Builds 1960 FJ28L - Project Lara

[nuclearlemon]

those are correct, but the bolt is not. the bolt is a common "fix" when the pins wear out

 

[HelloKitty65]

An early hood hinge discussion, with a picture.

Wanted - Early hood hinges

Like the title says.... I believe the early ones have some markings on them like bJxxx (where the xxx are numbers. Preferably tan but i'll take whatever color as long as the hinge moves freely and is not frozen (mine were take off, chromed, then a bolt used to secure the 2 pieces as...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[scoobiedubes]

Thanks guys. Does anyone have a source for the pins or have folks just made them?

 

[Land Cruiser Junky]

Here you go brother... a LV front passenger side regulator and an FJ28L Ashtray. This ashtray was found on the FJ28L, FJ35V, and the very early 45LVs. The regulator is an extra that Marv Spector gave to me. Just like the ashtray, they were both meant to go to you. Years back when I was turning my 45LV into a 35 I saw the ashtray at SOR and said to Marv, "Hey, that's the ashtray that was on the FJ35 dash." He just said, "Take it." Since then I've decided to leave the LV dash as it is and the ashtray has been sitting on a shelf. I'm really glad to be able to help you check things off the list. I also have the early split hood hinges you're talking about. I believe one has the pin still in and the other has a bolt. Mine both have "BJ25" stamped into the top of the hinge. I'm going to clean them up and have new pins pressed in. When you find out what you need in door opening hardware post it up. I'll see if I can help out there as well.

 

[Land Cruiser Junky]

 

[scoobiedubes]

Those are beautiful! Thank you thank you. I’m heading to the shop in a few hours and will try to get to the bottom of our door and window hardware situation. I think we are in better shape on the window regulators than the door lock hardware.

Trickiest I think will be the ambulance door hardware - that seems to have been completely replaced and the stock Toyota photo seems to indicate it had similar hardware to the other 4 doors. In a pinch we could use 40 ambulance door hardware but that came so much later I’m hoping we don’t have to.

 

[cruiserdan]

1958 FJ25:

1960 FJ25:

1960 FJ28LVA: Almost certainly replaced at some point.

 

[cruiserdan]

1960 FJ28 pickup:

1962 FJ40:

1964 FJ45LV:

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

This thread is already turned into an epic source of information on 20 series and early 40 series land cruisers. Gene (@Land Cruiser Junky) I will put my 2nd dibs on two piece hood hinges. (Just in case Dan decides to restore and keep the one that came with “Lara”). I have been looking for them for many years

 

[Land Cruiser Junky]

Hello Archie, I had no idea that you were looking for the early hood hinges. Mine are basically in the same shape as Nathan's so he's not really in need of them. I will probably use them on my LV but will make the decision shortly. If I don't use them they're yours.

 

[Land Cruiser Junky]

Nathan, I am currently sitting in a doctor's office waiting to have a nerve test done. Electric shock and needles... "party time". I am reading your thread from the beginning for the first time. MORE GOOD NEWS... I have a set of 1960 FJ25 fenders in my garage. They are not perfect but are in very good shape and as you know are exactly what you need. If yours are too shot to use, they are yours.

It's just my personal opinion but I vote for one solid body color. To me it just has a classier more vintage look. I've always seen the 28L in my head as gray, but that's probably from looking at black and white photos. If you do go two-tone, I suggest almond instead of white. It also gives it a vintage feel. More comments to come I'm sure as I read through this thread.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Alright just spent a few hours at the shop today, game planning, stressing, getting excited, more stressing, yada yada... but I took a lot more pictures. Every time I look at this thing I notice something new.

On the hood hinges, I posted a couple of better pictures in the original post above - those pictures from @cruiserdan are super cool I didn't realize there may be stamping on them, will be anxious to see them come back from blasting in a few weeks (and PS - that FJ28 pickup is gorgeous). So it looks like I may have original hinges, some good news? Just need to figure out a pin for it which shouldn't be too difficult. The hinges themselves actually seem to be in decent shape on closer inspection.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Nathan, I am currently sitting in a doctor's office waiting to have a nerve test done. Electric shock and needles... "party time". I am reading your thread from the beginning for the first time. MORE GOOD NEWS... I have a set of 1960 FJ25 fenders in my garage. They are not perfect but are in very good shape and as you know are exactly what you need. If yours are too shot to use, they are yours.

It's just my personal opinion but I vote for one solid body color. To me it just has a classier more vintage look. I've always seen the 28L in my head as gray, but that's probably from looking at black and white photos. If you do go two-tone, I suggest almond instead of white. It also gives it a vintage feel. More comments to come I'm sure as I read through this thread.

My fenders are definitely way too shot to use, are yours 3 or 4 bolt? Looks like this one had 4 bolt, but as I understand it if yours came from a 1960 they're probably 4 bolt too? Let me know would love to have them if they'll work!

