1976 FJ40 Play-thing (1 Viewer)

[V6 Bundy]

Aussie 1976 FJ40 Play-thing

I had driven past this sad and sorry shorty sitting on the side of the road quite a few times until one day I pulled over and talked to the owner. He didn't want it and was happy to sell it to me. He even delivered it for me.

It is a rusty little bugger but nothing a bit of hard work wont fix.

 

[V6 Bundy]

 

[V6 Bundy]

First I gutted the interior and exposed...

 

[V6 Bundy]

 

[V6 Bundy]

God knows how many nuts and bolts broke off whilst removing the seats and fuel tank.

After inspecting the body and all the rust, I was bored and low on time so I thought I would take a dig at the front bib.

 

[nelsonjm624]

Welcome to the madness, it's gonna be a a lot work but what lc isn't. Make sure to flip that bezel good luck

 

[V6 Bundy]

At that stage I decided to take off the front panels and have them blasted.

This is going to be a play toy at first. Nothing special. Get the car to run and stop and make the body solid in that order.

My intentions are to use this out at a mates property and have some fun. After the body is totally done, I will probably put a Holden V6 and auto and make it roadworthy. But that is waaay off in the distance.

So I started on the engine. First up - spray some oil down the spark plug holes. I have no idea when this was last started but it seem to turn ok by hand. When I pulled out the fuel tank, one of the filters was full of black liquid. It smelt like paint thinners so I flushed the fuel lines and put new rubber lines in. I disconnected the Fuel line from the carb and the ignition and forced the starter. Eventually fuel came out the line. Seems as though the pump is OK. Connected the carb up again and forced the starter again. No Fuel.
At this stage I figured the carby was probably block somewhere so I went and bought a rebuild kit.

Lucky I did, This was inside the bowl and metering block.

 

[V6 Bundy]

The Holley is rebuilt and now I have fuel. I started to set the timing tonight but ran out of time. I did notice when playing with the distributor that you can turn it by hand. It doesn't seem to have a lock down clamp to keep it still. Has anyone got a picture of their dizzy with the clamp?

 

[V6 Bundy]

Welcome to the madness, it's gonna be a a lot work but what lc isn't. Make sure to flip that bezel good luck

Thanks, Nelson. The Bezel was flipped the same day the car was delivered.

 

[V6 Bundy]

I'm still playing with the Holley. I can't seem to get the float low enough - the fuel keeps pouring out the sight hole. I will have to take the bowl off again and see how much I cant bend the Float arm.

Anyways, I decided to give the Brake Master a bit of a clean up. The fluid reservoirs had a lot of gunk in the bottom of them. When I eventually got the pistons out I was accosted by this...

After a bit of a clean and polish, I checked the rubber seals and they were still quite rubbery and had no cracks and had not been stretched. The springs were still springy as well.

The Master Cylinder is currently soaking in petrol and I will leave it there at least over night and then hit it with the wire brushes before a quick coat of paint and reassembly in the next couple of days.

 

[roma042987]

Nice work! Despite the rust looks to be pretty original down to the seats and bumperettes.

 

[roma042987]

Are those fiberglass rear barn doors?

 

[V6 Bundy]

Are those fiberglass rear barn doors?

Urrg. Yeah they are fibreglass - Yuck! I guess I would hate them so much if they were actually installed straight and weren't so flimsy.

 

[V6 Bundy]

Nice work! Despite the rust looks to be pretty original down to the seats and bumperettes.

Looks to be all original except for the rear barn doors, the Holley Carb and the really dodgy paint job.

 

[mruff]

She.s a bit overcooked butnot bad. I.ve seen way worse

 

[V6 Bundy]

She.s a bit overcooked butnot bad. I.ve seen way worse

If you are referring to the gunk in the Holley, I don't know if that was only caused by heat. The crap in the fuel tank and the state of the filters seems to tell me something apart from fuel was put in the tank. Thinners, turps and diesel fuel is the smell I think of when i get a whiff of it.

 

[V6 Bundy]

Woot!!

I got the 40 to start today. I have not had it running as I found a couple of fuel leaks that I need to fix first. The dizzy was totally out for the timing - the octane selector was almost totally twisted out. Once the timing was set - Vroom!



Brake and Clutch Master Cylinders have been rebuilt and re-installed. next I will be rebuilding the drum brakes then bleed them and the Clutch. I will have to find a new Thermostat and housing, flush the cooling system out, do the usual filters and engine, diff, gearbox oils - then have some fun!!

After a little play then I will get stuck into the rust repairs but right now I am stoked with my progress as i have never played with timing before.

 

[V6 Bundy]

Just for fun I decided to hack into one of the front guards for some rust removal.

Bend some oversized sheet up and weld over the top of.

Cut through both layers of sheet metal for perfect fit and then weld.

This is the little support that goes up under the outside lip of the guard I repaired but I think I will just make a new one later.