Gary's "Just Another Rebuild" 1975FJ40

[gwalt584]

Ok, Just wanna share my excitement. I owned two 1972 FJ40's in the late 70's, before children, I like many let them go to move on to family and other things, but never lost the passion for wanting another one. A couple of years ago I found an almost stock 1975 that was in good shape. I bought it with the intention of rebuilding it. It was in good shape so I drove it for several years without doing anything. I decided this spring that now was the time to preserve it for the future.
So on March 15th this year I started. I will try to bring my progress completely upto date.

I will start with how it looked back in March and show the progress.
OH, MESSAGE TO BEZEL POLICE, I NOW KNOW THE BEZEL WAS UPSIDE DOWN IN THE PICTURE BELOW. That will be corrected in re-assembly.

I will also convert to front mini-truck disk brakes, mini-truck power steering with saganaw pump, relocate the AC compressor to passengar side with a new style compressor.

So here is the before and the tear down pics

 

[equus]

Im sorry but... HOLY CRAP!!! your tore that down!?! that was gorgeous as it was! on another note, good luck with the build sir.

 

[gwalt584]

The Frame

I was fortunate that I did not have much rust, mostly surface.
So here is the frame being media blasted. I chose plastic media blasting vs soda blasting because I did not like the idea that I would have to wash the soda off to make sure that I got a good adhesion of the paint and primer. But that is an opinion and everyone is intitled to one.

Phil the blasting guy has done of 3000 frames and bodies, one man shop in Grand Bay Alabama, He recommende, along with several other paint and restoration guys that we use a two part epoxy primer. Phil uses a wand to get in all the hidden places in the frame rails. I found no places there were not coated. I was very pleased.

 

[nicholastheczar]

Looks like you had a really good cruiser to start with, will watch and see how your build comes along. Good luck and take lots of pics.

Nick

 

[gwalt584]

The Body

I also took the body to Phil, the blaster, he also blasted and put two coats of epoxy primer on the body. I had a little rust in the rear quater panel at the back, typical, and a break in the metal on both the right and left front fender.

Loaded up in Grand Bay, Alabama headed home with the freshly blasted and primed parts.

 

[gwalt584]

The Engine and Transmission and Transfer case

While the body and frame were being blasted I took the engine to my local machine shop which is part of the NAPA store. The engine sat on his dock for four weeks before he could get to it. the transmission was taken to a local trans shop and gone through. Thanks to Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters I got parts for that procedure. the trans shop was done in about two weeks, he said that it really did not need it but it got new bearing and seals anyway.
Just picked up the engine this past Friday, the 21st of May.
The engine got all new pistons, bearing, updated oil pump, head job, a Delta Cam cam regrind to 260 duration, might be wrong on that but something like that. Man those guys at Delta Cam are great, in and out in the same day. lifters also got a face lift.
The crank was OK and in balance. But I paid a little extra to get the rotating assembly balanced. the rods were way out of balance, the balancer said 26 grams. WOW!

Well, I wish this was my engine, but it's not. this is a 550 Cubic inch mud bog truck engine that my builder was also working on. I felt a little intimidated by that big boy.

Back to my engine. The head got the oil galley plug drilled and tapped with a plug.

 

[gwalt584]

Other Mods

After I got the frame back from the blaster, Phil, I started getting it brought upto date.
I did the mini-truck knuckle and disk brake upgrade, put the coolcruisers HFS 4" suspension lift and with shocks, cleaned primed and coated the aux fuel tank with bedliner material, extended the brake lines, put new clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing in, new front bumper (coolcruiser HFS shackled for Warn winch.
Frame before and then some after pics

With Poser's help I was able to get the Aisin hubs rebuilt and ready to go on the truck.

With the proper bushins in place the steering hooked up fine. actually I made a mistake and only bought one of the SOR bushins that they offer, so I went to the parts house and got the Ford starter bushin for one side. the side in this picture got the SOR bushin.

Oh, I need an opinion. Should I go with the stock wheels and hubs caps or use the American Racing wheels that are shown in the first post. I now have BFG 33x10.5x15 mud terrains.

I did find a dizzy and coil / igniter from a mid 80's F60. a larger head and electronic dizzy. I also got the side cover.

good shot of the new suspension and shocks. I have a set of the stock wheels, 79 vintage, so they will fit over the disk brakes. Again should I put them on or use the American Racing rims shown in the first post???

 

[gwalt584]

Other stuff

Just some other stuff:
Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters fixed me up with new turn signals for front and rear. Also depotsales on ebay (who now has there own website Cruiser Corps) fixed me up with some rattle can OEM color white and silver pewter for some of the misc parts. here is a pic of the rear lights and my paint work on the bumperettes.
the aux fuel tank is installed. I will have to replace the filler neck hose as the original has gotten rather stiff over time. If you have a cruiser and don't have the aux tank, get one. it is a great add on for these thirsty 6 cylinder engines. the aux tank holds right at 25 gallons. Electric switch on dash switches it over, mine is set up so the return fuel goes to the main tank. so I use the main tank first and when it gets low I flip the switch and in a short while I will notice the main tank is filling up from the overflow of unused fuel being returned to the main tank.

 

[FJforty]

Now those are some nice pics. Looks good.

 

[pc4400]

nice... very nice.
I'll be watching this thread.

 

[gwalt584]

Body Paint

Well my painter has had the body for several weeks now and he called me on friday to look at a test paint for the color. I am going back with the factory dune beige. The test piece, fuel lid, looked great.

body and parts at the paint shop:

Other pics
I spent some time one saturday morning at the machine shop borrowing they bead blast cabinet. I blasted the intake and exhaust and then gave the exhauset a coat of high temp flat black paint.

