66 FJ40 Renovation Project

[jjacallen]

We're completely going through a 1966 FJ40 in the hopes of selling it to a happy cruiser enthusiast when we're finished. This thread is for sharing all the trials and tribulations we encounter on the way.

Some cool things about this Cruiser:

• Engine upgrade to 2F (originally had 1F)
• Replace 3-speed column shift with 4-speed floor shift (keep original transfer case)
• Factory PTO winch
• Full-floating Warn rear axles and locking hubs

We've actually been working on this for a couple of weeks now. We started with a Cruiser that was in excellent mechanical condition, but ugly as sin. We started by removing the glass, then removed the tub from the chassis, took everything off the firewall, and took out all the interior pieces.

We decided to take the body down to bare metal because there were so many layers of old paint already, and because of the amount of body work that we wanted to do. We thought we could use the 40-lb sandblaster we bought at Harbor Freight to make quick work of it, but that thing was useless.

The ball valves in that thing were all eaten away by the sand (we were using quartz silica as a blasting medium) within a few minutes. After replacing the ball valves with better quality ones and buying a dead-man valve for the nozzle, things went a little better but we were still plagued by clogs and inconsistency. Then the water separator on the inlet to the tank exploded. Finally we adapted the tank to work with our siphon gun: by hooking up the siphon gun's sand hose to the bottom of the tank and using a regulator to keep the tank pressure down to between 5 and 10 psi we were able to drastically improve the performance of the siphon gun, and no longer had problems with clogs. But the gun's swath was only about 1/4 inch wide, so that was pretty slow going. Finally we gave up and took the body and all its pieces to a professional sandblaster. We haven't yet gotten them back.

While we wait to get the tub and body parts back from the sandblaster, we've shifted gears and we're working on the seats. They were pretty rough, so we're putting in new foam and sewing up new upholstery out of a really high-quality naugahide that we got from our local upholstery shop.

As we make some progress, I'll continue to post updates and photos to this thread , so stay tuned - the interesting, mechanical bit is coming up once we're done with body work.

 

[cjgoode]

Yeah, that harbor freight sand blaster is garbage. I cannot even give it away, their are 3 of them on Craigslist near my house for $20 and less. I got one of gravity ones from sears and it rocks.

 

[CruiserOCD]

Wow, impressive! Talk about jack of all trades. I wish I had that garage and lift for my build. The little woman is going to kill me before this is all over.

PS I like turtles too... Haha

 

[Leaping Deer]

The Harbor Freight blaster is what I used. I used a spare air hose and coiled it up in a bucket then filled it with ice. I had a water separator at the end. It made for really dry air and it worked a lot better.
Looks like a nice little project. Good luck.

 

[huminajumina]

I like turtles, LMAO, we have the harbor freight blast cabinet, equally worthless....

 

[JohnnyC]

looks like a good start...

welcome to MUD where are you located?

dont throw out any of the old goodies...you may have some local TLCA club members near ya thats looking for things to help out with their build


Again Welcome...look foward to seeing more

 

[jjacallen]

We're in Idaho! Supposedly we're getting the tub back from the sandblasted today so stay tuned for the body work we do!

 

[JohnnyC]

tub back?

 

[jjacallen]

Body Work Updates

Sorry for the update delay to anybody who was hanging on the edge of their seats...

We had a fiasco with the sandblaster but finally got the tub back. Here it is, and all the parts stacked against the wall too. It looks much better all clean!

The first thing we noticed was how little rust there was. Check out the floorpans:

But, there was some body work to do before paint: There were a lot of holes drilled in various places at different times, presumably to attach different bits of kit that people had banging around, and we wanted to plug them to avoid drafts and ingress of weather between layers of sheet metal. Here is an example of how we typically addressed these holes:

The other major thing was the rear wheel wells: Somebody used a Saws-All to cut them out for bigger tires, and did a real hack job:

So we used the plasma cutter to make the cut smoother, and then repaired its edge by welding in a piece of angle that we bent to its shape. We're really happy with the result, it's very strong and good:

The next thing to do was to take care of some rusty patches on the rear, just under the sill where the rear doors latch. It's a typical FJ40 rust spot. Luckily, this Cruiser is in really good shape so we didn't have too much to do: we just cut out rectangles of rusty stuff, welded in new metal, and then fared it with body filler. Here you can see how small the repair areas were.

There were no major dents to deal with, and since we detest body filler we decided not to bother with fairing out any of the minor waves or other deformations in the sheet metal. That means, of course, that she probably won't be "show ready" when we're finished, but we like Cruisers because of how tough they are, they don't have to be pretty.

So, the final step before primer was some good quality seam sealer to ensure ultimate rust-proofness and longevity for the lucky buyer.

We've been shooting primer all last week, priming all the little parts and pieces. It's slow going because our rack is quite small, so we just have a different Cruiser mobile every day:

Since we're using a high-quality Epoxy Primer, we don't have to top-coat them immediately, so the time it's taking shouldn't be an issue. Anyway, it gives us time to do some careful wet-sanding of the primer to help get a better color.

