[antFJ]

oooookay so i guess I'll finally get around to making this thread.

My name is Anthony.. currently 21 years old and am a junior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in MASS as an Aerospace Engineer.. Also a cadet in Air Force ROTC.. hopefully find out whether or not I'm selected for a pilot slot in a couple of weeks..

okay now that you know who I am here is what I've got so far.

About 2 years ago I decided I wanted another truck.. something old and something easy to work on.. I had no idea really what I was even looking for - my roommate at the time told me about this Land Cruiser his uncle had.. (of course I thought he meant Land Rover) I had never even seen a cruiser before. after pouring over pictures on the internet and CCOT's website along with many others I decided that I wanted it. There lies the problem. I went to go look at this cruiser which was miles and miles away in Maine (on the coast).. and well I thought it looked good. my roommate told me it ran and that there was little rust.

HAHA that could not have been any further from the truth..

as far as cruisers go it came with a lot of goodies and nice parts.. so based on the price I didn't get too bad of a deal. What I should have done is just bought a whole other cruiser and used this one for parts... but.. what did I know.

in fact. most of this build is going to be me not knowing what i'm doing... awesome. but yea I've been lurking on mud since... fall of '06 and have checked this thread at least once a day.. read though a lot of the FAQ.. so i've increased my knowledge base quite a lot. not to mention tear down. i know what every freakin thing on this cruiser is now..

anyways here are some pics..

hmm i don't know how to just add the pictures.. it is making me attach them.. i guess i need them on a website to just add them?? i swear i don't go to a tech school..

[antFJ]

So that is the cruiser as it sat in my driveway after I towed it 6 hours or so down from Maine in a uHaul truck.. man a 17 foot box truck (was the smallest they had) and a trailer in worcester is wicked hard to navigate.. anyways.. from here i wanted to fix her up and drive it back to CT.. i put in a new brake MC, new clutch MC, new rear brake lines, and a DUI.. got the thing running.. and well too, i was quite surprised at how well it ran after what.. almost a year not running.. so i changed the fluids and took care of that stuff too. Now to take it around the block! o man that first ride in a cruiser was awesome.. no license plate... good times.. anyways one time around the block was enough for me - the thing drove exactly like everyone said it would... an tractor!

so i'm all ready to drive it home in the spring when... I find that the right rear spring hanger is about to break apart.. complete rotted awesome. well there goes that idea.

so i trailered back from worcester to CT and then it sat in my driveway until i could make its first home.

before i could get to work i had to go to Field Training at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota for a month. came back in july.. got PRK eye surgery so that I could get a waiver for pilot training.. laid in bed for a few days and then went to work building this...

[antFJ]

more..

[antFJ]

i probably have a ton of errors and it is hard to understand me so i'll go back and edit everything later.. just trying to get the point across for now..

this little project toook wayyyyyy to long. i leveled something like 40-50 cinder blocks... dug two feet down on 8 of them.. put the 4x4s down.. filled them all with cement while still making sure everything stayed level. Now i know that there is probably an easier way to build this thing than what i did but i was working by myself and i've never done anything like this before.. the first layer of plywood was 1/3' maybe.. don't remember.. either way, it was expensive and definately not strong enough. so i got a few sheets of 1/2' pressboard and put those down where the cruiser would be.. i'm not sure if you can see them in any of these pictures.

lastly i had holes cut into the plywood which led into the cinderblocks along the 4x4s and ran the poles for the tent into them. it was a tight fit but the text went over the whole structure nicely.. and i stapled it to the wood. I also put another tarp inside lining the roof to give it more support for the winter.

it did leak though.. and got worse.. so i just got another tarp and layed it over the top.. bone dry now.

[antFJ]

so back to the cruiser..

i started taking it apart in full force during fall break and then finished up the process during winter break. thank god it was warm in december and the beginning of january.. i was out there almost every day.

[FJ40 MNTCRZR]

Looks like alot of fun,, Welcome to MUD / SICKNESS ,,,

and official salute of course ..

shhh ... BEZEL ,,, BEZEL POLICE WILL GET YA..


