Builds 1968 FJ40 Build Page "the rocky road"

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It's getting there. I put it all in place to measure everything and then pulled it again to prep to weld in the mounts, I've worked everyday in April besides the 1st so I haven't had time to do a lot yet. Now I am severely jet lagged hahahah!!! I should have some time this weekend to get a lot done!!
 
Ok, finally got the engine in, the mounts are welded in, the ram horns clear everything, got the clutch and everything assembled and the engine mated to the trans. Tomorrow will be the start of crossmember time, I will get the trans strapped up so I can start to take measurments.

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Update!!! So I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately, and the ones I have are crappy, but I have to share.....
I have done so much work in the last 2 days, but I have almost nothing to show for it....I bought the 'Fancy' wire loom from Amazon and then returned it for the "Split" 'Fancy' wire loom, so I used that as much as possible in the engine bay. I also purchased all of the grommets I could find. I pulled the drivers side fender, so while I was there I touched up all the paint I had done before, and I did the same for the firewall.

-moved my steering box up 1 washer width and moved it over a Half inch.
-tightened up a steering rod that was loose
-finally ran those defrost ducts (that I never had)
-cleaned then primer-ed heater box waiting paint and reinstall
-Located and removed speaker wire (in my Windshield wiper circuit)
-removed a knot, yes, a knot of wire..WTF?
-Installed and welded up all the twin-stick linkage
-removed 15ft of unnecessary wire
-bolted the hump back down
-finally found my missing VDO water temp. sender (after 1 week of searching)
^^^Ryan, you saw the shop I am dealing with here ^^^:p:mad::censor::doh:
-wired said sending unit as well as oil press & tach
-threw dizzy in the engine (not timed yet)
-adjusted and hard bolted motor mounts
-ran turnsignal wiring back down fenders
-found a starter
-bolted up ramhorns
-found out ramhorns and Y-pipe aren't compatible:censor::doh::clap::bang:
-drank a beer:beer::flipoff2:
-measured for X-member and driveshafts
-found a drill press
-put drill press in my truck
-played with shifters, then adjusted them and installed boot
-re-routed fuel sender wire
-drained fuel tank and dried it, removed sender
-found fuel tank epoxy kit
-broke a brake line that I knew would break
-put a new fitting and double flare on the line now it is not broken but will brake without breaking


Here's some crappy pix:
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Everytime I take a step forward its two steps back, and I am starting to get very frustrated....I set a goal and fail miserably...I have to work through the weekend again so I am not excited that this past weekend I moved so slow. I am not even giving this thing the full frame off treatment, just a few little fixes here and there, but it has moved to a slow snail pace...
Here is my crappy interior lower firewall area before or some-what during... wires were a mess, so I straightened it up a little
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and here is after, I need to touch up the pedal arms and steering later, but no time right now..
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I should have really taken a little more time in here, but it is better than before...
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The driveshafts were lengthened and shortened and a dented tube was replaced on the front for $75...not too bad
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Then I touched them up a little with black acrylic enamel...no time for install tonight though...
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The front clip is back on, but I didn't even wash it, it is dirty....
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While trying to tack the radiator mounting brackets back to the lower tank I melted a whole in it, so after soldering the whole back up with a shole stick of silver solder I hope I got it closed up....
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So now I just have a few major things to do and I think I can give this thing a spin...
 
The warmer weather is messing with your head. You probably saw an asshat cruisin' with a topless TJ sporting a 3" bodylift riding on Interco Thornchickens thinkin' they da sh!t. I actually just saw this last week and had to laugh:D.

The light is getting bright in your tunnel young grasshopper. You'll be breaking that mill in before you know it. I'm still walking with a stick regarding Sparkle.
 
The warmer weather is messing with your head. You probably saw an asshat cruisin' with a topless TJ sporting a 3" bodylift riding on Interco Thornchickens thinkin' they da sh!t. I actually just saw this last week and had to laugh:D.

The light is getting bright in your tunnel young grasshopper. You'll be breaking that mill in before you know it. I'm still walking with a stick regarding Sparkle.

Bahahaha, well put, I needed a good laugh!
 
Crossmember Day

Well today was a sucky day at work, so I decided to release a little stress by welding and drilling metal...and now I finally have a crossmember.
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Soo much crap in my way...
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Now I just need to tighten up all my bolts and add another bolt to the mount and everything should be good to go down here...
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I just need to clean all this ugly rhino liner off my frame now, and oaint the rest of it up....
 
