Builds 1978 BJ40 Restoration

[Alexh85]

hi,
nice work and sure a lot of days and weeks passed

but why do you have used a paste on the differential for the front and rear axe ,
the price of the original seals is very low
and the day where it's necessary to remove the carrier , differential, front or rear they will be sticked

other detail , on all the 40 the frame is not fully rigid ,and your motor is directly fixed on the frame without dampers
in off road you take a risk of break yours fixations side motor..

I did replace the gaskets, but i still use RTV even if its not realy needed. I am starting to think i might need more rubber in the engine mounts to insulate the vibrations and the twist of the chassis. I might use 70 series leaf spring bushes instead their abit thicker.
Cheers

 

[vikor]

I did replace the gaskets, but i still use RTV even if its not realy needed. I am starting to think i might need more rubber in the engine mounts to insulate the vibrations and the twist of the chassis. I might use 70 series leaf spring bushes instead their abit thicker.
Cheers

ok
thanks for your answer
you are lucky in NZ , you can increase the power of your vehicule ,
FYI in my country it's forbidden

 

[Alexh85]

I decided i should probably upgrade the brakes, so im going to find some disk brakes from a 60 or 70 series. and im using an 80 series brake booster and master cylinder

I had to trim a little bit off that bit on the fire wall. The hole centres on the brake booster from the FZJ80 line up perfectly if you flip the booster upside down.
And im fitting a clutch booster and cylinder from a 60 series, it was a bit of a squeese fitting it between the bigger brake booster and the hole for the hand brake cable

So i had to make a new bracket that holds it further ford to clear the brake stuff

 

[Alexh85]

Ive bolted the gearbox to the engine, hopefully for the last time

A picture of whats going on onside the adapter plate

I must have messed something up bolting the transfer case to the gearbox, it wouldn't go into any gears. So i took it apart and back together and now its mint

The cab is ready to go back on the chassis

I had to do some dodgy s### to lower the cab onto the frame with a hoist which doesn't work

I wish i took pictures of how i lifted the cab off, i used 2 highlift jacks and 2 tie downs wrapped around the rafters. I never thought to use a highlift to operate the hoist.

Im going to do away with the manual steering box, and use a 60 series one in fount of the shock tower to make a bit more room for the extractors on the drivers side.

And the holes in the gearbox tunnel line up perfectly for the 5 speed.

It wont be long and ill be taking it for its first drive.

 

[Alexh85]

I got the Holden Commodore engine loom altered for a stand alone setup. everything is labeled, so hopefully even I can wire it up.

Im starting to wish i did a better job labeling the wires when i took them apart.

I had a lot of plans for things i was going to do on the truck Christmas afternoon. But that is a really good place to sit and drink beer. So that's all I did.

 

[clintnz]

Great to see all the progress! Looks good.

I LOL'd at the paint explosion

Clint

 

[Alexh85]

More money later;

After buying brand new genuine Toyota steering arms, steering dampener, brake cylinders, shoes and tie rod ends i decided im not going to use any of it. My excuse is, im making the most of not having a girlfriend or kids.

Im going to use disk brakes and a power steering box from a 60 series

I slightly modified the 60 series backing plates, to make the calipers removable without having to undo the hard line.
I cut off the rivets and welded some bolts on to hold that bit

That should shave a good 10 minutes off how long it takes to change a CV

To save $200 on a set of Aisin hubs, i made the Warn hubs fit by opening up the holes an ants cock, it ended up needing about .6mm or so.
I dont think this will cause any problems but if it does, ill have the holes machined out to accept cone washers.

I bolted up the power steering box.

I had to trim a bit off the shock tower

and im using a tie rod and drag link from a 70 series. and some new after market tierod ends i had stashed away

 

[Alexh85]

Some pictures of how i mounted the steering box
I machined some sleeves to weld into the chassis, they are way heavier than they need to be but i just used the materiel i had in front of me

I drilled 17mm holes in the chassis to leave some room for the weld

Then i cut some patches to fill these hole

drilled some more holes and blazed it up

 

[Alexh85]

My next problem. the hand brake, originally it was a drum on the transfer case, this isn't an option on the h55. I like superior engineerings, transfer case disk hand brake but i don't like the price. So ill try and copy it.

I got a disk water jet cut out of 6mm steel

And i started experimenting with a cable operated brake caliper, im using 70 series brake pads

This needs fine tuning, ill round off all the corners and add some stiffeners. but i think it will work.
And this way i can use my existing hand brake cable.

But if this all fails, i have a spare 70 series rear diff housing i can steal the brakes off if i have to.

 

[Alexh85]

Im using front brake calipers from a Hilux Surf, which look like a good improvement over the 60/70 ones

Another thing Ive got done is Ive altered and mounted the holden throttle pedal

I managed to bolt it up to the holes already in the fire wall

I would have liked to have kept the throttle cable and convert the engine to fly be cable, but my engine is from a VZ commodore and thats not an option. Id need to find an ECU from an older engine, so i put that idea in the too hard basket. and ill stick with fly by wire.

The only thing i dont like about this is, what happens when i get stuck i a deep puddle and the cab fills up with water? I dont know how water proof it is.

 

[llukej]

Looks awesome!! Good to see another NZ FJ getting a new life!!

 

[Alexh85]

Looks awesome!! Good to see another NZ FJ getting a new life!!

Cheers

 

[clintnz]

Great progress! I think front disc brakes are a VERY good idea with that motor

I dig the DIY handbrake caliper. If you have any problems with it, old Subarus (& probably other fwd cars) had the handbrake working via a lever on the calipers so could likely be adapted to work also.

Cheers
Clint

 

[Alexh85]

Great progress! I think front disc brakes are a VERY good idea with that motor

I dig the DIY handbrake caliper. If you have any problems with it, old Subarus (& probably other fwd cars) had the handbrake working via a lever on the calipers so could likely be adapted to work also.

Cheers
Clint

I wish i knew about that before i started making my own, i was looking pretty hard for a cable operated brake caliper.
Cheers

 

[Alexh85]

I bought this truck a year ago today. I was hoping it would be a 6 month job.

 

[waiting for time]

The older MR2’s , first generation AW11, had a combination caliper with mechanical handbrake function.

 

[Alexh85]

The projects moving again
I started work on the air box and snorkel, because of the engines adapter plate there isn't much room between the radiator and the engine, its going to be a squese fitting a fan, im thinking ill use 2 small electric fans and stagger them.

Im using 4" stainless tube

For the air box i wanted to copy one i made for my other cruiser, but make it a bit prettier

I gave up on the galv snorkel i made, it will starve the engine of air.

 

[vikor]

hi,
when you weld with TIG or MIG your stanless stell pipe ,you can use also one inert gas inside the pipe , it's better for the air flow

 

[Alexh85]

Yea I reckon i will purge weld this, hopfuly i wont need to get my tiny argon bottle refilled too many times
Cheers

 

[Alexh85]

Im not going to purge my welds, im not getting full penetration so there are almost no dobries on the inside of the tube
Anyway its only air, its not like its milk.