Build 1971 FJ40: project Milk Money

[rustED71]

I have been wanting to get some new rear quarter panels for the project, and have been leaning towards Budbuilt 3/16" thick armored quarters for awhile. They offer 4 styles:

Left to Right: Comp Cut, Redline Cut, Stock cut, and Choose your own adventure. You can also get them with or without the fuel door opening cutout. I kind of wanted to keep the Factory look, but also wanted a little longer wheelbase. I emailed them yesterday about getting the Factory Cut, but with the wheel opening moved back 3 inches. I got a response this morning that it would not be a problem, in fact it is a pretty common request, so I placed my order this morning. I also opted to not have the passenger side fuel door cutout as I plan to run the S10 gas tank between the rear frame rails. I'm pretty excited to finally be working towards making some real progress. I plan on making my own rear sill out of either 2" channel or 2" square tubing and I will also be making my own rear replacement floor.

 

[rustED71]

This past weekend I spent the day trying to get the garage organized and to make more room to work on the 40. I had today off, so while waiting for the Budbuilt quarters to arrive I decided to dive in and see how much rust I will be dealing with. I cut out the rear floor, I still need to remove whats left of the rear sill, then I will weld in a temporary cross support. I have another set of rear wheel wells that I will be cutting up to use to patch these. The bottom section approximately the last 1" where it meets the floor is pretty Rusty so I will be replacing that.

I also drilled out the spot welds and removed the toolbox from the driverside to see how bad the rust is in that area where all the dirt collects. Surprisingly the floor is in better shape than i originally thought.

I want to reupholster and use the original seats, so I will be fixing the rust on the toolbox box and reinstalling it. What's the best way to deal with the pitted rust? The metal feels solid, would POR 15 or something similar be good to use here?. I would like to do a spray in bed liner after treating the rust.

 

[archie73]

The 5.3 is a lovely engine. In stock form it’s a perfect match to the 40. If you hop it up it’ll be a screamer. I do recommend discs to help stop it though. Keep on the process, it’ll be worth it.

 

[archie73]

With an already compromised metal surface, I’d not recommend any bedliner. The rust will eat out the metal under the liner. Perhaps thick rubber mats would get a similar amount of deadening. Just my opinion

 

[rustED71]

With an already compromised metal surface, I’d not recommend any bedliner. The rust will eat out the metal under the liner.

The 5.3 is a lovely engine. In stock form it’s a perfect match to the 40. If you hop it up it’ll be a screamer. I do recommend discs to help stop it though. Keep on the process, it’ll be worth it.

Thanks Archie73, Yeah Im trying not to go down the rabbit hole chasing the rust, but since I'm getting new quarters I almost want to rebuild the whole tub kinda like Neploeon047 did on his build: '68 basket case resto-mod - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/68-basket-case-resto-mod.964286/page-2#post-10983608

Im looking forward to getting the 5.3 bolted in place, still not sure if I am going to run the 4L60E or what tcase to use. I do have a mini truck front axel and I am eventually going to swap the front discs onto the 40.

 

[rustED71]

I had a little bit of time after work today so I split one of the rear barn doors. I have one spare that I might be able to use to repair the corners of the other two. I'm leaning towards turning the barn doors into a tailgate, I like the one that Poor boy built: Poor Boy FJ40 tailgate - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/poor-boy-fj40-tailgate.784926/page-2

 

[rustED71]

Last week I drilled out the spotwelds on my bid to remove the brace. As I mentioned before my bib got bent a couple years ago in my hasty attempt to move the 40 down to the shop at our previous house. I had run a chain through a pipe to try to keep the Landcruiser from running into us since it had no brakes, and the chain loosened up a little and slipped off of the bumper and went right into the bib and bezel, the bib taking the worst of it. Anyway I removed the brace hoping that I would be able to straighten out the bib easier with it removed. Found alot of rust, most of it was on the brace (which i don't plan on replacing).

Here are a couple of pics trying to show how bad my bib is bent:

It has a pretty bad twist in it so i decided to cut out the bottom section approximately 2" wide by 24" long hoping that this would allow me to be able to hammer it out more easily. I forgot to get a pic of it after cutting out that section but below you can make out the sharpie cut line.

