1968 FJ40 Jolene (1 Viewer)

[VA Mountain FJ40]

I decided to organize my ongoing project progress as a Build instead of scattering threads randomly across the tech section.

I’m going to have to pull a Star Wars … and start a bit after the middle. This is the story of Jolene, a 1968 FJ40 I acquired in 2021. She was well used and well loved, with typical aging and use issues.

Drove and enjoyed Jolene a lot. Came home on 4 cylinders one afternoon. Blown head gasket. Decided to do an engine and transmission update and redo the truck more to my preferences while things were apart. Had so much fun driving it around but it needed attention in areas, let’s get ‘er done.

The pictures below show Jolene the 1968 FJ40 right after arriving home in the Virginia mountain foothills…

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Having introduced Jolene and the general need to pull and replace the engine and transmission and address other issues I want to document my most recent work now, and backfill the the older work as time allows. So sequence might be an issue … hence the Star Wars reference.

I’ll try to encapsulate project steps individually.

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Install Restored Heater Box

Earlier I documented my adventures in restoring the original heater box. It was a rusty mess, full of mouse nests, but now it is restored and ready for installation.

I rejuvenated the blower duct connector seen attached to the heater box. The old rubber was beginning to crack in places, but I cleaned the connector with 90% isopropyl alcohol, and then treated it with spray rubber sealant several times over several days, allowing appropriate intervals to cure. It seemed to do the trick.

Sequence of operations matters on this task. If you do some steps out of order, you may not have room to perform other remaining steps.

Before I could begin to install the heater box, I needed to replace the old and torn defrost duct hoses that run from the sides of the heater box behind the dash to the base of the windshield.

Yes, I did have to go get the other end of the hose that was still stuck up under the dash. The original ones were pretty far gone.

I got two of these defrost duct hoses from SOR. They were a bit pricey, but they are extremely well-made, and precisely fit the duct connectors under the dash and at the heater.

Before installing any of the heater box, I highly recommend connecting the defrost duct hoses behind the dash first. It is a snug fit, but these hoses are just the right size. I was able to tuck the bottom hanging duct hose ends out of the way while we installed the heater box.

At this point, the sequence of steps to follow is:
1. Mount the heater box with loose screws leaving wobble room.
2. Slide the gasket from the heater box to the blower duct onto the blower duct body.
3. Tighten heater box bolts and fasten the 90° defrost duct elbows to each side of the heater box body.
4. Connect the coolant hoses from the heater box to the firewall hose inlets.

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Install Restored Heater Box

At this point, the sequence of steps to follow is:
1. Mount the heater box with loose screws leaving wobble room.
2. Slide the gasket from the heater box to the blower duct onto the blower duct body.
3. Tighten heater box bolts and fasten the 90° defrost duct elbows to each side of the heater box body.
4. Connect the coolant hoses from the heater box to the firewall hose inlets.

Mount the heater box with loose screws, leaving wobble room

Slide the big square gasket from the heater box onto the blower duct body.

You can see things are starting to get crowded.

Use a socket with a long extension to tighten the left 2 heater box bolts. A ratcheting box wrench is recommended to tighten the right 2 bolts for clearance reasons.

Now it is time to connect the defrost duct hose elbows on either side of the heater box. Remember to put a clamp on first.

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

4. Connect the coolant hoses from the heater box to the firewall hose inlets.

I used the old hardened coolant hoses that I removed from the old heater box and duplicated them with fresh new flexible hoses.

I found it a good idea to do a mock up of the connection first to ensure I was placing clamps where I could be able to tighten them once the hose was connected to the inlet.

I found out it is so much easier to do these hose connections with a little help. 90 seconds submerged inside a mug of hot water from the Keurig machine does a great job of softening and expanding the hose end.

Then squeeze a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid on your finger, and put a tiny coat inside the open heater hose end, it makes the snug connection to the firewall hose outlets much easier, especially in the limited space.

Once fully connected, ensure there are no bends or kinks in the coolant hoses. I made the inside hose a little too long, and had to remove it and trim it down to the correct length, and get rid of the slight kink in the hose.

Once you have the hoses seated on the firewall inlet tubes, you will realize the importance of proper clamp orientation when you go to tighten them.

… And that completes the 1968 FJ40 restored heater box installation.

 

[61twpw]

Great job and write up. Thanks for documenting.

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Transmission Hump Cover

Jolene’s interior floor had been covered in spray bed liner. I chose to go back to the original paint. It took a whole lot of grinding and wet sanding to take the hump back to metal. It needed to look uniformly good with the repainted blue floor pan up front. Usual paint sequence, surface prep, wipe, prime, wet sanding, wipe, top coats.

