1964 FJ40 “Hawkeye” vs Me

[sleepycruiser]

Alright…probably past due for a formal intro. I am a Cruiser guy like everyone else here. I’ve had a few 80s, a 100, and now a 200 and this 40. I’ve wanted a 40 for a long time. Almost bought one when I was in Tucson earlier this month, but it seemed like it might need some heavy lifting due to the cobbled together nature of everything. Fast forward and my MIL saw this one on Facebook from a friend of their family. Without going into detail, I was able to get a decent deal. Good bones, no crazy rust (just on the rear wheel wells). It came with a lot of extra parts for random years of FJs…

Anyway, we named it ‘Hawkeye’ bc it came from Iowa (my wife grew up there) and my kids decided that is what it would be called. Cranks up every time the battery has enough charge (see thread below). It has some electrical stuff I am trying to sort out. The horn is ‘attempting’ to work (see thread below) as well as the blinkers. I am thinking it needs an alternator and/or battery. I’ll get those tested this week.

Anyway…I will have a lot of questions…I will do my research beforehand…I’ll add a lot of pics in the hopes that some other ‘mostly’ inexperienced person that gets an FJ might find some type of value….or laughter. I am a 2.5-3/5 banana kind of guy…no idea how to rebuild an engine, never done brakes, but I have replaced alternators in our GX, radiator swaps, fluid changes, wiring, etc. In the 6 days I’ve owned this I can already tell I am going to be EARNING the right to drive this. Don’t yell at me for asking a load of questions.

A few threads from the last week:

First 10 minutes with ‘new’ ‘64….and this happened

I literally had it parked for 10 minutes in my driveway checking the lights to see what worked, etc. Drove down to the bottom of my driveway…brakes felt suspect, but stopped…maybe that is drum brakes? Anyway, started smoking/steaming. I unhooked the battery in case it was electrical…but seems...

forum.ih8mud.com

Question about my horns…

Ok, random title and probably a dumb question. Don’t laugh too hard. I’ve looked. Working on the FJ and NC requires me to get in inspected before they will give me a title…uh ok. So there are two horns under the hood and one appears to be original and the other probably added later, however...

forum.ih8mud.com

Electrical gremlins…bad alternator?

Been working through some gremlins this week on my ‘64. I noticed my blinkers and horn were not working. Re-grounded the rear lights and the blinkers started working. Mess with the relay for the horn and got those working for a second. I noticed yesterday as I was checking everything that my...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[sleepycruiser]

Another fun fact…I was going through all of the extra parts included and found some paperwork from the previous owner….found him on Facebook and sent him some pics. He was most appreciative. He hadn’t seen it in 20+ years.

 

[newmexicokid]

Sweet truck! Welcome aboard.

 

[sleepycruiser]

Sweet truck! Welcome aboard.

Thanks. Going to be some fun and frustration involved since I am learning as I go.

 

[middlecalf]

It looks like you still have all the vacuum feed and control necessary for the FD to be vacuum engaged, the FD knob was just moved over near the glove box. Your rig does not have the passenger-side factory firewall heater blower, therefore the FD vacuum engage unit is in that location and requires a longer FD cable. When the factor heater blower was introduced ('65 maybe ?) the FD unit moved more to the center of the firewall, and the FD pull cable became shorter. My guess is someone had to replace that cable (they are susceptible to rusting out) and could only find a shorter one, so they moved the FD knob location to near the glove box, hence the non-factory hole in the firewall below the VIN plate. So the remaining question is what is that shrouded cable or hose that runs along the top of motor, where does it go (in another post you said the TC) and what does it do? Also, what is the knob/switch/pull that's in the FD knob's original position that appears to be connected to this cable/hose? If it does go to the TC, could it be some sort of actuator for some type of overdrive? Is your parking brake drum directly on the back of the TC or is there another unit of some sort between it and drum brake and drive shaft?

 

[sleepycruiser]

It looks like you still have all the vacuum feed and control necessary for the FD to be vacuum engaged, the FD knob was just moved over near the glove box. Your rig does not have the passenger-side factory firewall heater blower, therefore the FD vacuum engage unit is in that location and requires a longer FD cable. When the factor heater blower was introduced ('65 maybe ?) the FD unit moved more to the center of the firewall, and the FD pull cable became shorter. My guess is someone had to replace that cable (they are susceptible to rusting out) and could only find a shorter one, so they moved the FD knob location to near the glove box, hence the non-factory hole in the firewall below the VIN plate. So the remaining question is what is that shrouded cable or hose that runs along the top of motor, where does it go (in another post you said the TC) and what does it do? Also, what is the knob/switch/pull that's in the FD knob's original position that appears to be connected to this cable/hose? If it does go to the TC, could it be some sort of actuator for some type of overdrive? Is your parking brake drum directly on the back of the TC or is there another unit of some sort between it and drum brake and drive shaft?

I will get a video tomorrow when I’m home and post it here to try and figure some of this out. I’m not sure how to activate/deactivate the vacuum portion.

I’m confused on the 4wd in general between the pull knob for 2wd vs 4wd by the glovebox, the gray upright lever to the left of that for hi/lo, then the ‘turn knob’ to the left of that with the hard plastic line running to the TC (I think), and then the locking hubs. Haha…lots going on.

