Build 1978 FJ40 - Lovely “Linda”

[nabbasi]

Watching it work out is satisfying whether it’s’ mine or not… enjoying your progress

Thank you! I agree with that.

If this thread ends up helping someone or gives them an idea, then at least I’m giving back a little bit here. It’s incredible the amount of knowledge guys like you have shared here.

 

[Aloha Jen]

Great revival thread, and an even better 40 find!! I’ve always loved Freeborn red, and all the documents and history about it makes for a great story. Looking forward to the progress you make.

 

[Rochfort]

Hey folks, I’ve been around for the past year and a half or so after buying a 1967 FJ40 sight unseen and getting it roadworthy/ fun again.

My first 4WD vehicle was a 100 series Land Cruiser I purchased in 2016, which subsequently became my daily driver. For older “project” or classic vehicles, I’ve got a 1968 Mustang and had a 1966 Chevy C10. Those have given/ gave me what I thought was a pretty well rounded knowledge with welding/ sheet metal, carburetors & rebuilds, brakes upgrades, suspension work, steering work, etc until I acquired the ‘67 FJ40. This community has been immeasurably helpful, and has reignited my love for working on and enjoying these old rigs.

…so much so that on a parts hunt I found this gal. A well loved horse farm truck whose PO started a “restoration” before passing away. I’m the 3rd owner. They’d owned it since 1985. It had been sitting under the lean to I (and a few good friends/ bad influences) pulled it out from under for who knows how long. The tires might be a clue - they turned 25 this year.

Even though my 1967 FJ40 has a 2F and 4 speed, the 1978 seems very, very different. While I originally wanted parts off of it, it’s so complete that it deserves to be revived and live on. So that’s the plan.

I’m going to use this thread to document her its return to the road. She’s been lovingly named “Linda” - (I’ve never named a vehicle before, but with several similar/ same makes and models amongst my friends at the shop we’ve had to resort to naming specific vehicles).

This is what I discovered in my first 8 hours of ownership:

• The PO: not a body man, but seemingly drained the tank, topped off all fluids and bought many missing/ needed parts before he passed.
• Despite sitting for 10+ years, the 2F runs. Well.
• The 4 speed feels tight.
• It needs: brakes (found parts showing evidence of service, and also, the rear hard line is there twice..seems the PO disconnected the front to rear hard line, but didn’t remove it), turn signals, general wiring attention, wheels, tires, clutch. With the exception of wheels and tires, the PO bought the parts.
• As a farm truck in East TN, the rust is bad. Rockers, bottom of the doors, fenders, quarters, and any flat surfaces are all a bit rotten.
• It is COMPLETE. The only missing parts seem to be the rear running lights and license plate lights. And the wingnut I lost.

View attachment 3848132

Theres a face only a mother could love

 

[DirtDauberGarage]

Looks good. I'll be following and look forward to seeing what you do!

 

[nabbasi]

Last weekend I got a chance to get the rear harness re-installed. I ended up needing to go further upstream to confirm the wiring as the right/ passenger side had 3 green wires, 1 red, and 1 neutral. I have confirmed that the wiring seems completely original, which makes very little sense to me.

I spliced everything together, and got some weird results, which ended up being ground issues. I cleaned up the main chassis ground and the grounds at the taillights. This resulted in…working taillights and brake lights! The reverse switch wasn’t working though.

I spent the week removing an alarm system from my ‘81 Mercedes wagon. But got back to Linda after some goodies from Toyota arrived.

Alarmless wagon

I meant to only install the rear markers, but installed the rear markers, front driver/ left marker (after punching out some bondo), then decided to remove the tank to diagnose the leak.

Upon removal (which is definitely more involved on a ‘78 than a ‘67!), I found 1 major pinhole when shining a light into the tank in a dark room.

After wire wheeling, I found several more. The tank is bad enough that my instinct would be to replace it if this wasn’t just to get it on the road and reliable, but the tank will just receive a quick repair, paint, and reinstall after a good cleaning.

Cleaned up cover.

Silicone that caused the pitting.

Currently, the tank is holding fluid. Plan is to paint and reinstall before I head out of town next week.

 

[nabbasi]

With the tank out and repaired with JB Weld Tank Weld (this is temporary, as eventually Linda will get a new steel tank), I shot with good ‘ol rustoleum professional to keep it from rusting any further. The recess in the body for the tank was thoroughly cleaned up with a combination of a wire wheel, sander, and SEM Pre and then 3 coats of Eastwoods rattle can 2K Epoxy Primer.

