Builds ‘82 FJ45 build thread..... no name yet

[sloanstavern]

Those “buttons” are rivet heads that hold the front header panel in place. They are stock.

Yup - When I started on the FG roof panel I was expecting the worst ( thought I would need to take it down to gel coat and re-gel it).

But as I took the many layers of paint off I noticed it was in quite good shape. No structural cracks or repairs. So I just sanded, primed and painted. Its not perfect, but it lasted 40 years in rough service so I think it will be OK in its new, pampered life....

 

[sloanstavern]

At this stage of the project each day is hit or miss. Some days you knock out a lot of little items completely and it’s really satisfying and other days you work like a dog on 20 little projects that are only partially complete.

I was able to fix my fuel separator that had a broken nipple, by drilling a hole in a bolt and threading it into the plastic housing. I was also able to source some nice rubber washers for the windshield wiper mechanism, and a rubber stop for the gas cap door at the local hardware store fit like a dream.

I was feeling very good about the fiberglass roof surface as I painted it but when I turned it over I got a better look at a lot of weak spots and damage. So I pulled the trigger and put down 50 sq feet of fiberglass fabric and 3 quarts of resin to strengthen it up. I hit it with the DA sander to knock off the high spots and then roughed up the surface by hand so the contact cement for the headliner will have a good bite

I installed my OEM $60 washer pump into my $110 bottle……and a new OEM bumper was only $104…..

Next up is rebuild on my whipped motor. It worked before but the intermittent stop feature was dysfunctional. I’ll need a wiring diagram to figure that solution out

 

[sloanstavern]

I’m still waiting for the headliner, I should know better than order parts during the Christmas season. I got the rest of the fuel system plumbed and I learned this trick from Clemson cruiser I ordered a boatload of grommets of all sizes and they work perfect for plugging the various holes and allowing access through the firewall..

I got the wiper motor to work however it still doesn’t stop at the end of cycle so I’ll have to figure that one out.

Now comes the fun part I laid out the wiring inside designated by where I wanted to run in the vehicle. I’m going to follow the factory layout as best I can. It would’ve been easier to have the steering column and pedal assembly out but I was worried about possibly placing the wiring in a bad location. The mounting plate that came with the fuse panel wouldn’t work so I cobbled one together and shot it with poor man’s powder coating it fits nicely and doesn’t interfere with anything and I made sure you could read the fuse labels without performing under dash yoga

 

[sloanstavern]

I am going into the deep part of the pool today. You can only lay out a wiring harness on the kitchen table so much and eventually you got to start physically putting it where it’s going to live.

So far I am very impressed with the painless universal harness system. The wire is high-quality and marked very clearly, and even though it is a universal system, the grouping is very close to that of the Land Cruiser. I’ve only had a couple wires that I need to reassign. It’s pretty overwhelming at first but the instructions are very helpful and I started by separating between the dash, and through the firewall, and then running wires that I knew with certainty where they had to go. Started with the tail light section and ran that all the way back to the rear bumper however I have not terminated the wires yet. Now I’m laying out the front headlight systems , into their general location. Next I’ll run the individual engine wires to their termination point.
I won’t make any final connections till everything is laid out the way I want it. So far I’ve made one mistake somehow I missed a pass-through point for the tail harnisch, I’m not sure if I really want to retrace it all just a pick up that one point on the firewall I’ll give that some thought.

The last step the process will be the dash because that’s going to take a lot of thinking, and patience

From the factory the harness goes through the firewall at three points however I think I can make this work just with one access point through the firewall should make it look much cleaner. I upgraded the wire loom to that woven material which feels like Kevlar it’s really tough and I like it much better than the corrugated plastic.

 

[sloanstavern]

Question for the group -
My '82 Non USA model had an external regulator. Now that I am rewiring and replacing the Alternator, is is possible to simply eliminate the external voltage regulator and install an alternator with an internal regulator?

 

[sloanstavern]

The first couple days of wiring with surprisingly well, got the fuse box mounted wires run where they needed to terminate, the tail section is all in place just need to get a harness connector, front headlights flashers and horns are all done. Everything else is where it belongs but the charging system is giving me fits while the painless harness set up as well organized and instructed it doesn’t make provisions for an alternator and external regulator from Japan.

To complicate matters I don’t have a good factory wiring diagram here is the closest one I could find, and the existing harness is useless because everything has been butchered up and I can’t trust any of it to guide me on this next step.

I will say it again that painless harness system makes it easy to get a nice finish look on the connectors

And I did figure out what this funky little box was on the passenger side fender, the horn relay.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Question for the group -
My '82 Non USA model had an external regulator. Now that I am rewiring and replacing the Alternator, is is possible to simply eliminate the external voltage regulator and install an alternator with an internal regulator?

Yes. Look at @Coolerman 's website. I changed my 55 alternator to internal and used one of his adapters for the alternator and followed his instructions on bypassing the external regulator. Of course since you are rewiring with a painless kit then maybe you just change the alternator and delete the external regulator?

 

[sloanstavern]

I needed to take a break from wiring so started on the upholstery today. I had ordered a full set of vinyl from SOR, and I will need to fabricate the padding myself since I could not find any available.

I never like to badmouth previous owners because I’ve done plenty of previous owner crap in my life. That being said this thing have the factory upholstery +3 additional layers all with hog rings every 2 inches needless to say nothing was going to slip off..

