Red 75 FJ40

[slvyj]

New guy checking in and thought I would show off my 1975 FJ40. I bought this FJ40 in El Salvador almost nine years ago, fixed it up and drove it all over Central America. When I left Salvador five years ago, I had it shipped to my parents house in Ohio were it sat in the driveway, while I went to Germany. Well I'm now back in the States and hope to get my FJ40 running again.

It hasn't been driven on city streets since it wasn't registered in the States. I did try to started it and change the oil when I was home but haven't been able to do that in over 18 months.

Overall I think it still looks in good shape, I spent all day at the local DMV hoping to have new plates but no luck. That's my first priority.

Any advice on how to get it started? I know the tires are shot, but what else should I replace?

What can I do about the rust forming around the top? Easy to fix?

 

[BDSeff1fitty]

nice cruiser!

 

[cjgoode]

Nice looking rigs. Search this forum for starting an engine that has been sitting for a long time. There are several out there. I recently got mine started and probably had been sitting for 7 years. Main thing is to not try and turn it over with the starter until you pull the plugs and put some sort of oil in each cylinder and let it soak, like marvel mystery lube. If the rings are stuck that can free them up, while using the starter to try and turn the motor over can break the rings if frozen. In Ohio with the cold, warn cold condensation can form everywhere causing problems. Drain any gas and make sure you sue new gas.

 

[Duke]

Nice rig!!

x2 on pulling the plugs and dropping some oil in the cylinders. Probably wouldn't hurt to rebuild the carb as well as check inside the dizzy for rust etc after sitting that long in Ohio.

Good luck on freshening it up!

 

[FJforty]

Welcome, let us know what it doesn't do.....

 

[skidplate]

Ditto the above. I'd go ahead and replace plug wires, dist. cap, points, condensor, and rotor, fuel filter. All of this is cheap and you know you have new stuff. Good luck!

 

[slvyj]

Thanks for the feedback. Other folks have told me about mystery oil, so yesterday went and got a bottle. I changed the oil and was happy to see the old stuff actually still looked good. Only problem I notice is the radiator appears to be dry but no water in the oil. So what could have happen to the fluid in the radiator?

I'm concerned about fluid in the water for when I first shipped the truck to Ohio, water got into the oil, so I thought I might have a crack engine block.

Hope today to get some gas and anti-freeze then see if it will start.

 

[bikersmurf]

Buy anti-freeze... but test it with water first. You can test for leaks that way and flush the system at the same time. Don't leave it with straight water in there for extended periods of time though.

You'll need at least 2 gal of anti freeze and 2 gal of water to fill with the recommended 50:50 mix.

 

[Walton]

Welcome to Mud...

Nice looking 40. My next 40 will be red.

 

[waiting for time]

Nice rig and welkome to MUD.

 

[slvyj]

Thanks for the input.

 

[2fpower]

So, it sounds like you pulled the plugs out, put in the mystery oil. Great. Let it sit overnight, then turn it over with the plugs out and a towel over that side of the engine so the oil does not blow out and make a mess. the reason you turn it over with plugs out is so that you make sure all the oil is gone. Can you imagine the damage to an engine if you have it full of oil and try to compress it??? Anyway, the oil should be mostly gone anyway, seeping down into the oil pan. I would go ahead and then put new motor oil in, plugs back in (don't worry about the plugs, cap, rotor or anything.... yet. They worked last time. Anyway, we should have compression, assume we have spark. Time to think about fuel.

If you want to cheat this step, just blow some ether in the intake and see if she does anything.

Take a look at the rubber fuel lines. Likely they need replaced. Replace the fuel filter and all of the fuel too. Try again to see if you can see fuel in the carb through the sight glass on the front of the carb. It should be about half full. No fuel there means nothing is getting into the carb.

Sometimes a quick rebuild of the carb is what she needs.