hog wild dressing it up, and run up a 5000 credit card balance. Rather, I'll use stuff, which me and my friends have to get there with as little money invested as possible. For example, I can work trade with my welder friend to patch the small rust holes, and there's another guy locally who has a complete engine for me....
Of course there will be stuff to buy, I'm just limiting myself to the basics, then letting her back out Into the wild so some new pig enthusiasts can hopefully catch the swine flu, finish her out how they like, and experience life from a 55.
Wish me luck.

 

[Ol Yeller]

Right on, big project but lots of promise!

 

[bobm]

You stole it!! And the hidden treasure likely hiding in the mystery boxes??

Ya you did

 

[bobm]

You stole it!! And the hidden treasure likely hiding in the mystery boxes??

Ya you did

 

[Pigeaten]

Great buy, now you $4000 left for budget

 

[trainbufftony]

Great buy, now you $4000 left for budget

Considering that I do nearly all of my own work, and I use mostly good used original parts whenever possible, $4000 can go a long way.

 

[xtremeVA]

Good luck on your project journey and please, post picture along the way. We love pictures.

Also, if there are items you need, don’t be afraid to post that here as well. The sty usually has some parts lurking in the garage that could help keep you in budget .

 

[trainbufftony]

Good luck on your project journey and please, post picture along the way. We love pictures.

Also, if there are items you need, don’t be afraid to post that here as well. The sty usually has some parts lurking in the garage that could help keep you in budget .

I'm going to need a few things.
I've got a heck of a stash of pig parts at this point, so the idea is to use what I've got. Certain parts like anything made of rubber will be replaced with new. Brake shoes will be new. I'm actually thinking I may list some stuff for sale also.
I got a bunch of vacuum shift t case parts which I won't use, but someone probably wants them... I know I'm going to need a fuel tank, the one in my parts truck is too rusty to want to save, but the dude who helped me drag the ol girl home, Devin, he welds, and he welds aluminum. He can probably make one in a few hours time!
Major parts wise, there's really not a lot I forsee needing.
This new truck has less rust in it than my green truck had when I bought it 22 years ago. The rust that it does have is on the surface and has only penetrated in a few minor localized spots.
I got a spare engine when I got my rusty parts pig but I've yet to go retrieve it.
Devin has a spare landcruiser engine, out of one of his 40s for me, and there's another f motor I could probably buy sitting in Ben's yard. A friend of mine has a running OM617 5 cylinder diesel which he offered me at a fair price. A motor shouldn't be a problem.
Unfortunately, I'm only digging through this crap because of a total lack of self control. What I really should be doing is putting the tuned port corvette motor into my sister's 77 El Camino. That's got to get done before this does.

 

[greenbeast]

If you’re not in big hurry, hopefully talking months, my 69 at body shop has well running 1f with 3/tree I’m going to take out.

 

[trainbufftony]

If you’re not in big hurry, hopefully talking months, my 69 at body shop has well running 1f with 3/tree I’m going to take out.

Oh that would be cool.
My new pig came with a uncut tranny hump. (That sounds dirty) and it would be pretty awesome to build it as 3 on the tree.
Do you have the column and linkage as well?

 

[greenbeast]

Oh that would be cool.
My new pig came with a uncut tranny hump. (That sounds dirty) and it would be pretty awesome to build it as 3 on the tree.
Do you have the column and linkage as well?

All of it is in place at body shop and functional. I drove it up on the trailer when I took it to body shop.

When I purchased it the two brothers reassured me I could drive it home but since it was in Oregon and I lived in Colorado I wasn’t that confident.

I drove it around town without any problem albeit about 55 on the highway.

Feel free to pm me, happy to discuss anytime!

 

[trainbufftony]

I've gotten to the bottom of all of the mystery boxes. Nothing spectacular. What we have here is a basket case which seems complete. It's got a lot of extra parts which have been robbed from other Fj55s. Extra hood, extra doors(×3) extra wiring harness. Extra turn signals for the green truck. I read a thread on basket cases, no actually I read a thread on patina preservation, and I went ahead and ordered a gallon of CLR and a gallon of Wool wax to try and clean up and preserve the beautiful body I just purchased. I'm going to treat and seal the rust and leave this truck as a "Patina" truck.
It's got a bullet hole in it after all... More of an indentation really, it didn't penetrate the steel... today I sorted hardware, and man I've got a lot of hardware...

 

[trainbufftony]

I bought a gallon of CLR for cleaning the old rig up, I used a bit on my sister's El-Camino and it worked well for engine bay grime, so I brought this fj55 tailgate to the front and scrubbed it up with scotch Brite pads and CLR.
It came out great. The rust requires some scrubbing to get rid of it, but it eventually gets knocked down to a dark colored non flakey surface, and the rust stains on the paint lift right out, with elbow grease...
I prefer working on clean vehicles.
It keeps your tools and work area cleaner, and mw less cancer prone. I've got my new landcruiser cleaned out of all the junk, the big crap is swept out, and the next step is to thoroughly wash the entire truck in CLR, scrub scrub, rinse scrub some more...
I want to get it spotless clean, down to paint or bare metal, then dry it out in the 112° chico sun, chase the damp out with a torch.
I also ordered a gallon of "Wool wax" which I've never used before, but I'm going to treat the light surface rust so that it doesn't spread before I build the thing out.
Not going to paint this one, going to preserve the original nice paint, and stop the rust. The rust is extremely minor.

Today I may try and clean up the fenders that came with it.

 

[DTC72]

This is awesome!!! And well mystery boxes would have done it for me too.

 

[RUSH55]

And the star of post #17…

Sweet Parker!

 

[trainbufftony]

And the star of post #17…

View attachment 3659628

View attachment 3659629
Sweet Parker!

That vise has taken quite a beating.
It's set there in 4, maybe 5 feet of concrete atop an old well casing.
I've had stuff clamped in it, while standing on my welding table (for the elevation) to swing a 12 lb sledge, at wheel bearings, stuck hubs, or any other stubborn parts.
I've also used it as a press with a cheater bar to press things back together.
Seems to take all the abuse I can dish out.