80% done on the prep

Now prime:

Top coats:

Jolene, a 1968 model, originally had column shift. One of the previous owners converted to floor shift. They cut a square out of the transmission hump cover and added a cover plate for the floor shift cavity. The cover plate needed love too.

I had a local welding shop fab a replacement:

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Some grinding and paint on the shifter cover. The shifter cover finish convinced me to take the tunnel cover all the way back to metal and repaint, as seen in the previous photos.

It was time to put the new shifter cover on the repainted transmission tunnel cover:

If the hole looks off center, it’s because Toyota made it that way. It’s 11 inches from the drivers side of the tunnel cover to the hole center, and 9 inches from the passenger side of the tunnel cover to the hole center. Just how it is. Jolene being a 68 model, still has the manifold vacuum shift to 4WD, so no second selector at the tunnel.

Time to put on fresh gaskets between tunnel and tub pan. Used this kit from SOR:

First I did a test fit to see how good the gasket set was. I give it 5/5 stars for quality and accuracy. Secured the pieces (with backing intact) to the tunnel with painter’s tape. Helped to sort out the pieces and figure out where they were gonna go anyway.

It was a really good fit. From here I untaped one piece at a time and installed them around the perimeter. The gasket adhesive was good, but I added a little bead of clear rubber cement to the edges before attaching each piece. To encourage the gasket pieces to follow the curvy surfaces faithfully, I used a butt load of gem clips to hold the gaskets secure and not lift up from the pan edge.

FWIW the gasket holes lined exactly up with the pan. Nice.

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Here is the gasketed tunnel after the adhesive cured and the gem clips were removed. The next morning the clip imprints in the foam rubber had pushed back up flush.

Next step is to renovate the rear heater hoses that run along the passenger side of the tunnel cover, and then install the cover.
Oh, the SOR tunnel gasket kit also came with a complete bolt and shoulder washer set for the tunnel cover, which was also nice.

 

[matzell]

Good looking 40!

 

[mtn biker]

Having introduced Jolene and the general need to pull and replace the engine and transmission and address other issues I want to document my most recent work now, and backfill the the older work as time allows. So sequence might be an issue … hence the Star Wars reference.

I’ll try to encapsulate project steps individually.

I think most of the build threads start out like this. It isn't until a lot of work happens that we are like you know what this would be a good build thread. n

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

This is Jolene ready to receive her new tunnel cover.

The new tunnel cover is on. It was a whole lot harder putting the M8 bolts back in then it was removing them to remove the tunnel cover originally.

Definitely take your time. It was useful to use a Phillips screwdriver to help align the tunnel cover holes with the nut wells in the floor pan.

I will leave installing the gearshift and the rubber shift boot until next time.

 

[rainingagain]

This is Jolene ready to receive her new tunnel cover.

View attachment 3975847

The new tunnel cover is on. It was a whole lot harder putting the M8 bolts back in then it was removing them to remove the tunnel cover originally.

Definitely take your time. It was useful to use a Phillips screwdriver to help align the tunnel cover holes with the nut wells in the floor pan.

View attachment 3975858

View attachment 3975862

I will leave installing the gearshift and the rubber shift boot until next time.

You need one of these before installing the fuel tank... What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/what-have-you-done-to-your-land-cruiser-this-week.255593/page-1974#post-15820528

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Gearshift and shifter boot installed.

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

You need one of these before installing the fuel tank... What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/what-have-you-done-to-your-land-cruiser-this-week.255593/page-1974#post-15820528

I have the passenger floor plug/grommet, fresh gas tank pads, and a new gas tank drain crush washer ready to install. Big thanks for the kind reminder and link!

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Front Bib Restore

Jolene’s 1968 front bib has been sitting on my shop floor for over a year during the engine swap. It was time to go ahead do its restoration.

I have seen some… um… unfortunate YouTube vids that do a terrible job of showing how to remove the front bib.

This picture borrowed from SOR shows the parts in an early FJ bib.

It is *not* necessary to disassemble the bib for removal!

Remove the five M8 bib flange bolts and nuts from each side. Unscrew the wire connectors for the headlights (3 per side) and signal lights (3 per side) from the fuse bar on each inner fender well. My early FJ did not have modular plugs between the lights and the fuse bar, so had to be removed from there.

Now, remove the two M10 horizontal bolts from the bib hinge. That’s it. Now you can lift the complete front bib assembly off the truck and do further work with your bib project on a flat bench surface.

Note the can of Kroil penetrant on the bench. It plays an important role in the following bib disassembly steps. Yes… Kroil is breathtakingly expensive compared to some other alternatives. I learned the hard way Kroil is best and any money saved on cheap substitutes will be spent in frustrated attempts to remove rusted and frozen fasteners in old equipment. Kroil makes my FJ restoration experience so much easier.

Starting at the back of the bib, let’s get Kroiling.

