1970 FJ40 restoration

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ednedesigns said:
Very motivating work you have going on in this thread. I really dig the shop made tools in some of the pics, any chance you have some more details/pics of those?

Cheers!
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Sure, I can post some pics and descriptions of my home built stuff. I am out of town this week, but I will when I get back.
 
zags said:
The stuff in post #28 was stripped and powder coated by Glendale Powder Coat in Glendale. AZ and cost $1000

I had the body stripped at Stripping Shop in Peoria, AZ and I think it cost $600 or $700 to have all of the sheet metal plastic media blasted. A friend at a body shop epoxy coated the body for free for me.
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Not bad at all. Gonna do min with an abrasive blast in my (thankfully concrete) side yard and then paint it, don't have quite that kind of money for this part of the project but very nice.

Man, you did some beautiful work. Glad you're in a dry area as well I bet, considering some of the rot I've seen on vehicles from the South and East especially
 
zags said:
I can't believe how much this project has snowballed since I first bought this rig. I started out looking to build a DD / trail rig, and soon realized that most of the ones I looked at were so butchered by their POs that I needed to find a stock one to start out with. The plan then was to do a lift, winch, rear locker and get it mechanically sound, then wheel it. When I brought this one one home, I started taking it apart to replace the engine because of a thrown rod, and thought "Well. since I have the motor out, may as well go through the trans and tcase" Then it was "Since I have the front clip off, I may as well go through the knuckles and steering!" I think you can see where I am going with this. At some point it became clear to me that I was only going to be happy with a full restoration.

Although I do plan to show it a few times when it is done, this will NOT be a garage queen and it will get wheeled! I look at it this way: When I am done I will have as close to a new FJ40 as i can get. Compared to the cost of a brand new truck these days, this is a bargain, plus I got to build it myself.
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Absolutely. Mine is a labor of love as it was my parent's first car together, and my brother who's helped me through school is getting it. Already gave him my lifted chevy, figured he needed a REAL 4x4 haha.

Soon as I get the motor out I'm terrified of what I will end up doing with it =P
 
RHINO said:
i'll have to swing by when jack goes over to say hi, and see the rig. i'll bring mine and jack can drive his 55 and we'll just crash the neighborhood with cruisers.
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That would be great! Maybe we can time it to when I need to lift the tub back off......:beer:
 
Demon061 said:
Not bad at all. Gonna do min with an abrasive blast in my (thankfully concrete) side yard and then paint it, don't have quite that kind of money for this part of the project but very nice.
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Many times on a project you need to decide if you want to pay with cash or sweat! I bought a pressue pot type blaster to do the chassis parts myself, but after I tried it some, I decided that I didn't have a good place to contain the mess.
 
To preserve my sanity,I needed to find a couple of things to do that did not involve body work. I rebuilt the 4wd vacuum actuator and installed a few other bits

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That sill work looks familiar as I am going through that now. Keep up the good work!

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD
 
G'day Zags, I've been following your thread with interest. My old '73 is in need of an identicle repair on the left quarter panel as yours. I have use of a mig and some basic welding and fabrication abilitys. My question is, (and please excuse my ignorance) how did you create the stepped rebate on your repair infil panel..

Thanks in advance..

Gaz.. :D
 
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Ol'40 said:
G'day Zags, I've been following your thread with interest. My old '73 is in need of an identicle repair on the left quarter panel as yours. I have use of a mig and some basic welding and fabrication abilitys. My question is, (and please excuse my ignorance) how did you create the stepped rebate on your repair infil panel..

Thanks in advance..

Gaz.. :D
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I used a pneumatic panel flanger from Eastwood Tools.
http://www.eastwood.com/flanger-punch-tool-pneumatic-7-32.html#

I have also done it by hand by clamping the panel over a piece of scrap on a hard flat surface then using a wide chisel, forming the step over the edge of the scrap. I hope that makes sense.
 
Ha.. thanks for that, it does make sense. looks a better method than butt welding.
I might give the chisel idea a go first..
I owe you a beer.. Wish I could come and pay it....:beer:

Keep up your great work..

Gaz... :D
 
I started on the roof by grinding off the rivets and separating the rain gutter. I used my easy-up and some old tarps to set up an enclosure to contain the mess from media blasting. This worked really well. By lifting the edges of the tarp, you can easily get the used media in a pile to sift and reuse.
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The rain gutter has the usual rust issues, so I will be doing some patching to get it ready to paint and re-install. I used the old "weld a nut to the broken bolt" trick to remove the broken roof bolts.
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JADCRUISER said:
Zags
I have an 71 engine , did you rebuild your engine??
I mean reground crank, cam, metals, pistons stuff and all???
if you do where do you get the parts???
Thanks
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The engine had a bad rod so the truck had been parked for many years before I bought it. When I bought the the truck, it came with an extra engine. Coincidentally, the extra engine that came with the truck has a build date only one month away from the original one. The P.O. had inherited the truck from his deceased father and wasn't even sure what year it was. He had advertised it as a '71. He told me that he bought the spare engine off of Pirate 4x4 because it had the F155 sticker on it like the one in the truck.

Except for the machine work on the block and crank, I rebuilt it myself. I was a master auto technician for over 20 years, so I have the tools. It was bored .040 over. The crank was turned .010 under, rods and mains. The pistons, rings, and bearings I got through the machine shop that bored it and turned the crank. That was about 4 years ago. I have heard that pistons and rings are getting hard to find. I bought the reground cam and lifters, oil pump, timing gears, and gasket set from SOR. The guides and seats were in good shape. I reground the valves and seats myself.
 
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