 

[rustED71]

I bought a new welding helmet from Harbor freight today. I've had my old one for 20+ years and it was getting really hard to see through.They both have the auto darken feature, but the visibility on the new helmet is so much nicer. I also finally used these little sheetmetal clamps (I also got from Harbor Freight a couple years ago) the clamps worked great, forgot that I had them. With the use of some C clamps, hammers a grinder, a level and a railroad track anvil I was able to get the bib hammered out relatively flat and most of the twist is gone. It's far from perfect, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm going to try to get the welding finished up tomorrow.

Before and after

 

[rustED71]

I finished welding the bib today.

Got the welds ground down. Not perfect, I'll put a skim coat of bondo and it will have to be good enough. I will eventually get nicer bib for it, but it was a good practice project.

I need to get some weld through primer and then I will weld these little brackets back on.

Moved on to the barn doors. Tried the "weld on nut" trick to get the rusted screws out to remove the hinges, worked great.

Tomorrow I will finish drilling out the spotwelds and separate the 2 grey barn doors the one below is my spare that i will be cutting up to use to patch the other two.

 

[archie73]

I luv it when the “weld nut” trick works. So much faster than the drill.

 

[rustED71]

I luv it when the “weld nut” trick works. So much faster than the drill.

I will admit I was a bit skeptical, but it worked awesome! Out of the 15 screws I was able to get 13 of them out, the other two broke off. I will definitely use this method again on my windshield hinge hardware when the time comes!

 

[rustED71]

So I kept going back and forth on whether or not to build a tailgate out of the barn doors or patch them up and keep them stock. This morning I went back over IelandEOD's "Poor boy" tailgate build and realized that if I followed his design I would be building a new frame and new inner skin for the tailgate, and I wouldn't have to patch the inner barndoors as they wouldn't be used. This helped me make my decision as it will save alot of patching rusty metal and I can fabricate the new parts out of clean new steel, so tailgate it is! I still have some patch work to do on the outer door skins. I cut out the bottom section of one door and will be replacing it with the upper section from the spare door.

These spotweld cutters are a game changer, wished I had used them on this whole project!

Tomorrow will be more clean up/ wire wheel and grinding of surface rust on the white door skin, then on to building the frame out of some 1" square tubing. Need to find some weld through primer too!

 

[archie73]

I will admit I was a bit skeptical, but it worked awesome! Out of the 15 screws I was able to get 13 of them out, the other two broke off. I will definitely use this method again on my windshield hinge hardware when the time comes!

I think that was the first time I ever used that trick. Those windshield screws are a bugger. If you haven’t yet, check out impact screwdrivers. I got most of mine with a Vessel impact and that’s even better than the welding trick.

I’ll be watching your tailgate progress, I’ve been kicking it around for a while.

 

[rustED71]

I think that was the first time I ever used that trick. Those windshield screws are a bugger. If you haven’t yet, check out impact screwdrivers. I got most of mine with a Vessel impact and that’s even better than the welding trick.

I’ll be watching your tailgate progress, I’ve been kicking it around for a while.

Thanks for the feedback on the impact screw drivers, I"ve heard they work well, but never tried one. The Vessel impact drivers aren't too badly priced on Amazon, I will be picking up one of those for sure!

Today I finished cleaning up the door skins and got the frame pieces cut out and tack welded together. Used this piece of 1/2" thick aluminum plate as a make shift welding table, it made it nice to be able to clamp everything down and keep it square.

^Need to make a filler piece for in-between the door skins and fill a bunch of holes.

And couldn't resist setting the bib back in place

 

[rustED71]

Quick question, what's this bracket for?

 

[Green Bean]

Quick question, what's this bracket for?

View attachment 3769719

Rear license plate bracket and light.

 

[rustED71]

Thanks Green Bean, I was going to remove it, and also start filling in holes, glad I asked first!... So I wouldn't want to fill in the 2 holes pictured below correct?
The license plate frame bracket I think I could make one that looks pretty close, I have a beadroller to do the part that's inset in the middle. I wonder if anyone make a reproduction light, or if they are hard to find?

 

[pb4ugo]

You can probably find used parts in the classified section. If not, you can post a wanted ad there. The light might still be available. The bracket is heavier sheetmetal and uses the lower holes.

 

[pb4ugo]

What side is your spare tire on?

 

[Green Bean]

You can probably find used parts in the classified section. If not, you can post a wanted ad there. The light might still be available. The bracket is heavier sheetmetal and uses the lower holes.

Light was still available new from Toyota not too long ago.