Well I had to work through the weekend, so I didn't have a lot of time but I was able to keep moving!!!! I took the Quadrajet apart and cleaned everything up a little bit and put a new filter in it. I finally figured out my ignition issue I was having all weekend, my coil wire was on hooked to ACC from the ignition switch, so it cut out when I went to Start....funny thing is the 1F and 2F both ran this way... there must have been another wire providing feedback that I recently removed or something....I poked a hole in the radiator with the torch trying to re attach the mounting bracket, so I just ordered a new one, its probably for the best.... My father donated a Moroso air cleaner, which I cleaned up and painted black, it doesn't look too bad.. The Advanced Adapters NV4500 shifter that was like $40 put 1st and 2nd gear conveniently under the steering wheel, so I heated it up and bent it over,while still allowing a coffee cup to sit in the cup holder for 2nd,4th,and Reverse!!! ;-P With little to no room under the engine bay, I termporarily sat the battery in a box behind the passenger seat. After installing that and the gas tank I ran ground wires everywhere (block-frame, body,-frame, battery-frame) I adapted my Walker 42087 Y-pipe to fit the bigger 2.5" ram horns and extended it to attach to my existing exhaust. And oh, I almost forgot to say, I turned the key and the beast roared to life...sounded pretty crazy with the Y-pipe off.... too crazy for a daily driver, hahaha!!!!! I have a few little things to piece together and the radiator comes in on Tuesday!!!! I can not wait!!!!
 
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I have a question for you. How much fluid did your NV4500 hold? I just filled mine with 4 quarts and it never spilled over the fill hole. It was supposed to only hold 3.75 but I'm guessing the adapter adds some capacity. That fluid is expensive!
 
Yea, it was insanely expensive, I asked the guy at the dealership, he said 4qts, I put all 4 in & let each bottle drain for a few minutes while I worked, I used a hose & hung the bottles on the hood, it barely started to seep out at the end. So you're probably fine!! Also in the future, I found out (after I bought mine) GMpartsdirect.com has them for around $15-$18 a qt. but I dunno what shipping is...
 
Yea, it was insanely expensive, I asked the guy at the dealership, he said 4qts, I put all 4 in & let each bottle drain for a few minutes while I worked, I used a hose & hung the bottles on the hood, it barely started to seep out at the end. So you're probably fine!! Also in the future, I found out (after I bought mine) GMpartsdirect.com has them for around $15-$18 a qt. but I dunno what shipping is...

Thanks. I actually put Amsoil in it. They make some marketed esp for the NV4500. It even said for NV4500 on the bottle. It was $14 a bottle. Still expensive but not $30 a bottle.

And I think you were right about the stinky stuff in my NV4500 before. Hopefully no long term damage.
 
Hey, awesome man, yea I am thinking next time I am not going to waste my money, I was just kinda in a hurry and wanted to keep moving so I bought the GM stuff so I could get back and fill it up. Glad you are getting everything back together yourself!! I am glad I could help, or at least I think so, hahahah!!!! at least now you have no doubt what is in there!!! I get the new radiator in tormorrow, I think I will be driving around finally!!!
 
I finally got the eBay "racing" aluminum radiator to fit the support with a little trimming. After I started adding water until it was pouring out of the block, I realized I had left a water pump bolt out....that only took 30 minutes to fight.... Adapting the throttle cable was pretty straight forward, I used the same exact pieces I made for the 2F. Then I started if up & let it run, and started troubleshooting my alternator issue. It turns out I spent all that time cleaning up a bad alternator, so I just used the GM 1 wire alt. that was still bolted to my 1F & I am good to go. With everything done I took it for a spin around the block late last night. Everything seems to work fine, I'll post more pictures soon. I'm so happy it is finally up and running!!!
 
Well, I haven't taken any engine bay pix yet but, the Landcruiser is officially on the road again!! Everything is running really smooth except for power steering, I'll have to take a look at that when I get a chance... I can tell I have the NV4500 with the lowest 1st gear ratio, it really crawls in 1st, and the engine has plenty of power...All in all I am very happy right now

These pictures are before I spent $10 at the carwash going over everything!!!

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After doing all the work to the front of my frame I noticed how crappy my shocks were
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I cleaned them up a little bit and here they are, and I had new black boots left over compliments of my S10 superlift
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I also drained and filled my axles, cleaned the breathers, and changed the drain/fill plugs with the allen magnetic plugs....
Now I am pretty sure my rear shocks are too big, what do you all think??? they are the pro-comp eliminators, which makes me think I have the Pro-comp 2.5" lift springs...... but somehow these rear shocks are too big!!
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Cruiser buddy!!!! I don't know whos more excited...
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Well today was another set back, I went to the garage again to tune the carb up since it was giving me a fit all day, and I decided to tighten my wheel bearings first, of course they were bad, so I pulled everything apart and hopefully I will have new bearings by tomorrow...while everything is apart I decided to clean up my Warn hubs
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Also I put it on the lift and the passenger side rear was leaking brake fluid so I bought some wheel cylinder rebuild kits, we'll see what it looks like when I pull the drum again tomorrow...

Also this got me thinking, if I am redoing my bearings and plan on upgrading to a disc front axle/knuckles in the near future (I hope really near future) can I just swap these newly installed race/bearings/hubs into the new disc brake axle ????
 

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