1975 40 series resto-mod and intro (1 Viewer)

[KP Cruisers]

Hey everyone this is my first post and also the start of my restoration thread. I bought my 3rd 40 series two years ago and up until now it just sat at a storage unit but it’s time to bring the old girl back to life. As she sits now she’s in rough shape but has most of the original parts most of which I am going to try to restore and use. Also the previous owners put a “new” 2f in but didn’t know exactly what mileage it has on it but besides some valve noise the motor sounds great. I have my work cut out for me but this time around I’m going to do this the right way and take the truck down to the frame and rebuild.

Here’s the truck in all her rust and what I can only assume is a mix of rattle can and house paint.

 

[toomanytoyzz]

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this build. Keep us posted.

By the way....you guys from out west need to take a trip to the east coast to see what rust looks like. That would be advertised as nearly rust free in my neck of the woods.

But in all honesty, you definitely have a great starting point. Even has the stock rims.

 

[KP Cruisers]

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this build. Keep us posted.

By the way....you guys from out west need to take a trip to the east coast to see what rust looks like. That would be advertised as nearly rust free in my neck of the woods.

But in all honesty, you definitely have a great starting point. Even has the stock rims.

Being from Nebraska originally I appreciate the lack of humidity and salt out here seemed like cars even 6 years old would start to rust out there. I'll have some more pictures up later today the interior is mostly torn out now besides the dash, the roof and doors are coming off this week trying to get it down to the frame so I can actually start getting things restored and get her put back together in a somewhat reasonable amount of time(2ish years maybe ).

 

[KP Cruisers]

More photos of the current state of this 40 there’s rust in the common areas nothing that can’t be fixed. I have a rear sill, full quarter panels and a driver side firewall on order from real steel to get started. I need smaller patches for the wheel wells if you guys know anyone who makes smaller ribbed patches that’d be awesome or I’ll be going the “custom” rib route and try to make my own.

 

[KP Cruisers]

Finally got my parts in from real steel first things first is the rear sill then quarters followed by the drivers side firewall. My parts from real steel are very well made no regrets ordering from them. I got a few coats of cold galvanizing weld through primer in the places paint won’t reach while cutting out the old rusty sill. I also had to cut out the old body mounts as they were so rusty there was no other way and let me tell you the rust in the sill made for some fun shrapnel as I was cutting through to get to the mounts.

 

[KP Cruisers]

Secured a 60 front axle for disc brake conversion going to pick it up next Friday.

 

[KP Cruisers]

After a long break I started working on the 40 again progress is slow but any progress is good progress.

I have been fighting the drivers side rocker panel now for over a month when I stopped working on the 40 I had butchered the removal of the old panel with a terrible spot weld cutter you can see my plug welds filling the holes where I punched through the floor panels 90 degree bend. I also found out that the triangle supports behind the rocker where completely rusted out and had also rusted through the surrounding metal so they needed to go. After patching the floor panel where the supports had rusted through the bend I burned through near the tub support indicating thin metal so instead of just forgetting about it I decided to cut that section out which leaves me where I am now. Next steps are to patch a small portion of the tub support channel then patch the 90 degree over it and weld the inner and outer rocker back in. I have a patch panel for the rocker from real steel as well as new triangular supports that I bent last summer so fingers crossed that once I get this last patch in it will be smooth sailing and I can repeat the entire process on the passenger side rocker.


After patching all of my butchered spot weld removals and patching the rusty areas where the triangular supports were but also finding thin metal where the tub support meets the floor. Also the leather impact mechanix gloves are not great for cutting metal I burned through them pretty quickly. Back to basic old leather gloves you can't beat them.

Leaving the thin metal where the tub support meets the floor would have kept me up at night so I ended up cutting that section out.

I also started cleaning up the fj60 knuckles its something I can do in the garage when its too late to cut and weld I don't want to piss off my neighbors... at least not too much. I rebuilt the calipers but when I removed them I lost one of the internal 13mmish square profile O-rings which I couldn't find anywhere so I bought a 13mm o-ring for a motorcycle that is a little oversized but should do the job. I have a feeling that cruiser outfitters is going to be getting a lot of business from me in the near future as this 40 will need every steering component, bearing and seal replaced. Also evapo-rust is great after degreasing I put each component in over night and they come out rust free and it even helps to remove some of the old paint.

 

[brian]

What month is its production date?

 

[KP Cruisers]

What month is its production date?

Its a 1/75 so still has front drums but does have a newer rebuilt(not the best rebuild) 2f with flat pistons so I have that going for me.

 

[ETX FJ40]

Cant wait to see your front axle conversion!

 

[KP Cruisers]

Cant wait to see your front axle conversion!

Me neither my plan so far is to paint the parts and put them in a tote while I finish up removing rust and replacing panels which seems like a never ending endeavor.