67 FJ40 Overhaul (Burned Up...)

[kevos37]

Well, I have put this off long enough, now that we have a fancy new webpage I thought it would be a good time to start a build thread. Here is what I have to start with.... It is pretty much a stock 40. I plan to add axles from a 77 FJ40 with rear disc brakes . Go thought all the mechanical aspects and add a few touches of my own. Planning on dune beige and the interior will be buckets with a tilt and fold rear bench with a metaltech full cage. Now that I have the shop ready to go, it is time to get on with it.

 

[watrob]

Neat garage?

 

[kevos37]

Yea I had to have a place to work on the cruiser ! Wanting to work on the cruiser was a great incentive to complete the shop.

 

[kevos37]

Removed the body off the frame. Of all the vehicles I've worked on this one really surprised me. Most of the bolts came right off, only 6 broke. Even the bolts holding the radiator bracket on came right off! Made a body buck from a $50 craigslist lumber rack, was really convenient to move the body out of the way. There was enough room on the bottom shelf of the buck to store the roof top. There was a lot of cleaning to do (surprise), dollar store oven cleaner and a power washer did the trick and got rid of most of the goo. Prepped the frame for the trip to the sandblaster.

 

[winnie]

nothing like having decent working space to do a project of that magnitude ... nice garage and nice 40 ... looking forward to following your refurb ...

 

[FishTacos]

Nice blasting cabinet. Nice gantry crane too.

 

[watrob]

Can I bring my 40 to your garage to work on, only need it for around 3 months, just park your 40 out in the weather for awhile, fellow forum member and good friend, buddy, mate, uncle call you anything you like?

 

[kevos37]

Thanks for the good words. Its nice to have an area dedicated to working on the cruiser. No lawn furniture, garden stuff or anything else "what's her name" can think of.

 

[kevos37]

I received the frame back from the sandblaster. Such a timesaver ! I had put the frame in the shop for minor touchups and then painted it with 3 coats of a satin polyurethane black. The frame rails were time consuming. I made a swab out of a piece of foam and fill rod. I would spray as much as I could reach on the inside, then run the swab through, being careful to clean any excess paint off with lacquer remover. Once I finished the interior frame rails, everything else went pretty smooth.

 

[kevos37]

I wanting to add a trailer hitch to the cruiser, there would no better time then when the frame is on sawhorses ( up side down ). I wanted the hitch to be concealed because I am planning to install a OEM rear step. When the hitch is not required you can get unobstructed use of the rear step.

Not wanting to weld anything to the frame, I went with the bolt in option. Using the existing holes on the frame was the start for anchoring in the cross member. The cross member slides out to fasten to the frame, then the slides are bolted in place.. I had added a piece of angle to the inside of the bumper to fasten the receiver to. I mocked up 2 different ways to tie the cross member to the receiver, eventually I chose the angled approach instead of the plate. I had sent the hitch out with the latest sandblast load, ready for paint.

 

[kevos37]

Some more hitch pictures.

 

[69 FJ40]

Hey Kevin,
Nice build thread and work space. Good luck with the build and keep us updated. I want to see the brush guard on the 40 soon

 

[kevos37]

Hey JD,

It will be a while on the brush guard, busy season is cranking up. Will keep pecking away at it.

 

[kevos37]

I have been getting back to the 40. I went though my collection of bolts and cleaned them up. Along with other trinkets I sent them off to be plated. I had the Metal Finishing group in Sacramento do the work. I was really happy with their work and customer service. I went a tad over on the amount of fasteners I needed , just to be on the safe side . I sent a lot of stuff off to be media blasted and I managed to get everything painted up on Thanksgiving day, as usual right up to the last minute! Time to start assembling

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

Great work!
Subscribed!!

 

[watrob]

Like the workshop?

 

[kevos37]

It seems that you can always use more room, but in the case of this shop I wanted it large enough for one project at a time. I find it to be very efficient.

 

[melvinjo]

You have the perfect amount of room : I have found if you go too big, other projects will come into play at the same time, or your xtra workplace tends to turn into storage space. For a really good and organized resto, like you are doing, too big a space can lead to lost parts, mixed projects, etc, etc. Its even worse when your workspace has thing parked in it like ATVS, bicycles, etc. Kids come in, get their stuff, rummages in and around your project......You get the idea

 

[whitey45]

That bench of hardware is a thing of beauty! Nice project Kevin, cant wait to see that rolling chassis! Will keep an eye out for another pto casting!

 

[winnie]

great workspace and great organization ... some nice toys there i.e. welder and sandblaster (I gotta get one of those) ...