Can you see my “blend line?” Rustoleum Professional doing the Lord’s work here. Not sure if this had been painted by. PO previously, but it matched a little too well.

I’ve got some Freeborn Red inbound, but I’m not sure I’m going to get to it before I head out of town Saturday morning. The primer needs 3 days to cure, then has to be scuffed with a maroon scotch brite for a top coat, but that may have to be a later date.

In between coats, I attached the SOR side mirrors that were included from the PO. Frankly, these things are trash. My ‘67 had west coast jr’s when I bought it, which I quickly replaced with OEM side mirrors which were excellent. This later design is terrible, and the aftermarket execution is even worse. Would I be crazy to buy the Euro mirrors from @Racer65 for this thing? (Note: I’m going to order them the moment they inevitably fail or loosen).

I also tried to troubleshoot the front left turn signal. The outer marker flashes, but the lower section doesn’t. I removed the lens covers on both sides to reveal what seem like, unsurprisingly, Koito bulbs. After the fuel system is reliable, remove the housing and see if I can figure out the issue.

And finally, before I called it a night, I thought I’d measure the rubber fuel line to replace them while everything is apart. My parts order from the dealer included a few new filters, but I thought I’d help them out with all new rubber fuel line.

But I guess the nickel copper I’ve got left over from the ‘67’s hard line project will get some use on Linda too. Luckily, my client dinner got rescheduled to lunch tomorrow, so hopefully I can get to the shop and knock out the reinstallation of the tank and the running of new lines tomorrow evening.

 

[Rochfort]

With the tank out and repaired with JB Weld Tank Weld (this is temporary, as eventually Linda will get a new steel tank), I shot with good ‘ol rustoleum professional to keep it from rusting any further. The recess in the body for the tank was thoroughly cleaned up with a combination of a wire wheel, sander, and SEM Pre and then 3 coats of Eastwoods rattle can 2K Epoxy Primer.

View attachment 3858772

View attachment 3858773

Can you see my “blend line?” Rustoleum Professional doing the Lord’s work here. Not sure if this had been painted by. PO previously, but it matched a little too well.
View attachment 3858774

I’ve got some Freeborn Red inbound, but I’m not sure I’m going to get to it before I head out of town Saturday morning. The primer needs 3 days to cure, then has to be scuffed with a maroon scotch brite for a top coat, but that may have to be a later date.

In between coats, I attached the SOR side mirrors that were included from the PO. Frankly, these things are trash. My ‘67 had west coast jr’s when I bought it, which I quickly replaced with OEM side mirrors which were excellent. This later design is terrible, and the aftermarket execution is even worse. Would I be crazy to buy the Euro mirrors from @Racer65 for this thing? (Note: I’m going to order them the moment they inevitably fail or loosen).

View attachment 3858784

I also tried to troubleshoot the front left turn signal. The outer marker flashes, but the lower section doesn’t. I removed the lens covers on both sides to reveal what seem like, unsurprisingly, Koito bulbs. After the fuel system is reliable, remove the housing and see if I can figure out the issue.
View attachment 3858785

And finally, before I called it a night, I thought I’d measure the rubber fuel line to replace them while everything is apart. My parts order from the dealer included a few new filters, but I thought I’d help them out with all new rubber fuel line.

But I guess the nickel copper I’ve got left over from the ‘67’s hard line project will get some use on Linda too. Luckily, my client dinner got rescheduled to lunch tomorrow, so hopefully I can get to the shop and knock out the reinstallation of the tank and the running of new lines tomorrow evening.

View attachment 3858787

My bottom left front parking light is out. Hope its just the bulb..
.

 

[nabbasi]

Well, tonight was an absolute bust. I had planned to remove the fuel line and bend a new one out of 5/16” copper nickel. I only had about 2 hours, but figured it would be a quick job.

I fought to remove the line and it ended up breaking into 2 pieces (so 3 total). After I got some of the rust and debris out of my eyes, I laid out the line to attempt to recreate it out of the nickel copper tubing.

I was unable to get the line bent as the routing seems more convoluted than necessary on the 1978.

I’ve highlighted the parts diagram, and a screenshot from the FSM.

Has anybody done this with the body on?
Is there any downside to just running a straight line along the upper corner of the body and rocker?
Should I split this into two sections connected with a rubber hose to for the bend up to the charcoal canister?

