Builds 1963 FJ45LP SWB Fixed Top "Sweet Simplicity"

[middlecalf]

Good at first (through early January), then poor (through March), now good again. But here at our house based on my Davis weather station we’re about 4+ inches behind average moisture to date. Not as bad as NM or other SW states.

 

[middlecalf]

I’ve been mostly poking around the hills here not pushing the rig much past 2k rpm’s and 40mph. Took the rig to church today, Ola is about 25mi north of me, mostly paved road. Got it up to 60mph (2500 rpm’s) , and running up some hills downshifting into 2nd got it up to 3k rpm’s. A bit loud and cumbersome as expected, temps remained good.

After service I popped the hood to check oil, fully expecting to need to add some . It looks like I’m getting a lot of oil blowing out the dip stick tube, did a good job coating that side of the motor for future rust prevention. Ran it much easier on the way home, only a wee bit of oil around the tube itself.

Even with the PCV (I’ll check it when cool to make sure it’s functioning) I’m getting way too much pressure in the oil pan, et al with the blowby issues. I guess I can’t push this thing much past 2k for very long.

 

[middlecalf]

So I’m now into dipstick theology .

Poking around, I came across this thread from the master Dipstick trivia - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/dipstick-trivia.925511/.

From this pic, I have one like what’s circled in red. It’s 15301-60030, and it doesn‘t work. It’s original I’m sure (or maybe I’m supposed to have the tinkerbell one?), and it used to work back in the day when the motor wasn’t having big time blowby parties (aka Hollywood ). Since this motor is “aged” the dipstick needs to seal better to keep excess anti-rust (blown oil) from coating the motor. So hopefully the 15301-60031
(the other’s replacement) stick, like circled in blue will keep the blowout from the blowby to a minimum.

 

[Lifelong40Fan]

Good theology keeps one from being a dipstick!

The one circled in blue is what I have in my '64 fixed top running a '72 F engine. It seals well.

 

[middlecalf]

Dipstick tech. The 60031 is exactly the same length as the 60030 non-tinkerbell one.

And it fits nice and snug in its hole. Hopefully that eliminates blowby blowout .

 

[EWheeler]

Dipstick tech. The 60031 is exactly the same length as the 60030 non-tinkerbell one.
View attachment 3014277

And it fits nice and snug in its hole. Hopefully that eliminates blowby blowout .
View attachment 3014276

I thought my F engine was leaking from the dipstick tube and turns out it was the oil filler. They are a very light "press" fit into the block and mine had zero interference. Just another place to check and try and eliminate leaks. I ended up buying another filler here on the forum and it fit into the block as it should have and eliminated my leak (from that one spot).

 

[middlecalf]

Yeah I sealed up the fill tube a while back as it was leaking as you say. It’s good to go now. The dipstick tube with the non-belled 60030 dipstick didn’t seal very well, and I was always getting some leakage with low rpm driving, not that big of a deal but annoying. But last Sunday, when I pushed the rig a lot at +2500 rpm’s and a few excursions up to 3000 I
think with my blowby there was enough pressure to force the oil out in more of a spray than drip or run. The 60030 dipstick wasn’t displaced, it just didn’t have a good surface-to-surface seal. The 60031 has a much more positive seal with the rubber. We‘ll see. Of course, I should fix the blowby, but that probably means a different motor. I have to be honest, I was half expecting this motor to blow up, literally, on the way up to Ola. But it didn’t, it just urinated over itself a wee bit. I guess when I get that old, I’ll be in the same camp . Wait a minute, I am that old .

 

[middlecalf]

Springtime’s finally here. That means green in the hills. And time to get the weed sprayer out .

Heirloom apples blooming.

I guess a poser shot officially commemorates the build .

 

[middlecalf]

Who knows what today will bring cruiser wise, but at least the morning started out refreshed here with nighttime rains.

 

[Lifelong40Fan]

Beautiful! Need a neighbor by chance?

 

[middlecalf]

Come on down/up? Lots of others have!

 

[middlecalf]

Fully Koito reflectorized now. Thanks Paul @hyhpe.

 

[middlecalf]

Come on down/up? Lots of others have!

And now we have graffiti “artists” .

 

[middlecalf]

Finally getting around to finishing the seats. Passenger seat was rebuilt a few moons ago, it is the original 25-style and got SOR 25 covers. Driver’s is a 1/2 gen later but needed a remake so the 25-style covers would fit. So started doing this…

and this (incl. shortening the height of the back and cover)…

and am right here now (mock up).

Need to grind a few zealous welds, repaint the frame and attach the stuffed 25 covers.

But the second group of dryland lawnmowers got moved into the high country today so no cruiser work, just horse cruisin’. The grass is incredible this year.

 

[Michael B]

Good work sir!

 

[middlecalf]

Seats done. Not a great job, but close enough. One of these days I might actually learn what a ‘62/‘63 FJ45 SWB fixed top had for a driver‘s seat. Until then this is what they have! based on all the pics I’ve looked at.

 

[middlecalf]

This is one of the pics/threads I used to figure out the seats. For tech, note that the seatback hinges mount to the lower bottom rail in D’Animal‘s rig, and they mount to the upper bottom rail on the mid-’63/‘64 seat I used. That makes it harder for me to slide the seat back and still have room for the seatback to clear the back wall. Huge deal for good fitment.

View attachment 817925

But then, maybe not. Here’s a pic from John Pardi’s @pardion immaculate restoration of an FJ25 a few years ago.

As you can see, the seatback hinges are actually attached to the upper bottom rail like mine, welded vs. bolted. But in either case if the seat is slid back, then the back slides also, which makes sense for a 25 or 40 because there is no back wall to interfere with. So unless I’m not interpreting these pics right, it looks like the very early 45 SWB fixed tops had unique driver’s seats that allowed the seat to adjust but not the back given the tight quarters.

still editing - the bottom position sets the angle of the seatback, so the above might not make sense unless as the seat bottom moves back the seatback becomes more vertical. Maybe?

 

[middlecalf]

And then there’s FJ40Jim’s earlier 45SWB (now @CHUOX17A ’s), this pic looks like the seatback hinges are mounted to the upper bottom rail (barely see it in pic).

@CHUOX17A do you have a more detailed pic of your driver’s seat you could share? Thanks!

 

[Michael B]

That’s good work Paul! Does the lower horizontal bar in the driver seat back touch you when seated?

 

[middlecalf]

Thanks Michael. No, it doesn’t touch, I was concerned about that but seems ok (for now). We‘ll see I guess after some time if the cushions get compressed. I used fairly dense foam.