I'm the joker who bought the 78 FJ40 
, and yes, I read all the history (including the original classified from a year ago and the comments after) on here before doing so. I knew it would be incredibly ironic for the cruiser to show up in Auburn.
Been around on Mud for a while, mainly lurking, haven't posted here before, but I try to keep up with what is going on. Have had several toyotas, an 87 4x4 truck in high school, a 73 FJ40 in college, an 87 4 runner in college, a 95 tacoma, 100 series, and now this 78 FJ40.
Been looking around for a 40 or 60 series and ended up checking out a few before buying the 78 FJ40. Watched it on here for a while, read the history, and ended up going to Huntsville to check it out and ultimately buy it. Back in college, I had a 73 that I drove from Auburn to New Mexico (24hrs). Wasn't a bad trip at the time; figured I'd just hop in the 78 and drive it on back to Auburn
.
Okay, when I did the New Mexico trip, it was 17 years ago, and my memory of the drive must be better than the reality. Shortly after leaving Huntsville, I listened to the
and decided to do this:
Ah...much better, dropped the driveshaft on the 40 and figured I'd just give it a good going over once I got back to Auburn. 100 pulling the 40, no worries....
Ummmm...that lasted until the rain started and we were going downhill and tried to stop....holy
....ended up like this:
No rear brakes... tried to bleed 'em and do some basic troubleshooting, but couldn't figure it out. Don't ask me how we made it back, but we did. What was the issue with the brakes, you ask? I'm doing a writeup for the 100 series section on that...stay tuned
Back to the 40. I've had it now for a few weeks and really like it. It fires right up, runs great, and rattles just like I remember them doing. I've picked most of the low hanging fruit (put a new OEM front bumper on, cleaned up this and that, little painting, added some other OEM parts/accessories).
My big task, the biggest of all, is going after the rust. Because of the way it sat for years, it has rust in some of the normal places and some of the odd. The biggest issue is the rear sill and the rear quarters. Currently, I'm looking to buy a welder, thinking of a Miller/Hobart 140. Once I have this, I plan on making some mistakes, learning from them, and getting the sill replaced and sheet metal patched. From there, I'll just work my way around and/or pick up a nice drinking habit
, and yes, I read all the history (including the original classified from a year ago and the comments after) on here before doing so. I knew it would be incredibly ironic for the cruiser to show up in Auburn. Been around on Mud for a while, mainly lurking, haven't posted here before, but I try to keep up with what is going on. Have had several toyotas, an 87 4x4 truck in high school, a 73 FJ40 in college, an 87 4 runner in college, a 95 tacoma, 100 series, and now this 78 FJ40.
Been looking around for a 40 or 60 series and ended up checking out a few before buying the 78 FJ40. Watched it on here for a while, read the history, and ended up going to Huntsville to check it out and ultimately buy it. Back in college, I had a 73 that I drove from Auburn to New Mexico (24hrs). Wasn't a bad trip at the time; figured I'd just hop in the 78 and drive it on back to Auburn
.
Okay, when I did the New Mexico trip, it was 17 years ago, and my memory of the drive must be better than the reality. Shortly after leaving Huntsville, I listened to the
and decided to do this:
Ah...much better, dropped the driveshaft on the 40 and figured I'd just give it a good going over once I got back to Auburn. 100 pulling the 40, no worries....
Ummmm...that lasted until the rain started and we were going downhill and tried to stop....holy
....ended up like this:
No rear brakes... tried to bleed 'em and do some basic troubleshooting, but couldn't figure it out. Don't ask me how we made it back, but we did. What was the issue with the brakes, you ask? I'm doing a writeup for the 100 series section on that...stay tuned
Back to the 40. I've had it now for a few weeks and really like it. It fires right up, runs great, and rattles just like I remember them doing. I've picked most of the low hanging fruit (put a new OEM front bumper on, cleaned up this and that, little painting, added some other OEM parts/accessories).
My big task, the biggest of all, is going after the rust. Because of the way it sat for years, it has rust in some of the normal places and some of the odd. The biggest issue is the rear sill and the rear quarters. Currently, I'm looking to buy a welder, thinking of a Miller/Hobart 140. Once I have this, I plan on making some mistakes, learning from them, and getting the sill replaced and sheet metal patched. From there, I'll just work my way around and/or pick up a nice drinking habit
