I found my first FJ40 ('78) one week short of a year ago. I've been using mud for quite a while to research and solve problems. It's an amazing resource.
I'll rewind and get you caught up a bit (if you are not interested in words, this is a good time to scroll down to the pictures
). I live in Louisville KY and saw this rig for sale on craig's list near Nashville TN. I had looked at quite a few rigs, and had one other deal fall through. I talked to the owner of the Nashville truck and he gave me some limited details on the truck. He said that it ran fine and had minimal rust. He didn't seem to know too much about 40s. I only had 2 pictures to go off of (I asked for more pics and he said that he would try to get some if he had time.. this should have been the first red flag). I told him that I would drive down two days later (Sunday) if he would fend off the other potential buyers until I had a cut at it. He agreed so I drove down with my wife and two kids. I figured I would look the rig over, take it for a drive and if the price was right, we would start the drive back. If I ran into trouble on the way back, I'd park it and come back with a truck and trailer.
When I first drove up to the truck the owner was under the hood with a frown on his face. He could not get it started and it had quite a bit more rust than I was expecting. Surprise surprise. We finally got the truck running (fuel, battery, and carb issues) and took it for a bit of a drive. I fell in love. It was awesome!! Then..... the truck died and we could not get it running reliably. After quite a bit of thinking and convincing by my wife I made a deal with the owner. Now I just had to figure out how to get it back to the blue grass. We decided to make an adventure out of the situation and got a hotel in Nashville (since we were not planing on staying over night, we had nothing with us so we had to make due in the hotel with a 2 and 5 year old..). I found a rental truck and car hauler for the trip back. You've been reading long enough. Time for a picture......
I could not believe that I was an FJ40 owner! I don't think I could have cut the smile off of my face.
Then I started the slow courting process of getting to know this 40. I figured that I would get it running, safe for the road, registered and drive it for a year before I started anything very significant. There have been plenty of issues that have come up to keep me busy wrenching and tinkering with the rig.
Here another picture (1st shot after I roller her off the trailer)
Here are some details of the truck as I got her
- '78 sky blue / brownish orange rust
- PS conversion (not sure how well it was done but seems to work and drives straight)
- ~2" shackle lift
- poly tank
- rust (will post some pics of problem areas in a future post)
- wipers, heater, radio (sweet sony tape deck!!!) not working
- hacked up harness
- weber 38 dgas
- header (6-1) with a nice hole
- koenig winch (need to research)
- roof rack (not on the truck)
- everything else is pretty much original
I have never done any significant work on cars, but can't wait to learn on this beauty! My plan is to do a slow and $ conscious build over the next several years. My first priority is to get the rig safe, family friendly and ready for light wheeling and camping. (My dream is to do a full frame off at some point with my son and daughter... but that will likely be 5-10 years from now)
The journey begins!
-Chris
I'll rewind and get you caught up a bit (if you are not interested in words, this is a good time to scroll down to the pictures
). I live in Louisville KY and saw this rig for sale on craig's list near Nashville TN. I had looked at quite a few rigs, and had one other deal fall through. I talked to the owner of the Nashville truck and he gave me some limited details on the truck. He said that it ran fine and had minimal rust. He didn't seem to know too much about 40s. I only had 2 pictures to go off of (I asked for more pics and he said that he would try to get some if he had time.. this should have been the first red flag). I told him that I would drive down two days later (Sunday) if he would fend off the other potential buyers until I had a cut at it. He agreed so I drove down with my wife and two kids. I figured I would look the rig over, take it for a drive and if the price was right, we would start the drive back. If I ran into trouble on the way back, I'd park it and come back with a truck and trailer.When I first drove up to the truck the owner was under the hood with a frown on his face. He could not get it started and it had quite a bit more rust than I was expecting. Surprise surprise. We finally got the truck running (fuel, battery, and carb issues) and took it for a bit of a drive. I fell in love. It was awesome!! Then..... the truck died and we could not get it running reliably. After quite a bit of thinking and convincing by my wife I made a deal with the owner. Now I just had to figure out how to get it back to the blue grass. We decided to make an adventure out of the situation and got a hotel in Nashville (since we were not planing on staying over night, we had nothing with us so we had to make due in the hotel with a 2 and 5 year old..). I found a rental truck and car hauler for the trip back. You've been reading long enough. Time for a picture......
I could not believe that I was an FJ40 owner! I don't think I could have cut the smile off of my face.
Then I started the slow courting process of getting to know this 40. I figured that I would get it running, safe for the road, registered and drive it for a year before I started anything very significant. There have been plenty of issues that have come up to keep me busy wrenching and tinkering with the rig.
Here another picture (1st shot after I roller her off the trailer)
Here are some details of the truck as I got her
- '78 sky blue / brownish orange rust
- PS conversion (not sure how well it was done but seems to work and drives straight)
- ~2" shackle lift
- poly tank
- rust (will post some pics of problem areas in a future post)
- wipers, heater, radio (sweet sony tape deck!!!) not working
- hacked up harness
- weber 38 dgas
- header (6-1) with a nice hole
- koenig winch (need to research)
- roof rack (not on the truck)
- everything else is pretty much original
I have never done any significant work on cars, but can't wait to learn on this beauty! My plan is to do a slow and $ conscious build over the next several years. My first priority is to get the rig safe, family friendly and ready for light wheeling and camping. (My dream is to do a full frame off at some point with my son and daughter... but that will likely be 5-10 years from now)
The journey begins!
-Chris
