DHracers 72 Build. (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Threads
85
Messages
483
Location
Asheville NC
Ok so a little about my background.. I grew up in South Africa and my family are mostly all from South Africa except for my mother who is from the USA.
My family has always been outdoorsy and when I was a kid I went to a outdoors boarding school down in Natal called Treverton.
My family has owned Toyota's for ever and we have owned 5 Land cruisers in South Africa.

I Started racing Mountain Bikes in 2000 in the Downhill scene and have been racing ever since..

I bought my first FJ40 end of 2008 and it looked ok.. not ideal but the guy had bought many new parts for it and he had a ton of manuals.
I knew it would probably take about 4-5 years but so far it has been going pretty smoothly with the resto..
I want a vehicle that is a weekend vehicle for trips and for everyday use to.
Most of it is going to be stock with a 2.5" lift 31" tires.
I bought a great parts FJ62 with a good motor with only 92K Miles on it for $1000.
My Fj40 didnt come with a motor as the original F motor had seized and the guy had sold it for scrap I think.. He was about to put in a 305V8 in it before I bought it off of him.
Sold the V8 motor...

I have since had the axles completely striped and painted and have replaced every seal in them... then I ended up taking them back apart to put in a Disc conversion!... now they are done.. I also went back and forth with the color scheme I wanted to go with.. I think I thought about this for almost a year.

Anyways here are some pics to get started.

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The day I brought it back home.. I know a lot of you will say I could have found a better deal but I have looked long and hard.. $2000 and it was local.. with a ton of new parts and soft tops.. lots of parts I could sell so with everything sold it ended up being about $1400.

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Tear down had started and of course the first thing you start saying to yourself is... What have I got myself into!.. I found that you just need to take on 1 thing at a time!.. just keep going.
I have been doing this frame off by myself which is how I like it.. and I have been doing it mostly by hand..

One thing I have found with doing first time restos is you will spend more money on the right tools than anything else! thank goodness I have a Harbor Freight tools just down the road. They are easy to work with and so far just about all the tools I have bought from them work great... just don't get their air filters for compressors.. absolutely terrible. if you have any questions on tools I can probably answer them for you..

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Axles are washed and are wire wheeled...
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I know now that the best way is get a little sand blasting pot!!


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Freshly painted!

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Disc conversion from my Parts car..!

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I bought these wheels local and they work nicely but because I have been going back and forth on the color scheme I have decided on the Blue with the White Wagon wheels! its just a more playful look in my opinion.. even though a darker color with black wheels would still look amazing!.. it was a tough decision for sure..

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Pic of the FJ62 parts car.. it was beyond repair with to much rust underneath..
This is a great buy and was still drivable and with the parts I don't need I have sold just about enough to cover the cost of buying it..
I find this is a must for First time restorers who are on a tight budget.!!


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Quick picture of some of my bikes.. Trail, Dirt Jump, Road and DH..

I have fitted out my garage quite nicely with a smaller bike corner with bench.
Next to it is a Wood stove which is amazing! it can be 10 degrees outside and with that fire going in the stove it will be a hot 80 degrees easy inside.. nice for those horrible Winter days.

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little Sand Blasting pot from Harbor Freight Tools works well!! only thing I would say is the instruction on how to put it together are a bit confusing... also I would go buy a dead mans valve for it... I think that is what they call them..

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Painted the seats.. and some of the interior parts to..

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3FE motor out of the 62.. wasn't to bad to pull out..! lots of cleaning to do though.. I will tear into that maybe this Summer..

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Another quick pic of the finished axles.. with the black wheels.. they look so good!! but I'm still going with the White wagon wheels..

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Just some quick biking pictures from 2008..

Should get a bit more done this year hopefully.. I have the race season starting back up very soon and I don't get very much time to work on the 40.. although I make money to work on the FJ40 so racing is important for my Cruiser!
 
Looks good man, I raced DH for 10 years, stayed in the expert class mostly raced up north, Plattekill, Mount Snow, Diablo, A couple of Nationals at Snowshoe WV and Durango. Now I concentrate on the 40 build.:D
 
Looks good man, I raced DH for 10 years, stayed in the expert class mostly raced up north, Plattekill, Mount Snow, Diablo, A couple of Nationals at Snowshoe WV and Durango. Now I concentrate on the 40 build.:D

I'm getting there....!! not quite there yet but need to pay for parts on the 40!
 
I know how that is, workin my butt off to pay for parts. Hey not sure if he is still racing but do you know Derek Nobmen? He one of the local pro's, He has a sweet 40, all stock.
Good luck this season
 
I know how that is, workin my butt off to pay for parts. Hey not sure if he is still racing but do you know Derek Nobmen? He one of the local pro's, He has a sweet 40, all stock.
Good luck this season


Yep! I know him well!.. didn't know he had a 40..? I see him sometimes now and then.. last time I saw him he was racing XC... Go figure someone made a bike big enough for him to race XC on! haha..
 
I'm enjoying following your build. It's funny how many 40 lovers are also mountain bikers/racers, I raced Pro XC back in the late 90's/early 2000's. If you're making money at it you earn my full respect, I was happy to just get bikes and expenses. By the way, I think you got a great deal on that 40, especially in our area, I'm looking for one now and can't find anything that nice and that cheap. Good Luck on your build and the upcoming season!
 