CHEERS,

[antFJ]

back in worcester i decided to start on some smaller projects for the crusier... picked up some jump seats from JJS - they weren't in too bad of shape but there was quite a bit of rust starting to form.

thanks to coolerman's website i build myself one of these guys using a computer power supply and man did it work well.. the steel i used as the .. cathode? didn't last very long though and was eatin away very quickly.

[antFJ]

haha nice.. yea over 200 posts and thats my first salute!!

the bezel was one of the first things i noticed after reading this thread.. don't worry it will be painted white and put back on the RIGHT way.

[antFJ]

jump seats with a couple of coats of primer.. don't know what i'm going to use as the final black coat so they will sit like this until i get there..

[antFJ]

alright so back into CT for winter break and i started really ripping things apart... but actually. anything i wasn't keeping i showed no mercy. for the body though it was that hard.. most of the body mounts had rotted away.. including the ones on the cowl which sucks because the rest of it is in good shape. anyways got me a ryobi 4 1/2' angle grinder.. some cut off wheels and went to town.

before this though i had to disassemble all of the electrical and take everything off the cowl. as a one man job labling everything as i went and putting everything in little baggies... it took forever.

i was happy when i finally tore that rust off the frame.

[antFJ]

here you can see the seats.. i don't know how they are in such good condition... but they are. weird.

[antFJ]

so christmas came.. and i got a new compressor and some air tools... wow they make everything sooooo much easier.. my friend is seasonal landscaping so he was around and helped me out for a couple days.

[antFJ]

ahh finally some room to clean up all that rust... and finally started taking off the engine, transmission and transfer case with my next door neighbors engine hoist... man that thing is sweet.

o yea and check out that DUI.. doesn't quite look right at the moment..

[antFJ]

engine secured.. did that by myself. not fun.

[antFJ]

last thing i did before closin up shop until summer was cut up the frame so I could actually store everything in the tent... it's a little tight fitting everything.

[antFJ]

ahhh so my plans.

it is going to be DD.. and if it ever sees the dirt/mud i'll be surprised - so yea. we'll see.

Engine rebuild
Jim C carb rebuild for non-smog
New frame on the way - may get it powder coated
Ehsan's khaki soft top with amby doors and half soft doors
New steel cowl** - really hope I can find one of these
3/4 aluminum aqualu or 3/4 steel tub if Ehsan gets his shipment to immortal within the summer.
Dune Beige - it's original color
33x9.5 BFG All terrains on stock wheels
4'' HFS lift
armstrong steering

here are some pics of the frame i bought.. yea. its in oklahoma.. but the price i'll pay for shipping and the price i paid for the frame is still cheaper than what cruiser parts wants for one of their frames.. so o well. lets just hope it actually looks like it does in the pics - the guys at dentdepotsales really suck at getting back to me.

[1973Guppie]

that's cool, I like the little shop you built, why chop up the frame? are you going to find another good used one or ?

Noah

[antFJ]

annnd the soft top amby doors... i just got from bull

[antFJ]

noah, i know it's hard to tell from the pics but the entire rear end of the frame looked like sat in salt water for a couple days.

the front of the frame was in good shape but the rear was really bad. the PO welded on a bunch of think metal and boxed the frame, welded that tube bumber, and actually had the body welded to the frame in the rear - a lot of the original metal was rusted through and was only held together by the additions of the PO. the crossmember was also completely rotted out.. i broke it off the frame with a rubber mallet. the rear spring hangers were shot too. i thought about repairing it, but it was just too far gone for what i want out of this cruiser.

[antFJ]

so anyways.. that is all i've got for now.. until i get to tackle it again in the summer. I go back to field training as a cadet trainer from may 2nd to june 3rd (this time at Maxwell AFB in Alabama). so it'll be a while. I'm hoping to get the engine to a builder in the meantime though.

thanks for reading!

