1973 Restoration

[Ground Up]

The peanut gallery needs to understand something here that I think has not been addressed.

things like the air injection moulded hoses, the air pump, and the pads on the dash board have been discontinued for YEARS. THIS IS NO SMALL FEAT AND VIEWERS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS ACHIEVEMENT.

Off soapbox........D-

Thank You!.......It has been a long hard road. I think I have been lucky that I have found some of the parts I have. Take for example the reverse light. It is specific (as you know) to the 1973 FJ40. I was able to find a new old stock on ebay about 4 or 5 years ago. It did not have the lense though. I had to search one down. Specter had anly one as I wanted to order to just in case. So I believe I have the last one of those.

There is alot of that type of thing on the truck. Working on a '73 has probably been more of a challange than some other ones just based on the fact that so many parts were specific to only that model year. Add that and finding parts that stacked up to being good enough to refurbish and so on.

 

[1Fine40]

QUOTE-
I found a local guy to do the paint work that was willing to do each piece seperate. I take the stuff to the beadblaster and then take it to him for painting. <QUOTE>

Mind if I ask who that is? the blaster and the painter? I have a few pieces I want painted that I cannot do at my home.....like my hood, and two doors! Maybe two front fenders etc....

Also, are you going to undercoat the wheel wheels, it was a dealer option back then..

Cheers!

 

[toddslater]

I had gotten the gasket from SOR a couple of years ago. I think they still have them as I was going to get one for the 45 wagon.

Thanks for the compliments and the pics you sent "way back when" of the carb linkage on your truck.

Oooo good memory... I'd forgot about sending off those linkage pics "way back when".....glad it was helpful . Thanks for the SOR tip....& yep they have list them (OEM) for 45.99 ...I have a short list of misc nonsense to pick up for the FJ62 and the 40 that I plan on sending to CDAN...I'll add this to it as he can probably still acquire it...for less than SOR.

 

[my64fj40]

That's a super sweet, clean, cruiser. I hope mine looks half that good one day.

Great Work


my64fj40

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

QUOTE-
I found a local guy to do the paint work that was willing to do each piece seperate. I take the stuff to the beadblaster and then take it to him for painting. <QUOTE>

Mind if I ask who that is? the blaster and the painter? I have a few pieces I want painted that I cannot do at my home.....like my hood, and two doors! Maybe two front fenders etc....

Also, are you going to undercoat the wheel wheels, it was a dealer option back then..

Cheers!

Rich, I don't think you want to mention Marc's name to his painter. The guy didn't know what an anal-bastard he was when he quoted the job and had to re-do some parts.

BTW, if you can make it to the meeting this week, it's at Marc's house...the un-veiling of a Masterpiece!

 

[camcruiser13]

looking sweet

 

[missipboy]

i'ld have to be on some major a.d.d. medicine to be that meticulous.

looks awesome.

 

[dmaddox]

see the "red" thread....comon its too nice - someone has to throw a towel in here.....lol

looks great, even red,

ragman

 

[stevenorth]

I bet that looks even better than when it came off the line in Japan!

 

[cruiserwanted]

It almost makes me sad.
I can not even begin to IMAGINE the amount of time and money it took to do this. Time I have and could begin to set aside for my cruiser but the money part is what I do not have. I mean bolts alone all from TOYOTA. That is just bolts. Adds up quickly. If I EVER own a cruiser that looks like yours I seriously do not think I could ever drive it. At least not far, and not for very long as if ANYTHING ever happened to it I would probably cry like a little girl. Who just got her barbie taken away. After saving her allowance 4 weeks to buy it. Only to realize she had to save another week because the store was no longer having a sale. Thank you for sharing the end pictures. Have any from where you started? Did you do all the mechanical work yourself? Rebuild EVERYTHING. Simply wonderful. Thanks again for sharing. Just sit here with my mouth open looking at these pictures like a 13 year old boy the first time he saw playboy ....If only I could stick your cruiser under my mattress.....you might be in trouble

 

[Ground Up]

Thanks Guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been working on some small hiccups. The rear heater core sprung a leak and I am having to get a replacement. I ended up having to remove the passanger seat and the fuel tak to clean up the mess. Not a big deal but one I did not want to have to do.

I finally got it started for the first time yesterday. It runs really sweet.

