Mission Impossible......My 74 Build up by a Top Gun Land Cruiser builder :)

[apeterson]

So guess I should start this thread... I have been saying I was going to for a while... I am well on my way to starting to get this thing started but did not want to start my build thread until I was into this thing for a while... I have been taking pictures and keeping a journal of what I have been doing each time I work on my truck... so I will kind of recap that for you guys and bring you up to par...

I bought the 40 from Matt see his link if you have not seen his work it is great! http://forum.ih8mud.com/fj45-owners-club/104821-3-days-3300-miles-later.html

anyhow here are a few more pics of what it looked like when I bought it... I will get the rest of my stuff ready for you and start posting more stuff in the morning...

[wantatlc]

start by flipping the blue bezel

[JJS]

It looks better than what I started with, hence the new tub.

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

Good luck, I got a November 73 (74) what vintage is yours?

[camcruiser13]

good luck on this project and keep us posted, we all love pics

[apeterson]

Well have to admit my whole deal with buying this 40 was not to do a frame up… I guess I have wanted one as long as I can remember and I started looking for one about fall 2005. Anyhow all I really wanted was something to go trashing through the woods with.. Now I find myself here… so here is the story on how I got there…

When I bought this 40 Matt told me the PO (who I will refer to as the PO from now on, since Matt really only had this thing for a few days) had told him he had rebuilt the engine and could not get it to get oil to the head… Don’t have any idea why I though I could fix this, but I sure tried. With a few desperate calls to Poser to ask him questions, and a lot of trial and error, fixing the fuel lines, new fuel pump and taking the head off to see if the head gasket was on wrong. I think we came to the conclusion that I would have to tear down the whole engine to see if the cam bearing were put in incorrectly… We discovered that the block had no serial number which Poser said was because it was a replacement blocks from Toyota at one time… so I decided to pull the engine… (keep in mind before I bought this thing every tool I owned was a few hand tools and a cheap ratchet set, so this was about the last thing I wanted to do..) Any how here are a few pics of the engine pull

[apeterson]

I knew I really did not want to spend the money to rebuild that F engine even though when it did run it seemed to run well, had good compression, but found a cheap 2F engine in the area and bought it and the tranny so I have a spare should I need it. I just kind of fell into this or I would have probably just rebuild the F.

[apeterson]

I had rebuilt the carb and everything off the F I plan to rebuild the 2f and use some the the better parts off the F to make a engine (ie, carb, intake, headers) more on that later..


Here is some pics of the taking the top and roll bars off. Guess it came off like everyone else, PITA… lots of broken rusty bolts.

[apeterson]

at this point in was about the end of September, I hunt all fall and had trips planned for 9 days in ND for ducks and geese, 6 days SD for pheasants, couple weeks here in MN deer hunting, 4 days back in ND deer hunting, then finally to IA for 5 days pheasant hunting over thanksgiving… (I also had to work in-between all this so I was not able to work on the 40 much if at all for about 2 months) so I need to get this thing in doors because I know before I got back to this there would be snow on the ground… however I had to finish my shop I was going to move it to, it was a POS to say the least… I just moved to this house less than a year ago and here is what the shop looked like when I bough the place… took a long weekend!

[apeterson]

I forgot to take a pic of when I was done doing this so you will have to see when I get to the inside pics with the cruiser inside. it is small small small but I feel fortunate I have a heated dry place to work on this in the winter. It is crowded but you just have to be organized. Painted all the walls put in new lights and some insulation and a suspended ceiling.. Over all I was happy with the finished product. (thanks for the help dad!) ohh and a few girls on the wall!!

Ok got the 40 in side and started taking off the body.. I want to put an aluminum tub on and since the rear end was pretty shot as far as I was concerned and since Matt did not offer for me to leave it up there for him to fix :-), I started hacking away at it, the cowl is in really good shape so that is good.

[apeterson]

Took the Cowl off and all the wiring and everything else, you know the drill

[apeterson]

now just had to take apart everything else on the frame to get it ready for sandblasting….

[apeterson]

Had a hell of a time getting the old suspension off but with the help of you guys here I used the biggest BFT I could find and won or at least I felt like it.. I plan on getting all new suspension so I was not too concerned about it…. Here are a few pic of the axels before they went to blasting with everything else…

[apeterson]

ok well got a sand blaster lined up and borrowed a trailer (a little small but it worked, thanks furball!) had a buddy come over and help me lift everything into the trailer and truck… (man those axels are heavy) took the frame, axels, steering linkage, cowl, header and valve cover.