 

[middlecalf]

Wait a minute, hard to tell from the pics you've posted in several places, but it looks like that shrouded cable (with the knob next to the upright hi/lo lever) wraps back around by the battery and goes back through the firewall near where your horn relay is mounted. If so, then maybe that is some sort of control for the aftermarket heat/air conditioner (is there a ac condenser upfront somewhere)?

 

[sleepycruiser]

Wait a minute, hard to tell from the pics you've posted in several places, but it looks like that shrouded cable (with the knob next to the upright hi/lo lever) wraps back around by the battery and goes back through the firewall near where your horn relay is mounted. If so, then maybe that is some sort of control for the aftermarket heat/air conditioner (is there a ac condenser upfront somewhere)?

There is a heater there…I’m not sure if it runs an AC…haven’t quite figured that out either, but there is a fan knob next to the random knob in question.

The shrouded cable does loop back in over by the horn relay. I assumed it then went down to under the vehicle. I’ll get under tomorrow and take pics.

 

[sleepycruiser]

Wait a minute, hard to tell from the pics you've posted in several places, but it looks like that shrouded cable (with the knob next to the upright hi/lo lever) wraps back around by the battery and goes back through the firewall near where your horn relay is mounted. If so, then maybe that is some sort of control for the aftermarket heat/air conditioner (is there a ac condenser upfront somewhere)?

Finally messaged the PO…he said the mystery knob is to pull out the kick panel vent on the passenger side bc you can’t access it with the heater in the way!! I told him I was afraid to mess with it bc I thought it might be something with the 4wd.

 

[middlecalf]

Wow, that's quite the mod for that functionality. Wonder why he put it where the FD pull was and moved the FD pull? (See my guess above)

 

[sleepycruiser]

Wow, that's quite the mod for that functionality. Wonder why he put it where the FD pull was and moved the FD pull? (See my guess above)

It is a cool mod…if it worked…haha. I can see that it is tugging at the cable to ‘try’ to work, but will need something additional to get it to function properly. Otherwise I’ll take it off and just do it manually…you can get your hand in there barely to do it manually.

 

[sleepycruiser]

Documenting only for 1964 FJ purposes in case anyone else needs this info. Also did the right of passage and unhooked the speedo cable…that was fun getting it back on. I was literally upside down with my feet on the roof.

2 speedometer bulbs and 1 bright light indicator bulb = 1445 Sylvania
2 Blinker indicator bulbs = 1895 Sylvania
4wd Indicator bulb = 1445 Sylvania

 

[Living in the Past]

Also did the right of passage and unhooked the speedo cable…that was fun getting it back on.

The screw on speedometer cable is fun. I found undoing the cable at the transfer case and slide towards the front. This take some of the sharp angle out at the firewall. Then move the instrument cluster just a little away from the firewall. Extra work but helps getting cable to start on the speedometer threads.

 

[sleepycruiser]

Got the rear seat frames sanded down, painted and replaced al of the old screws/washers with new stuff so it is shiny.

I also sanded down and painted some of the ‘removables’.

 

[sleepycruiser]

My passenger side windshield motor wasn’t working. Tested for power on ‘+’, checked the aground, and checked the ‘S’ for switch power. All of that tested good. I took the motor apart and at first wasn’t sure. Then I took some pics of it to send to another member and noticed that there were two very small wires that looked like they should have been soldered, but after 60 years might have come off. So I gambled and soldered them back…voila! It came back to life. I paln on cleaning each motor out and putting in fresh grease.

Now I just need to find some wipers that fit.

 

[sleepycruiser]

Rear seat frame before/after

 

[sleepycruiser]

Based on some feedback from Mud, Went with Rustoleum Massey Ferguson Gray. At first it looked a little brown, but settled down over night and seems more gray. Wire wheeled all rust off the back and front, cleaned up, primered and painted. Have only done the spare. Will be doing the other wheels within the next week or two.

 

[Mike Shull]

Very nice Cruiser, and the perfect year.

 

[sleepycruiser]

My passenger side windshield motor wasn’t working. Tested for power on ‘+’, checked the aground, and checked the ‘S’ for switch power. All of that tested good. I took the motor apart and at first wasn’t sure. Then I took some pics of it to send to another member and noticed that there were two very small wires that looked like they should have been soldered, but after 60 years might have come off. So I gambled and soldered them back…voila! It came back to life. I paln on cleaning each motor out and putting in fresh grease.

Now I just need to find some wipers that fit.

View attachment 3625684

So hot the motor working but it doesn’t ah e enough power to move the windshield wiper. Grease issue maybe?

I took the original fitting from the wipers and put it on RainX wiper (C-11 Conventional)…a little wobbly, so not sure if these are the answer when it comes to wipers.

 

[sleepycruiser]

Painted the jack extensions, handle and jack (still in progress). I used Krylon Farm and Implement Old Equipment Yellow as advised on Mud. The picture makes it look brighter than it is, although the cap of the paint isn’t representative of the color I don’t think. I also took some felt with adhesive (from a Velcro pack I had) and put it on the brackets so they won’t get scratched coming in and out. Worked very well! I’ll do that on the jack bracket as well.

I also swapped out my VR with a reman from Toyota due to my previous alternator quest that ended up being an unhooked up VR. My voltage went from 16.5v to 15-ish..so feel good about the change. Although the parts numbers were different, the red label (27700-40010) was the correct replacement for the black one (27700-4011) and I verified on Toyota parts.