My Jan 81 FJ40 Frame Off Resto Mod (1 Viewer)

[KY Longhunter]

81 FJ40 Frame Off Resto Mod

I purchased my '81 FJ40 on eBay in June of 2007. It's not my first Land Cruiser, I've owned an ‘83 FJ60, and a '98 UZJ 100 but sold both (regret this now). But something about the 40 series that I just couldn’t shake. I had to have one. Back to the 40.

It was an impulse buy. I was the last bidder and won much to my surprise. I had decided I wanted a late model FJ40, but can’t really tell you why. In fact this decision was made with no research at all. A decision I would soon regret.

The guy I bought the 40 from was from St. Louis and, if you don’t know by now, I live in Kentucky. I researched the cost to have the truck shipped, approximately $500, but the seller was anxious to get his funds so we decided to meet half way in Evansville, Indiana.




So a buddy of mine who is into Mopar and has built several vehicles agreed to go with me to Evansville with his car hauler and bring it back home. We met the seller at a marina on the Ohio river. My expectations were thrown when I saw the truck close-up. It was indeed the same truck in the eBay description, but the description was way off on the overall condition of the truck. It had diamond plate everywhere and had mud in every crevice you can think of. However, I knew I has stuck by eBay standards so after test driving the truck and going through some formalities I handed over the agreed upon cash and loaded up the truck on the car hauler. That’s when the fireworks began.

The seller counted his cash and told me I was short $250. “How so?,” I asked. He said since he had met me halfway from his house to mine and I had priced a door-to-door delivery of $500, I somehow owed him half of that! BS! I had taken a day off work and agreed to meet him only because he was desperate to get his cash. His hothead brother (who was clearly coked up) then started yelling and carrying on and for a moment I honestly thought I was going to get in fist fight over $250! I haven’t been in a fist fight since high school and my adrenaline was pumping a million miles an hour.

To make a long story short the seller whipped out the title and signed it, then handed it over to me. No blood was shed thankfully so I stuffed the title in my pocket, jumped in the truck and we were off. What a effin' crazy way to begin my FJ40 experience!!!

 

[KY Longhunter]

Title Trouble

So after getting the 40 home and inspecting the title I realized something didn't look right. When the PO whipped out the title it was already signed by the Seller area (an open title). The guy I bought it from had never titled the car properly, and the PO he had bought it from had not titled it properly.

The truck had been sold twice before I bought it, but was still titled to a PO two transactions back. The eBay seller I bought the 40 from signed the title as buyer then handed me the title thus mutilating the title!

I was hosed. In order to get the title in my name I would have to track down the eBay seller and the previous owner and try to get them to somehow transfer their right to me -OR- simply have the original PO to request a DUPLICATE title then sign it over to me.

Now this PO is also a member here on mud and I have contacted him, but he refuses to help me.

I dont get it, what's the big damn deal?

His father is an attorney and insists we should track down these 2 POs in between himself and I. But of course there is no chance these guys are going to go for this!

Today the truck is still not titled to me. Any suggestions or help is appreciated.

But I decided to continue with my build, not realizing I was starting on a 3 year journey to hell and back.

 

[bigassbike]

Subscribed - Sorry I can't help with title but this sounds like it is going to be interesting. I hope it all turns out well.

 

[KY Longhunter]

Dismantling

So I began tearing it down only to discover it was in worse shape than I thought.

 

[KY Longhunter]

More mud.

 

[KY Longhunter]

Tub Off

 

[KY Longhunter]

The rust monster!

 

[KY Longhunter]

Word to the wise, if you plan on taking one apart be prepared to find some nasty rust in every seam. Especially the front tub to frame body mounts, the mid body tub bridge and the rear sil. Almost always this rust works its way into the front floor pans, rocker panels, wheel wells and kick vent panels. Basically my 40 was rusted through from the front firewall to the rear amby door opening.

Since the truck was down and wouldn't be operational anytime soon I began researching sheet metal replacement pieces. Ouch! not many options, and the options out there were expensive.

3 years ago I didnt know squat about FJ40's but now I find myself a self-proclaimed expert on the rust pits of a late model FJ40 and trust me this baby had rust under rust.

 

[fieldsken1]

sorry to hear what happen and as far as the policy from ebay if it was that bad i would have walked away and not worried what ebay says about it the guy was an a******. good luck. this is another reason i wont buy from ebay without looking at it first

 

[KY Longhunter]

sorry to hear what happen and as far as the policy from ebay if it was that bad i would have walked away and not worried what ebay says about it the guy was an *******. good luck. this is another reason i wont buy from ebay without looking at it first

Yeah, I hear ya. Next time, I really dont care if someone gives me negative feedback as eBay is not my day job. I also agree, if you can't see the rig in person then it is gambling. There are so many people on eBay trying to unload junk that it is next to impossible to buy something and trust the condition is as described.

Also, if I knew then what I know now I would buy truck that had already been restored. Of course I probable wouldn't be dropping $30,000 for a mint 40 I might spend $10 - $15K. Trust me you will come out ahead.

Several months after purchasing mine I saw a fellow mud member, TEXX, had a freshly restored late model FJ40 for $10,000 in the classified section of IH8MUD. Somebody got lucky on that deal !

