Builds 1978 FJ40. Waking up the ol’ girl!

[EStein]

Good luck with that! I let a friend of mine who owned a tire store talk me into one of those computerized alignments on my FJ45. Fancy flashing lights on mounted paddles like your pic.
1. Since caster and camber cannot be adjusted without disassembling things, all they can really offer on a basic checkup is toe-in.
2. When the tech finished his first run, he walked up to the truck with a couple of wrenches and started loosening the clamps on my relay rod. I had to tell him the OTHER rod was the one that would change toe-in.
3. When I got my truck back and drove to the shop I could tell it was worse than when I started. Got out my tape measure and reset it myself.

Thankfully I was only out $20 for that lesson.

That’s funny...our local shop does a pretty good job. Adjusted toe in and centered my steering wheel so saved me doing it. Charged me 40 bucks. Right side was 2° out. Went for a nice drive. Beautiful day here. Loving it! Want to put a few more miles on it before I venture back into the woods.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Just magnifique!!!!!! Jaw dropping cool!

 

[EStein]

Just magnifique!!!!!! Jaw dropping cool!

Thank you sir!

 

[EStein]

Took the doors off and spent the day giving rides! I think my wife really enjoyed it once all the dirt and dust was blown out! Haha. It was bad! I gave my daughter her first stick shift lesson! She didn’t kill it but my clutch is pretty forgiving! She came home bouncing off the walls with excitement. That makes it all worthwhile for me. Oh! The windshield wipers started working! Woohoo!

 

[FJBen]

Very cool! We are getting that good weather on Sunday. Right now we just got 4” of spring snow.

 

[EStein]

Very cool! We are getting that good weather on Sunday. Right now we just got 4” of spring snow.

Ugh!!

 

[Dianna]

Love seeing your daughter getting involved! Great project, and impressed with how much you have gotten done! I just woke mine up from a long winters nap, and then the snow returned to NE Ohio

 

[EStein]

Hi Dianna! Thanks! She definitely lost some motivation when I turned her loose wire brushing the underside! Now that she’s driven it though...she’s back! If it had air bags and crumple zones and antilock brakes I might give it to her!!

 

[cruiserkev]

Hi Dianna! Thanks! She definitely lost some motivation when I turned her loose wire brushing the underside! Now that she’s driven it though...she’s back! If it had air bags and crumple zones and antilock brakes I might give it to her!!

Give it to her anyway, my daughter is getting mine someday. Airbags are overated.

 

[EStein]

Give it to her anyway, my daughter is getting mine someday. Airbags are overated.

Oh I plan on it. Just not for a long time!

 

[Dianna]

She's safer in that tank than just about any modern vehicle!

 

[EStein]

She's safer in that tank than just about any modern vehicle!

Maybe but she doesn’t need to know that! I’m not ready to give it up!

 

[shwarzwald]

Man it took like 1.5 hours to read all 15 pages, but man it was a fun ride to see this thing go from rust red to nice freeborn red.

Seeing you do all the work to the engine, brakes, and other parts has really uped my motivation to dig in deeper and put more time into my fj40. Poor thing is just limping around as a DD for me. XD

It's also nice to see another PNW fj40 owner! (Still new to the forums, so I haven't found you all yet.)

 

[EStein]

Man it took like 1.5 hours to read all 15 pages, but man it was a fun ride to see this thing go from rust red to nice freeborn red.

Seeing you do all the work to the engine, brakes, and other parts has really uped my motivation to dig in deeper and put more time into my fj40. Poor thing is just limping around as a DD for me. XD

It's also nice to see another PNW fj40 owner! (Still new to the forums, so I haven't found you all yet.)

Hey! Welcome! Where are you located? IT would be cool to get our PNW locals together once the madness is over!

 

[EStein]

So my left front turn signal stopped working a few days ago and I decided to dig into it yesterday. Electrical is definitely my least favorite...don’t always have the brain for it! The first thing I noticed when I tore into it was the lights on the left front were definitely dimmer than the lights on the right front. Also when I took apart the light housing, you could see that there was some bleed over to the larger bulb causing it to glow just slightly. To me it seems like whenever there’s an electrical problem with these rigs, you start with grounding…weird huh?

 

[EStein]

My left front fender is full of rust and Bondo so after tracing all the wires to the flasher I went back and started at the fender. I hooked a wire to where the light housing attaches to the fender and then ran it to a decent ground under the hood. All of a sudden the lights were brighter! OK I’m getting somewhere. Flasher still doesn’t work… Neither does the larger bulb. Smaller bulbs are working and bright as can be. Also the hazards flash except the left front... Don’t worry, the red grounding wire is just temporary as I troubleshoot. (Yes I changed the bulb )

 

[EStein]

So now the hazards work except for the left front and the right turn signal works. When you turn the left turn signal on it clicks a few times and then stops and the smaller lights glow but the larger light which is the one that’s supposed to be flashing, still does not work. Checked all the connections again and cleaned the grounds one more time and then decided it had to be the flasher. Came inside and got online to order a new one. I’m really sensitive to spending money right now under the current corona madness. Had the flasher in my basket to check out and thought I’m going to go out one more time. Maybe take the flasher apart and just look… It’s a huge pain to remove because it’s tight up above the clutch pedal but I got it out. It was interesting to open up and see what’s really happening in there. I had no idea.

For anyone interested, I took a couple videos of the thing working. I thought it was cool.

 

[EStein]

 

[EStein]

Anyway, relay works and I feel like the grounds are all good. Made one last effort to trace all the wires. Just behind the left headlight are a couple connectors that go out to the fender lights. I unplugged them and plugged them back in and all of a sudden it started flashing. Really?! . I had checked all the wires but I didn’t actually unplug them. Connections were a little corroded and that was all that was wrong. Could’ve save me a few hours. Oh well, I learned a lot.

Couple things I learned. If the flasher is working for the right side and the hazards, then the flasher is working right? Not left and right specific. I was ready to just replace it. Glad I didn’t.

Also when working up underneath the dash near the fuse block… Disconnect the stinking power! My wrench hit the fuse block once and my clutch pedal another time causing sparks and fuse drama. Here’s a picture of the culprit. Anyway, everything working again! Going to take her to Costco!

 

[EStein]

Offender!