Interesting story about the exhaust heat riser. When I got it apart I assumed the butterfly flap was rusted or bad because the bimetal control flap would only operate about 1/4 of the way. it turned out that somewhere along the line someone had put the heatriser in between the intake and exhaust in upside down which only allowed the butterfly to operate part of the way. I had noticed that my power pulling uphill on the highway dropped off significantly but who'd of thought of that.
this is a before clean up pic.

prep work for new bumper. Coolcruisers backordered the shackles for the front bumper and I talked to Mary Beth about a week ago and they still don't have them. Oh well, maybe before I finish this project they will have them.

I decided to go with the HFS front along with my chrome tow hooks.

 

[gwalt584]

Thanks

I will have to say a big THANKS to this sight and all before me that have shared their knowledge and information. for example, the front disk brake conversion would not have been possible without the threads that outlined that process in detail, the brake lines need after the lift, NAPA part # 38009 was listed somewhere when I did a search.

Proper nuts and bolts were obtained from the vendor in the nuts and bolts thread.
from www.JIShardware.com or contact David Workman 858-344-4947
Nice product and excellent quality

 

[gwalt584]

Things I have Learned

I have learned that one man's definition of good shape and mine are somewhat different. example the first dizzy i purchased:

Sand in the dizzy:

I have learned not to buy from JT Outfitters. I purchased an oil pump, the first and only item I bought from them, the first one came in a box with the pump in the OEM box inside the shipping box. the outer box was not damaged but the pump box had a hole worn in it with tape over the hole. the pump was damaged. I sent pictures and the owner was nice and said no problem he would invoice me for another pump and ship the replacement along with a return shipping label. OK no problem so far. the second pump arrived last Thursday. it too had damage in the same place but not as bad. When I called they said it was shipment damage and that they could not aford to do business with me. to ship both back and for me to go to the dealer to get my pump. The problem I had is if there is a hole in the box before you ship an item pull the thing out of the box and inspect it before shipping it to your customer. Is that asking too much??? The email I got said that the pump was useable and that I would be charged a restocking fee and not refunded the shipping which is not what the owner told me when I called about the first pump. The ding was on the threaded part of the body where the oil transfer pipe screwed in. the body was just enough egg shaped that it made the threads difficult to screw in. the second pump which I did use was not as bad but the surface where the seal ring sat had to be filed down to eliminate the tit the ding caused.

I have learned many other things but those are just a few.
Gary

 

[crotalusatrox]

this is like watchin a burger on the grill! very nice and can't wait fer the result

 

[gwalt584]

Looks like you had a really good cruiser to start with, will watch and see how your build comes along. Good luck and take lots of pics.

Nick

Nick,
I jumped over to your rebuild thread. Nice work, great job. I will watch your progress.
Gary

 

[Dedtruk]

Very nice build! Keep the inspiration coming! And thanks for posting the info on the hardware and brake lines. Mud is such a tremendously rich resource that I miss a lot of stuff. Threads like yours make it easier to use.

Regarding suppliers: The first set of spring pins JTO sent me were the wrong year for my application and had shipping damage to the threads. The exchange parts were correct but also had damage to the threads that I cleaned up with a file. Other parts have been correct on the first shot, so JTO is hit or miss. Classic Tube sent the wrong brake lines, gave me a run around about covering my return shipping cost, and the invoice stated there would be a 15 percent restocking fee. Careful documentation of facts convinced the company to waive those charges. I'm still waiting for the correct brake lines. Cruiser Solutions' website advertises that its body mount kit includes hardware, except it doesn't ... And my sandblaster/powdercoater fed me some BS about a bad batch of powdercoat, so I'm still resolving that hassle. I guess challenges like this are just part of rebuilding a rig. But pics of a beautiful frame like yours makes it bearable ...

American Racing v. stock steelies 'n' caps: Get another set of tires and run ATs on the street (steelies & caps) and the Muds off-road (ARs).

 

[cruiser enthuiser]

Looks Great! I love seeing a detailed build like this - you're doing a great job and thanks for posting all the pics.


Keep 'em coming.


-Ed

 

[gwalt584]

Good point about the extra set of tires with AT. Maybe some BFG 33x9.5 AT's on the steel wheels with black side out.
Thanks
Gary

Very nice build! Keep the inspiration coming! And thanks for posting the info on the hardware and brake lines. Mud is such a tremendously rich resource that I miss a lot of stuff. Threads like yours make it easier to use.

Regarding suppliers: The first set of spring pins JTO sent me were the wrong year for my application and had shipping damage to the threads. The exchange parts were correct but also had damage to the threads that I cleaned up with a file. Other parts have been correct on the first shot, so JTO is hit or miss. Classic Tube sent the wrong brake lines, gave me a run around about covering my return shipping cost, and the invoice stated there would be a 15 percent restocking fee. Careful documentation of facts convinced the company to waive those charges. I'm still waiting for the correct brake lines. Cruiser Solutions' website advertises that its body mount kit includes hardware, except it doesn't ... And my sandblaster/powdercoater fed me some BS about a bad batch of powdercoat, so I'm still resolving that hassle. I guess challenges like this are just part of rebuilding a rig. But pics of a beautiful frame like yours makes it bearable ...

American Racing v. stock steelies 'n' caps: Get another set of tires and run ATs on the street (steelies & caps) and the Muds off-road (ARs).

 

[Isaacjohnstar]

Gary,
Great build! I Love the look of tall skinnies on the factory wheels. I would run them with the KM2's.
JTO sent me a bad clutch master and it took them 2 months to get me a replacement. I guess you live you learn! I should have searched Mud first.

 

[Poser]

Gary-

31232-60020 is the clip number...