 

[cjgoode]

Who knows if his dad is really a lawyer, I would think not (or a bad one) if his son signed it as the buyer and basically gave you a bad title and now thinks it is your responsibility to fix their mistake. I would not want him as a lawyer. Talk to your DMV and explain what happened and ask them what you need to do to fix it. The signed title and the ebay as a bill of sale might be good enough. You might have to wait for it to clear a search to make sure it was not reported as stolen. You can alway take the person you bought it from to court, they would not have a chance in h*ll of winning, they cannot re assign a title, only a dealer can re assign a title. DMV probably deals with this more often then you think and they can help.

 

[KY Longhunter]

Originally, the MOPAR friend that helped me pickup the rig also agreed to help me fix up my 40, but in between working on his junk. He was working on a 60-something Plymouth Satellite, and my rig took the back burner.

So while I was waiting I started researching everything.

I bought a Mini Truck PS kit from JTOutfitters, and some headers and a Weber 38 from TPI4x4, since they are practically in my backyard.

Tired of waiting on my buddy, I started to remove the 1/2 tub from my truck. I wouldnt do this again...

In fact I would have repaired it on the frame first before attempting to remove tub.

I also learned that my front body mounts were rotted away which in turn rotted the front floor pans. One of the PO's had welded in some temp floor pans but they looked horrible so I cut them out. I had begun a never ending journey into rustville.




On a whim, I purchased some replacement quarters, bed and sill from Heritage. I have since learned that the Heritage line of stuff has been bought and sold and that the name Heritage had been bought and sold as well. What was once called Heritage might not neccesarily be what you get today. Nuff said...

The tub was not set up for a hardtop or amby doors, but I do understand they have addressed this issue since then. I decided that I didn't have the skills or patience to put these parts together so I sold them and lost money.

While researching the front body mounts I found www.pacolonline.com. I finally found a vendor that sold weld on body mounts! They also produce the mid-body tub bridge which is also prone to rust in late model 40's. So if any of you guys are looking for these keep this in mind. Oscar at Pacol is SUPER to work with so give him a call.



I also bought some full quarters and bed from pacolonline. Now these are made of some heavy guage metal and very well made. Also, they didnt try to bend me over on the shipping, which I really appreciated. At the same time I bought a rear sill from CCOT.

Now I just had to wait for my buddy to come over and help me put it together... I waited, and waited, then waited some more. I watched a 68 Charger and the Satellite come together, but I would forever be put on hold.

It was at this point a good 1 1/2 years had passed by and I realized he had no skin in the game and had no reason to drop what he was doing to help me. BTW, he wasn't going to charge me anything to help.

Now I consider myself a pretty handy guy and willing to learn anything so I ended up buying a LINCOLN 175HD welder at Home Depot one day when it went on sale. I practiced but my welds looked like doo doo. My buddy finally made it over one day and we welded in some floor pans from pacol. Turned out pretty good but even my friend thought the welder was too hot.

So I found a HOBART 140 on craigslist for $500 including a mega large tank of Argon/CO2 and jumped on it. I sold the LINCOLN for $500 too. This little 110v welder is the bomb.

Unlike the LINCOLN the HOBART, I could really tell the Argon/CO2 mix was working. My welds were smooth with little slag. If you are contemplating buying a mig, check out the Hobart 140 unless you have enough coin to buy a Miller. Conincidently the stinger that came with the Hobart was a Miller. I think they maybe somehow related.

After the floor pan installation it was back to hurry up and wait.

 

[tucker74]

The title issue would have gotten you out of your eBay contract, but it seems a bit late for that now. I agree on taking the bill of sale and signed title in and explaining the situ, you never know I know in Texas you can get a bonded title in this circumstance -

Tucker

BTW: Love the late models too, but would never buy one ... those tubs just love to rust

 

[Slowerthanu]

Your story is similar to mine, but I was 15 and the frame was rusty. I got a replacement frame and still have the 40.

 

[motor220099]

Subscribed. Can't wait to see the new 3/4 tub go on.

 

[KY Longhunter]

The title issue would have gotten you out of your eBay contract, but it seems a bit late for that now. I agree on taking the bill of sale and signed title in and explaining the situ, you never know I know in Texas you can get a bonded title in this circumstance -

Tucker

BTW: Love the late models too, but would never buy one ... those tubs just love to rust

Actually, I checked with eBay to see if my vehicle qualified for the AutoCheck Buyback Protection as I had purchased a Vehicle History Report from Experian. But they told me "Only State Brands are covered for the Buyback Protection. See terms and condition of Buyback protection."

 

[JohnnyC]

look foward to seeing a complete transformation on this rig...nice job so far

 

[KY Longhunter]

While I was waiting and researching my new addiction, I decided to crack open my diffs. This is what we found in the front. It appeared to be welded and full of water at some point.



so I posted up here on mud and found a new used 3rd. Thanks Kieran!

Also many thanks for powder coating my AISIN hubs!

 

[KY Longhunter]

I had my frame painted by some local yocals, but have since decided to take to sandblaster and get frame powdercoated. In the time since frame had been painted some rust had started to peak out from underneath the paint.

Below is picture of frame after paint.

 

[KY Longhunter]

I also got to work cleaning and prepping the original 2F for paint.