Builds 1968 FJ40 Build Page "the rocky road"

[huminajumina]

I finally found a reasonably priced rear hatch panel for my cruiser, I've been looking for 3 years and I was able to get one for $36 in decent condition, still a little high, but better than $50 I suppose. I got it cleaned up and painted and threw on old hand on it, pictures to follow...

 

[huminajumina]

I painted the hatch panel black to match the panels on the doors, and cluster, I am not sure if I want to take them all back to factor color or not...

And then there is this.... it never ends.... all my plugs look good, and engine runs completely fine oil is clean so I don't think it is over pressure due to a head gasket, just a crappy ebay radiator...

The cruiser has been doing its fair share of work around the house lately...

And still doesn't overheat with this stupid leak, as long as I keep my eye on the fluid levels.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

I am having almost the same problem with my radiator, I bought the same one from eBay. A pinhole somewhere on the upper driver side of it. I capped the overflow line after my alternator ate it up, shortly after is when mine started to leak.

 

[huminajumina]

Where do I start...its been a while...

I took my doors completely apart again, new paint, weatherstripping, gaskets, and re-installed the new felts, also used a little new hardware when I had a chance... I welded on new tabs for the door stops, and for the first time in 3 years I have door stops

before

during

So I work on integrated electronics systems by day, and I am 27...I haven't quite gotten the patience thing down. I don't have a metal break or any real body hammers, I should have welded with .25 mig wire rather than .35 but I don't think it turned out too bad...

Also after grinding off 5lbs of Bondo, I didn't really want to put any back on, so there are obvious dents and dings that I left alone

Maybe that 5lbs of Bondo actually helped preserve the sides from rust, they were from New Hampshire after all

I apparently spent too much time with the 80grit and not the 320, there are a few spots where you can see where the die grinder was used instead of the D/A (once again, I am slowly picking up on the patience thing)

Also I am still relatively new to the Quality Welder Scene, so I haven't purchased a tank of Argon or C02/Argon mix, so I do a good bit of grinding after.

Also, I used my unique Redneck Paint-booth, it works pretty well in April, by May it attracts too many bugs!

Crusty hardtop midway through the paint removal. When I redid the gutter I had a lot of trouble with this hard factory paint. I some how scraped it all off with a 4" metal putty knife and hit the gel coat with a little 320grit on the D/A.

Here is a crappy pano of the workshop while I let the fresh paint setup

At some point during the painting progress I was driving the cruiser around topless and I heard I pretty big clunk when I tried to start it. I knew the used, remanufactured, really old starter I picked out of my dads scrap pile wouldn't last too long.

It was a little cold to be topless, but it was still fun!

 

[huminajumina]

So after all of the intense painting and sanding and grinding this past few weeks I was able to get a few shots out and about

I went down to the Outer Banks, NC this weekend for a half marathon, camping, and beach driving! It was a blast, I had a great time cruising on the beach. I saw a super clean FJ45 on the way to the beach, same color as my FJ40, it was pretty cool!!

Driving on some trails/roads off of beach road, I finally saw the F$#@ing wild horses after years of driving the outer banks.

After having wet beach dog, I strapped all of my camping gear to the roof rack to avoid having to clean everything when I got home!!!

My speedo cable broke so I don't know if it affected my MPG's or not

I stopped for gas on my 6 hour highway journey to the beach and pulling out of the gas station I had no power brakes or power steering, the engine ran well though. I immediately thought I don't have hydroboost, these are two separate systems, what is wrong? How are these two systems tied together? I don't get it... When I pulled over and lifted to the hood, this is what I found.

The two systems were literally tied together with my Speedo cable, it had pulled the vacuum line off the booster and bound up the steering shaft. After I cut it off I was able to resume my journey.

Here is the unusable Speedometer cable, of the two I have purchased in 3 years, this one was in better shape. I had to weld the cable core together after it snapped, but it was working mildy-decent for the past year. Now I welded the other cable core back together and taped over the burn spots, we'll see how it holds up...

Tonights Trail ride to the top of the mountain (crappy iphone HDR picture)

So what I didn't mention in all of this picture posting was that I:
replaced my 180* thermostat with a 195* now it runs 200-210*
broke the thermostat housing, had to go back to the cheap angle neck housing
added a throttle body spacer (meh....)
changed to AC Delco Platinum plugs
rewired dome light with reassembly
replaced hatch lock w/ original toyota lock
painted tag light, reflectors, hatch handle with Toyota Pewter color
replaced spring bushings (ordered greasable shackles and shackle bushings and spring pins)
touchup painted roof rack
used my old hilift jack mounts to mount it to the rack

 

[huminajumina]

I am having almost the same problem with my radiator, I bought the same one from eBay. A pinhole somewhere on the upper driver side of it. I capped the overflow line after my alternator ate it up, shortly after is when mine started to leak.

I disconnected my heater core (and flushed it) then added a tube of alumiseal to my radiator. So far I have been driving to and from work, mild offroading, trip to the beach, and I have had no radiator leaks. I even changed out my 180 thermostat with a 195 and no issues with the radiator. After a few trips to work I reattached the heater core, just incase this stuff had a chance in clogging it.