It almost makes me sad.
I can not even begin to IMAGINE the amount of time and money it took to do this. Time I have and could begin to set aside for my cruiser but the money part is what I do not have. I mean bolts alone all from TOYOTA. That is just bolts. Adds up quickly. If I EVER own a cruiser that looks like yours I seriously do not think I could ever drive it. At least not far, and not for very long as if ANYTHING ever happened to it I would probably cry like a little girl. Who just got her barbie taken away. After saving her allowance 4 weeks to buy it. Only to realize she had to save another week because the store was no longer having a sale. Thank you for sharing the end pictures. Have any from where you started? Did you do all the mechanical work yourself? Rebuild EVERYTHING. Simply wonderful. Thanks again for sharing. Just sit here with my mouth open looking at these pictures like a 13 year old boy the first time he saw playboy ....If only I could stick your cruiser under my mattress.....you might be in trouble

THe money aspect of this thing has been the hard part. I originally started the project to make the thing into a trail truck...well one thing led to another. I would refurbish or replace a part and then start on another. I had no intentions on the using new Toyota bolts, but after having the original one s re yellow zink plated, I decided that I only had about 25% of them that were worth reusing.

I took the motor to a local machine shop and had them bore it 20 over, inline bore the block and assemble the crank w/ pistons and so forth and the cam. I had the head shaved due to a slight worp and had the valve guides replaced and the valves hand lapped. After having that done I mated the two and finished the engine build up.

I do have some photos of it before I started. They are in 35mm. I will try and get them scanned and posted up.

I finished one of the OEM canvas doors. It took me about ten hours to prep the fabric, install the fabric, assemble the door, and hang it.

Now if I can get the last few parts from the painter.

Thanks again for all of the compliments.

 

[xjnation]

Much respect on the hard work. I could only imagine. Where did the engine decals come from?? They add alot to the overall appearance of the engine. (not to take away from the quality workmanship)

 

[trekker]

Holy crap. Amazing. REading your thread, have you been working on this for "years"? I have been 'restoring' my 68 for about 1 year. It's been that long since I've driven it and I'm losing patience. Hard to find the time.

I'm starting to cut corners... rattle canning my heater unit, wire wheeling and just putting a clear coat on my brake lines, I'm thinking about going with a Painless instead of rebuilding my harness.

After seeing what you have done, I think I'm gonna change my signature from:

Restorin my 'ol 68 FJ40. 3-on-the-tree! wee! Completly stock cept for a CHEAP ASS Pinnacle suspension system.

To:

Cleanin my 'ol 68 FJ40. 3-on-the-tree! wee! No where near stock.

 

[boogerz]

Awesome! I'm a big fan of the purist approach, though not as accurate as what you're doing. I've taken a few liberties, for the sake of practicality, like replacing all the fasteners (except engine parts) with 18-2 stainless steel metric. My plated & painted parts were sandblasted, primed with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer, then Clean Metal Primer, then Enamel. Also used 3M undercoating in the engine bay, for easy touch ups. The Toyota dealer here told me those hose clamps aren't available. Thanks for letting us know they are, I want to get rid of the Auto Zone ones too. And thanks for the inspiring photos.

 

[toddslater]

Just out of curiosity, what did you put on it primer and paint-wise ? As you can see, I keep coming back and admiring the work. Also, I notice you have a little map light by the glove box...was that one of those 73 mid year..maybe you get one, maybe you don't ,things...mine no gots..no hole no nuttin.

Suffering from map light envy now

 

[toddslater]

Nevermind that second part...I just recalled yours was a factory soft top...me forgots....

 

[Ground Up]

Much respect on the hard work. I could only imagine. Where did the engine decals come from?? They add alot to the overall appearance of the engine. (not to take away from the quality workmanship)

The "F155" decal is from SOR, the rest are reproduction decals that I had made.

Thanks for the compliments.

 

[Ground Up]

Just out of curiosity, what did you put on it primer and paint-wise ? As you can see, I keep coming back and admiring the work. Also, I notice you have a little map light by the glove box...was that one of those 73 mid year..maybe you get one, maybe you don't ,things...mine no gots..no hole no nuttin.

Suffering from map light envy now

The paint I had the painter use was The Concept Line by PPG. He wanted to use a lower grade line, but I didn't want to have to redo anything later on just for saving a couple hundred bucks in paint qaulity.

 

[Ground Up]

Some new updated photos.

 

[Ground Up]

One more for tonight...