Builds New here, no idea where to start. (1 Viewer)

[Nader]

Luckily, the knobs and other fasteners came loose easily. As a rule, every time I get a fastener off, I hit it with a little Tri-flow before reinstalling to avoid problems down the road.

I got excited about the prospect of freshening up the body cheaply with rattle can paint. I have the night shift at work, so I took advantage of the dry empty parking garage to shoot this thing. My plan was to get the driver side, and hood. I only got as far as some of the driver side.

Unfortunately, it was still cold, and the paint did not go on well. And it’s hard to see what you’re doing in a dimly lit parking garage at night. I need to be more patient. But I was also anxious to get it done before getting busted.

I left a minor mess behind. If I didn’t know better, it almost looks like someone bled out over there, and it was poorly cleaned up. My white lab coat also has a faint tinge of red on it. That will be a little difficult to explain to my patients.

 

[Nader]

Did some more rattle-can painting. Most of it is done, still need to do the front bib, windshield frame and the rear hatch area. I just didn't feel like masking anything yet, so I ignored those areas.

This paint is good at a glance, but much uglier if you get up close. I'd call it a "50-footer" paint job. We need to adjust the vernacular for internet images. Maybe call it a "medium resolution" paint job. Still, not bad for $12 and a half hour of painting outside in Seattle fall weather! Here are before and after shots:

 

[Nader]

Remember my issues with the relay for the "exciter wire" for the coil off the starter? I found that it was detrimental, and disconnected it. I was still bothered by having that extra dangling unused wire. I gave it some thought (I'm no electrician, but I have Holiday Inn Express grade thinking in my home shower), and decided that what is needed between the starter solenoid and the exciter wire is a diode.

So I soldered one up, covered in heat-shrink tubing, and installed it. Goes in to a double spade connector attached to the starter. Now it starts right off with two pumps of the gas. Then again, it did that before without the wire connected. I'm still going to call it a win. Because, no loose, unused wire! (Electrical engineers, please correct me if I'm wrong).

Oh, I see in this picture a loose, plugged, unused fuel line. That bothers me as much as unused wires. It will be corrected as soon as I get some decent weather to route the fuel lines to my newly restored stock gas tank setup. (Currently running on the auxiliary tank)

 

[Nader]

Here's a minor project. When I upgraded to the larger tires, the spare pressed up against the spare carrier, because of the extra width. So I cut up some 1" square tubing and made spacers. Also rattle-canned the spare carrier because it was getting crusty with rust. I chose to color the bracket and spacers white to tie it into the front bumper, top, and wheels. I plan to do the same to the rear bumperettes.

 

[Nader]

And for completion's sake, here's the gas tank pretty much done. Just need to run the sender wires to the gauge. For some reason, this last can of Gloss Classic Red doesn't seem to match the others which were closer to the Freeborn Red. Meh.

 

[Nader]

A keen eye will notice the curve on the left bumperette indicates that it is actually a right-sided piece. So I have two right bumperettes. The things you learn...

 

[Nader]

Just got this little gem for under $30. So pleased to see that its socket still works. Some of the best “small” money I’ve spent on this rig, aside from the rattle can paint.

 

[Nader]

So, this is kind of cool. For me, anyway, because I don't know much about electrical stuff besides basic wiring. As I mentioned earlier, I have an auxiliary gas tank out back (with its own fuel gauge), which was the truck's sole tank until I recently restored the stock tank and underlying sheet metal. So now I have two tanks, and two gauges. I didn't like the aftermarket gauge that went with the aux. tank. I wanted the stock fuel gauge to read both tank levels at the flip of a switch. After all, I have to manually flip a switch to select which tank feeds the engine.

Problem is, the sender for the aux. tank is different from the stock tank's sender, and doesn't calibrate with the stock fuel gauge. I tried, and even a quarter tank in the aux tank read out as beyond full on the stock gauge when I test-wired it. After some independent study, I learned that a fuel gauge is nothing more than a Ohm-meter for the resistance of the fuel sender in the tank. So I needed a way to adjust or calibrate the ohms from the aux tank to match the readings on the stock gauge. If I were meticulous enough to take careful multimeter measurements of the aux tank's sender between empty and full, then I could wire in the correct value resistors to compensate for the stock gauge. Instead, I took the lazy man's approach and installed a potentiometer so I could manually dial in the correct resistance to get readings on the stock gauge that semi-accurately reflect the fuel level in the auxiliary tank. Whew! That's a mouthful of electrical jargon. I tucked it in behind the dash out of view, but still accessible for further fine-tuning if needed.