 

[huminajumina]

Lately I haven't been doing a lot of work on the cruiser, just putting on a ton of miles, I got an EGR block -off plate with free ebay points. I have done a lot of research on deleting an EGR valve with a computer controlled ignition system. It seems to run just fine, no difference on high octane or regular fuel. The EGR seemed to have a wierd cycling to it, sticking open at times. I have finished replacing my shackle bushings and added longer rear shackles to improve the shackle angle and rear sag.

In this image you can also see something is wrong with the fender flare...it may or may not have ripped off on the interstate and gotten hit by an 18-wheeler and then have some cheap fiberglass repairs.

Here is a better look at the extended shackles, which I picked up when I bought the front Disc axle and the new bushings top and bottom (top in black), as well as, greasable shackle pins.

Here are a few of the bushings:

The Front have stock length shackles with greasable pins and all new bushings.

I also now have an estimated 101,000 miles (this was shot a few weeks ago).

Half way through the summer I polished the wheels and cleaned up the break dust

I added a Willwood adjustable proportioning valve and now I need to redo the coils in the brake lines.

Then I went cruising and flying and had a fun summer...

Another solo flight, close to getting my Private Pilots license

This shot was taken after a fun day on the river at a friends family river shack

Not bad scenery

This is always a fun place to be

Shortly after this picture was taken, miles from anything, my 4wd shifter popped into neutral, I was in freakout mode for a good 5 minutes before I started to troubleshoot the issue and found the shift knob in the neutral position...

Rusty taking a break in Dolly Sods

WV mountains

This is a typical view on my landcruiser trips

I am always happy when I see this sign!

Driving through WV, using my GPS speedo since my odometer is accurate but my Speedo is not!

Camping at the family reunion, hit 16.9MPG somewhere along the way!!

 

[huminajumina]

Sometime during summer I spotted this guy in Frederick , MD. Freaking sweat!!! I kinda want a Diesel now! I wouldn't mind also having a 60-series!!!!

This thing looked pretty good, anyone know who it is?

 

[huminajumina]

After driving around with the Chevrolet 305 for a few years, I have started to notice low oil pressure at idle probably due to warn bearings. I have also suspected a blown head gasket. I was able to find a good deal on a Vortec 350 motor with a blown head gasket, (I figured it was better to spend the money on the 350). The Vortec 350 was from a 2500 it has 4 bolt mains, a roller cam, and the 906 vortec heads. So I stripped it down and cleaned it. I reassembled everything with new gaskets and seals, a fresh timing chain, oil pump/pickup, and the Vortec-TBI intake manifold $369 was not cheap!!!!!

I painted the engine the same as the last one, so they really just look the same! Everything bolted right in, and I had to install a new pilot bearing (the old one was smoked ???) When it came to the Knock sensor, I installed both the TBI and the Vortec Knock Sensors, I have not really noticed a difference yet.... The distributor was seized on the last motor, due to the low oil pressure. I had to press the shaft out and re drill the brass bushings to the correct 7/16" ID so the shaft would fit back in. I also had a fresh Chip burned by Brian at TBIchips, very useful and allowed me to get everything up and running before shipping out to Colorado!!!

 

[huminajumina]

 

[huminajumina]

I finally got a new shift plate to match my current set up, and I also spent the cash and purchased the new Dakota Digital Instrument cluster. I know some people are against all this technology in a 60's cruiser, but I must say that for the first time I have a working speedo and engine instruments.... I have 3 clusters in the basement and they are all a mess!!! (see earlier posts )

The install was pretty easy, I mounted the main unit in the glove box up out of the way. There is a CAT-V cable that runs to the cluster to power it. It uses the OEM fuel sender, and they provide a water temp, speedo, and oil press sender for their unit!

I am pretty happy with this thing! way better than:

 

[huminajumina]

Over the years I have been continously playing with the brakes, I finally broke down and bought a rear disc brake conversion from JT Outfitters. I have heard the many bad reviews they get, but I thought this was pretty simple and wouldn't have much room for error.

I was correct, all the parts showed up as described, I was able to put the rear discs on in an hour or two. Everything bolted right up and I was on the road.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

That cluster looks pretty sweet! How is Co? Are you still out there?

 

[huminajumina]

Hey man, I am home until Wednesday, then it is Mississippi! lets get beers!

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Sounds like a plan!

 

[Snowdogyyz]

I have a Dakota digital cluster as well. LOVE IT! Enjoy and great work!

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Hey man, I am home until Wednesday, then it is Mississippi! lets get beers!

Sounds like a plan!

I reckon I want in too!

Happy-Happy-Happy-Happy-Happy-Happy

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

AAAAHHHHHH Man you already missed out on the cold brew!

 

[Chungas Revenge]

It's just a matter of time my friend, just a matter of time....Had me a gander at the young Jedi knights project! He's got skills....Plot is starting to thicken...TLC serendipity

 

[huminajumina]

So I have been really busy lately, and I have not had the time to post pictures, or really work on the cruiser at all! So here is some more recent pictures from my adventures down here in the South! Honestly the top has been off until about mid Novemeber, then I was able to find time to get it bolted back on.

Here are a few from some bouldering and climbing adventures we have been on.

Some camping as well!!

Half of these canoes may or may not have fallen off on the highway prior to this shot.