1966 FJ40 preservation/build (1 Viewer)

[daner]

I started a thread a few months back on the Diesel Forum for the mechanical build portion, but now that I'm wrapping up the mechanical stuff and starting the preservation part, thought I'd start a thread here so ya'll could follow along. Figured since I've been following everyone else's Fj25 and FJ40 threads, Id return the favor. That way ya'll could watch someone else suffer.

The truck is titled as 1966 but is a mid 1965 construction date. really towards the end of the "early" FJ40 style. It has been in Northern California/Southern Oregon for as far back as i can tell, and has been off the road for many years and was missing the motor, transmission, seats etc. I can see a faint sign painted on the doors, cant remember exactly what it says but when the light is right Ill take a pic.

On the positive side, it was relatively unmolested. The Lily white paint is original, no bondo or body repairs, no lift kits (other than the 5" rear shackle lift) or butchered sheet metal. It has a touch of rust on the rear sill, but other than that, really not bad. The corrugated roof is rough-i hope i can save it, but if I do go the restoration route this wouldn't be a good starting point.

A pic. yes, I know, she is not the prettiest damsel at the dance.

 

[daner]

For the last five months or so I've been focused on the mechanical stuff, and hadn't done anything cosmetically. I have a long weekend and thought I'd take a break from mechanical aspects and do something so it doesn't look quite as ugly.

This is how she looked when I got home from work Thursday night. She's a mess:

 

[daner]

Started out cleaning the pile of parts out of the back. Didn't find anything particularly interesting, just some rat poop and about a dozen wasp nests.

 

[daner]

The plan is to strip the paint out of the floor/interior and respray it before i permanently mount the gas tank and seats. I did my best to match the Lily White paint, but I suspect it will not be perfect. I'm not going to repaint the exterior. By noon or so this is where she was. I tend to work at a leisurely pace.

 

[daner]

I have pretty limited tools, $$$ and working space. Wish I had access to a real shop. as it is I'm tackling this while the wife is out of town so I can the get the mess cleaned up before she returns.

The quickest way Ive found to strip that stubborn old paint (alkaloid enamel?) is with a brass wire brush on a grinder. The stuff is tough and leaves a nasty taste in your mouth...should be wearing a mask I suspect...

So far the sheet metal looks pretty good. Very minimal pitting.

 

[daner]

Had to wait until our son came home to remove the top. Even with three people lifting the roof almost fell apart.

 

[daner]

Then I ran into my first snag. It took over two hours to get the rollbar off. Even after the bolt heads were cut off, that thing would not come loose. Ended up having to use the hi-lift to get that sucker out.

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

Cool project. From the distance it looks like mystery windshield unique to very last of cruisers built in 1965. These windshields had wiper motor mounting holes similar to FJ25's. Any chance of a close up shot of your wiper motors.

 

[daner]

Cant say I've ever heard of this "mystery windshield" you speak of, but here a few close-ups:

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

Thanks for the pics. Yours is not the mystery one. Here are few pictures of windshields from 1965 trucks (Both titled 1966). Check wiper motor mounting holes are similar to FJ25 windshields and both have 3 bolt rearview mirror mounting holes.

 

[daner]

Had to wrap things up early today, so didn't get as far as hoped. Probably wont be ready to paint this weekend.

Did have a little surprise when I removed the "Breaker 1-9" vintage CB radio antenna. Cream/light yellow paint. Than wasn't expected.

 

[daner]

And a slightly more pleasant surprise-the metal underneath fender flares is in pretty good shape.

 

[wichitakid]

Nice ride. I have the same 66/65 setup complete with top and cb antenna. I'll check out your mechanical thread too. Good luck.

 

[daner]

Didn't get as far as I had hoped. It still needs another day or so of prep work before I can shoot the interior, and I had a few hang-ups, specifically several switches on the dash could not be removed as the small screws were rusty/stripped. Since they are original and otherwise in good shape, Ill have to paint the dash with them in place. I have a Dremel tool with brass wire wheels that can get right up to the switch, not ideal, but it is what it is.

Several of the areas that can be problematic, like the drivers floorboard where it gets worn, or the rim where the hardtop sits and below the windshield were good. Don't think I've seen this much good metal since Twisted Sister opened for Ronny James Dio

 

[daner]

Every couple years I paint a car or truck. Every time I underestimate how much work it is! My amateur job pales in comparison to a quality professional job, but a professional job is not in my budget. My entire budget including the FJ40, OM617 turbodiesel, adaptor, Toyota 5-speed transmission, Toyota axles/custom driveshafts etc is about what a good paintjob would cost. So it is what it is.

And I must admit, I did every rookie mistake possible. Drips, check. Dragged the air hose through wet paint, Check. Overspray in bad places. Check. Etc etc. But, nothing that cant be fixed:

And a shot of the dash: You can definitely tell where The old paint ends.

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

I can't even dream of achieving 5% of your work myself. (not even in my wildest dreams). Looking awesome to me.

 

[daner]

Thanks! A little encouragement helps keep me going.

In various threads others I see that others have struggled to match Lily White (both of them), so I was concerned. My apprehension was raised further when the salesman at the auto paint store tried to match the paint under a florescent light. I could tell the color he matched wasn't close, so I asked if I could take their paint samples out into natural light and chose a match myself.
Below is a Lily White door access panel I used to match the paint. I painted half with the new paint, and the other half (with rust)I left. I let it dry to see if it matched dry (it didn't match wet) before I started painting the truck.

 

[daner]

And a couple more pics: Since I didn't know how close the paint would match, I had to make sure none of the new interior paint was visible on the outside. It isn't a perfect solution as the exterior has its share of blemishes and surface rust, especially where the hardtop sat.

 

[daner]

So goes another weekend. Still have a ways to go, but hoping to be on the road before winter.

 

[daner]

Whilst motivating with a little morning coffee, thought I'd back up a tad and give a brief explanation of the direction this FJ40 project is going.

Obviously, it is more of a preservation than a restoration (a very abused word). In a nutshell, I'm hoping to build a driver that looks original, is more reliable and can safely go 60-65 and get 20+ mpgs.

The modifications I have done so far (turbodiesel/ 5-speed etc) I tried to do so that they are not irreversible i.e. avoid cutting sheet metal, no bondo or welding on the frame etc. I did have to cut a hole in the transmission tunnel cover for the trans shifter, and a small notch in the sheet metal on the firewall to run a brake line. Both hurt. I am holding off cutting a hole for the transfer case shifter as I would like to fabricate a shifter mechanism using the the 1965 vacuum shifter lever on the dash to shift the 1985 Toyota transfer case.
Then again, if I had fabrication skills like that I would have figured out a way to have a column-shifted 5 speed...