Hi all,
I am Henry and new to the forum and FJs in general. I recently acquired a 1970 FJ40, that I have been trying to buy from my mechanic for years and he wouldn’t sell it, he finally did. All these years he just had it in a storage area with the motor out. The way he got it, is the customer brought it to him to get some motor work done and ended up just signing over the pinkslip to him, that was years ago.
Anyhow, the FJ looks 95% straight and cancer free from my visual inspection, but it is still full of stuff that he needs to get out of it. I need advice on what is the best steps to take to restore it. I am thinking of doing a frame off, I will not do it myself as I do not have the knowledge, space or time to do it. I want to go as original as possible, without going too crazy, I understand it will not be a cheap process, I do want to save where possible, but without loosing the quality and value of the ride. It will be mostly a weekend city cruiser, no off roading, I got two wranglers for off roading and beating up.
Since the motor is out, thinking of towing it to a bodyshop, once I find one that is realiable and reasonable and have them take it apart and doing their job, while they are at it, I want to remove the trans, axles, etc to have that redone, does that make sense?
Since I want to get it to as original as possible both for looks, appreciation to the vehicle and value, would you please tell me what are the do-s and don’t that hurt it, for example: I can rebuild the original motor, I know they weren’t too powerful, but I am not going to race it; or I can put a 350 v8. What I believe is the original transmission, most likely 3 speed for that year, should I keep it or replace with 5 speed? Another thing, from all I see online, the 1970s had a three on the tree, this one has a floor shifter, not sure if it was ever converted or was it done like that since it came with a factory winch (which I want to keep)?
Lastly (for now
), the FJ has a gas tank under the seat and the original filling hole. Then there is another filler towards the back of the ride and a gas tank underneath. Did they come with two tanks or is it possible that the tank under the seat wasn’t big enough or had a problem and PO just decided to put another tank.
Due to how the FJ is parked at the moment, I have very limited access to get underneath or in to take closer look, that’s why the pictures are not very good either. Once I decide with where to start and what shop, I’ll be able to inspect it better and will be posting pics of the process (hopefully in the very near future)
Sorry for being so, I would really appreciate tips, I do have a billion more questions, but this post is long enough.
I am Henry and new to the forum and FJs in general. I recently acquired a 1970 FJ40, that I have been trying to buy from my mechanic for years and he wouldn’t sell it, he finally did. All these years he just had it in a storage area with the motor out. The way he got it, is the customer brought it to him to get some motor work done and ended up just signing over the pinkslip to him, that was years ago.
Anyhow, the FJ looks 95% straight and cancer free from my visual inspection, but it is still full of stuff that he needs to get out of it. I need advice on what is the best steps to take to restore it. I am thinking of doing a frame off, I will not do it myself as I do not have the knowledge, space or time to do it. I want to go as original as possible, without going too crazy, I understand it will not be a cheap process, I do want to save where possible, but without loosing the quality and value of the ride. It will be mostly a weekend city cruiser, no off roading, I got two wranglers for off roading and beating up.
Since the motor is out, thinking of towing it to a bodyshop, once I find one that is realiable and reasonable and have them take it apart and doing their job, while they are at it, I want to remove the trans, axles, etc to have that redone, does that make sense?
Since I want to get it to as original as possible both for looks, appreciation to the vehicle and value, would you please tell me what are the do-s and don’t that hurt it, for example: I can rebuild the original motor, I know they weren’t too powerful, but I am not going to race it; or I can put a 350 v8. What I believe is the original transmission, most likely 3 speed for that year, should I keep it or replace with 5 speed? Another thing, from all I see online, the 1970s had a three on the tree, this one has a floor shifter, not sure if it was ever converted or was it done like that since it came with a factory winch (which I want to keep)?
Lastly (for now
), the FJ has a gas tank under the seat and the original filling hole. Then there is another filler towards the back of the ride and a gas tank underneath. Did they come with two tanks or is it possible that the tank under the seat wasn’t big enough or had a problem and PO just decided to put another tank. Due to how the FJ is parked at the moment, I have very limited access to get underneath or in to take closer look, that’s why the pictures are not very good either. Once I decide with where to start and what shop, I’ll be able to inspect it better and will be posting pics of the process (hopefully in the very near future)
Sorry for being so, I would really appreciate tips, I do have a billion more questions, but this post is long enough.
