Builds 1MAC's 1965 FJ40 Project build

[1MAC]

I patched them and did a little hammer/dolly work on the edges, trying to straighten things up. Welded a few cracks and then dropped them off at the media blaster along with some other panels.

 

[daniel.watters]

Nice. I can't wait to see these parts with a few coats of Seminole red on them!

 

[1MAC]

If you look closely, you'll see that some previous owner actually painted the bezel fluorescent orange! They painted the fiberglass top the same color. I can't imagine how horrible it looked with the horizontal blue!!
The panels all came back from the blaster rust-free and ready for a couple of coats of 2K epoxy.

 

[1MAC]

The hood was in pretty good shape, basically rust free but it had a couple of dents that were full of bondo. I cut out the worst parts and patched them. A little filler will still be required.

 

[1MAC]

The windshield frame was in pretty good shape. I had to extract several broken bolts and filled about a dozen holes. Got it blasted and primed. Waiting to source a sun visor and mirror before it's deemed ready for paint.

 

[1MAC]

By middle October, I had the whole front clip patched, blasted and primed. Mocked it all up (even put the seats in for fun) and admired my progress!

 

[1MAC]

Next, I started working on the hardtop. Completely disassembled it- unbolted the sides, ground off all the rivets and separated the gutter from the fiberglass cap. The gutter was in pretty good shape- very usable. I welded up the two places it was cracked and set it aside. The top will have to wait until I get the body off to the paint shop.

 

[1MAC]

The hardtop sides were rust-free, but suffered from 50 years of customization. When I bought it, the rear bifold door was gone, and someone had fabbed custom ambulance doors out of aluminum sheet with Plexiglass windows! The barn doors were used as the bottom halves and one was perimeter welded in place!
Lucky for me @corleykj had an extra bifold door and let me have it.

 

[1MAC]

It looks pretty rough in the picture, but the rust was very superficial and it cleaned up nicely with media blast. I epoxy primed it and got to work on the hardware. One of the roller wheels was gone and I was missing a bracket on one side that holds the top of the door. I found a caster wheel the same size at Home Cheapo and fabbed a bracket out of a piece of FZJ80 bumper support and black iron pipe! If anybody has a bracket, I'd like to have the proper piece.

 

[1MAC]

At this point, I had a lot of small parts the I needed to be able to keep going on assembly, so I spent a weekend blasting and priming.

 

[1MAC]

The ancient bifold door has been a challenge. Nobody around here has one I can use as a reference and pictures are hard to find. It doesn't have a support strut like the 66 and up hatch, instead there are two tiny hooks on the side of the door and a little rod that hangs them from the rain gutter. They're even different from side to side.

 

[daniel.watters]

Is that the coral set from SOR?

 

[1MAC]

Another challenge: the hood hinges. Early 40s used hinges that (I think) had a pin pressed into one half. Time has not been kind to them and mine came with a big bolt run through them held in place with a square nut. It looks like others on here have worked out varying solutions, including a stainless steel pin retained with a C-clip.
If you look closely, you'll see they have some numbers cast into them. Looks like "BJ5225".

 

[1MAC]

Is that the coral set from SOR?

That's what I believe to be the original upholstery. The coral stuff from SOR appears to be an excellent match. I plan to blast and paint the seat frames and re-cover them with SOR's kits while the paint is being done. Trying to spread out the $$$ over time, too!

 

[1MAC]

I could use some advice on the door hinges. I picked up a set of stainless steel pins from SOR and their door hinge bushing kit. The pins fit nicely into the doors without the bushings, or nicely into the bushings. The bushings won't go into the hinges. Should I try to ream out the hinges to make them fit? Seems like a lot of work. Is there something I've missed?
Thanks.

 

[Rock40]

I've run into exactly the same issue and I drilled out the inside of the hinge so that the bushing would fit properly. I did this with SOR hardware and also with improved bushings I bought on McMaster.

 

[Dagha Boy]

Just read it all. Nice work!

 

[Flatlanderfj40]

Looking good, Mike.

 

[1MAC]

Next little project: seat belts. When I bought the rig, it had a cobbled-together system consisting of one half of a Takata red belt and a bunch of GM pieces. After a little research here on MUD, I learned the factory attachment points are threaded 7/16-20, not metric as I had assumed. I looked around on the net and found some cool eye bolts specifically made for seat belts on a racing supply site.

OMP Seat Belt Eyebolt, 7/16-20, Each | Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies

Then, I found some nice red aviation belts with chrome latches and snap hooks for mounting.
Lap Seat Belts - Seatbeltplanet | The Worldwide Authority on Aftermarket Seatbelts

 

[1MAC]

Luckily, the weldnuts in the bed were in good shape and the new eye bolts threaded right in. The hard part was fixing up the brackets in the rear wheel wells. These early 40s have a big, heavy bracket that was welded in place and apparently also serves to reinforce the wheel well. They did a great job of retaining mud and salt, too which I suppose explains why they're all rusted out on the front of the wheel well.

I had some 10 gauge steel cut to the right width and started cutting and patching. I mocked them up in place and welded in a pair of 7/16" nuts. At one point, I had thought of trashing them and now I'm really glad I didn't.