Look what my daddy got for me...

[swim_n_set]

Hi, I am mtbcoach's daughter. I'm turning 16 soon and my parents have been talking about what kind of car I should get. My mom wanted me to buy a VW bug, but my dad said that he would buy me an FJ 40 that we could work on together. I started to like them when we took a trip to California to do the Rubithon event. We drove up to Juan and Maria's to see their FJ 55 that was for sale, but it wasn't running and I wanted a car that I could drive right away.

So we looked at R.K.s '71 40 that he had for sale. I loved it and my daddy got it for me. It is going to be our project to fix it up. R.K. brought it down today since I didn't have my license to drive it home.

Here are some pictures of it in the driveway...

This is the kind or repair that we are going to work on and I'm going to need advice. My dad expects me to be able to take care of it and I have no idea what I am doing.

Thanks in advance for any help or guidance and I hope to see you on the trails...

 

[Mtbcoach]

Nice first post...

We took it for a drive out and around Cary, even though we didn't have a plate/registration for it. R.K. gave us a nice pile of spare parts and repair items that should get us started on making is really road worthy.

So, here we go. It should be an exciting adventure at the very least, hopefully, its a positive experience that she will take with her for a long time...

 

[uzj100]

Great looking first Land Cruiser. You are a lucky girl. I have two daughters, 4 1/2 and 6 and I hope to do the same for them in 10+ years. Have fun.

I would recommend rust treatment however I have never restored a FJ40. I am sure the pros will step up with suggestions.

 

[WES1977]

very nice first car. You will never forget it. I think alot of us don't know what we are doing when we first get these things.

 

[woody]

you do NOT want advice from me on bodywork (I will suggest not rolling it over tho.... )

CONGRATS on the new ride....I recall buying my first FJ40 at 22 and had never even changed my own oil....you'll learn a TON in the coming years!!

 

[Flinny]

Welcome to the board!!!


The cruiser looks to be in great shape and it should not take a lot of work to enjoy it..you are always welcome to come by if you want some help.


Congrats!

 

[MarcoPolo]

Great lookin truck you got there! Watch out for the boys now..... envy 101..... girl with FJ40

 

[GarnerFJ40]

Good luck! I hope my daughter will do the same in 15 years!

 

[shinton]

When you are starting an older project like this, you will find two things in the bodywork.

The first is rust... some of this rust will be all the way THRU a piece of metal and some will simply be on the surface.

The second thing you will find as you start to use a grinder (to grind off the rust mentioned above) is plastic / fiberglass / bondo. Lots of names/products used over the years to fill in small dents or even those HOLES where rust has gone thru.

I will ask my pop (he did bodywork for years / is rebuilding himself a 46 Willys now) about how he starts a project like that, but the answer is going to be with a grinder. (I will get specifics on what material on the grinder / sandpaper or something more abrasive)

TOOLS:

We use a big air compressor, and then we buy AIR tools, what this does is the AIR is the "engine" and so instead of buying lots of electric tools, each with their own "engine" you invest in the compressor and the rest of the tools are much cheaper (no engine in them to buy over / over again) Not sure what tools you folks already have so just wanted to mention that.


This is REAL basic, but what you will do is use the grinder to sand down that spot and then see what you have. If it is just surface rust (I don't think so based on the pic)... then you will literally sand off all the rust, then you will spray primer on the area and then paint it.

Assuming the rust is all the way thru... you will clean the entire area up with the grinder (sharp edges in that hole) OR you will see the basic dimensions of the hole.

THEN, what we do is CUT out the rusty part and then weld in a new piece of metal to replace it. Since that is a nice flat piece of metal, this will not be that hard to do. The metal can be scrap (found off an older car / pieces you have laying around) or we buy scrap at local scrap yard to use.

In our case, dad uses aceytlene (spelling WAY off there) gas to BRONZE in the new metal. BRONZE means using a brass rod (coat hanger) and it is much lower heat than actual welding. The brass gets hot and essentially acts like glue between the two pieces of metal. (The new metal would be placed BEHIND the current piece)

Then a bit of bondo (and grinding) to make the area smooth again and then primer and paint.

I am not sure what all pictures we have in there but look thru my dad's WILLYS folder in my webshots account. You will see LOTS of fabrication and "bronzing" in of metal panels, etc. Will give you some visual reference to what I am talking about.

OK, HINT #2... your local high school votech probably has a body shop and they usually love little projects like this. You/your dad might want to consider that road if you are not wanting to do the body work itself!

Here is links to pictures, look for the BODYWORK folder to see a couple examples of the grinding / bronze / bondo

shinton1970's photos and albums on webshots

Oh, congrats on the new rig, ALL the boys will be jealous and the girls too (cuz the boys will be drooling over your rig!)

 

[shinton]

(Hey MTBCoach, Got this from Dad.. good luck on your project)

...

ADVICE FROM SAM’S DAD: DO NOT LISTEN TO SAM J. Actually most of what he said was right on track.

Admittedly , my first thought was the vo-tech at school or local Jr College . Not only are they interested in this kind of project; 90% of them are boys (your dad might consider that) who are really interested in a girl who owns a FJ40. AND, some of them would be the kind your dad would like (doubt that he cares for guys in the ballet club).

OH, the FJ --------

1st, do not wax anything; the wax will cause you problems when it comes time to paint. USE Ajax and a scrub brush (like the one for cleaning tires) and wash all the rusted areas. I think a lot of it is just rust stain on the paint. AND I am sure there is a fair amount of Bondo.