Anyway, here are pictures of the highlights. So when I flip from stock to aux. tank, I just flip the toggle on the dash to get it's level on the stock gauge. So the ugly aftermarket and poorly mounted aux tank gauge is gone. Now I need to figure out what to do with its gaping hole. I might just install a block-off plate that will eventually serve as a CB mic mount.

 

[Nader]

With both tanks operating, I filled up at the local gas station. It's about $3/gallon for regular. Spent close to $100 filling it up!

In other news, I'm trying to finish up odds and ends on the truck before I get into more serious body rust repair. My latest mission was finding a bottle jack and crank handle. I already have the rods. I didn't realize these things were this expensive. When a seized up bottle jack came up on eBay, I snatched it. I was lucky to get it all apart without breaking anything. Especially since my methods employed an impact screwdriver, various hammers (smaller one to tap on the screws to break the rust free), lots of Kroil (giving Tri-flow a rest), and the blue wrench.

I'll clean it up a bit more, then grease and reassemble. Still need the crank handle, and the tools+roll. Pay no attention to that modified rear heater in the background.

 

[Nader]

Wrapped up the jack project. Wire wheeled everything, and greased it up with moly brake grease. Managed not to lose any of the ball bearings. Even got the red extension warning dot restored. Turns and extends very nicely. Ready for 2-tons of fun! I may or may not give it a light rattle can paint job.

 

[thebigredrocker]

Oh you gotta paint it. Nice work

Here’s a thread with food for thought
Toyota Land Cruiser Jack Reference (1958-84)

 

[Nader]

I don’t think I’m going to paint the jack, until I restore this floor area with its own fresh paint. Look how happy that jack is in its resting spot!

 

[TheHardWay]

I second that - I like the patina on that jack!

 

[Nader]

I had a big fuel leak when I went to work the other day. When I installed the stock tank and ran the fuel lines for it, I realized the return lines were indiscriminate, they were evenly split between the main and auxiliary tank. I kind of blew it off hoping the volume of return gas wouldn't be an issue. But it was. Turns out what happened with two nearly full fuel tanks was that the unused tank overfilled as fuel was returned to it from the carb. The solution, I now realize, is to have a valve to select which tank gets the return gas from the carb. Not sure why the PO didn't do that on the outset. Maybe he never had two functioning tanks. When I got the rig, it only had the aux. tank in use, and the lines for the main tank were plugged.

So tonight in the cold, dark and rain, I installed another brass selector valve for the return lines. Firewall real estate to fit a bulky valve was limited, but I managed to shoehorn it in amongst the wire harness and brake line. In the engine bay, it's the shinier one on the left. Now, when I select a tank, I also have to select a return route. Mo' switches, mo' fun!

 

[RAYJON]

try and find a 6 port valve, from a chevy truck, they are expensive new but pick and pull has them on occasion, look up 73-87 chevys with dual tanks, last time I checked the new valves were about 130$, but it solves your problem and eliminates the need for 2 valves.. nice work by the way keep plugging away...

 

[Nader]

I was looking for a period-correct radio to fill in the gaping hole where the old radio went. Would be nice to have a CB, too. In my research, I stumbled into this ad, which I think is awesome.

 

[Nader]

Well, that kind of 40 year old advertisement worked well enough for me. I found this unit on eBay and snatched it up. I don't think a vintage '76 Panasonic combination AM/FM/CB radio comes up for sale, in nearly new condition, very often. What better for an FJ40?

 

[thebigredrocker]

Score! Made in Japan

 

[ginmtb]

Well, that kind of 40 year old advertisement worked well enough for me. I found this unit on eBay and snatched it up. I don't think a vintage '76 Panasonic combination AM/FM/CB radio comes up for sale, in nearly new condition, very often. What better for an FJ40?

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Awesome find! Are you sure though it isn’t too wide?

 

[Nader]

I worried about that, too. Checked it, and face plate fits perfectly between the lower dash pads! Honestly, I was so enamored with this radio, that if it didn't fit, I'd make it fit!