1978 FJ40 Resto - Lord Jesus, What Have I Done?

[adistler1]

It's been about 5 years since I bought my 1978 FJ40. It is my second cruiser. My first was a 1979 that I found after a year long search, 20 minutes away from my home. I saw it in the local paper classifieds of all places, which I never checked. I drove out to the house and someone literally bought it as I pulled into the driveway. I drove home with my tail between my legs and depressed as all get out. It was perfect. Sky Blue, built the year I was born, lifted and on 36" super swampers. Luckily a few days later the owner called and said the buyers wife wouldn't let him get a new toy. He found my number in his trash and sold it to me for $7900. About 2 years ago, I moved from Evansville, IN to Nashville, TN and had to sell my pride and joy to finance the move.

I found my 78 on Craigslist and it was definitely an impulse buy. I was told it was restored by a doctor in VA. I took a Megabus down to Atlanta and bought it at night, trusting the PO and the photos I saw. The heart gets what the heart wants.

Mistake #1.

 

[adistler1]

The wheels came off... Literally. A few days after purchasing it and driving it home from Atlanta to Nashville, I noticed a weird vibration as I was driving. I pulled over, couldn't see anything unusual. I kept driving, trying to get home without paying for a tow. Out of the blue, the rear end slams down to the pavement and my tire goes rolling past me.

The PO had put insanely wide spacers on it and I had no clue what to look for or the issues they'd cause. It took a month to get the repairs done. The drivers side quarter panel was crunched, u-bolts broken. They wanted to total it and I told them they were crazy. I helped source parts so they could repair it.

The first thing I did was put some 33x10 BFG's on stock steelies and got rid of the spacers and the American Racing wheels.

 

[adistler1]

The next set back was the engine blowing up on me. Driving down I-40, I start to hear a knock. I pull over and get a tow. I ended up taking it to a mechanic in the neighborhood named Pops. Super nice guy, old school. He ended up farming the rebuild out to a racing shop. After numerous conversations and studying up on MUD, I knew that I didn't want to leave my 2F in their hands. I believe it was @KY Longhunter who hooked me up with one of his buddies who towed my truck and engine up to @FJ40Jim. Finally, I was at peace with where my truck was at. I knew that it was in good hands. 9 months later, I had a Jim Chenowith rebuild.

 

[adistler1]

The PO was creative with the welder. The back end had a giant monstrosity welded to it. Jim was kind enough to take a plasma torch to it for me.

 

[adistler1]

I'm not sure how it even happened to come together, but MUD brought some great guys into my life. One night, over steaks at J. Alexanders, I met @Rainman, @Vae Victus, a few other friends of friends and a mud member, Craig who has unfortunately passed away. What a great night that was, to meet like-minded folks with different backgrounds and walks of life but who all have one thing in common. An insane love of FJ40s. That night was a confidence builder for me. @Rainman was kind and gracious enough to take me under his wing and help me rebuild my knuckles and rear axle seals. That was the first time I wrenched on my own truck and I got the bug. The rear axle seal ended up being a bit of a nightmare and @Vae Victus ended up loaning me a seal. I think the sun had set and the temp dropped. Rainey and I were working in his gravel driveway in the dark. The spider gears fell out. Rainey worked some miracles, he pinched his hand and I think still wears a scar from it. I learned that cruisers will fight you every bit of the way, but if there's a will, there's a way and that I could work on my own truck... and that I had an amazing support system of new friends there who had my back.

 

[adistler1]

Rear axle work.

 

[tls3601]

Ok so I have been thru the same things with mine except a tire flying off! The rear axle literally wanted to slide out sideways due to PO bs!!!! However JimC is the best he rebuilt and flow tested my carb. It purrs because of Jim. Another upside, they take time and '78 is the best year.

 

[pondjumpr]

Nice looking rig. Although I might be partial to the '78. Take it one step at a time so you don't get frustrated. It sounds like you are going about everything the right way.

Good luck with the rest of your restoration.

 

[TheHardWay]

(Note to self: never buy FJ40 at night)

 

[Tancruiser]

Or in the rain

 

[adistler1]

Or in the rain

Or off Craigslist...

 

[SteveH]

I suspect that Jim C engine is a real treat now - with headers, no less. And ditching that rear bumper probably gave you 1" of lift instantly, right? Great story and photos.

 

[adistler1]

My next job was to install @Racer65's electric power steering. It was more or less a plug and play option. I did it in the dead of winter though which wasn't all that fun. The biggest challenge was getting the motor to fit under the dash at the right angle. I ended up having to cut out some metal behind the steering column and then grind down the brake pedal so that it could clear.

Beyond that, it was as easy as running a wire to the battery, tapping into the ignition power and then plugging the harness up to the brain. I used two existing bolts down by the clutch and used a piece of aluminum to make a bracket to mount the CPU to.

There was an old PTO knob on my dash that wasn't being used, so I removed it and mounted the control knob for the EPS.

 

[adistler1]

Here's where the CPU lives.

 

[Rainman]

Aaron, I know that YOU know you can call on us any time. You've learned a lot very fast but don't forget that you can still ask for help. I'm finally fixing up my garage to be a nice shop so don't wince about having to work on the gavel... In the dark... out here again.

 

[adistler1]

Along with the EPS, as my Christmas bonus, my boss bought me a new OME kit from Kurt. Perusing all the other threads on the forums, it ended up being a pretty straightforward swap after using tricks and tips I read on MUD. I definitely had to melt the old bushings with a torch and then use whatever I could find to drive the pins out. A tie rod separator helped a lot. The 2.5" kit is a beautiful thing.

 

[adistler1]

One thing that always drove me nuts about this truck was all the additional wires thrown in. Stuff for lights that weren't there, stuff for power amps for a stereo that I didn't need. And none of it done properly. Hell, when the car stereo was wired up, they tapped into the turn signal power instead of the ignition, so when I used my blinkers, the stereo would turn off and on. I also didn't have a horn. I went almost 4 years driving on a wing and a prayer that I wouldn't ever have to use one because I wasn't sure where to even start. Well, I'm not sure why it took me so long to revisit @Coolerman's site for a more in-depth visit. I ended up buying some horns from O'Reilly and got the correct wire from Coolerman. I also figured while I was in there, I might as well replace my turn signals and rear brake lights with OE parts. I grabbed all the correct wires for that also and went to town with a soldering iron, proper connectors and some heat shrink. It was incredibly cathartic pulling this mess out.

 

[TheHardWay]

Wow, Christmas bonus, eh? Got any openings where you work?

 

[adistler1]

I suspect that Jim C engine is a real treat now - with headers, no less. And ditching that rear bumper probably gave you 1" of lift instantly, right? Great story and photos.

When I drove up to Jim's place to pick the truck up, he took me for a quick spin in it and threw me back into the seat. He said, "why would you ever want to put a V8 in one of these?" It was incredible. @FJ40Jim races cars and to this day, I still haven't been able to recreate how he shifted my truck. It was a thing of beauty.

 

[adistler1]

Wow, Christmas bonus, eh? Got any openings where you work?

Sadly, I worked for Ralphie May, who just passed away earlier this month. Along with losing my mentor and best friend, I lost my job and health insurance for myself and my 4-month old. It's been a devastating blow. It's also one of the reasons I started this thread. Being unemployed gives me the opportunity to go back and track down photos and tell a 5 year old story.

Ralphie was the best boss and friend I could ever have. He changed my life in so many ways. He loved getting updates from me on what I was doing to my FJ40. He always said "Man s***." when I sent him a picture.