'77 FJ40, my first one.

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Joined
Oct 4, 2023
Threads
19
Messages
163
Location
Rhode Island
Picked up this '77 last week. Seems to run pretty well and minimal rust, but definitely bondo in the typical areas. Has a few electrical issues I'm going to track down. Wipers don't work, headlights/taillights don't work. Horn doesn't work (PO put what looks like a doorbell on the dash to the left of the steering wheel, which I discovered is the horn) Also has a main/aux switch on the dash. Haven't figured out what that does yet. I didn't see a second gas tank underneath? Some of the gauges don't work, so the PO installed a few aftermarket gauges when the ash tray went. Eventually will get a new gauge cluster and get rid of those. For now, want to get the lights and wipers working, change all the fluids and have the engine looked over, to make sure it's running correctly. Then plan on driving it for a while and do little things here and there as they crop up. Eventually get rid of the doorbell-horn and get the real one working again.

Have a few general questions
When I shut either door, there is a gap up top, towards the rear of the door, between the window and the body. Can the doors be adjusted inwards. Looks like the door would have to come in tighter to the body by 1/2" to fill that gap up?

On the roof, about 8-10" back from the front of it, there looks like 5-6 screw or nail heads starting to pop up through the roof. Can I just glass those back in?

The PO filled in the entire rain gutter, around the roof, with silicone. Eventually will scrape it all out but are there fasteners under it that can leak? I can't tell what's underneath all the silicone.

On the drivers side, right above the side vent (right in front of the driver door) there are 2 sets of holes. 6 in a circle pattern and two right on top of each other. You can see them in the last photo I posted. The two on top of each other look like maybe a radio antennae went there. I can't figure what would have gone in the circle of holes. Looking at other FJ's there doesn't appear to be anything factory that was in there. Any thoughts.

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Nice rig, looks like you found a good one! There was something about Land Cruisers and CB radios back in the 70's, you almost never saw one without a whip antennae. I have two big holes in my 73 from those things that I haven't got around to filling yet.
 
On the rear side panel there is the base ball of a whip antennae left over. May have to put a sticker or something over the holes for now. The fuse panel is right behind the holes.
 
Whoa, Dude - where'd your headlight switch get moved to? There's a tach commandeering that dash spot! :hmm:

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Edited to show where your headlight switch should be. By the way, should you find any comments, advice or wise cracks useful (or funny), click the like button in the lower right corner of our posts. Some of us enjoy getting Likes - I know I do!
 
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Remove the gauge cluster in your ash tray so you can get to the relocated "LIGHTS" switch. Are there any wires connected to the switch? I don't see how the stock harness can reach over there; so my guess is they ran jumper wires from the stock harness, or there is nothing there. Why your lights don't work. Look under the dash in the vicinity of the tach, there you should locate the original Headlight harness that should be plugged into the switch. If the harness is there you can plug your "LIGHTS" switch in and you should have lights again. If you want to keep your tach there, you may have enough room to drill a new hole and mount near tach. Or you could lose the tach, weld that hugh hole shut, and drill in the stock spot to mount the switch.
 
Slowly progressing along with repairs. Lights and wipers now work. Finally have it on the road. Had a couple of questions.

1. There is this hole where it looks like the hood rod rests. Is it supposed to be open like it is. The rod end barely fits in it, if it gets wiggled a bit it sometimes drops through and drops the hood down. Was going to bend up a U shaped piece of metal and pop rivet it underneath so the rod couldn't fall through it anymore. Was sure if there was something that was supposed to rest in the hole.

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Can anyone tell what engine this is? Truck is a 1977 so I know it's supposed to be a 2F but I was going through some old paperwork the PO gave me. At some point, years ago, another PO had replaced the engine and transmission. Wasn't sure if it was a 2F or 1F.

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The hole is correct and I think the end of rod has been really hacked or the rod has been replaced with something else.

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Look for a flat spot on the engine blockby the distributor. It will have a serial number stamped on that spot. Will be either F of 2Fat the beginning. The valve cover is a 2F but could be changed. The block, cylinder head and carburetor can all be dated.

Need to fix the horn buttons on the steering wheel. I assume that's what the button on the dash pad left of the steering column is for? That seems to be a common hack repair.
 
Thanks for the info on the motor. I got rid of that horn button for now. Had a spare hole in the dash and found a small horn button that fit in it. Looks better than that big one screwed into the dash. Think this winter will tackle the steering wheel.
 
Question on where the oil sender wiring would be located. The original 2F got replaced at some point. Looks like one of the PO's put an aftermarket sender on the passenger side of the engine. When I bought her, the PO had it wired to an aftermaket gauge cut into the dash. Removed the aftermarket gauge. Want to get the oil pressure tied into the gauge cluster but can't find the yellow/black wire anywhere in the engine compartment. Looking under the dash, it looks like all the gauge cluster wires got taped together and run along the dash and out the firewall below the glove box. Was thinking if the yellow/black wire should be mixed in that bundle, i'd pull some of the tape off the bundle and see if I could find the wire. Just not sure if it would be in that bundle or another taped bundle I found that comes through the firewall on the drivers side?
 
On my 72 the oil pressure wire was in the bundle going threw the drivers side. I run a direct read lighted OPG mounted on the steering column with a bracket I made. From the gauge to the engine side of the fire wall, the oil pressure tubing is inside a section of fuel hose - that way if the tubing fails I don't get a face full of hot oil. I keep a pipe plug to block off the fitting on the engine if/when the tubing fails. I need to get a spare freeze plug for the block heater and put back in the ash tray - had to use the other one.
 
Let me know if it turns out to be the beverage machine and you can get it working, I'd like something like that.
Nice rig. Cheers :beer:
 

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