- Location
- United States
(posting for a friend)
pics and contact info here:
http://www.beer.org/gallery/78fj45
It's a 1978 FJ-45 (per registration). It started as a 1977 and a 1978. I bought
two trucks and built one. Both frames of the trucks that I bought had trashed
frames so I procured a 1978 frame that was in terrific shape. I welded a lift
on to it, reinforced a few normal FJ-45 trouble spots, and then dip-
galvanized the frame (after sand-blasting it raw).
Here's a list of the things that are different from a stock 1978 FJ-45:
Exterior:
- trayback per pictures.
- Hood from a 1967 FJ-40. (split hood with stock chrome hood ornament). I
think these hoods are classier; plus the hoods that came with the two trucks
I bought were trashed.
- fender side panels from an early 70's FJ-40 c/w stock amber marker lights.
- custom bullbar with XD9000i. New cable on XD9000i. Recently
disassembled, cleaned up, and reassembled.
- 33x12.5 Kelly Sport mud tires on black steel rims.
Interior:
- Stock radio, non-functional.
- Some sort of functional stereo inside the 'pocket'.
- Bench seats from a 1967 FJ-40. ie: coil sprung, not foam as per stock FJ-45.
- Stock everything else except for an LED on the dash as indication that
auxiliary fuel tank is active. LED is in a stock hole however.
- two cracks in upper dash pad. All other dash pads intact.
- Fuel gauge only hooked up to stock tank, not auxiliary tank.
- mechanical oil pressure sender.
- SOR after market floor mat.
- windshield has cracks but truck comes with new replacement, or I will
install the new one after the streets are swept.
Engine compartment:
- Optima Gold top (5 years old, no problems)
- 2ga custom battery and winch cabling.
- H4 lenses w/3M rockguard protection.
- stock 2F, reconditioned. (new rings, seals, gaskets, honed, head gasket,
valve seals, valves ground, bottom end bearings, etc) (new == when built,
about 30k km ago)
- Toyota minitruck power steering, stock steering column. Power steering
pump out of Supra. Steering wheel from 1981. Stock steering wheel available.
- Downey 6->1 headers still in good shape. No exhuast leaks.
- 2.5" aluminized exhaust, custom bent so exhaust lives above frame rail
except where the tail pipe comes out behind the rear tire. Good shape.
- fluid heat-riser hooked to heater lines. Out of all my trucks, this truck has
never failed to start, even at -45C, having not been running for 2 weeks and
not being plugged in. It is the truck that I _know_ will get me to work, even
after my other trucks won't start.
- Stock carb, rebuilt when rest of truck was built.
- Steel 4 blade fan. (not the radiator-eating plastic fan).
Drive-train:
- stock 4 spd tranny
- tcase from behind a 3spd with transition input gear. Parking brake good.
- Front disc brake axle with 4.11 diff. Knuckle seals probably need to be
done.
- Rear full-floater axle with 4.11 diff and LC discs. One of the rear rotors is
warped I think
Body:
When the body was done, I didn't have sheet-metal welding capabilities, so I
subbed it out to a local street-rod guy who cut out all the old rusty steel and
welded in new steel. He did an awesome job. Unfortunately, my prep and
body work have since been shown to be lack-luster so some of the rust is
starting to come back. Ultimately, two new front fenders would be needed
or some work put into the current ones.
On one of the rear corners (passenger side) I had a minor incident with a
rock so the bottom of the corner is smunched a bit and is rusting. There's
some other rust bubbling starting to happen. This is the primary reason that
I'm not asking as much for the truck as I think it's worth to me.
- No stock mirrors on doors, custom built drivers side windshield mirror. It
turns out I should have just bought a stock mirror from Toyota to go on the
windshield hinge instead.
- No stock front turn signals but I have brand new after market ones that I
Will include with the truck. Front signals are hidden under the hood above
the bezel, on the grill.
- Custom rear bumper with integral hitch receiver and LED lights. _This_
is a tough bumper.
