Builds 1969 FJ40 Father / Son Build (1 Viewer)

[royal cake]

After cleaning everything up, the only thing I could find was this nick on the crank surface. It was like a pit, but had a sharp edge that would catch a nail. I took a tiny needle file to it and smoothed it out. I guess that’s all I can do

 

[royal cake]

I don’t feel like I’m lucky most of the time, but I had this piece of aluminum lying around that was a perfect fit for the seal. It worked beautifully, new OEM seal is in.

 

[royal cake]

If you need an assist, you need an assist. Things may fatigue over time. But you have to ask yourself: do I own my possessions, or do my possessions own me?

I put up the handle today and seems like a great fit and sturdy. So of course I go back to Amazon to get another $5 handle and not available. Just my luck. Haha. I’ll keep an eye out to see if they come available.

 

[royal cake]

I haven’t posted in a while to update on how it all turned out with the leaks. I wanted to give it more time since I’ve been fooled before on thinking I had them fixed.
The engine leaks are all gone now. The rear definitely was the rear main seal and feels good to have that buttoned up.
Regarding the transfer case, I plugged the keeper bolt for the high low shaft since there was a through hole in the case. Before I heard back from Mark I had already installed it and he suggested we address the oring. Given as how I had it back installed, I’m taking my chances. There is still some seeping but after these weeks it hasn’t hit the ground so I’m leaving it for now.
On to the clutch master cylinder. I thought I had that licked but it was still leaking under the reservoir. Not sure if there’s a flaw in the surface of my casting or what.
Did some searching and saw that the only rubber compatible with brake fluid is EPDM, so bought a sheet of that and made a gasket. So far so good but I’ve said that before…I’ll give an update after a while.

 

[royal cake]

On the cosmetics side I knew eventually I was going to spring for the lower dash, so as a present to myself I pulled the trigger and ordered from fj40 dash.com. Just got it in and really liking the look. There are a couple nuts near the steering column I’ll have to get inventive with to tighten if I don’t want to disassemble a lot of stuff.

 

[65swb45]

On the cosmetics side I knew eventually I was going to spring for the lower dash, so as a present to myself I pulled the trigger and ordered from fj40 dash.com. Just got it in and really liking the look. There are a couple nuts near the steering column I’ll have to get inventive with to tighten if I don’t want to disassemble a lot of stuff.

View attachment 3535005

Ready to wheel it Shane?

 

[royal cake]

Ready to wheel it Shane?

Ready! Going to do 500 mile valve adjustment then I’m hitting the road. Super excited.
Will make it up to Bakersfield as well this year. Long time coming

 

[65swb45]

Ready! Going to do 500 mile valve adjustment then I’m hitting the road. Super excited.
Will make it up to Bakersfield as well this year. Long time coming

Ironic, as there’s a fair chance that I won’t make it to Bakersfield this year.

 

[royal cake]

Well I haven’t posted in a while cause I’ve just been having a blast just driving the rig around with all smiles.
But I gotta get back into getting some extras installed for everyday driving or longer trips. I installed this charging port on the passenger side using the circuit for the 12v outlet that was for the inspection light.
Next projects will be getting a storage box in the back and mounting my ham antenna.

 

[royal cake]

Another long break from updating my build thread, but I'm finally getting off my chair and getting set up to take it out a bit more.
On my other rig I had my ham radio, auxiliary battery and fridge as items I couldn't go without, so my goal was to get that set up in the 40.
I thought about where to put the battery for a long time, under the hood, under the truck, etc. I finally settled on right behind the seat, where I'm using the seat belt bolt to attach a small bracket to keep it from rolling around. A friend of mine helped me build the box; and attached to it are some outlets and a DC-DC charger/solar controller. The charger is hooked up to the main battery, and I ran the wiring under the truck. I have a switch in the dash that controls a relay to turn the charger on/off. I used anderson plugs to be able to take the battery in and out conveniently.

 

[royal cake]

Before I installed the battery, I made a bracket to fit between the rear hatch gap. It works pretty well - it took me a long time to fab cause I'm not good at welding. Haha. But I like the placement of the antenna.

 

[royal cake]

I ended up putting the radio in my center console that I made. I'm trying not to do too much permanent placement of things till I figure out what I want. This seems to work pretty well.

 

[royal cake]

I'm planning on a small exursion this weekend to try everything out - I'll be sure to post some pictures. But a few weeks ago I did some very mild off roading and picked up a huge chunk of metal in my tire. That thing was stuck. I had to work it with vice grips to get it out - thank goodness for the spare.

 

[majdomo]

Liking those wheels, where did you find? I saw earlier in the thread you did the powdercoat separately.

 

[royal cake]

Liking those wheels, where did you find? I saw earlier in the thread you did the powdercoat separately.

Thanks - these are the Summit racing wheels that others have used and I've been happy with them. Like you said I had them powder coated and in general came out well. When they get wet you can see a puddle that comes out from the seam is slightly rust colored, so I assume there's some metal in there that isn't coated. I assume it's probably impossible to get to.

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[majdomo]

Thanks! Will keep that on the list of stuff to get down the road. Need some rubber overdrive..

 

[RevISK]

Thanks - these are the Summit racing wheels that others have used and I've been happy with them. Like you said I had them powder coated and in general came out well. When they get wet you can see a puddle that comes out from the seam is slightly rust colored, so I assume there's some metal in there that isn't coated. I assume it's probably impossible to get to.

Wheel Vintiques 12-670604 Wheel Vintiques 12 Series Smoothie Wheels | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Wheel Vintiques 12 Series Smoothie Wheels with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Wheels at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

I stumbled across a set of these in the 16” variety right after investing in two sets of 15” tires. Definitely like the look. I’ll probably just rattle can mine. What size are yours?

 

[royal cake]

I stumbled across a set of these in the 16” variety right after investing in two sets of 15” tires. Definitely like the look. I’ll probably just rattle can mine. What size are yours?

They should be 16” x 7, with 4” backspace. I’m pretty sure I just ordered exactly what others said will fit. Cheers!

 

[royal cake]

So last week I installed a vacuum gauge that’s been in my list for a while, and this week got the temp gauge in. Fun fact that this two-gauge mount from Amazon fits exactly in the hole pattern for the lower dash.
I fired up today for check for leaks and what not and all is good. But… once it warmed up it’s running terrible. Loading up, sputtering, choking when I give it gas.
My first thought was I did something, but I’ve been driving it for a week with the vacuum gauge and it’s still perfect. I can’t figure what would have changed since I parked it yesterday, and it was running beautifully.
I guess I’ll have to start poking around but not sure where to start. Seems to be running really rich.

 

[majdomo]

Maybe try unplugging the new vac gauge and capping where it T's off to the gauge (wondering if the gauge is the problem)?