74 fj 40 Ground Up

[ghostriders]

New to the site. Have read a lot of the posts. Have been an FJ 40 lover since child hood. Dad and I built 3 of them while growing up. I am finally able to do my own. I am just finishing up the transfer case. Have rebuilt the 4 speed trans and axles. Frame and axles were blasted and coated with dupli-color truck bed coating. They offer the spray gun to do this with. Was very impressed on how this turned out. I have added all greasable spring pins with anti inversion shackles and an 4 inch lift. All stainless brake lins and fuel lines. I am leaving the motor alone for now. It runs really well so I did not see a reason to tear into it yet. Save some money for other things. Although I did replace some seals and gaskets. The body was in really rough shape. Someone had put sheet metal over the existing rotted out body. When I say over it i mean right over it and did not even recess the new panels. Just welded it on top and leveled the gaps with bondo. So I s****ed the body. Am currenly looking for a body to use. Am considering a fiber glass tub from Gozzard. Or if anyone out there has one that is usable let me know. Any way. As things go along I will update. Any ideas or info let me know.

 

[nuclearlemon]

i'd look into a heritage tub if i were you. keeps it steel which helps with resale and i've seen a few of his tubs and they are beautiful!

 

[tlcruiser66]

Nice truck, any pictures of the undercarriage? I'd love to see that frame, been thinking of spraying my axles with the same product. How much prep work was there?
And, welcome to Mud.

Thanks
Kevin

 

[JohnnyC]

i'd look into a heritage tub if i were you. keeps it steel which helps with resale and i've seen a few of his tubs and they are beautiful!

x2 and also less problems to keep it steel

 

[ghostriders]

Gonna resurect my thread as soon as I buy a star!! Been sitting in the dark long enough. Time to donate for everyone's knowledge these last few months. Thanks, Dan.

 

[ghostriders]

How do I resize my pics to fit so I can show my progress. I am sure this has been asked a million times!

 

[JohnnyC]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=47248

photoshop works for me

also mspaint you can resize

.jpg format works the best

 

[ghostriders]

thanks I will give it a whirl

 

[ghostriders]

here are some pics of my tear down. Body was really shot. Someone had welded sheet metal over the old and it just rusted through. Created a really big mess.

 

[ghostriders]

Here the motor is out. 1F engine. Damn thing runs great. This is an October of 74 cruiser. Here that this 1F is a good engine. Cross between 1f and 2 F. Any info on that?


Front cowl is in decent shape. About all that is. I decided to go with an aqualu tub with the trunk and fold down tail gate with storage as well.



parts waiting to be cleaned up and painted!

 

[ghostriders]

Dont have pics of it all. But after I had it all stripped down and Had the frame cleaned up. I sprayed the frame with dupli-color bedcoating. Then I tore into everything else. The only thing I did not go through or rebuild was the engine. The thing ran really well before I parked it. Only problem I had was it kept flooding out. So somewhere in my mind flooding out = complete tear down and rebuild. Cant get the wife to understand that logic!!!!

Some pics of the axles before I tore them down. cleaned up the housings, completely rebuilt the front end, new trunion bearings and all new gaskets. Re packed the nuckle with some grease. Gears and axles all looked good. Bearings were good. Replaced the seals as they were shot. Still have drum brakes all around. Want to go disk at least in the front. Not sure which way to go though. Have done a lot of reading on mud for this subject. Lot of info in this area.



Have the alluminum tub on here. This is sure a nice piece. Very impressed the the fit and craftsmanship. Front cowl was in decent shape. I had to fab up new body mounts for the cowl on both sides as well as the a pilar and sheetmetal for the lower corners of the cowl. First attempt at this type of work. A lot of reading and advice paid off. I am happy with how it turned out. Body mounts turned out great!!!

​

 

[ghostriders]

Thanks JohnnyC the info on posting pics was great. Now I cant stop

 

[Toyo FJ40]

Looks like a desmogged F 1.5 (has the small air pump pulley on the crank and fan) It's the best of the F1 engines, has the better oiling system without all the smog stuff.
Frame looks great. My 74 was just the opposite, bed was good and the cowl was junk.


Kevin

 

[ghostriders]

De smogged meaning by previous owner or ????

 

[ghostriders]

Pic of the aqualu tub on. Things start going back together. Like a kid in a candy store. Did I mention how impressed I am with the aqualu tub??

View attachment 192661

more assembly and test fitting. Bought new fenders. Read a lot of theads on fenders from CCOT. That is what I ended up going with. Almost wish I would not have. I have quite a few hours and beers into those fenders getting them fitted and aligned right. Seem like an ok product but the adjustment holes are not quite right and the fender aprons dont quite fit right. Will have to do one of two things. First clamp and beat it into submission or drill extra holes to suck the gap down. Ended up doing both and turned out ok.

View attachment 192662

More of reassembly


View attachment 192663

 

[ghostriders]

Try this again

 

[ghostriders]

Her you can see the gaps I was dealing with.



back fit a little better

 

[caz]

I feel your pain! I bought the same junk parts and had the same problem. I finally broke down and bought a set of Toyota ones. I still have the CCOT ones in my basement wondering what to do with them!

Here is my thread -
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=167961

CAZ

 

[ghostriders]

Wish I would have posted the fender issue sooner. Or even better searched the issue more. Oh well. I got them fitting ok but not perfect by no means. I'll tear these up then go get toyota ones. Thanks for the info.

 

[ghostriders]

More build-up pics. Apologize for not posting as I was going along.



fabed up some new rear gussets. Helps to have a metal break at work!!



Everytime I took something else a part there was more rust. Gotta love that.