And I agree on the paint would not do a white on it, probably more of an off-white (maybe cygnus? or is that still too white?). I'm going up to visit my sister in Eagle, CO with my little 4y/o daughter tomorrow for a few days, and she's the one that was going to "model" some colors for me. So maybe in real-time I can sit with her in the evening after the little lady goes to bed and we can try a bunch of different options. Won't be painting for a while, but would be exciting eye-candy to post up a few options. I can tell you one thing, Red is off the table now that I've seen that 28 that's on bringatrailer - I don't want there to be any similarities with that thing.

Alright, on to some pictures from today... first, this little step behind the front fenders is in REALLY bad shape. It looks like it's the same as the LV's though, so worst-case I could pull one off the LV and we can make some more if nobody has any. I remember all my 40s had much bigger/longer front steps, but the earliest 40 I ever owned was a 72 so maybe this part is available, maybe not? Please chime in...

 

[scoobiedubes]

Front marker lights, the ones on the LV are definitely different and are the marker lights that you can still buy new from Toyota. The ones on Lara are a lot pointier and look narrower as well. Are these original to 20-series? If they are, at least the lenses appear to be good but the bezel I'll have to find for one of them. If they're not original, I think I can use the same ones that are in the LV. By the way, I feel like a bad dad - I have a name for Lara but not my LV. I guess I better name that one too. Original owner was geology professors down at U of A from 1966 to 2010, so maybe Geo? Rocky? Anyway, marker light photos

Also, some photos of those rear tail lights. We will see how these clean up, the access panel on the inside is pretty cool though. Someone homemade a cover for them, we will have to try to make something cleaner/nicer.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Photos of the battery tray, I don't know why but I think this thing is really cool - probably since every other FJ I've owned had it in the engine bay I guess. It's in rough shape but shouldn't be too difficult to restore as it's a pretty basic construction. the battery tray itself isn't too bad, and the lid is in good shape, but the lip in the floor needs work.

Can anyone confirm that this transmission hump is not original? Doesn't look it to me at all but before we do anything to it would like to know for sure. I'm anxious to get the transmission itself out of there and a better look at it. The shifter has been modified obviously but hopefully that can be remedied. If you look closely at some of these photos up front it looks like we have the original seat mounts in there actually. I'm torn about this news, on one hand cool to have them on the other hand certainly different from the LV seat mounts. Does it maybe look anything like the mounts for an FJ25?

 

[scoobiedubes]

On to the doors - and its as I feared, we basically have nothing inside of these doors outside of a couple of coat hangers. We have one door handle on the inside that doesn't really look like the LV's at all and I don't believe is original. So basically 0 door mechanisms. So if anybody has some, that would be a huge help. We have a guy that can make parts with casting, so might be able to piece some things together using the LV as a template. Also some of the support brackets inside the doors have been cut out and will need to be remade.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Haven't taken any of this apart to look closely but will be interested to hear if any of the pedal assemblies are original. Certainly that floor dimmer switch is not.

Similar spare tire mount to the LV - there was someone making these recently I need to get in touch with them and see if I can put in an order. This one has been remade but not very well.

Gas filler cover is definitely a rough homemade job. I'm not sure how this should look, probably not too much different just cleaner? Any thoughts?

 

[scoobiedubes]

I hesitate to ask a question like this because I think I know the answer What's everyone think about the suspension - acceptable to replace with new or make the original work? My inclination is to clean up the original setup, but I've seen some very very well done restorations where all of the suspension is new and it didn't seem to bother anyone for "originality".

3rd picture is on the engine bay firewall passenger side - any idea what used to be mounted here? Someone welded something on aftermarket at some point but that one bracket lower on the left looks original.

4th picture of the brake booster, any idea what year this came out of? Couldn't find anything on the web about this PN. I see city racer has new OEM ones, still haven't decided what we're going to do with the brake system yet.

5th picture is of the existing grill, is this original? Its mounted too high, but hoping this is a keeper piece.

 

[scoobiedubes]

Alright last set of pictures for the day - anyone please let me know if I'm getting into the minutiae too much here and over-posting, but you all certainly know more about 20 series than I do. I just though this was really cool - the original mud flap brackets seem to actually be there! The night I won this auction I bought a set of the "almost Gifu" mudflaps from that eBay guy in Indonesia (maybe someone here knows him) that I used on the LV that looked great. These look to be beyond saving, but pretty cool anyway and should help us make sure we get the new ones correct.

 

[nuclearlemon]

Front marker lights, the ones on the LV are definitely different and are the marker lights that you can still buy new from Toyota. The ones on Lara are a lot pointier and look narrower as well. Are these original to 20-series? If they are, at least the lenses appear to be good but the bezel I'll have to find for one of them. If they're not original, I think I can use the same ones that are in the LV.


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those look aftermarket. look to see if there is a manufacturer mark anywhere