Recent content by CruiserInProgress

Are you sure the yellow wire is your reverse switch? On my 79 4spd, the reverse switch wire from the harness is light blue with a red stripe, and as I recall, the switch is located where you have circled.

I agree with Charlie, same circuit. On my 79, there's a wire bundle that enters the rear cab through a hole near right ambulance door. It supplies power to the rear side marker and license plate lights. You might look to see if any of your original wiring is still intact.

My first public outing in the FJ40, a coffee shop on a lake about 10 miles away. Mostly doing 60mph along the way, she did great...ish. As I pulled in to park, I chucked and said thanks when a couple of guys yelled out, "Nice Jeep!" I'll take it.

Same here about Coolerman's wiring diagrams. Really handy when verifying or repairing cobbled wiring. FYI, I reached Mark by email in April and bought some wire and connectors.

Do you have a resistor or resistor wire in your ignition circuit (between the switch and coil +? My 79, with the small cap electronic distributor and matching igniter/coil were fed by 7v, dropped down from 12v via the resistor or resistor wire. The big cap FJ60 distributor, igniter and coil...

Good troubleshooting. And that smell of fuel is a definite clue pointing to the fuel pump at this point. It also sounds like you had a clog of some sort in your fuel intake line from the tank. Mine had the same issue, clogged with sediment and a decade of varnish. I ended up flushing my tank...

I've had some chores to take care of, but finally got back to that wobble in the transfer case front output shaft. The front drive shaft came off easily from output shaft flange, revealing a loose stake nut on the output shaft. I torqued it the best I could without the Toyota tool and restaked...

I'm not familiar with the earlier Toyota vacuum retard distributors, but there is a common problem that can develop with age on the centrifugal advance mechanism, that I noticed on my 79 OEM small cap distributor and the big cap OEM that I upgraded to. This tip came from another member post...

Thanks for clarifying. I really like the retro look, but may shop for one with the SD card feature.

Which of the three newer models in your link would yours correspond to? Specifically, does yours support bluetooth and SD card(s) port for MP3's?

Great history! Thanks for sharing.

I can relate to your current situation, but from a different starting point. Over a year ago, I started my quest of trying to get my 79 running after more than a decade of sitting and abuse before that. I tackled one bit at a time (fuse block, ignition switch, distributor, carburetor, vacuum...

Ditto. Best to get back to basics of engine troubleshooting rather than the shotgun approach taken thus far. I don't think the distributor / Pertronix upgrade will be the answer, especially when you haven't yet solved the low voltage issue feeding it. If you don't have the time or patience for...

I discovered it on my 79 and tried to explain how it works above. If you have a wire connecting the starter to the coil (+), then you have one. If so, try disconnecting it and see if you still have only 5v on the coil (+). If so, that's not the problem.

That cold start circuit is, or was, on my 79. When the oem starter is engaged, contacts are closed, providing full battery voltage to the coil (+), effectively bypassing the ballast resistor. I don't know if that cold start / bypass circuit is part of the earlier 1F design , but if there was a...