1977 FJ40 w/a Vortec 4.3 & 4spd

[Fryedaddy]

I drove up to Lenoir, NC this morning and bought the bud built rear 1/4's and met bud. I'd have to say hae spent about an hour with me showing me the shop and telling me his experiances with toyota's. He has an extremely nice shop and product sitting on the floor waiting for purchase. I'll def be buying more from him in the future. As soon as i get a chance i'll get some closeup pics of the panels. They are extremely beefy and don't think i'll have a prob with the wheeling I do.
If you get a chance to meet him do so, extremely nice guy and is willing to help in any way.

 

[Fryedaddy]

Working on the LC yesturday and started poking around with a chisel on the area of the rear frame that was scaling. The chisel never found bottom and I figured out the rear 6" in front of the bumper needs to be replaced. Cut off the rear section tonight and I'm going to square up my cut tomorrow so I'll be ready to weld in some square tube Sun. This set me back one week but I wanted to replace the rear bumper with some tube anyway. Always looking on the bright side

 

[orangefj45]

hey andy.
thanks for the props, been a pleasure working with you.

looks like you're making good progress on the rig and all the work is solid. fwiw, i have used jim's ( downey ) vss and they work very well. i'm also finishing a 78 fj40 for a custoemr right now with the 4.3, but his is a 2001 with a th700 behind it.

keep up the good work!



ps: got the letter yesterday, thanks again!

 

[Fryedaddy]

Thanks for the fast shipment, i spoke with Jim today and ordered the VSS. I'm getting alot of parts together rightnow and will be speaking with you about a bezel soon.

 

[orangefj45]

i spoke with Jim today and ordered the VSS. QUOTE]



cool. jim @ downey is a true asset to our little community!

 

[Fryedaddy]

Alright christmas is over and the short week gave me little time for progress. I bought the Budbuilt panels, Metaltech fenders and Downey's VSS unit.

 

[Fryedaddy]

Got the VSS installed and I'm very pleased with the fit. I had to trim 1/4-1/2" off the end of the spacer tube so the nut would fit back on the input shaft but it was very easy. The reluctor ring is almost perfectly center with the VSS so it should work alright.

 

[Fryedaddy]

This past Sunday my welder came over an I had him weld the rear frame. Almost eight inches was cut due to the rust which set me back a week. I used 2 x 4 x 1/4" to replace the pieces cut and it worked out.

 

[Fryedaddy]

More pics of the frame after welding and during the process.

 

[Fryedaddy]

Decided to go ahead and coat the frame with POR15 while the body was off the frame. Anyone tried spraying POR15, can it be sprayed with a weed sprayer. I'm going to coat the inside of the frame and stop my rust an possible rust issues just need to figure out how to spray it.

 

[F-junker]

I've not tried spraying it but I know you can thin it down an little and do that. I used a toilet brush, I think if I remember correctly, and pushed it around inside the frame rails up front. I did also used those cheapass foam brushes too. I'd like to see some closeups of those budbuilt panels. Bud is a heck of a nice fellow, I've bought stuff from him several times over the years and his parts are always top notch, reasonable priced and customer service is stellar. The VSS unit looks good what all is included with that kit? Is it a bowl gear or something? that's where I would fit my overdrive on my dana 18/20. Is that a speed sensor or something? I'm enjoying the thread keep up the good quality work!

 

[Fryedaddy]

I've been working for the last few weeks but been to lazt to add pics.

After checking the rear wheel wells I found alot of bondo and a whole lot more rust. I used 1/8" pieces of metal laying around at work and just cut out two ribs in the front portion of both wells to match. after that was complete I started cutting the quarters loose from the wheel wells themselves. I also set the budbuilt panel on one side to see how they fit and they are perfect.

 

[Fryedaddy]

I used 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 angle in the corners and edges of the wheel wells to help support and replace the 16ga metal rusted out. I don't remember what thread I found one of the mudders cutting notches in the angle to make the curve but I copied that. After that was complete I took the front bumper and used some c clamps to position the wells and used a larger clamp to get the right distance from the wells to the bar that the top mounts on then welded angle between those.

 

[Fryedaddy]

Budbuilt panels mocked up, several people have asked about them. They are very easy to install, I started at the back corner. Lined the panels up with the rear door sill and started my way around. Once I hit the corner I started using c clamps to pull the panel into the body and continued on. The top of the panel is lined up with the body angle right below the hard top. I'm using the hardtop so I've now cut a 2x3" section out of the panel right at the rear door for the hinge. After I complete the prep for the panels tonight I'll set the panels Sunday and have them welded from the top and bottom.

 

[Fryedaddy]

A few more

 

[Fryedaddy]

I also took a few pics of the engine and the space I have to work with, I believe it might be an inch to far forward but I'll work that out when I install the heater box.

 

[xjnation]

Looking good!! Keep it up, we want more!!!

 

[Fryedaddy]

When are you going to finnish, I've been watching your thread. I'm hoping that 4.3 pulls those 35 easily.

 

[xjnation]

Just lacking a few things, mainly driveshafts. Got parts coming, just need to put it together. The 4.3 should pull 'em fine, especially with the 4.10 gears and trans.

 

[Fryedaddy]

Installed the bud built panels and completed a few odds & ends, pics to be posted soon.