1962ish FJ40 Restoration

[Land Cruising Fool]

I apologize in advance for this long introduction.

I have been storing and transporting my FJ40 throughout 3 different states over the last 7 years. I drove it for a few months in 2006 and then into storage it went while I finished school, got married, had 2 children (not me personally), and finally moved into a home we can call our own that has a garage I claimed as my own. Oh I forgot to mention the part where I paid a guy to restore my FJ40 only to have him close his shop, rip me off for 5000 dollars, and leave my FJ40 looking worse than before.

When I finally got it back, I decided to buy my own tools and take on the rust repair and body work myself. None of which I had done before. Mechanical...YES, body work...NO!

It all ended up being a great experience and I learned a lot about my FJ40 which I though was a 1964. Come to find out, based on some of the parts it has, it is somewhere around a 1962. It has a tappered main front tie rod which I found out changed to a non-tappered tie rod in 1963. The split hood does not have mounts to hold the windshield when it is folded down. It has small rear tail lights.

I spoke to one of the guys at SOR and he said that if an FJ40 did not sell in lets say 1962 the company would simply changed the I.D. plate in the engine compartment to the next year and try to sell it again.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and stories. First three below are right before I sent it off to be restored and the second two are what it looked like 9 months and 5000 dollars later.

 

[Land Cruising Fool]

adding photos

How do I add more photos?

 

[fjfjfj]

Your Cruiser

What is the VIN number?

 

[JohnnyC]

Hello welcome to Mud

A lot of the answers you would be looking for will be in the fj25 section (the area where the ancient cruisers hang out )

Body stuff can be found in here and the body section

Your cruiser I can say is not going to be any older than 63... Your hard top is what we call a corrugated top without the high post at the b pillar... So it's newer than mid 63

Did your cruiser have a "toyota sticker " under the rear left barn door? That would be a definite 64 then

You do not have the embossed bezel which was 61-mid?63

Your vin number will be conclusive to what year... And I can add you to the cruiser registry

 

[Michael Hanson]

Hi, Your story unfortunately is not that uncommon . Welcome. Mike

 

[Land Cruising Fool]

Thank you

Thank you everyone for the replies. Although it says ROOKIE, I have been a member since 2006. I recently opened a new account as I cannot for the life of me remember my old info or email addreses have changed.


JohnnyC: Does have the I.D. plate which states it is a 64 which is what I thought it was until I tried to order parts. I received a new tie rod end set and two of the tie rod end shafts are to large to fit into my main tie rod (tappered end). My hood does not have the rests for the windshield (or any markings of where they may have been) and the only other place I have seen this is on an early 62 that I saw here in Temecula. I have been told that Toyota built some of the end year 40's with whatever was lying around regardless of the year. No sticker under the barn door, although there was not much metal either. Does have a lot of Man-O-free parts and stickers like rear shackles, dual port carb riser etc.

I am anxious to post more pics. At this stage I have the tub back and mounted to the frame. I have all parts powdercoated including the tub. I have pictures of all the cutting and welding I had to do as well.

 

[tucker74]

am anxious to post more pics. At this stage I have the tub back and mounted to the frame. I have all parts powdercoated including the tub. I have pictures of all the cutting and welding I had to do as well.

Once you get to 10 post you can attach more, or you can purchase a silver star to have unlimited now . Another option is to host you pics somewhere like Photobucket.com and post them here with IMG tags. Can't wait to see more -

Tucker

 

[nuclearlemon]

early 60s hardtops to about 1965 didn't have the windshield holddowns or the welded hoops on the windshield top.

 

[JohnnyC]

The 1st number on your vin will be the year it was manufactured... Such as...

3-fj40-18567 ... This would make it a 1963
Or
4-fj40-21985 ... This would make it a 1964

This number should match your vin stamped on the front frame horn on the passengers side

 

[Land Cruising Fool]

Thank you Johnny. It does say 4-FJ40. I will put the whole number up once I get home.

 

[KY Longhunter]

Any updates?

 

[Bambi Girl]

Hi
Being new to this site I also ask How do you add more photos?
I was told I need to buy a silver star. At $20.00 it's a bargain.
Great photos so far and I look forward to seeing more.
Cheers

 

[fj4some]

To add more pics just "Reply" or "Comment" to some of the other posts until you get at least 10 posts and then you can posts more pics. Easy and quick.

 

[whiskeythrottle67]

Looking forward to more pics, good luck on the restore.

 

[winnie]

hmmm, unfortunate that you didn't get what you paid for ... looks like a very solid truck ... looking forward to following your progress ...

 

[rmckay1021]

LCF, too bad you got ripped off ..... but sounds as if you are back on track for your vision of restoration on you truck. I have a 64 and found myself in an all too similar situation. My restoration was a lot of work because I didn't know much about FJ40s. For me, this site a life saver. I loved every minute of the pain!. Photo below. Keep having fun and good luck!!!