1981 FJ40 Restoration (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Threads
280
Messages
5,219
Location
97707
Been working on this and not mine for the past 8 months.....

Some teaser pics.

standard.jpg

standard.jpg

standard.jpg

standard.jpg

standard.jpg

standard.jpg

standard.jpg

standard.jpg




Shane
 
Last edited:
Are you producing the upper radiator screen or was it something that you got aftermarket?
Looks excellent!
 
wow........look at all those shinny parts :)

but do I spy Warn hubs? no no no........must get OEM for that 81 ;)
 
wow so that's what it's supposed to look like. Your a freakin artist who works in LC!
 
Damn perfectionist! :grinpimp:




















Here's two for ya....................................:beer::beer:
 
That frame is sick.............so when you have the powder coating done to the seat rails, etc., do they just sandblast them and coat? Nothing in the mechanisms get gummed up or glued together? I've asked before Shane, but my ADD is more manageable these days. After seeing how much better the powder coating comes out over paint I'll probably redo my intake and seat parts, etc. What's it cost anyway?

Are those water temp units new and should you replace the old ones? What do they do anyway?
 
Wow....is that going in a museum? No way someone would dare take it on the street!
 
That frame is sick.............so when you have the powder coating done to the seat rails, etc., do they just sandblast them and coat? Nothing in the mechanisms get gummed up or glued together? I've asked before Shane, but my ADD is more manageable these days. After seeing how much better the powder coating comes out over paint I'll probably redo my intake and seat parts, etc. What's it cost anyway?

Are those water temp units new and should you replace the old ones? What do they do anyway?

I was going to say the same, where did you get that new frame? or what you did to it?
 
wow........look at all those shinny parts :)but do I spy Warn hubs? no no no........must get OEM for that 81 ;)
Warn hubs, vented rotors, ceramic brakes, OME suspension, ARB bumper, Warn winch, JDM Fogs from Mot, Warn hubs, BFG tires, Color change from white to beige, PIAA dash bulbs, LED external bulbs, braided lines, SS hard lines, Tuffy console with deck and XM, TLC speaker kick panels and so on..........The five colors if you will are body color, power coated matte black, yellow chromate, clear zinc and silver pewter. Nothing is untouched although I do go in steps so I dont forget where things go (engine bay). I think it will make a great driver.

That frame is sick.............so when you have the powder coating done to the seat rails, etc., do they just sandblast them and coat? Nothing in the mechanisms get gummed up or glued together? I've asked before Shane, but my ADD is more manageable these days. After seeing how much better the powder coating comes out over paint I'll probably redo my intake and seat parts, etc. What's it cost anyway?
Seat rails are done in a chem tank and lightly blown off with glass. Then powder once then slid back the other way and then powder the missed are.

[/quote] Are those water temp units new and should you replace the old ones? What do they do anyway?[/quote] I replace just about everything that could or would be serviceable, just Ins.

Wow....is that going in a museum? No way someone would dare take it on the street!
Owner had one in another life, lost it in a divorce, had to sell it and to a friend, friend will not sell if back after all these years. So I am building the replacement.

It will get all the heavy undercoating I can get under it, including fenders, running boards, tub and so on as it is going to Minnesota. After paint I am going to shoot all the flat surfaces with a color match liner like line-x or SEM as he wants it to last forever and be able to take his bird dogs hunting.

that is just sick.

Its so sick, I tore my rolling chassis apart to do over..

Thanks others for the kind words.

Shane
 
Last edited:
Restorations

You're doing amazingly detailed work and I appreciate that you're sharing your efforts with the board. While working on my own FJ40, I sometimes wonder how people can make any money restoring old vehicles. It's so time consuming taking everything apart, cleaning, blasting, repainting/coating and reassembling. I just don't think anyone would be willing to pay for all those hours and hours of work. Given the level of detail you've put into this restoration and the months of work, you would need to charge close to $100,000. I'm just curious, how do you go about estimating a job like that? Or, do your customers just understand that it takes a lot of time and money to do a high quality job and they're willing to pay whatever it takes?

Thanks again for sharing your progress it's truly inspirational. :cheers:
 
Last edited:
You're doing amazingly detailed work and I appreciate that you're sharing your efforts with the board. While working on my own FJ40, I sometimes wonder how people can make any money restoring old vehicles. It's so time consuming taking everything apart, cleaning, blasting, repainting/coating and reassembling. I just don't think anyone would be willing to pay for all those hours and hours of work. Given the level of detail you've put into this restoration and the months of work, you would need to charge close to $100,000. I'm just curious, how do you go about estimating a job like that? Or, do your customers just understand that it take a lot of time and money to do a high quality job and they're willing to pay whatever it takes?

Thanks again for sharing your progress it's truly inspirational. :cheers:

Good question, Well first off any rig is expensive to restore in a lever that I go to. This rig was a two owner rig that I have known about for a long time and was waiting to buy it. I referred the owner to TLC to buy a 79 that fit close to what he was looking for. But he wanted a 81 that was beige and backed out, so he contacted me again and we went over what he wanted and what I do in a resto (could have skipped alot) and came together in a price and the 81 I knew about. I went and bought the 81 and started in. Yes it is expensive and I go way over board and much deeper that most will ever go, but its just me.

All said and done, I may make a few bucks on this one, but I am sure it is around $1 hr and that no BS.

It did not need half of what I did for a driver, but I just don't paint and call them restore. Thats just repainted and any one can do that.

Shane
 
Good question, Well first off any rig is expensive to restore in a lever that I go to. This rig was a two owner rig that I have known about for a long time and was waiting to buy it. I referred the owner to TLC to buy a 79 that fit close to what he was looking for. But he wanted a 81 that was beige and backed out, so he contacted me again and we went over what he wanted and what I do in a resto (could have skipped alot) and came together in a price and the 81 I knew about. I went and bought the 81 and started in. Yes it is expensive and I go way over board and much deeper that most will ever go, but its just me.

All said and done, I may make a few bucks on this one, but I am sure it is around $1 hr and that no BS.

It did not need half of what I did for a driver, but I just don't paint and call them restore. Thats just repainted and any one can do that.

Shane
Given that level of detail and quality of work you should be getting at least $100 per hour.

A couple years ago a friend and I restored a '78 FJ40 as a fun project and to ultimately sell. After the first 200 plus hours we decided to stop keeping a record of our time. In the end, we estimated that we probably made about $15 per hour. That's not much knowing that minimum wage is around $10 per hour. But, we had fun and learned a lot in the process. We certainly couldn't make a living doing it full time.

I commend your passion and talent, and really enjoy seeing the results!
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom