Builds 1968 FJ40 Build Page "the rocky road"

[huminajumina]

Relaxing Weekend

Ok, update, I started making my corner channels for the top and then decided to take a nice long break this weekend for our annual float trip....I had a blast driving the FJ40 about 2 hours away without the top on, and I made it home this morning just before the rain... Had a blast floating with some good friends and I caught a decent catfish Friday night...I got plenty of compliments on the Cruiser I guess all this work is slowly starting to pay off... my gas mileage was 11.8 and 12.8 when I checked and started to stay off the gas pedal, then the speedocable broke again.....
Gotta love a good 'Ol camping floating weekend...

 

[huminajumina]

I started working on the corner channels, I decided to make the. Out of spare sheet metal & just weld them rather than try to bend metal


I ran out of wire, but once I got them welded up I ground everything down to imitate the factory bent metal.



Much better than the rusted out "spare" corners I had.




Here they are finally welded in, I just need to clean it up & start drilling holes

 

[huminajumina]

Well, I haven't posted in a little while, I have been working on the top, and having a fun summer, so it has been tough to keep tabs on everything....
The top is back on and sealed but I only primed the metal, I need to sandblast the top still... I kinda got in a hurry, but I think I can still make everything work out well....here is a little WV driving....

I still want to repair my sides, I think I need a passenger side, it has been dented and rusted and has a cheap weld to it...

Here is the National Radio Telescope in Greenbank,WV as much as I see it I figured I would get a decent shot, and a shot with the FJ40 in it....

you can kinda see it in the distance... and you can see I still need to trim down my corner channels, like I said, I got in a hurry

And another on Spruce Knob, WV's highest point...

Doritos...

The cruiser has been down this road before, but now with a V8, a 5-speed, mini truck calipers (used to have drums), twin sticks, no rain leaks, defrost/fog, window felts, and everything else I have been raving about it was a WAY BETTER DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bought a manual choke conversion kit for the ol Q-jet before this trip, and welded it on to the old toyota knob so it looks original, I also installed a new (my 3rd) speedo and yes it too has a broken Odometer mother #$%#$%#$^#$%#$%@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$
but I pulled it all apart before even hooking it up, freed up all the wheels and gears so nothing is broken everything looks good, I just need a thrust washer somewhere I believe..... a worm gear isn't meshing with the other gear.....

So much more to do, and so much I have already done, but I am still pretty happy with this little guy..... Oh and I rebuilt the center arm yesterday the steeering is much better..

 

[toomanytoyzz]

Your rig looks amazing!! Those pics are awesome.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Where is that creek? Are there trout in it?

 

[huminajumina]

Where is that creek? Are there trout in it?

That's in the Monongahela National Forest, in the Seneca Rocks/ Spruce Knob Area. This Is either the Ganby Creek or Dry Fork (depending how far down the road I am.) Seneca Creek is close too, all are stocked. Google Spruce Knob, then look for Whitmer Rd. that takes you out to 33, a lot of camping, hiking, views, & those creeks are stocked a few times every spring.....

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Sweet, I may need to take the 40 for a drive out that way soon.

 

[huminajumina]

I have been Busy!!

So I have been pretty busy, but I have still been cruising and tinkering!!!

I went to San Juan for work back in July...

And then Moosehead Lake, Maine

Mt. Washington, NH

Sunk a Canoe..

Went Skydiving...

Flew out to Austin, to visit friends...

....And all the little stuff inbetween. When I have been home I have been working on the FJ40 as much as posible. I finally rewired my Wipers so they use the park switch. I had to rebuild the wiper switch also, now they park at the top of the windsheild no matter when you turn them off!!! TONS OF THANKS to Coolerman!!!!! the site made my life so much easier->

http://www.globalsoftware-inc.com/coolerman/fj40/5G.htm

I had to replace my PS pump because it started leaking, and the belt still squeals, I am debating going to a serpentine set up,it is down to a factory GM set up or the Cheapest March dual-serp setup.... we'll see.

 

[ElHefe]

Excellent thread. Reread it for the second time. Keep up the good work.

 

[huminajumina]

Excellent thread. Reread it for the second time. Keep up the good work.

Hey thanks man!!!! I get so excited every time I drive the cruiser around. I have sooo many more things I want to do, but I am still proud of what I have and what I have done, no matter what!!!

 

[huminajumina]

Also, for what its worth (chime in if you read this) I have had horrible'er steering since the engine swap/Axle swap/Disc brake upgrade, not to mention my steering was only a fractional amount better prior to all of the front end work... I do have what looks like a 2-2.5" procomp lift (springs) that more than likely came installed from the PO's PO.... I have done about 3 tow-in adjustments, after a full axle rebuild. I am starting to think I am having a Caster issue after reading DGANGLE's posts (especially #19) on this thread https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/293665-castor-adjustment-camber.html
I think I might need shims, but riddle me this: Could my problem be the fact that the Front end sets at least 1"-2" higher than it used to because of the Engine/trans swap ????? hence changing the normal spring height and maybe a degree or two of axle rotation???

The cruiser likes to track the road. On a freshly paved road it is fine, on a road with tire tracks warn into it, it will jut left or right and jump from track to track very abruptly never actually driving straight.

Please feel free to shoot holes in this theory or offer advice or anything at all, I would like to put it on the lift and remeasure the tow-in and then measure my camber and determine if I need shims........

 

[daniel.watters]

Great build; great pics!

 

[huminajumina]

Thank you sir!!!

Great build; great pics!

No shoes, No doors, No problem...on the way to the pool to enjoy this sunshine after another day at work...5 more days till the weekend.....

I have some shims on the way, but until then I will just keep driving it with the deathgrip on the wheel....
***WARNING THIS IS AN EXTRA CRAPPY IPHONE VIDEO, BUT I THOUGHT I'D SHARE***

​

Anybody notice my Still not fixed odometer :-(

 

[Dubsack fj40]

Thank you for the post

 

[huminajumina]

Thank you for the post

Thank you sir!!!!



Well Shimver me Timbers......



Hopefully I can fix castor with these baby's & double triple check my toe-in...

 

[huminajumina]

Well I got the shims in, as far as I can tell the axle is now setting at +1 & I straightened out the toe-in & now it is 1/8" toe-in. The cruiser drives soooo well now, & I put new weatherstripping on the rear barn doors & bottom of the hatch to stop the rattles, as well as repairing my door latch & adjusting the spare carrier pad. Now almost all of my rattles are gone!!!

I turned down the idle speed & even w/ 87 octane it isn't dieseling anymore,

Also I removed the Rancho stabilizer to make it easy to turn the tie rod, and haven't put it back on yet b/c the stock stabilizer seems to be doing well enough on its own....

 

[huminajumina]

SCORE:
Kevin = 0
Speedometers = 1,000


So I have taken each of these apart numerous times & all of them, for the most part, have the same bad parts...

Speedo #1 (bottom left) 1968
Is mostly the original, it will work & read 10 over, but the odometer is exact...until this beach trip, now it just stays around 20mph all the time, odometer is still dead on. All odo driveshaft gears are severely warn.

Speedo #2 (bottom right). {$100 IIRC}
Got this hunk off eBay, early style, all parts similar to mine, Speedo spring is trashed, so speedo doesn't work, odo driveshaft gears are severely warn, main drive gear coming off input shaft under magnet is toast, this thing will be a nice shotgun target, Pull!! Also the odometer wheels are partial broke & missing the little gears.

Speedo #3 (Top) {$100 ...FML}
This is newer, the chassis is all Nylon/plastic the needle looks a little more modern, it has the VSS sender made into the speedo for early emissions computers w/ 2 contacts protruding from the back. As w/ the others all the Odo wheels were seized so I pulled everything apart & clean/lubed it. All odo gears & wheels are good, odo driveshaft gears are severely warn. Speedo spring is good.

A while back I put parts from #2 in #1 & cleaned it, reassembled it, & it was great for 6,000osh miles, then needle started to fluctuate & odo stopped....

I put #1's junk in #2's chassis (Oh hey girl!) and switched some shafts around then repaired my Speedo cable (let's not even get started talking about the cables).... This is where #1(I guess) started reading 10Mph fast....I think the cup & magnet were not interchangeable w/ each other....

Oh did I tell you that this frankenspeedo failed too....GAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I purchased #3 in June disassembled it cleaned it & installed it. The odometer didn't work (gears were too warn to mesh... But speedo was purrfect. Then last week it started growling & bouncing... So I put #1 (if thats what we're still calling it) back in after switching another shaft out w/ #2 (likewise) & I had the 10mph fast speedo needle but very accurate odo...

So this is the part where I say a joke:
three speedometers walk into a bar......just kidding

I put the best driveshafts from all 3 into #3 & will now put that in my cluster.....by best I mean far below tolerance, and by slightly I mean really F**K**G a lot!

If anyone has any speedo parts, whole really cheap not broken clusters/speedos, a bag of magic or a magic lamp please let me know....

Oh you wanna see the beach pics?
Here are the iPhone ones

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Stop driving over 100mph and you won't keep breaking em! JK, good luck with that crap. I might hit you up soon about steering and shims. My 40 runs all over the road, I'm starting to think I'm going to be spending some money for some castor shims.

 

[RAYJON]

Try a speedo shop and see if they can rebuild yours, may have to ship it off but can't be much worse than what you've spent already, nice build BTW...

 

[huminajumina]

Ryan, Hahaha, maybe I should!!! Yea, those shims and re adjusting my toe-in made a world of difference, maybe one day you can bring it over to the shop in Harpers Ferry and we can measure the angles and then put it on the lift and slide some shims in, don't buy any, I am pretty sure some of these will fit, you can just buy my dad a case of beer!

RAYJON, I agree with you, and that is what I have kinda wanted to do all along, but there may be hope. This last rearranging of parts has left me with a working speedo and odo in #3 and I have 60miles on the odometer.... we'll see how long this lasts! Thanks!!!