[bsmith123]

Nice job so far, here's a pic of my piggy, I have the body off now doing the frame. I built sawhorses and ran 4x4s under the body and with the legs on the saw horses at 36" I am able to push the frame back under the body when I am done.

I only have a suburban garage to work in.

A cadet eh? I showed a few cadets around the flight line in my day. I was in maintenance until I retired in 2001. I work as a civilian tech rep now. You'll probably spend some time visiting units and seeing how things are done if you haven't already.

I like the shelter although I have my FJ in the garage I am scared having my freshly painted harley in the workspace plus I need space for bikes and things.

I'm just renting cause I'll be moving in 2 years on after this assignment so I don't want spend a load on a shed but that looks like a good solution.

Best of luck with the AF career.

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

"AntFJ," quite the project you have going there! Looking good!

If you ever make it out to McCord AFB let me know - I'll have Bull buy you a beer!


Good luck with the FJ40, and your cadet training!

Regards,

Alan

[antFJ]

well so here it goes. I'm back from school and being a Cadet Training Assistant for Maxwell 1 Field Training in Alabama.. 36 days of fun - and now i'm home for a month and get to work on the cruiser again.

updates in life if you care.. i got a pilot slot so as long as i pass my medical exams thats what i'll be doing after i graduate, got elected president of the WPI Men's Glee Club (men's choir), and well i guess those are the only major things.. i'll be starting senior year at WPI in late august so hopefully i'll be able to get a lot of work done before then.

Cruiser Updates:
first off i got that frame.. or a frame from oklahoma.. i don't really feel like typing out what happend but you can read allll about it here http://forum.ih8mud.com/chit-chat-se...ce-needed.html

made it through that escapade only to end up buying a frame from rapovt here on MUD. and that wasn't all i got from him - he really hooked me up just like mud members always do. i got a clean body, clean front doors, tons of stuff that i didn't have, a cowl from a 79 with an intact wiring harness and goodies.. a 78 motor and carb, a pretty clean drivers fender, and a bunch of other stuff i can't remember.

and now.. some pictures..

[antFJ]

o yea.. got a pretty clean hard top too... needs a lot less work than the hard top that came with the first one i got. it also has this pretty cool half amby doors that i am going to try to get to work with my barn doors.. thats for the end of this project though since i have a top coming over with ehsan..

also you can see the frame is already painted with POR.. but honestly its chipping and rusting through in some spots.. and it has been sitting in a garage for a couple of years - so i think im going to sand blast it and get it powder coated - the previous owner before rapovt also had done some crappppy welds so i need to redue all of his welds on the shackle reversal.

[antFJ]

got a bunch of parts coming in the mail so i should be able to start working on some things..

• first is to get as much sandblasted as possible
• get the frame out to get powder coated, and the work from the ground up
• get the brakes and axles done first
• then get the suspension on the frame - it's a lift kit.. i think a safari or rough country.. either way it'll have to do for now - i'm trying to save money where i can
• clean up the engine and get it ready to be mounted - have a man-a-fre cermic coated header on the way
• clean up the transmission and transfercase
• get my carb rebuilt from jimC or mark..
• run the brake lines and get the drive line on the frame
• and then... i can't think that much into the future.. one step at a time..

[antFJ]

lastly... a video.. got the 78 engine running that i just got - it hadn't been run in a while. it ran a lot smoother than the 74ish engine i have using the same carburetor so i am going to use this one instead. put oil in the cylinders overnight, put on the 74 carb, a DUI distributor, ghetto wired the thing and it started right up.

this is the first time i got it running.

YouTube - FJ40 2F Motor

[Spud]

Sweet, just checking out this post now for the first time Ant...Looking good. A lot of progress!

Your cruiser is a month older than mine! Cool...Look forward to meeting you tonight at the car show.

[apeterson]

cool!!!! your shop is bigger than the one I started out in cant wait to see the rest of this project

[albee]

Good job keep up the good work.
My wife is one of the doc's at WPI health center. Let me know when you get bact to school, maybe we can hook up.
Cheers
Albee

[JJS]

Ant,

Looks good, man. Keep going at it.