I'm enjoying following your build. It's funny how many 40 lovers are also mountain bikers/racers, I raced Pro XC back in the late 90's/early 2000's. If you're making money at it you earn my full respect, I was happy to just get bikes and expenses. By the way, I think you got a great deal on that 40, especially in our area, I'm looking for one now and can't find anything that nice and that cheap. Good Luck on your build and the upcoming season!

Do a search on Searchtempest.com for FJ40s.. I found a troopie for I think it was $5000? in decent shape and it was in Knoxville!
Another thing I want to do is go down to Costa Rica and pick up a 40 down there! if you have ever taken a look at the Costa Rica Craigslist ads down there! so many diesel 40s!
 
Frame Painting

So I have sand blasted the frame using my sand blaster pot.
This weekend I started the painting stage! I have used Rust Bullet and at first I was a little worried as my axles didn't come out quite right.. the rust bullet would chip off but I have since realized what I did and fixed them. I had to much moisture in the air!!
I went out and bought the nicer HVLP gun from Harbor and it works well!! $25 and for $10 you get a 3 year warranty on it so once it gets clogged up I can take it in to get replaced!

Paint went on well this time! Frame is looking like new again!

Exciting when you look at something so old and rusty and after painting it just looks so new!
I'll put on the black top coat on in about 2 days which is what they recommend..

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NICE WORK!!!!

wow, I wish I had the skills and know how and room and the space to do that. I am sure you will have one nice 40 when it's all said and done. Maybe you can fab a bike rack for the spare tire carrier?:cheers:
 
wow, I wish I had the skills and know how and room and the space to do that. I am sure you will have one nice 40 when it's all said and done. Maybe you can fab a bike rack for the spare tire carrier?:cheers:

I was thinking of how I could do that..? I know the guys up in BC have a new rack system that works really well by hanging the front tire up and holds onto the cranks.. buddy of mine got one.. maybe I will do something like that..
 
Looks good so far.

What size air compressor are you using with your blasting pot? How long did it take for you to completely blast the frame?
 
I went back and forth on whether to buy a blaster and do the frame myself or to just pay. I ended up paying $150 for the frame to be blasted. I will still get a small blaster to do numerous small parts. Im also curious how long it took you and what kind of compressor you used.

Where did you get your blast media? Any issues with the HF blaster?

Looks great man! I'm not far behind you...
 
Looks good so far.

What size air compressor are you using with your blasting pot? How long did it take for you to completely blast the frame?

I'm using a buddies air compressor right now. My Kobalt Air compressor was terrible.. really slow.. The one I used is a 30Gallon and goes up to 160PSI I then pulled my old 30 Gallon compressor apart and used it as a spare tank so I get more volume.

The sand blasting pot work much better than a siphon unit!.. if you get the bigger pot from Harbor I think they are $60-$70 and sand from Lowes is $3 a bag.. it took me 3 good days of sand blasting to do it but it turned out nicely and for those small little jobs like brackets and such its a breeze with the pot.

Anyways!.. I got my frame done and mounted my axles underneath!! I have been waiting to do this for awhile.!! the first time it starts to look like a car again! very cool!..

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Mounting these axles was a much bigger pain than I had thought.. getting those bushings on without squashing them took awhile for me to figure out..
I ended up using some very thin washer on one side only other wise its to thick..
I eventually got them on! you have to be VERY patient and I think I went outside to cuss at the trees... :censor::censor:

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Looks good !! very exciting!.. like a real car again.. almost.

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And now for its first flex pose!!

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sweeeeet...:banana:
 
Wow... Nice job. After reading your thread I got into the garage last night and started blasting some of the little parts I have to get at least some progress started on my project. I'll be watching your thread for motivation.

One note on the sand from Lowes. Sand blasting with sand isn't a good idea as it contains silica with can cause Silicacosis. It does nasty things to your lungs. You can get Black Diamond (same thing as Black Beauty) from Tractor Supply for about $7 a bag and has "Low Free Silica"
 
Wow... Nice job. After reading your thread I got into the garage last night and started blasting some of the little parts I have to get at least some progress started on my project. I'll be watching your thread for motivation.

One note on the sand from Lowes. Sand blasting with sand isn't a good idea as it contains silica with can cause Silicacosis. It does nasty things to your lungs. You can get Black Diamond (same thing as Black Beauty) from Tractor Supply for about $7 a bag and has "Low Free Silica"

Really!.. hmm.. Bugga....I have been using the shield that comes with the blaster but I will now make sure I use my mask! Thanks for that important Health tip!!..

I will check out the other sand at tractor supply.
 
This weekend I had a chance to go to my Downhill training grounds down in TN.... Finally!! The weather out here has been so bad that all the trails around here have just been so swamped and I end up sitting on my trainer indoors every night.. very boring. :frown:
It was such a good weekend!.. went dirt bike riding on Friday doing a bunch of trails out there..
Saturday I got to ride my DH bike a bit. I had the intent of selling the bike by now but since my other bike hasn't arrived yet and I had most of my parts sitting here I decided to put my last years bike together..

Windrock had a good turnout this last weekend with over 50 people there... pretty good for a weekend ride.
I ended the weekend of riding with some moto again on Sunday!

Feels good to get out of the house for a change!..

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Man I miss that, Sold my DH bike, Had a sweet Turner DHR, Was thinking about going pro until I started riding with Derek Nobman at some of the races and thought, after shattering my tibia, breaking most of my fingers, tearing shoulder ligaments and ripping my hand open I said going pro at 35 is not smart, (Didn't do any of that riding with Derek) Hey did you do the National at Windum?
 

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