ANTFJ 77 Build..

4x4 Station Wagon · 08-18-08, 06:42 PM

Take two nuts and put them both on and use two wrenches to tighten them together as tight as you can!! Not tighten them down ofcourse but tighten them together!! Then use the wrench on the bottom nut to try and unscrew them. Or visa versa to put them in??

antFJ · 08-19-08, 06:43 PM

well.. got some work done today... had to use my sister's camera since i left mine at my apartment - she has a fancy one that i couldn't figure out how to focus...

here is the difference between OEM (left) and NAPA (right) pinion seals... yea.

then here is the seal installed... wasn't as bad as i thought. to get the nut off i put a C-clamp on the flange and used that to get some leverage. afterwards i just tightened the nut back to where it was and indented it again so it wouldn't move.

antFJ · 08-19-08, 06:46 PM

then for an un-numbered amount of hours i grinded the axle clean - paint tomorrow

however first i need to weld on brake line hold down tabs.. the original ones were spot welded on so i drilled a hole in the tabs i made and tried to weld them on that way... but no matter what power setting i used I couldn't get the welds to 'stick' i would weld the in the whole on the tab and the tab would get red hot and then just fall off - i realize this is because the axle housing is so thick but how do you fix this? my dad recommended heating up the axle with a torch and then weld it together.. he used to build ships/subs at the groton sub base but he isn't a welder (he is usually right but i never know what to believe.. lol) ideas?

My wife said no FJ! · 08-19-08, 07:32 PM

Looking good!!! Soon you'll be

less the

=

Think I'll teach my daughter to weld

apeterson · 08-20-08, 07:51 AM

nice job.... you are well on your way!!

antFJ · 08-21-08, 06:11 PM

so i got more work done today... work on the rear axle is almost done - the paint came out awesome except i F'd up a little bit.. apparently it takes forever for this stuff to dry (unlike the primer) and I didn't really wait long enough for it to dry so it turned all scaly - I'll let it dry overnight and give it one more coat tomorrow... - should smooth it out a little bit - but it's an axle so I don't really care that much.

got the front springs (just found out they were the front)** wire wheeled and painted - they came out much better since I actually waited for the paint to dry before i gave them another coat.

**side note: I ground away some paint and underneath is said ROUGH COUNTRY - well now I know what kind of springs they are! so I called up rough country to find out which springs were which (front vs rear) and from what I've gathered I might have a 4'' lift and the rears will have a greater arch (distance from the spring pin to the imaginary line drawn between the two eyes) than the front springs.. for two of the springs i got 7.5'' and for the other two i got about 9'' so I'm guessing the 9'' arch springs are the rear... is this true?

and finished putting the new pinion seal in the front axle and welded on new soft brake line brackets for the front axle - I'm going to try to grind down the front axle and get some primer on it tomorrow.

antFJ · 08-21-08, 06:12 PM

and the springs.. I ran out of wire wheels so I'll need to get some more tomorrow..

apeterson · 08-22-08, 07:18 AM

greater arch does go in the rear... I have the same springs in mine

antFJ · 08-25-08, 12:58 PM

well it is pouring outside so I'm waiting for the storm to pass before I get some primer on my axle.. I might have to cover stuff and spray it in the tent.

thought I'd show some of my mess... it'll get cleaned someday...

rear axle reassembled.. and the front axle ready for paint.

black top coat comes tomorrow and then my frame should be back from the powder coater later this week... the only crappy part is school starts on thursday - but I might come back on the weekend to reassemble everything.

antFJ · 08-27-08, 05:37 PM

alright so another update along the same lines.. got the front axle and rear springs done.. then came out pretty good - actually waited for the paint to dry this time.

picking up my frame on Friday from the powder coater...

o and 4x4 thanks for the tip.. the studs went in really easily

antFJ · 08-27-08, 05:39 PM

last two.. i took a picture of my reman. calipers from CCOT - they're sooo nice.

antFJ · 10-21-08, 06:48 PM

well.. been a while since i've had an update but I've been at school.. anyways we have quarters so I'm home for a week on break.

i originally wanted to get the suspension bolted all up but I didn't have enough shackle bushings so i had to put an order in for those... but I think I'm glad I didn't put it all together yet since the powder coat didn't come out as well as i would have hoped... here are some pics.

