Build 1978 FJ40. Waking up the ol’ girl!

[EStein]

Wow those look amazing. Was that a local upholstery shop or did you get covers from one of the FJ40 sites? The ones from SOR look really nice but they are $935 for the pair. Yikes.

 

[TheHardWay]

Wow those look amazing. Was that a local upholstery shop or did you get covers from one of the FJ40 sites? The ones from SOR look really nice but they are $935 for the pair. Yikes.

Cruiser Corp, on sale a couple months ago - under $600 fronts and jumps.

 

[EStein]

A few more parts primed today. Paint tomorrow then I can breath a bit.

 

[EStein]

 

[EStein]

Well as I mentioned in a previous post, I took a bunch of parts down to the metal cleaners to have them remove the paint and rust. Doors, hardtop, hinges… Anyway they all came back really nice although discovered some new rust areas I wasn’t aware of! One of the members here said…” Make sure you get them primed right away cause they’re going to start rusting.” Yeah didn’t do that. Mainly didn’t have the time, material, sprayer… Anyway I thought I would be fine since it was in the summer. I threw them in the back of my garage by the refrigerator. A couple weeks ago I went to dig them out…..oh no! So today I spent almost 8 hours with the wire wheel and sandpaper cleaning off the newly formed surface rust. Finally got the last of the parts primed today. All the doors need rust repairs at the bases and a few small spots on the hard top so I will do that this winter. Now I can clean up and relax a little bit. I’m excited to get the painted pieces back on and at least get the old girl running again.

 

[EStein]

 

[EStein]

 

[EStein]

Started patching my front bib last night. This is really the last piece I need to get painted…minus hard top and doors. I decided I wasn’t good enough to try to re-create the factory design so I just used a piece of thicker gauge metal, maybe 12 or 14 gauge from an earlier project. It already had the 90° bend. I think it will work well. Now, should I finish the spot welds or just grind and fill… I’m feeling lazy!

 

[EStein]

Been putting her back together again. This is the fun stuff. Hasn’t been easy getting all the panels lined up and fitting but I think it’ll be “good enough“. I ended up having to put little rubber spacers in between the front bib and the side aprons in order to not have the hood overhanging on both sides by probably quarter inch. I’m not quite sure why it’s not fitting. Looks good though so I’m not going to nitpick.

 

[EStein]

 

[EStein]

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. My daughter came home from school for a few days so feeling blessed. She helped me mount the windshield. Small thing but good to be in the shop together again.

I accidentally broke my windshield taking it out of the frame last year. Wasn’t too concerned cause I figured it would be cheap to replace and I could source it local. Nope. None of the local glass shops could get one. Called Toyota and they couldn’t either. Ended up ordering from Cruiser Corps and the OEM seal from CCOT. Worried about breaking again so paid a local windshield guy to install. I may have him do the rest of the glass when the time comes. He did say he had a glass vendor that could cut the windshield out if they had a template so if you’re in a bind, that may be a solution. Anyway…one step closer.

 

[EStein]

Benefits of doing your own Christmas shopping! These parts should be fun. A little nervous about installing the clutch though! Just one of those things I feel like I should do before I put everything back together. might even take the transmission and transfer case down to the local shop for a rebuild. Have no idea what that will cost. Hoping I will be pleasantly surprised when I call this morning. Any ideas?
Thanks @Racer65

 

[sogncab]

might even take the transmission and transfer case down to the local shop for a rebuild. Have no idea what that will cost. Hoping I will be pleasantly surprised when I call this morning. Any ideas?

Depends what the parts are needed. I had a guy do it as a side job, I think he only charged me $300 for labor to go through my tranny and t-case. I had $900 in bearings, seals, and a couple of gears.

 

[EStein]

Depends what the parts are needed. I had a guy do it as a side job, I think he only charged me $300 for labor to go through my tranny and t-case. I had $900 in bearings, seals, and a couple of gears.

OK that’s good to know. I was thinking it would be around 1000 to 1500.

 

[EStein]

My partner in crime is home from school for a few weeks so decided to install some of our new parts. Started with the fuel pump. A bit tight but no biggie after taking the battery tray out. Remove two bolts, used a razor blade to scrape off the old gasket material, cleaned it all up and installed the new one. One of the easier jobs! I decided to put a thin layer of gasket sealer on. I know you don’t have to but I felt better. We cleaned up the old alternator bracket and painted, installed the new alternator and radiator overflow/washer fluid reservoir. Tested the washer motor and though it looks super rough, it works! Thank goodness. Those little buggers are expensive. Fun day in the shop….avoiding the transmission removal.

 

[EStein]

Pulled the transmission, clutch, and flywheel today. All went fairly smooth. Came at the transmission from the top with a cherry picker and a floor jack below. Was able to clear everything fairly easily. Decided to keep the bell housing on. Was able to rotate the engine fairly easily to get it all the bolts from the bottom. would’ve liked to have taken pictures but I had a friend helping and I completely forgot.
Dropped my transmission and transfer case off at the local shop to give it a good look and fix anything that needs fixing.

 

[EStein]

Tried to get the pilot bearing out with a cheap bearing puller but didn’t want to try too hard. Then guess what worked? The bread method! I was absolutely blown away that it really worked. I found a socket that fit the hole of the bearing and a bolt to plug the end and grabbed an old English muffin! Filled the hole as much as I could and then hammered it in, filled some more and hammered… Bearing slowly came out and then boom… had to laugh because what a crazy method but it works!

 

[EStein]

Definitely glad I decided to do this. The old clutch plate was down to the wear pins. (Maybe not wear pins. Probably shouldn’t let the disc go that far!) Maybe the original clutch? Who knows. Old and new…

Hopefully the fly wheel is salvageable. It looks a little rough and lots of little hairline cracks.

 

[middlecalf]

Careful when you get the new clutch in with resurfaced flywheel, after running what you had in there the first time you let the clutch out you might snap your neck !

 

[EStein]

Careful when you get the new clutch in with resurfaced flywheel, after running what you had in there the first time you let the clutch out you might snap your neck !

Haha! I will for sure. Thanks!