- Stock steel roof with reinforcement channel welded inside to prevent the
usual oil-canning of FJ-45 roof's.
- inside of truck and underneath all POR-15'd.
Misc:
- Stock tank under front seat in stock location, plus spare 50liter tank behind
cab between frame rails. Electric valve under front seat to switch between
tanks. Switch under dash, LED on dash to indicate running on rear tank.
- Front turn signals don't always work. Poor ground. Was going to put stock
turn signals on after I replace the front fenders when I redo the body work.
- Steering pump groans when cold for the first few turns. Always works
though.
- minor front axle seal leaks. These probably need to be redone.
- One of the front u-joints needs to be replaced. minor vibration at high
speed when hubs are locked.
- The spare tire mounts between roll-cage hoops in rear of truck. The spare
has previously suffered from loose lugnuts on someone else's truck so the holes
a elongated but it does bolt up and run well enough to get one home but is not
really safe.
- I have a spare set of rear factory FJ-45 springs that are in good shape
which I will also include.
General:
The truck drives well. It rides far nicer with its stock springs
than my FJ-40 with its Belton's. My wife used this truck to haul
sod and dirt to the dump last summer. Multiple trips each with loads
of 1200 to 2200 pounds. The load capacity of this thing is awesome
(for what it is). When loaded with 2200lbs, the disc brakes can
still lock all 4 33" tires. I've towed a 3500lb boat up a mountain
pass with this truck (without trailer brakes, I was hauling the
boat back to town for a friend who's Ford powerstroke broke down.)...
As mentioned above, this is the truck I can always count on to
start, no matter how cold it is outside. It has a block heater but
I store it on my neighbors driveway so I don't have the option of
plugging it in. I've always run semi-synthetic oil in the engine
(Shell Rotella) and fully synthetic gear lube in the diffs, tranny,
tcase, etc. Always used fully synthetic grease in the u-joints.
Truck is located in Calgary. I would not hesitate to drive this thing
any distance and be sure it will get me there.
pics and contact info here:
http://www.beer.org/gallery/78fj45
It's a 1978 FJ-45 (per registration). It started as a 1977 and a 1978. I bought
two trucks and built one. Both frames of the trucks that I bought had trashed
frames so I procured a 1978 frame that was in terrific shape. I welded a lift
on to it, reinforced a few normal FJ-45 trouble spots, and then dip-
galvanized the frame (after sand-blasting it raw).
Here's a list of the things that are different from a stock 1978 FJ-45:
Exterior:
- trayback per pictures.
- Hood from a 1967 FJ-40. (split hood with stock chrome hood ornament). I
think these hoods are classier; plus the hoods that came with the two trucks
I bought were trashed.
- fender side panels from an early 70's FJ-40 c/w stock amber marker lights.
- custom bullbar with XD9000i. New cable on XD9000i. Recently
disassembled, cleaned up, and reassembled.
- 33x12.5 Kelly Sport mud tires on black steel rims.
Interior:
- Stock radio, non-functional.
- Some sort of functional stereo inside the 'pocket'.
- Bench seats from a 1967 FJ-40. ie: coil sprung, not foam as per stock FJ-45.
- Stock everything else except for an LED on the dash as indication that
auxiliary fuel tank is active. LED is in a stock hole however.
- two cracks in upper dash pad. All other dash pads intact.
- Fuel gauge only hooked up to stock tank, not auxiliary tank.
- mechanical oil pressure sender.
- SOR after market floor mat.
- windshield has cracks but truck comes with new replacement, or I will
install the new one after the streets are swept.
Engine compartment:
- Optima Gold top (5 years old, no problems)
- 2ga custom battery and winch cabling.
- H4 lenses w/3M rockguard protection.
- stock 2F, reconditioned. (new rings, seals, gaskets, honed, head gasket,
valve seals, valves ground, bottom end bearings, etc) (new == when built,
about 30k km ago)
- Toyota minitruck power steering, stock steering column. Power steering
pump out of Supra. Steering wheel from 1981. Stock steering wheel available.
