Build 1979 FJ40 Old School Overhaul

[oldschool4wheeling]

Mounted Barn Doors today

1. Had to round the lower corners, because 79 and later have rounded corners.
So I made a template from my ambulance doors.

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

2. Cut inner panel to rounded contour then sliced outer panel and folded it over and hammered into submission

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

And the Money Shot!!

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

Now that the doors will fit the hole.

It is time to work on the hinges.

My hinges are different than what was on the doors originally.

3. I had to drill another hole and cut off the rest of the hinge.

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

4. The original lower mount from the Amby doors, was used it as the upper mount on barn doors.

This will required me to remount upper hinge on barn door.

I used original lower position on barn door, which required me to drill more holes and mount hinge to body.

I used nut inserts I had two styles: plus nuts and .....and.... hell i don't know the name of them. But I did not use the plus nuts. The plus nuts were too heavy duty for this application. The plus nut is the bigger one.

The bottom pic is "my tool" is used to collapsed the nut inserts. It is a Grade 10 metric bolt. Worked well.... because Im a cheap ass!!

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

5. To help hold the doors steady while I did all my measuring, spacing and marking, I welded them to a piece of angle iron. This was really handy. I could take the door in and out as one piece.

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

6. I used wooden shims to hold the door spacing and keep proper elevation.

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

7. I made some metal backing plates.

Welded the nuts to it and welded it to the quarter panel

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

And ........The MONEY SHOT!!

 

[joyRidaz]

Awesome DIY! Thank you for posting this, I just got a rusty set of barn doors that I've been trying to figure out how to put on my 78... static plate(faux tailgate), operational tailgate(welded together), or operational barn doors. You've just tipped the scales!

Few quick questions:
1) did u have a gap to deal with due to different widths? Seems my 1978 opening is a tad wider than the barn doors. Was planning to just center it and put a mini-gap on both sides
2) backing plates - did u just slice some square tube?
3) what are you gonna do regarding the slide lock striker thing? I was hoping the outer lock is sufficient, since my slider lock pin on the bottom is missing.

Great write up! I bet many will follow in your footsteps! Worthy of its own thread IMHO.

Thank you for sharing the knowledge.

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

@joyRidaz, thank you for the compliment, Im glad it was helpful!!

1. My opening is 41 1/2 inches fender to fender. To keep my gaps spaced "equally" I tacked my doors to a piece of 1/2 inch angle iron. I made sure I centered my latch when I tacked it. Then I used those wooden shims to keep it centered in the opening.

2. My backing plates are 14 ga and I had some pieces bent at our shop at work. i had been wondering how I was going to get some metal bent and during my research, I found a bunch of places around town to buy the metal and bend it. But I decided to use the shop at work instead, because they are "free".

3. Funny you should ask, I was fixing to post up some questions about the barrel latch dimensions and pictures. I think it is going to have to be fabricated. I have never seen one so I don't know. I going to use it because the doors need it for support IMHO.

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

My buddy @adistler1 came by the house yesterday. We proceeded to mock up his barn doors too.

He has had some PO work done to his rig, which we could not repair. But we centered them best we could. I believe they turned out pretty good.

 

[adistler1]

My buddy @adistler1 came by the house yesterday. We proceeded to mock up his barn doors too.

He has had some PO work done to his rig, which we could not repair. But we centered them best we could. I believe they turned out pretty good.

View attachment 1477430

View attachment 1477432

PO work is an understatement! Thank you for your help and the work on your truck is a real inspiration. The angle iron trick, again, was brilliant. Can't believe how easy it made it.

 

[Vae Victus]

Nice fab skills D! You are getting very handy with the welder.

 

[gator25]

x2 nice work

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

9 hours in the garage today. Seemed like I wasn't getting much accomplished, but I did get some things done.

I cleaned up my doors.

Welded up all the holes and removed broken off bolts and tapped all the threads.

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

I also worked on mounting passenger side spare tire carrier.

I had this backing plate made at work. Typo EDIT 14 ga

Here is the original one. I think the new one is spot on to the old one!!

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

I found this very interesting.... but the tire carriers have the same bolt pattern.. Tube style and square tire carrier, left and right sides all have the SAME BOLT PATTERN.

There is some difference in the hinges between the years.

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

So with all of them having the same bolt pattern...... I made a template and transferred to the passenger side.

I didn't get any pics of it, but you can see it under the carrier... paper and blue tape.

 

[oldschool4wheeling]

Here is how it turned out.

Bracket on the inside