Any guidance would be appreciated!

 

[nabbasi]

I ended up just going with a straight run along the inner rocked. Seems fine for now! Before I could get the seats back in, I headed to Disney with the family for a few days. While I was gone, a buddy put the seats back in, tested the tank repair (it holds fuel! And doesn’t leak!), then tested out the RTI on the ramp. 530. Not bad for old and stock with taller tires.

When I got back in town, I didn’t plan on doing anything with Linda since I needed to paint the wheels on my Mercedes wagon. With the wagon in the air with all 4 wheels off, my daughter called me (after 7.5hrs riding back from the beach with her cousins and grandparents!) to tell me that my wife’s photo session ran over, so I needed to meet my in-laws to pick up my kids.

That seemed like a good excuse to test out Linda! 10-15 minute, 8 mile drive. Linda started a bit slow, but warmed up quickly, and I headed to meet them.

Over about 20mph, the side mirrors pointed straight down. But it drives so well for needing so much more refreshing. The ride is soft, but not bouncy, the noise is minimal, and it did fine in traffic/ keeping up with traffic.

My kids were absolutely thrilled to test out the jump seats. My ‘67 has a bench, so they had been looking forward to riding in this one.

All was great right up until we got to the neighborhood. The fuel gauge showed that it was pretty low, and sure enough, we started sputtering. Then died. Completely out of fuel.

To condense the 3 hours directly proceeding that event: my kids and wife are supremely patient with my shenanigans, a Miata battery is basically a golf cart battery and cannot be used to jump an fj40, don’t leave your keys, the spare, and your keys to the shop… at the shop, and optima red tops are still great.

This week, I spent some time messing with the turn signal housings and a little cleaning on some electrical wiring and connections. The driver side turn signal housing was not installed when I bought it, so I installed it a few weeks ago. I decided I’d clean up the grounds, so I attempted to remove the passenger side turn signal housing. It did not go well. The rust was bad enough that the welds on the housing popped and the mounting stud now just spins. I’m going to have to cut it off, but it probably needed new ones anyway as these didn’t ground very well and dedicated ground wires and new seals and plastic wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

I also need to replace the bulbs in the dash..I love this view.

 

[cruisermatt]

Looks like a great 40 Nadeem. We should just do the power steering in this one instead!

 

[nabbasi]

Looks like a great 40 Nadeem. We should just do the power steering in this one instead!

Thanks, Matt! In due time...It's just so original that I think I only want to fix / replace to keep it running for now.

Gloves are off on the '67...now it's the test mule to learn/ play/ break things - original went out the window a looong time ago on that one anyway.

 

[SteveH]

Great reading here!

You can tighten the tiny phillips (JIS) screws on the floppy plastic outside rear view mirrors so that they stay put....

 

[nabbasi]

Great reading here!

You can tighten the tiny phillips (JIS) screws on the floppy plastic outside rear view mirrors so that they stay put....

Thanks! Hope it's enjoyable.

I've tighted those tiny screws as much as they could be tightened, but the head is still loose. I was thinking about drilling them a bit larger, and putting a a better nut and machine thread screw through them. Honestly though, I think I might just bite the bullet and pull the trigger on some Euro spec mirrors!

 

[nabbasi]

I didn’t have much time, but took a few minutes to stop and pick up bulbs for the cluster. Got them swapped out, the speedometer cable reinstalled and the cluster back into the dash.

I also cleaned up the grounds and have working wipers now, too. Both speeds!

The to do list is getting longer and I haven’t been able to cross stuff off the list with family activities in full swing.

Next up when I’m back in town:

Rear brake - new drums, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware.
Turn signal install
License plate light wiring and light install
Dome light install

With that, lighting will all be sorted and working, and the brake system will be brake new from front to rear with the exception of the front hard lines that seem fine.

 

[nabbasi]

Life hasn't left me much time to work on Linda over the past month. I did get the new turn signals installed. I had to cut the passenger side one off, which would have sucked on something I cared about the paint on, but wasn't a big deal here. I added a ground since the OEM replacements have a ground wire now.

I also got a chance to install the license plate lights, and repair the wiring to them that had been ripped/ torn/ cut.

I attempted to wire up the dome light, but the wire isn't getting power. I started to trace it back, but ran out of time. Dome light would be nice, but not urgent.