- Downey 6->1 headers still in good shape. No exhuast leaks.
- 2.5" aluminized exhaust, custom bent so exhaust lives above frame rail
except where the tail pipe comes out behind the rear tire. Good shape.
- fluid heat-riser hooked to heater lines. Out of all my trucks, this truck has
never failed to start, even at -45C, having not been running for 2 weeks and
not being plugged in. It is the truck that I _know_ will get me to work, even
after my other trucks won't start.
- Stock carb, rebuilt when rest of truck was built.
- Steel 4 blade fan. (not the radiator-eating plastic fan).
Drive-train:
- stock 4 spd tranny
- tcase from behind a 3spd with transition input gear. Parking brake good.
- Front disc brake axle with 4.11 diff. Knuckle seals probably need to be
done.
- Rear full-floater axle with 4.11 diff and LC discs. One of the rear rotors is
warped I think
Body:
When the body was done, I didn't have sheet-metal welding capabilities, so I
subbed it out to a local street-rod guy who cut out all the old rusty steel and
welded in new steel. He did an awesome job. Unfortunately, my prep and
body work have since been shown to be lack-luster so some of the rust is
starting to come back. Ultimately, two new front fenders would be needed
or some work put into the current ones.
On one of the rear corners (passenger side) I had a minor incident with a
rock so the bottom of the corner is smunched a bit and is rusting. There's
some other rust bubbling starting to happen. This is the primary reason that
I'm not asking as much for the truck as I think it's worth to me.
- No stock mirrors on doors, custom built drivers side windshield mirror. It
turns out I should have just bought a stock mirror from Toyota to go on the
windshield hinge instead.
- No stock front turn signals but I have brand new after market ones that I
Will include with the truck. Front signals are hidden under the hood above
the bezel, on the grill.
- Custom rear bumper with integral hitch receiver and LED lights. _This_
is a tough bumper.
- Stock steel roof with reinforcement channel welded inside to prevent the
usual oil-canning of FJ-45 roof's.
- inside of truck and underneath all POR-15'd.
Misc:
- Stock tank under front seat in stock location, plus spare 50liter tank behind
cab between frame rails. Electric valve under front seat to switch between
tanks. Switch under dash, LED on dash to indicate running on rear tank.
- Front turn signals don't always work. Poor ground. Was going to put stock
turn signals on after I replace the front fenders when I redo the body work.
- Steering pump groans when cold for the first few turns. Always works
though.
- minor front axle seal leaks. These probably need to be redone.
- One of the front u-joints needs to be replaced. minor vibration at high
speed when hubs are locked.
- The spare tire mounts between roll-cage hoops in rear of truck. The spare
has previously suffered from loose lugnuts on someone else's truck so the holes
a elongated but it does bolt up and run well enough to get one home but is not
really safe.
- I have a spare set of rear factory FJ-45 springs that are in good shape
which I will also include.
General:
The truck drives well. It rides far nicer with its stock springs
than my FJ-40 with its Belton's. My wife used this truck to haul
sod and dirt to the dump last summer. Multiple trips each with loads
of 1200 to 2200 pounds. The load capacity of this thing is awesome
(for what it is). When loaded with 2200lbs, the disc brakes can
still lock all 4 33" tires. I've towed a 3500lb boat up a mountain
pass with this truck (without trailer brakes, I was hauling the
boat back to town for a friend who's Ford powerstroke broke down.)...
As mentioned above, this is the truck I can always count on to
start, no matter how cold it is outside. It has a block heater but
I store it on my neighbors driveway so I don't have the option of
plugging it in. I've always run semi-synthetic oil in the engine
(Shell Rotella) and fully synthetic gear lube in the diffs, tranny,
tcase, etc. Always used fully synthetic grease in the u-joints.
Truck is located in Calgary. I would not hesitate to drive this thing
any distance and be sure it will get me there.