I called the guy up at competitive edge coatings and he seemed very reasonable.. said that he would coat it again for free since there is no way rust should be coming through - i'm bringing it over tomorrow so we'll see how that goes....

antFJ · 10-21-08, 06:54 PM

started on the the engine..

got it cleaned (took forever) primed, painted with duplicolor engine paint.. I want to clear coat it with their stuff too but I'm not sure if I already missed my chance to shoot it with clear.. I don't understand the directions on the back of the cans..

anyone had experience with this paint? should I clear coat? I got a few runs on the side cover which i was thinking about wet sanding - but you can't really tell

then took the valve cover off and cleaned that along with the oil filter bracket and fuel pump.. i've got those primed up too and will be painting them tomorrow along with the intake and thermostat housing which were already cleaned and primed.

antFJ · 10-21-08, 06:56 PM

o one more thing.. are the intake/exhaust bolts special or can I replace them with something more shiny?

bsmith123 · 10-21-08, 07:20 PM

Moving right along ---looking good!

antFJ · 10-26-08, 05:51 PM

progress!! god this was a nice step..

take a look and see

they redid my powdercoat in a day! looks much thicker and they got in the cracks better.. even still i wiped it down and poured some 2 cycle engine oil in all the cracks so hopefully it will keep it from rusting in there... sure did make everything shiny too!

i hope the shackle angle gets better when i put some weight on there...

4x4 Station Wagon · 10-27-08, 07:41 PM

Wow been a while since i was on here you are moving right along!!!! I need to quite hunting and get back to FJ40ing before I fall way behind. I have killed my bull and now I am half way through buck season.

Keep it up it looks great!!!!!!!!!

tlc_4play · 10-28-08, 01:56 AM

Its looking good - nice work

MOTERRA · 10-28-08, 08:18 AM

nice work, i'll be watching this thread.

antFJ · 10-28-08, 11:18 AM

thanks guys! I'm back at school now but I'm hoping I can make it back a couple of weekends to maybe get the engine onto the frame.. otherwise it will have to wait until early december when i go back home again.

antFJ · 11-29-08, 04:26 PM

too damn excited - spent most of thanksgiving break cleaning/blasting/priming/painting engine parts.. then i wanted to get another major step forward (and get my frame back inside the tent!)

here is the engine on the frame!! yeah!! big thanks goes to my dad - couldn't have done it without him

(oh and one of my two 'trucks')

antFJ · 12-27-08, 11:22 PM

yay for winter break!! i've actually gotten some things done.. i'm hoping to have the body blasted and primed before I return from break but we'll see about that one since I got back up to school Jan 8th.

my cousins boyfriend hooked me up with this sweet heater so i was able to paint the rest of my engine parts today.. and got it all bolted up.

antFJ · 12-27-08, 11:23 PM

also got the rear disk brake kit from MAF installed.. should the wheels be a little hard to turn? they certainly don't spin as freely as they used to without calipers on..

for those buying the kit.. make sure you paint your calipers first - mine have been on there for only a day and have already gotten some surface rust showing.

i'm going to take them off later when i get my new wheels put on and get some paint on them.

1979fj40 · 12-28-08, 08:33 AM

very nice! looking great,

cruiserjunkie · 12-28-08, 10:19 AM

Project looking good my rear disks were tight at first too

LakeNorman_FJ40 · 12-28-08, 12:12 PM

Looks good. While I know you probably can't stand how long it's taking, when you are done it will be done for a long time since you are doing everything right. Good luck on rest of restoration.

cruiserdoc · 12-28-08, 12:35 PM

Looking great man, You are going to cherish this rig for many years to come and you will always be able to say that you built it. Keep up the good work and concentrate on good grades because that will get you the fat cash that you can dump into all the cruiser goodies you want now and in 10 years

mcwinery · 12-28-08, 01:06 PM

nice job. I am about 2 months behind you on my restore. I guess I will start a thread in a couple of weeks. I want to have my engine done before I start it up.

apeterson · 12-29-08, 07:44 AM

looks good!

antFJ · 01-06-09, 12:29 PM

took me 4 days.. two cleaning, 1 priming, 1 painting and here are the results... also got my flywheel resurfaced so I'm ready to install the thing

my only question is.. i haven't installed my oil pan yet because i well.. screwed up during my first attempt

and now i need a new gasket. BUT will it be any harder if i install the transmission or transfer case first? i only ask because I haven't gotten my new gasket in yet and would love to get something bolted up.

also included a before picture to show how dirty it was..