1988 FRP - rebuild? or sell?

[thedoctor]

Hello everyone

we have owned a 1988 FJ 73 for 6 years and had many great adventures with it. I won't say it has been a flawless journey but it has been a good car. we recently drove from Melbourne to the gold coast and camped all along the eastern beaches of NSW. When we arrived in Queensland it was great for a few weeks then didn't start. We replaced the condenser, coil, leads and points. it needs the timing reset - however now the engine is ceasing up.

what now?

either we put a pile of money into it and rebuild the motor?

or we sell the body/rest for parts?

it is a lovely truck, and we would be devastated to see it go the scrap yard, but not prepared to spend thousands getting it running again

 

[Paddler Ed]

Don't tempt me... I'm supposed to be finding a "cheap" 2nd car...


In what way is it ceasing to work?

Get a timing gun from Supercheap or similar, and reset the timing (I suspect the info will be in the owners manual) and see how it goes from there.

Otherwise, please let me know what you're going to do with it... I'm 500km south of Brisbane, but might be interested in it for the right money....

 

[grantw]

When you say seizing (ceasing?) up ... what do you mean? Resetting the timing won't help a seized engine!

I'd get it a compression test if it cranks over ok still and then go from there. I noticed that you didn't mention anything about spark plugs in the list either.

 

[Ben]

Personally I would replace the engine with a Toyota diesel one, rather than rebuilding the petrol one!

Did you get the car back to Melbourne?

If you do decide to sell it with the blown engine I'd be very interested as my 70 has a rough body but great engine!