Builds Project 16 (2 Viewers)

[BionicCruiser]

got more done finally. the bed is mounted/tacked in at the front and middle now.

and both fuel tanks mounted.

fuel tank holes are welded shut (damn u-pull-it yard lazy a$$es ) and I cut, shortened, and turned the filler neck on the front one.

 

[BionicCruiser]

we have been looking at wiring diagrams for this week, so not much report worthy. however, today I finished up mounting the steering wheel and brake booster/MC. we had to modify the firewall steering wheel mount to clear the gas pedal. it's a '73 FJ55 column. we also made a spacer to help move the steering wheel back. lots of grinding also, in prep for the SOA.

 

[BionicCruiser]

run of the mill SOA done on the rear yesterday. front will need a longer day to 2 days with the SR and axle moving forward.

my son is drawing out the wiring diagrams separated out in prep for making the wiring harness. anyone have a good source for wiring with the stripes on it? I'd like to use the factory colors for ease of diagnosing problems later, just using the regular FSM. I can't easily find green with stripes of yellow, orange. also purple with different stripes for the wipers system.

 

[bsilva132]

Coolerman sells it by the foot
http://www.globalsoftware-inc.com/coolerman/fj40/wiringmainframe.htm

 

[BionicCruiser]

Coolerman sells it by the foot
http://www.globalsoftware-inc.com/coolerman/fj40/wiringmainframe.htm

that is sweet! a cruiser person as well. thanks! Don't know why I never came across his site while searching.

 

[BionicCruiser]

progress has slowed because of the cold weather (teens to 20's, yes I'm still an Az guy). Brock, my son, has wanted to be present for the front spring over and cut n turn, so focus has turned to electrical. we refreshed the wiper switch we have. opened it up and it looked like this-

cleaned contacts and regreased it, straightened the shaft, and it looked like this-

I just got a '75 FJ40 wiring harness from jstncse. thanks!

and also some weather proof plugs from pappy, thanks too!

factory colors of wire from coolerman is on it's way, Thanks! with all that, wiring should be going in soon.

 

[ColoCruiserJeff]

Love the look and idea of the build - no doubt!

What did you do to get the motor mounts completed after the boogered up tack welds?

You've gotta get that wire wheel out and clean up the areas you're welding up! You say you're welds aren't good so I'm just throwing out one reason as to why. None of the areas in the pics you've posted of your welds on have been cleaned up prior to hitting 'em with the welder.

Especially on the body and motor mounts - adequate penetration and bead lapping is going to be compromised by having inconsistencies in the cleanliness of the weld area. Spend 5 mins and grind that rusty s*** off there before welding and they'll improve ten-fold. The outer look does actually matter and indicate the inner quality of the joining of the two pieces. Crappy welds have held up in the shop for a short time...the second you start to add stress to it - they'll fail and you don't want to be repairing a failed weld out in the field when it could have been prevented.

Keep up the progress - damn the weather....get that thing on the road!

 

[BionicCruiser]

you are absolutely correct on cleaning up for better welds. it's something I forget about. thanks for the reminder. my welds are actually getting a ton better. the motor mounts, trans mounts, spring perches are still just tacked and I plan to take it to someone when it is more together for quality welds (so I can get most all of it done in one shot). I did that with my 40 when I built it. I am doing more of it than before, like the flat bed, etc. anything structural for suspension, body, roll cage, seat belts, will be someone who can do it right.

on another note, I will have more pics up by tomorrow. we did most of the front SOA/SR today. it looks like I may not have to do a cut and turn. with the pumpkin 2* down from straight at the trasmission, it has 4* caster. the longer front DS from a longer drive train looks to have made a good difference in DS angle.

 

[BionicCruiser]

front SOA/SR is nearly done. Brock had a good long day of work. he pulled all the old spring bushings out and honed/cleaned up the spring eyes.

front is now 4.5" or so forward. this pic is a mock up pic, so ignore the shackle, it's not full weight on the spring, but it should come out to this height in the end. how does it look for wheel centering in the well now?

we reused all the factory spring mounts. it does save about 2" clearance on the front entry angle. in the end, it looks like this will work perfect. with the pinion at 2* down from the DS angle, it leaves 4* of caster. I will have to recheck that with a new angle finder. this morning I found that my old one got dropped once too many times. so it may not need a cut and turn!

 

[BionicCruiser]

well, when I got everything in place, the angles were more off than I thought. I adjusted it and am still doing adjustments, but it will need a cut and turn.

 

[ColoCruiserJeff]

Love having the helper in the shop....it's a must-have around my place!

My kiddo's 10 and he loves wrench'n on the FJunk in the garage

Keep it up!

 

[jim land]

( how does it look for wheel centering in the well now? )

now it look like a land cruiser

 

[BionicCruiser]

Love having the helper in the shop....it's a must-have around my place!
My kiddo's 10 and he loves wrench'n on the FJunk in the garage
Keep it up!

he's always been interested. even at 4 years old he'd sit and watch me work on my 40. for this one, I'm getting him hands on as much as possible. it makes progress a little slower, but the point is to have him learn.

( how does it look for wheel centering in the well now? ) now it looks like a land cruiser

cool thanks for the feed back. I'm happy with it. waiting for parts to finish up the front SOA.

 

[BionicCruiser]

weather has been very nice lately, so we are working more today. we made a set of extended shackles. the rears are on and the fronts are next. Brock got his first try at the grinder for about 1 min, before he realized he doesn't have enough weight to really get on it.

 

[BionicCruiser]

so we now have the cowl harness from a '95 FZJ80. most of this stuff will get cut out, but some very key parts are here. this sucker took me nearly 4 hours to extract. we spent an hour labeling plugs and got just over half way.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Interesting build - keep up the good work.

Curious: what did you end up doing with the RHD 45 cab you mentioned picking up?

 

[BionicCruiser]

I didn't get it. it may still be available, but he was talking about tossing it if nobody was interested. user name is chamba IIRC. he is in our club, so I can confirm it if you need.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Yes, if you talk to him, ask him if he still has it. Thanks!

 

[BionicCruiser]

Henry, he hasn't replied to me yet. I'll keep trying.


with the weather warming and it's been so lovely outside, we went back to some metal and fab work.
we cut the rockers a little in prep for the sliders. got 1 fuel tank filler neck done, the other is cut and ready weld up.

next was getting the radiator hoses figured out. some trimming on stock hoses and a flex hose got one side mocked up and the other side only needs a 6" metal pipe piece.

then we started on the hard top. we have 2 sides and a fiberglass top. we still need the rain gutters. I have never done this kind of body work, so I'm on new ground. the hard top needs to be close to in place to start the roll cage.

 

[Pacer]

with the weather warming and it's been so lovely / got 1 fuel tank filler neck done, the other is cut and ready weld up.

That filler neck is not made from radiator hose is it? I've heard rad hose will not hold up in that application...
Fun build, keep up the great work.

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