We just finished primer yesterday, so I'll have some Primer pictures up here soon. We plan to start shooting colour tomorrow!

 

[softdrinkviking]

looks good so far. would like to see some pictures of the mechanicals, ect. from before you started...

 

[Glacierskier]

Looks great! Subscribed

 

[jjacallen]

Primer Done!

Thanks guys, for your comments! The primer is done, got some pics here. We used Dimension Epoxy Primer, DP800 in case anybody wants to look it up.

We're really happy with how the Primer came out, it gives great coverage and protection. Here are some detail shots:

Remember those trouble spots detailed above? They look super with Primer!

And here's a good look at the wheel well all fixed up and looking sharp:

It's totally cathartic to see the underside clean with no asphalt or other bullsh*&@t!

There were some nooks and crannies that paint gun couldn't reach, so we went in with a brush to make sure no rusty surprises will show up in the future!

We started shooting color today, it looks great, pics coming soon.

 

[jjacallen]

Messing around with metal

Since Joe is a cruiser nut, he's always trying to create some of the unique ribbing Toyota uses. Here's a home-built panel, maybe for something custom.

 

[jjacallen]

Color!

First shots of our color today! We used Acrylic Enamel from the Restoration Shop in San Diego. We found their stuff online at TCPGlobal.com, they have a great selection of factory original colors. For some reason, they didn't have "Horizon Blue" for 1966 (even though we're sure that was the original color of our Cruiser), so we got the one from 1972.

When we first shot it, we were concerned about the green hue to it, but when we compared a bolt that still had the original paint on it to one of our mixing sticks (see inset in photo below) it was clear that the color is right!

 

[Splangy]

I like turtles, LMAO, we have the harbor freight blast cabinet, equally worthless....

Really? I have the HF blast cabinet and think it's great. What's wrong with yours?

I also have a small pot blaster similar to the one used in this thread and don't have too many problems with that, either. Are you guys using a large enough compressor to blast with?

 

[softdrinkviking]

First shots of our color today! We used Acrylic Enamel from the Restoration Shop in San Diego. We found their stuff online at TCPGlobal.com, they have a great selection of factory original colors. For some reason, they didn't have "Horizon Blue" for 1966 (even though we're sure that was the original color of our Cruiser), so we got the one from 1972.

When we first shot it, we were concerned about the green hue to it, but when we compared a bolt that still had the original paint on it to one of our mixing sticks (see inset in photo below) it was clear that the color is right!

Here is a good color chart.
You can see that horizontal blue is actually a bit of a green, and that it was only used on the 1965 model.

Toyota Land Cruiser Paint Codes and Galleries, Brochure and Commercial Archives

I like it, it's a nice color.

Also, There are 2 codes listed for Horizontal Blue. The Landcruiser one from the 60's appears to be T808, and there is one from the Toyota Crown here http://www.toyotareference.com/crown#CW
That one appears to T1208, like on you can.

Then, there IS a Horizon Blue Metallic, but only on later vehicles, like 2000's or so...

 

[jjacallen]

Here is a good color chart.
You can see that horizontal blue is actually a bit of a green, and that it was only used on the 1965 model.

Toyota Land Cruiser Paint Codes and Galleries, Brochure and Commercial Archives

Hmm yes, I've seen that chart before. I don't think it's quite complete though, because it looks like Land Cruisers from 1966 only came in one color on that chart. But it does look a little green there, doesn't it? It's always hard to tell when you're looking at an image on the screen, but hopefully it will look authentic and not weird once the truck goes back together!

 

[jjacallen]

I also have a small pot blaster similar to the one used in this thread and don't have too many problems with that, either. Are you guys using a large enough compressor to blast with?

Our compressor is more than up to the job. The main problems we had with that HF sandblasted were the ball valves. The ones it came with were eaten away by the sand and no longer functioned, and when we replaced them with good ones the unit worked but sometimes clogged. Also, as I mentioned, the water separator exploded at one point, so that bothered us a little.

Once we got the thing working, it worked great. But it was just far too small to do an entire vehicle in anything like a timely manner.

 

[destin]

looking good!

 

[softdrinkviking]

Hmm yes, I've seen that chart before. I don't think it's quite complete though, because it looks like Land Cruisers from 1966 only came in one color on that chart. But it does look a little green there, doesn't it? It's always hard to tell when you're looking at an image on the screen, but hopefully it will look authentic and not weird once the truck goes back together!

for sure it's not complete. i was trying to call your attention to the fact that you may have given the paint guys the wrong name for your paint color, as it's listed as "Horizontal Blue" and not "Horizon Blue." I was trying to identify it on the chart. No way did all those early 60's FJs only come in one (or none) colors, but I'm pretty sure the name is correct. Also that there seems to be multiple paint codes, so maybe there is weirdness?
Will it look cool. Undoubtedly. It's a great color no matter what cruiser it's on.