A few nights ago, I thought I'd change the oil really quick before starting the brakes. After draining the oil and replacing the drain plug, I poured almost 4 quarts in when I heard the sound of oil hitting the drain pan and the cardboard underneath it. I was treated to a valve cover waterfall. Luckily, I had a spare valve cover gasket on hand. I'm not going to lie, there were horrors once I removed the valve cover. I spent some time cleaning everything up, adjusted the valves, checked all of the spark plugs again, and buttoned it all back up. I'm going to run a few very short OCI's and burn through some filters while it gets back into full commission.

I realized I forgot to change the fuel filter, so I went ahead and swapped a new one in. She idled for the first time in a few weeks this morning. Hopefully I can get to the rear brakes in the next week or so.

Next up:
Rear brake - new drums, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware.
Turn signal install
License plate light wiring and light install
Dome light install - delayed
Remove & Paint Wipers & install new blades
Drive Linda to work
Thermostat Housing Gasket (slow leak)

 

[nabbasi]

My last post was on Thursday. On Friday, I had an appointment to get a new windshield on the Miata, so I took Linda for a spin to rearrange the garage with the fresh oil/ filter/ valve adjustment/ valve cover gasket/ cleaned plugs. I parked her in the driveway for the windshield, and then moved her back into the garage.

After baseball & softball that evening, I opened the garage to a very, very strong smell of gasoline.

The rubber hose from the fuel supply line and into the filter had cracked open. Without time to solve it, I moved her back into the driveway for the day. After some mother's day activities on Sunday, I had a bit of time in the afternoon to replace the small run of hose. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to fire up and the bowl wasn't filling up with fuel. Eventually I got it to idle briefly with the choke on using ether, and that allowed time for fuel to enter the bowl and show up in the middle of the sight glass. Despite this, I couldn't get it to run without full choke.

Eventually, I got it idling with the choke on, but it was running very rough and misfiring a bit. I started looking for vacuum leaks (carb spray everywhere), and nothing seemed to change anything except for the carb itself. I went through all of the vacuum routing - I found a few that were incorrectly routed - fixed those, but no improvement. I removed the valve cover again and double-checked my work with the engine warm. I re-assembled everything and tried again today. Still nothing. I emptied a good bit of carb cleaner and Seafoam top engine cleaner into the carb, and while it seemed smoother, it still died without choke. I messed with the carburetor's idle mixture, but no change.

I unplugged & plugged the idle circuit solenoid back in, and didn't hear a click. I finally hooked up a wire from the + side of the battery to the idle circuit solenoid, fired her up, and she purred nicely. I hate that I didn't think of that before I re-did my work. In my '67, I had the same issue when I went from a PO's Weber to a CityRacer carb. I wired it directly to an ignition switched circuit on the fuse panel. It looks like the '78 comes from the Emission Control Computer.

I need to do a little research to find out why the Emission Control Computer isn't working and troubleshoot from there.

Next up:
Emission Control Computer troubleshoot & resolve
Rear brake - new drums, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware.
Turn signal install
License plate light wiring and light install
Dome light install - delayed
Remove & Paint Wipers & install new blades
Drive Linda to work
Thermostat Housing Gasket (slow leak)

 

[nabbasi]

I was able to sneak in a few non-consecutive hours working on the carburetor/ idling issues/ emissions control computer. I removed the Emissions Control Computer and cleaned up the connections, but it seemed to only intermittently solve the issue, and created a few others (such as the ignition switch no longer cutting the engine!). I did the same with the fuse panel itself, and ended up replacing the "Engine" fuse and...all is right again. Starts immediately, idles well. I love when it's the simple things (I just wish I always started there...). I replaced a few dry-rotted vacuum lines, and I'll do the same for the rest soon. Does anybody know a good source for the larger diameter vacuum lines?

My Euro spec mirrors came in, and so I swapped out the PO's side mirrors I couldn't get to stay up. I'm not as thrilled with them as I thought I'd be, but they're functional!

I also needed to paint the wipers on the 1990 Miata, so painted Linda's as well, and slapped on new OEM blades.

Back in the back of the garage for the rear drum brakes. Gave myself a 45 minute time limit, and only got it in the air, wheels off, and drums off. New rotors, wheel cylinders, hardware, tubes, etc. are up next as I get time over the next few days.