Two M8 x 1.25 x 25 bolts in the crossbar center channel hold the TOYOTA badge on the bib grill in place. Kroil them.

Four M6 nuts with washers fasten the bib grill behind the bib body. Kroil them. Two tiny (M4?) nuts with lock washers fasten each turn signal lights to the bib body. Kroil them.

The flat circular anchor plate on back that surrounds the headlight bucket contains six screw holes. Two are bigger, and don’t have captured thread surfaces. The two larger screws at 9 and 12 o’clock are headlight adjustment screws. The white plastic grommet surrounding the headlight adjustment screws don’t need Kroiling — they come intact out of the bib headlight bucket hole. Kroil the remaining four threaded screw holes around each headlight bucket perimeter.

That’s it for the back. Flip the bib over. Remove the four screws that hold the white front grill to the bib body. Set the grill aside for further attention. If you have not removed your front grill before now, go ahead and Kroil the four screws and wait a day to remove them. I had new screws from a prior event and knew they would not be bound up.

I can’t recommment enough the importance of genuine JIS tip screwdrivers for this job. Don’t try it with a regular Phillip’s head.

Now Kroil the headlight fasteners from the front. Begin with the aiming screws at 9 and 12 o’clock — Just a spritz. The screw threads usually don’t seize in the plastic grommet that sits in the bucket rim below. Follow up with spraying well the three trim ring fasteners that hold the headlamp unit fast to the inner bucket. Then generously Kroil the remaining 4 JIS screws that fasten the headlight bucket to the anchor plate on the back side.

Kroil both headlights in this manner. Here’s the hard part. I Kroiled everything twice a day for two days. Didn’t remove a single fastener (except the chunky front grill screws) until all bib fasteners had been soaked.

On the third day, I dared to start loosening JIS screws.

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Front Bib Restore
Disassemble the remaining bib components.
End up with empty bib ready for cleaning and painting.

After two days of Kroiling and waiting, begin dismantling the bib assembly. If not done already, remove the front bib grill fastened with 4 screws.

With the back side of the grill facing up, remove the 4 8MM nuts that hold the rear grill fastened to the bib body via 4 fixed M6 bolts. Lift the grill off the bib. You can also remove the two M8 x 1.25 x 25 10mm bolts that hold the TOYOTA badge to the rear grill now. Set the badge and grill aside for later attention.

Next I used a 6mm socket on a 1/4 drive handle to remove the two bolts that secure each of the turn signal lights to the bib body. I have 2 new OEM lights to replace them with upon reassembly.

On to the headlight buckets. For each headlight bucket:

First step is to remove the trim ring that secures the headlamp unit to the bucket well. The ring is held in place by 3 screws in keyhole shaped openings. With your JIS screwdriver, loosen each of the trim ring screws enough to rotate the headlamp and trim ring together until the screw heads escape the round part of the keyhole.

It’s good to be working on a bench when the headlight and trim ring come loose. Lift out the headlamp unit, unplug the modular plug from the bucket, and lift the trim ring off the headlight bulb. Set aside, repeat for other headlight.

Now there are two exposed inner headlight buckets, one on each side. Next the inner buckets for each headlight is removed for restoration and access to the outer buckets.

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Front Bib Restore
Separate inner and outer headlight buckets and remove.

I used long handled needle nose pliers to unhook the spring linking the inner and outer headlamp bucket. Once the spring is removed, the inner bucket is only held clamped in place by the aiming screws at 9 and 12 o’clock. Loosen each by a turn or so and you can wiggle the inner bucket free. No need to remove the aiming screws, they are positioning screws that work with the spring to provide aiming ability. Just loosen the aiming screws, wiggle the bucket, and set it aside.

Now you are left with the outer bucket with the wired socket fastened to the bib body by the anchor ring in back by 4 JIS screws. Two screws at 10 and 2 o’clock, two more at 4 and 8 o’clock.

Unscrew the 4 screws and the anchor plate on the back of the bib comes off, leaving the outer bucket free to lift out.

Repeat for the other headlight. Now you should have the bib empty body ready for cleaning, sanding, and paint prep. The headlight bucket hardware (inner and outer buckets, trim ring, and bucket spring) are also ready for cleaning, sanding, and paint prep.

So… on to cleaning, sanding, paint prep.

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

Front Bib Restore

Prepping bib parts for paint

Clean, wire wheel, sand, and wipe down bib parts to prep for paint:

 

[VA Mountain FJ40]

The restored and painted outer bucket is resting in the bib headlight well with the 4 screws hanging through the bib body holes. The threaded anchor ring is affixed to the back side and secured by tightening the screws.

Next the restored inner bucket is hooked under the headlight adjustment screws at 9 and 12 and the inner headlight bucket spring is fastened using long needle nose pliers.