1976 FJ40 Build Up/Resto Thread

[Nomis]

I bought this '76 about 8 months ago from an older gentleman in Sarasota. He had searched quite some time during vacation trips with his wife, throughout the east coast and mid-west regions before settling on this one. He had planned on a full restore but suffered a stroke and was unable to continue work on it. I promised him a ride once I finish it. It has 52K original miles - documented. The P/O had the 2F rebuilt prior to my purchasing it - even though it didn't need it. I almost would have preferred it not to have been touched but oh well. All mechanicals are sound.

My plans for it are this: I want to drive it when I'm finished with it - without being scared to scratch it - etc. That would be an utter waste IMHO - these vehicles were meant to be well travelled and I intend to do just that. That said, I'm not going to perform a frame-off at this point. I will replace any rusted metal with new, prime it and paint it - sounds simple, but the process will probably take me a while as I also have a full time job and am finishing up my degree. So bear with me as the updates may not be as prompt as I would like. Here goes nothing.


Here's what I started with:

[Nomis]

The only problem areas I noticed out of the gate were the rear sill and upper lips of the rear quarters where the hardtop rested. I'm guessing this was parked on an incline and water may have settled in that area over time. The bed itself is good. In the end it turned out this Cruiser had seen a body man in the past as evidenced by the metal patch panels I uncovered:

[Nomis]

I wasn't sure what was under the previous repair work - so I bit the bullet and decided to cut out all suspect metal and weld in new pieces. I planned to yank the entire sill and most of the rear quarter panel sections. I did some research and saw a layout for a brace to keep the alignment of the rear sections while work was being done. Knowing that I would be doing a fair amount of metal work I also picked up a HH140 MIG after witnessing the magic done with this same machine when wielded by Buckroseau. So far it has not let me down.

With the brace welded in place I proceeded to remove the rear sill and quarters. The sill fought me a bit but in the end you see who prevailed. The trick is to drill out the spot welds and then use a chisel or wedge to seperate the panels. Dewalt makes a "Pilot Point" set that works great. Don't waste your money on those high prices spot weld bits - these work like a champ. Essentially you drill a small pilot hole then follow it up with the pilot point bit - easy.

[Nomis]

Next up was the rear quarter rails. The driver's side rail lip had some rust through in a few spots, so I decided to cut it out and fab up a new piece. I'm using 16 guage cold rolled steel for all repairs unless otherwise noted. This is the same thickness as the original sheet metal. I don't have the luxury of owning an uber-fancy metal-fab shop, so all this is done by hand in my garage at this point. The first pic is the lip removed - cut out with a sawzall. Second is of the replacement lip in place. Still have more grinding to do at the time of the pic:

[Nomis]

Next up was to cut out some compromised sheet metal in the rear driver's side rail. There were a few small pencil eraser sized rust holes in each of the rear top rails.

Driver's side rail - section removed

[Nomis]

Driver's side top rail:
1) New metal in place ready for tacking.
2) Welded in and the welds ground down.
3) Repair is primed with self-etching primer. End repair could use a skim coat and then it would be perfect. I will probably do this before final paint.

[Nomis]

Pax side rail went under the knife next:

[Nomis]

Rear pax side rail:
1) Patch in place - ready to weld
2) Welded in
3 Primed

[Nomis]

Did some research and a lot of folks seemed partial to replacing the stock FJ40 starter with a newer gear reduction unit. I decided to see what all the noise was about and sourced one locally as my original starter would grind every once in a while. As luck would have it, I picked up a Toyota factory reconditioned starter for $75 - I felt good about that price and installed it. Following the install, I noticed that the engine spins up much faster and fires up almost immediately now. I am pleased with the updgrade:

[dunntexas]

Nice to see the work you have done so far. Keep after it. It looks like you and the mig are winning!

[Big Bore Lover]

Nomis it looks great so far. We defintely should get together as it looks like I have basically the same thing ahead of me with Ginny. If I can lend a hand just give me a call. I am happy to assist.

[Coolerman]

Excellent work! What did you use to cut out the rust in the top tub rail? Jig saw?

[apeterson]

very nice job... keep it up...

[Nomis]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I'm off until after Christmas, so hopefully I'll be able to get a bit more done over the next few days. I'll keep you posted.

[Nomis]

Originally Posted by Coolerman

Excellent work! What did you use to cut out the rust in the top tub rail? Jig saw?

Basically I plunge cut with the cutoff wheel on an angle grinder - then use a dremel to get in the tight corners. A jig saw would probably work just as well once the first hole was started.

[Fast Eddy]

Are you going to return it to my favorite color?

[Nomis]

Originally Posted by Fast Eddy

Are you going to return it to my favorite color?

You got it! 653 Olive is what it left the factory with - I will keep it this color as I'm partial too it. I'll probably stick with a single stage urethane as well - this is what I used under the gas tank when I replaced it and it turned out well:

[Fast Eddy]

Originally Posted by Nomis

I'll probably stick with a single stage urethane as well

Me too. Mine has the original paint on it, and I'm pretty resolved to patch it instead of repaint the whole thing, for this reason:

Originally Posted by Nomis

I want to drive it when I'm finished with it - without being scared to scratch it - etc. That would be an utter waste IMHO - these vehicles were meant to be well travelled and I intend to do just that.

I also like the rivet and spot weld dents and the factory orange peel look.

I'd really like to get a couple spray cans of this color.

You can see above the tail lights that I need metal patches. There are more on the bottom of the windshield frame, and the bottom of the bib.

The first picture in My '78 FJ40 thread below is the day I got my 40. It had the same wheels as yours.

[Nomis]

Originally Posted by Fast Eddy

It had the same wheels as yours.

I've got the one-piece steel rims in my garage. I'm not a big fan of the wagon wheels that were on there when I received it - I'll probably give them away once I get new tires. I like the factory steel wheel with hubcap look.

[Nomis]

Pax side top rail lip:
1) Cut out old lip
2) New lip welded in place and primed

[Nomis]

Anyone know of a good seam sealer? I need to pick some up at some point.

Edit: Looks like 3M has a brushable seam sealer. Should have it at NAPA.

[Nomis]

Got the hood back from the sandblaster - looks good with only a few spots towards the front that will need attention. My rear sill came in from CCOT just before the holiday weekend and I must say that I'm impressed with the quality, fit and finish so far. I will have more to report once I fit it and weld it in place. Here's a pic of the sill as delivered, both the inner structural piece (black) and the cap are 16 guage and have all of the OEM bolt holes for tire carrier, body mounts - as well as the indentation and captive nuts for the amby door striker. This is exactly what I was looking for.

[Nomis]

Had to replace a small portion of the rear deck along the edge that will join up under the rear sill:

[Nomis]

Got some more work done - pax side corner needed a new inner and out channel piece:

1) Old cut out
2) New inner
3) New corner channel

[Nomis]

Next up were the rear body mounts. I tore up the old ones upon removal for the most part. I flattened out an old mount to use as a template. The new mounts are 16 guage and are held in with a larger 12mm shank / 19mm head bolt. For the rubber - I used 1/4" reinforced truck bed material.

[paranoid56]

very nice mounts. i like the ways those came out. might have to use that idea on mine

Shane