[brisveganbj42]

Hi guys,

I thought I might post up progress of this build for your invaluable input and opinions.. I realise its not a FJ40 but it probably more appropriate here than in the diesel tech section.

Pre-amble:
Originally purchased a 03/1984 BJ42 nearly 3 years ago as an unfinished project. I have been driving this up until the new year. This vehicle has power steering, front disc brakes, air con, and heap of other bits (see my sig line).. after many trips to Fraser Island the rust is starting to take hold.

the rust slowly devouring my 40










I had contemplated teaching myself welding and thought about patching up the blue 40 but I figured it would be an expensive and potentially costly learning curve. There were a few areas on the chassis where I figured it needed repair.. so then I started looking for another suitable donor vehicle to either take parts from or swap parts onto.

One of my mates put me onto an ad of a 02/1984 BJ42 that was for sale which has had its 3b engine rebuilt (top and bottom ends) and was 95% complete. The PO of this had foolishly sold the A/C and the P/S to the wreckers for some quick cash. If I hadn't jumped in and bought it, then it would of surely ended up at the wreckers.





With the tub having a relatively fresh coat of paint and the chassis looking pretty straight and all the key areas relatively rust free I purchased it and drove it back to QLD from Vic (1600km's). I flew down to Melbourne, spent a day fixing it up with the help of the guys from 3rdrock4x4.com, and drove it back over the next two days.

Amazingly it made it to QLD with no issues and it was time to start swapping bits across. I was told that there were no seatbelts on the new purchase so in the process of removing my seatbelt, busted a bolt. This stopped me from using my 40 at all so I decided to start consolidating parts onto the new donor 40.





MY intentions with this new 40, dubbed "The Fridge" (cos its all white), in order are:
- transfer good bits from my blue 40 across to the white 40, these parts are: extractors and 2.5" exhaust, power steering, air con, recaro's, roll bar, front bar, pto winch, dash shelf, snorkle, doors, windscreen and front panels, windscreen surround, front and rear diffs, injectors and fuel filter housing



- get mod plates for seats and roll bar (we need to get a mod plate for a change in seating capacity here in QLD.au)
- register and get vehicle on the road

Once this stage has been reached, it will be torn down again to a state where I can adequately spray some rust convertor/rust protection and give teh chassis a coat of paint. At this point the body will get a respray in ford focus blue flame (the paint cost me a carton of beer! .

The intention is to get the vehicle painted and rust proofed so that it can provide many years of service into the future, not to end up as the blue one is now.

My timetable to get it back on the road and registered is aiming for the end of jan, start of feb this year and I believe it should be a reachable goal.

More updates to follow sooooon..

[FF LC FREAK]

Looking good! Keep us updated.

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

Cool! Keep us apraised of your progress with the project!

Regards,

Alan

[brisveganbj42]

well.. got the drivers seat all secured in.. and straight! the PO had some dodgy hilux seats in it which were positioned off center with the steering wheel.. wasnt such a big issue until you try to drive it 1600km's .. then you notice in your neck and left shoulder..

anyway.. also got the extractors and power steering on the fridge this weekend. the extractors took a bit of fiddling with one bolt not wanting to find the thread until i had removed all others and had a bit of a fiddle.. but after that was on and secure it was full steam ahead..

unfortunately no pics of progress yet..

I reckon next step might be replace radiator/shroud/fan/mech temp guage with with those from my 40..