Next up:
Emission Control Computer troubleshoot & resolve
Rear brake - new drums, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware. In progress
Turn signal install
License plate light wiring and light install
Dome light install - In progress - installed, but no power
Remove & Paint Wipers & install new blades
Drive Linda to work
Thermostat Housing Gasket (slow leak)

 

[nabbasi]

I spent a few hours getting the rear drums knocked out this weekend. I ran into a few hiccups, somewhat expected.

For the record, I hate drum brakes. Every time I work on rear drum brakes, I say it's the last time I'll work on them, and would rather just swap to rear discs. I held true to that on the '67, but since Linda is mostly original, decided to just stay with drums. One of the wheel cylinders couldn't be adjusted, so I figured I'd just swap everything. New drums, shoes, hardware, wheel cylinders.

On the passenger side, both springs were on the backside. The shoes looked like they had plenty of life left, so it seems that someone had been in here relatively few miles ago.

It took a good bit of heat and hammer to get the old wheel cylinders out from the backing plate. The bolts had come out with relative ease, but the wheel cylinders were stuck to the backing plates on both sides.

I had purchased all 4 wheel cylinders from NAPA. The first issue was that the shoes did not fit in the wheel cylinder adjustment bolts. Upon further inspection, the Toyota bolts are directional - they are both wider and angle to keep the shoes from slipping off of the wheel cylinders.

Luckily, on the passenger side, the diameter of the bolts were exactly the same, so after a few minutes in the parts washer, I threaded them into the new wheel cylinders and buttoned everything up.

On the driver side, the diameter of the bolts did not line up. I took ground down the new adjusting bolts but didn't have enough material to angle them as drastically as the OEM bolts. I'm not really anticipating any issues, but still, a bit of a bummer.

I asked my son to help bleed the brakes. As soon as he built up a bit of pressure, the rear junction where the left hard line, right hard line, and front to rear tube meet was leaking fluid. I remembered this fitting being a bit rough when I replaced the hard lines a few months ago, so I attempted to make a new line to see if I could get a better seat/ seal with a slightly larger nut, but was not successful.

I went searching for the part, but saw that it was no longer available, and decided to call it a night and get caught up on some much needed sleep.

In the morning, I remembered that I found a suitable 3-way tee that I had used when converting the '67 from 9mm to 10mm fittings, and happened to have 1 of those left over. I haven't had a chance to swap it out, but it's on my to do list this week. Here's a picture of the 3 way fitting I used on the '67. I'll have to bend the line straight from the driver side, but I'm hopeful this will complete the 4 corner brake job so I can keep moving - AND DRIVE HER TO WORK!

Next up:
Rear brakes - new drums, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware.
Rear brake junction & bleed brakes
Parking brake adjustment
Dome light install - In progress - installed, but no power
Drive Linda to work
Thermostat Housing Gasket (slow leak)

 

[nabbasi]

I re-ordered the part that I had originally ordered for the 3-way tee, but the same thing did not arrive, so I'm not going to share the part number. So for anybody looking for this junction in the future, I used a 3-way female brake line tee, all ports 10mmx1.0 for inverted flares. I found one that had a mounting hole, and bored it out a bit so that the axle breather could thread through. Here's the result (and no leaks!)

Next up:
Rear brakes - new drums, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware.
Rear brake junction & bleed brakes
Parking brake adjustment
Dome light install - In progress - installed, but no power
Drive Linda to work
Thermostat Housing Gasket (slow leak)

​

Feels good to be crossing things off the...albeit slowly!

 

[nabbasi]

It’s been over 3 months since I posted anything. I figured it was time I posted an update.

After my previous post, I attempted to drive Linda. While idling was fine, as soon as I started moving, i was met with bucking / loss of spark.

Over the next month, I spent quite a bit of time with the factory manual and multimeter, replaced the coil, igniter, rebuilt the fuel pump, replaced the distributor, replaced the coil (again), and added a relay to bypass the igniter.

While it seemed better, the fuel tank repair failed and the the fuel seemed very low in the bowl.

Instead of swapping the tank and rebuilding the carburetor (or popping a Fuji carb from cityracer on), I ordered a 2F Holley Sniper kit from Mosley.

I haven’t had much time to work on it, but so far I’ve replaced the fuel tank, used the cruiser outfitters heat riser block off plate, and used the Mosley kit to run new fuel lines and a new return line.

Next up is to figure out the pedal / linkage, drill for the O2 sensor, then run the wiring. I bought a new fuse panel for under the hood to wire all of the sniper/ fuel pump/ headlight relays to avoid inline fuses and relays all over the engine bay.