'77 FJ40 buildup in Charlotte (finally)

[Cirbo]

Got the cage, bezel, hood brackets, and fuel filler guard back from powder coating. Well, it's not white, but I like it.

[NCcruiser1970]

Beautiful cruiser! I would hate to get the bill.

[FJ40 MNTCRZR]

Very nice work, i own a 77 also, when mine grows up i hope to make it as nice as this ...

[boombapslappy]

Very nice, Jim! Mind if I stop by later this week and snap a couple of pics for reference? And, perhaps, pick your brain about metal fab?

[Cirbo]

Hi Josh,

Check your PM's

jC

[MTPCRUISER]

Who did your powder coating? I've been looking for a good powder coater in the Carolinas.

[Cirbo]

Drake coatings in Monroe, NC. Tom is a great guy.

Blast and coat the cage, bezel, hood catches and fuel filler neck guard for $150. All parts were coated with silver, then recoated with clear.

[John Smith]

Originally Posted by Cirbo

Drake coatings in Monroe, NC. Tom is a great guy.

Blast and coat the cage, bezel, hood catches and fuel filler neck guard for $150. All parts were coated with silver, then recoated with clear.

Is that a buddy price or is that what it would cost for a walk in customer?

[Cirbo]

Originally Posted by John Smith

Is that a buddy price or is that what it would cost for a walk in customer?

Walk in price. I've known Tom for some time, but I don't think he cuts me any breaks.

[LakeNorman_FJ40]

Looks good Jim...the silver cage and bezel ties in well with the wheels and the rest of the silver on the truck. For the grille mesh, I also had mine blasted and powder coated back to satin black.

[DomSmith]

Found a different intake for the Ram Jet from TLC in Van Nuys instead of the front mounted Air Cleaner. I'll send you some pics once I install it and give it a try.

[Cirbo]

excellent Dom. Interested in seeing what you learn.

[burnttoastburgos]

very nice clean work.........what radiator did you go with, is it up to standards and pics if avail. thanks

[Cirbo]

The radiator we're using is from Ron Davis Racing. It should do fine (however is still yet untested).

We hauled the pig down to have an exhaust bent yesterday. We asked that it come in two pieces, and have an exhaust bung welded in for the O2 sensor. We came back to pick it up, only to find a 1 piece, welded exhaust with no bung-hole!! My list of vendors/shops to stay away from grows by one more.

After filling all the gear oil, we found that our Toybox leaked. It's nice to know that everything (except the welded exhaust) comes off as easily as it went on. After pulling the toybox/transfer back off the transmission, it was found (suspected) that the leak was coming from the two bottom bolts on the toybox. We'll confirm this when we refill everything today.

When we referenced the ramjet instructions for O2 sensor placement, it recommended that we place it as close as possible to the cylinders, as it needs the hottest air possible to get good readings. Our initial thoughts were to place it at the "Y" pipe to sample both banks, but the instructions led us to this conclusion instead.

[Cirbo]

toybox-ectomy

[77cruiser]

nice to see Greg hard at work on his own truck!!

looking good.
See you next weekend...

[Cirbo]

Yeah, it was nice to have help with the exhaust and toyboxectomy. The leak was coming from the lower mounting bolts. A dab of thread sealer did the trick.

[77FJDream]

Just found your thread and I love it, great work!

[Cirbo]

Some of the hardware for the remote shifter installation for the transfer case and Toybox.

[jackbrad]

Your shifter boots look cool. Did you do something to them?

[Cirbo]

Bought the ones from JB Fab. Purchased both so that they would match, as they have a very dull finish compared to the one that comes from AA. If you look close, you can see that I adopted your removable shifter design. (thanks again for the pictures)

jC

[Bennett]

Not sure if you mentioned the color earlier in your post's... what color is that green? ..

[Cirbo]

PPG British Racing Green. There were actually two different numbers on file, so we decided to use the older number.

[Cirbo]

Made a few attempts at fabbing up a remote shifter mounting bracket for the toybox and AA twinsticks. When I finally got something together, it was found that the toybox wouldn't shift...WTF???

[Cirbo]

Played phone tag with Dave at Marlin trying to get some phone support, all the while moving the shift fork back and fourth to loosen things up.

While I was waiting for a call back, I realized that the shift fork wasn't moving the required distance to go from Hi to Neutral to Low.

WTFx2!

Finally got Marlin on the phone. After a 15 second description of my problem, he asked "did you clearance the Transfer case?"



Betcha can't guess what's next?

[Cirbo]

Yup, pulled the transfer and toybox out again. I never thought I'd fill the gear oil in those two boxes THREE TIMES!!!!

WTFx3!!

As you can see from the pictures, there is a billet aluminum nosepiece that houses the sliding shift rod and fork. Well, if you don't clearance your transfer case, it can dimple in this nosepiece just enough to prevent the shaft from sliding.

[Cirbo]

Pulled it apart, drove the nosepiece out, ran it down the road to have it chucked up in a lathe and reamed out to 9/16th's. After all that was done, clearanced the transfer case with a flapper wheel, and reassembled.... again.

Special thanks to Marlin Czajkowski for spending his weekend providing phone support. I'll be watching for my diploma in the mail.

[Cirbo]

Reassembly finished, I hooked up the shifter linkage to see if it all works.

WTFx4!!

Toybox shifts fine. The new problem is that the throw is about 4 times longer than I first observed, which means that the shifter geometry is all wrong.

Cut it all back apart and (booty) fabbed up a test-fix.

[Cirbo]

Before I had learned all these new and interesting facts, I had scheduled to have the transmission tunnel line-x'ed on Monday morning. This meant that I spent all weekend setting up shifters, welding the tunnel up, and cutting holes for all the shifters.

I can't really start on wiring or interior until I can bolt the transmission tunnel into place, so this whole project is being held up by this mess.

Monday afternoon:

[Cirbo]

Cut some threads, bent some half inch rod, and whipped up a couple shifters. It's hard to see, but I modified the AA twinstick so that I could make the shifters thread in, instead of welded. Custom shifter knobs are on order to replace the nice blue painters tape signs on the dashboard.