[apeterson]

well since I had that Frame out of my small shop I got the engine on the stand,

[apeterson]

did not stay there long…. I decided I really did not know enough about what I was doing, Guess I took the easy way out and brought the whole thing to the machine shop and said tear it apart and call me with the price to make it new again… (Just took off the obvious, fuel pump, water pump, intake and exhaust) still waiting for their call… got an estimate of $1000-$1500 is what he guessed…. We will see then I will make my decision on how much of the work I want to do… I don’t know there is a few problems that I saw when I took off the valve cover. (I posted previously on them, but here are the pics of the bent rods)

[apeterson]

I am embarrassed that this is as far as I investigated this problem seems to be against my “do it yourself” state of mind on this project, but this should help me keep on pace…

[apeterson]

On a non cruiser related topic did I mention in my “free time” when I am not at work, hunting or working on the 40 I am redoing the inside of my house… took the weekend off and redid my bed room and started the upstairs bathroom…. Here is a few pics of the bed room before and after… going to finish the bathroom this weekend or come really close…

[apeterson]

ok back to cruisers!!! Got the frame back on Dec 27th and when and bought some POR 15 got started on that, put two coats on the bottom of the frame, and 2 coats on everything else… had to wait for my dad to come up a day later to help me flip the frame then a day or so after that go the bottom all painted…

[apeterson]

a few more!

[apeterson]

guess that really brings me up to date on where I am at now… I put POR 15 on the bottom of my cowl, and so far I have not got any primer the rest of it… so here is my plan for the next few days… I am going to buy the Chassis Black made by POR 15 to top coat what I have done so far (anyone know if I have to scuff up the sections before I do that?) then I have to move my frame out doors and cover it for a few days so I can get that cowl at least primed… I have never painted/primed anything that did not come out of a spray can before… I bought a new gun and the primer (2 kinds) that they recommended at the paint store. Also have to install my exhaust fan before I can paint in there… ( my dad got me a big fan from industrial kitchen that he had to redo and they did not want it… It will work great for my application)

So here is my plan as far as the cowl please give me your opinions on what I am thinking… there is very little body work needed to get that cowl ready for paint, probably just a skim coat of mud here and there but mostly just a few coats of primer and a block/wet sanding. Well I was thinking about doing all that and having it painted (having a body shop do the actual paint) then I could install it, put all my wiring, breaks, clutch, and engine back in… I know this will take me lots of time…. But I think I will have some because as far as I can see now it may be a while before I can afford the Aluminum body…. So if I get all this done now, I should be able to drop the body on (in a sense) does anyone who has done this feel that the fit will not be close enough and it will be too difficult to blend the paint with the cowl if this took say 6-9 months to get done. I have body work to do on the whole hard top and sides and rear that will also take a long time for me.. (I am not a good body guy but guess I refuse to give up and going to make this one my best attempt to date.)

Please let me know…..

[apeterson]

Originally Posted by Colorado Boy-74-FJ40

Good luck, I got a November 73 (74) what vintage is yours?

it is a Nov 1974, guess you could say half 74 and half 75... seems to have lots of both in it... 4 speed, 1.5 F engine

[rjcruiser]

Nice work...looks like you bit off all you can chew

As far as the paint goes, a good paint shop should be able to match/blend the colors so that it is impossible to tell. I had a '91 Porsche 944 S2 Conv that I bought after it had been in a pretty decent front-end wreck. I took 8 months finding front-end parts of all different colors and then took it to a shop to have them do the body work/paint work. The car was white, which I don't know if it helped or hurt, but they painted the front of the car and blended the color throughout the doors and didn't touch the rear of the car. The only way you could tell that it was fresh paint was that it was a bit smoother on the hood than on the trunk lid.

Also, if you use the same paint shop, they might be able to hold a can of the same paint for when you bring the tub/top in. Either that or buy a couple of cans up-front when you have them do the cowl. I'd just have them paint the top and the tub at the same time so that they don't have to try and re-paint the two if they don't match.

Sooo.....after writing all of this, I think it can be done. It might cost you more in the long run, but if they do a proper job of blending the paint colors once the doors/top/tub are on, you'll never be able to tell a shade difference between the front fender and the rear tailgate.

Good luck to you and keep up the good work.