THEN, take an ice-pic (or sharpen an old screwdriver to a fine point) and simply try to push it through where the rust appears. If it goes through, you have “rust through” and the rusted part of the panel will need to be cut out & a patch welded (or brazed in). IF it will not push through, you just have surface rust and it will just need sanded down, treated, primed & painted. IF the ice-pic goes through , but acts much like it would if you were sticking it in wood, there you have bondo (body filler).

Not all bondo needs to be ground out and repairs done. Unless you have rust through or cracks or bubbles, then it is probably OK. Why fix something that is already fixed and holding. BODY FILLER always gets a bad rap – unless you are an absolute perfectionist (with a lot of $$$), bondo is a GOOD thing.

Do look at the pictures of the Willys – or the other things I built for Sammy for ideas – see his $80 paint job article ; it is a lot like this project.

Cheap Paint - The $80 Paint Job - RUST-O-LEUM for our Jeep - March 2005 Off-Road.com - - Jeep at Off-Road.com


ON the brazing; he described it about right. THE “clothes hanger procedure” is actually welding – does take more heat- With welding you have to melt both pieces of sheet-metal & the rod (clothed hanger) at the same time and let them flow together. One of the disadvantages of brazing is that ALL the melted flux must be cleaned off or it will cause bubbles under the paint later on. MOST people to day will just use a MIG welder for all this – they use less heat / more concentrated /& solve the flux problem.

NOTE: When I was in high school (long tine ago) a friend was good with crafts, so he learned how to do the body work , but had no place to paint. SO, he would buy an old car , do all the body work, then sand and get it ready for paint, then go to MACO (actually Earl Shibe’s back then) and have them paint it - worked out reasonably well for him.

IF you plan to paint. Get ah HVLP (high Volume Low Preasure) paint gun and you can use a smaller air-compressor and will have less waste & pollution. Paint & material is expensive. BUT, Tractor supply has several choices in white + many other colors. Their acrylic paint is just as good as anyone else and sells for about $30 a gallon and the hardner is about $12 ( you do need that for drying & shine). At many paint stores you will pay $180 to $280 0r more for the same thing. They also have good primers, etc. at Tractor Supply.

There it is , For all its worth,

the real Sam Hinton

 

[southerncruiser62]

Welcome to the board, and for that matter ONSC.

Looks like you got yourself a very good base to start with. It will be a fun project for you and your father over the next several days, months, years.....I to this day remember purchasing my first cruiser. It was a 1972 FJ55-and it was in no way the condition of the project you are about to start, much worse I must say, however being 14 at the time I had a few years to get her up to par before putting all 6,000 lbs of her on the road.

You will thoroughly enjoy undergoing the project and will likely take that much better care of the cruiser because you put a good portion of your own time into it.

Keep us posted on the project, we should check with Joe and see if we can't get a project article on the club site so that progress can be posted there as well, granted you all are willing to do so.

Look forward to seeing the progress.

 

[jfz80]

Welcome aboard!!! Congrats on a great new ride and even greater journey w/ Dad getting her up to snuff. Enjoy as it will be memories for a lifetime and youll come out w/ a nice ride too

 

[1974FJ]

hey mtbcoach's daughter..... great looking 40!
I will tell you that having something that the two of you can work on will be a great experience. I got my first car(74fj40) when i was 15 and i spent so much quality time with my dad and sometimes my older brother. It was well worth it, hope your experience is as grand as mine has been. Goodluck!

Martin Hovis

 

[lt1fire]

Congrats on the purchase

 

[swim_n_set]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I really appreciate hearing someone's advice besides my dad's.

Now my dad is thinking that we should take the body off of the frame and have it sandblasted to remove all of the rust. Any thoughts or advice on this, such as how much work it will be to remove the body and how long it will take?

 

[Hogan]

Congrats on the 71 you are a luckey girl.

 

[nc_fjizzle]

FJ40s are some sweet trucks.

Your dad is a pretty knowledgeable guy from what I've picked up, so I'm sure that 40 will be a pristine rock crawling machine in no time. You planning on taking it to school?

Will

 

[GarnerFJ40]

I'm in the process of taking my second down to bare frame and having everything blasted/sanded/primed/painted. It's not the tear down that takes all that long, a day with the whole group could probably make little work of it, it's the build back up that's going to take awhile.

And you won't be able to drive it! That's going to be the part that sucks... That's why I kept #1 in driving condition, and #2 is the long term project truck.

Bring it to a meeting, and we'll give you a report card on it!

 

[Flinny]

I would first drive it and fix the major rust before taking the body off and do a major resto. That is what we did on our first cruiser and took us 1 year to restore it. Once you start taking things apart you wont stop until the last nut and washer....."while I took this out I might as well take this one out..." ......

I would saydrive it first and enjoy it.... do the necessary work to get it safe on the road and the then work on the major rust spots.....Just with that you will have your hands full for weeks....just my thoughts...

 

[Mtbcoach]

I also want to thank everyone for the warm welcome to my daughter and the help/advise with our project.

I think that Maria said it best..."once you start taking things apart, you won't stop until the last nut and washer". That is exactly what I'm feeling now. I start poking my nose here and there and want to fix it all, now.

We have until the end of Oct, that is when she can get her license. I need to control my obsessive need to just tear it all down. Thanks for helping me put a governor on me. And, I'm encouraging her to ask questions here as a way to reinforce "the plan", so that she can get some insight from others who may have more experience than her dad.

Thanks...