I am assuming the plywood on the jumpsuits was factory, so I’ll replace all that maybe with some half-inch hardwood plywood so it’s a little more stable.

The new upholstery I have covers the back of the seats and the metal covers that were in place were really beat up however a few minutes with the dolly and hammer , Some media blasting,and a quick coat of primer and it doesn’t look too bad I think I might try and save them I’ve always like that look

 

[sloanstavern]

A belated merry Christmas to everyone.

It’s been a fruitful few days, got a nice little package from the united Arab emirates and install my cigarette/cigar lighter and test fired my inspection light. I got the headliner in, and thank goodness for a sister and brother-in-law willing to help out I got the fiberglass cap mounted and the rubber sealed windows back in place, two corners and a windshield.

It got off to a slow start because I had a corner window rubber seal installed backwards, I didn’t think that was possible but I did it once we figure it out the next two went like a snap.

Slowly the upholstery materials arriving so hopefully that’ll be this weeks project picked up the phone and the nice she the passage birch plywood for the jumpsuits

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Very nice. You are inspiring me more and more toward a frame off on mine. I could just glue in all the new weatherstripping, repair the AC and a wiring issue or two, and call it a day but.....would be relatively easy given how rust free mine is to tear it apart.

 

[sloanstavern]

Very nice. You are inspiring me more and more toward a frame off on mine. I could just glue in all the new weatherstripping, repair the AC and a wiring issue or two, and call it a day but.....would be relatively easy given how rust free mine is to tear it apart.

Sounds like a good plan! I am glad you’re starting with less rust that’ll make it a lot more enjoyable good luck! Can’t wait to see the build thread

 

[sloanstavern]

Happy new year everyone!

This past week I was all over the map, jumping between wiring and upholstery. Sometimes because I was waiting for parts and other times because I just needed a break.

On the wiring

front I’m starting to terminate the runs and do final hook up. Front end headlights turn signals and horn are done, tail and lights are done and in the engine compartment I’ve wired the alternator and sensors. I called and Omaha regarding my alternator and trade it out my aftermarket unit for a rebuilt factory unit I got from Toyotamat. I also got the factory connectors for the tail light assemblies which went in great

Regarding the upholstery I bought a kit from SOR and it seems to be a good fit the jump seats and back supports or a piece of cake but now I’m working on cutting the foam for the front seats, an electric knife the key. I had to order some new springs and components and they just arrived so hopefully I’ll get started on that today. And there’s always the case paint and body work never ends I had the media blast and prime The jumpseat supports.

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Happy new year everyone!

This past week I was all over the map, jumping between wiring and upholstery. Sometimes because I was waiting for parts and other times because I just needed a break.

On the wiring View attachment 2880950front I’m starting to terminate the runs and do final hook up. Front end headlights turn signals and horn are done, tail and lights are done and in the engine compartment I’ve wired the alternator and sensors. I called and Omaha regarding my alternator and trade it out my aftermarket unit for a rebuilt factory unit I got from Toyotamat. I also got the factory connectors for the tail light assemblies which went in great

Regarding the upholstery I bought a kit from SOR and it seems to be a good fit the jump seats and back supports or a piece of cake but now I’m working on cutting the foam for the front seats, an electric knife the key. I had to order some new springs and components and they just arrived so hopefully I’ll get started on that today. And there’s always the case paint and body work never ends I had the media blast and prime The jumpseat supports.View attachment 2880951View attachment 2880952View attachment 2880953View attachment 2880954View attachment 2880956

it's all looking sharp !

 

[sloanstavern]

I was all set to come in and write up the upholstery project thus far, then this came in the mail and I had to pause and just enjoy it! Quite a change from the original.

I’ve seen a lot of traffic on Mud looking for replacement data plates if you need the contact info send me a message and I’ll share it with you.

 

[sloanstavern]

So I’m wrapping up the upholstery time for an update. The backseats were a piece of cake using the SOR kit to match the front bench. Some 2 inch foam on the base and 1 inch form on the back rest. As soon as it warms up I’ll paint the hardware and get all of it installed.

The front seats were more challenging as the foam is all specially formed. And totally deteriorated so could not be reused. I got a bunch of foam sheets and started building out a
By glueing it together the best I could. On Monday I thought to myself this is above my pay grade maybe I should take it to a pro. So there’s a great little upholstery shop in town I threw it all in the suburban and drove it down to him to take a look at it and he said he was booked up until mid February but the guy was so nice he gave me some tips on how to finish it and it turned out better than I expected.

The key thing I learned going forward is I should’ve bought him some five or 6 inch sheet form and carved away what I didn’t need rather than try and layer up what I did. But all in all very happy with the way it turned out . The biggest trick was getting that center recess secured to the frame. I put all of the vinyl parts in my car in the sun to get it nice and warm turned it inside out like a sock and just slowly rolled it onto the frame to the point where I could secure that recess.

Before I started with the foam I stripped the frames and replaced any damage springs and even added some new ones and then tied everything to gather with a boatload of hog rings then covered it all with some quarter inch jute ant tied all that together.

 

[Michael B]

Those seats turned out very nice! What are you doing for the plastic side covers?

 

[sloanstavern]

Those seats turned out very nice! What are you doing for the plastic side covers?

Thanks - I have the original ones, and just put a light coat of adheison promoter and then black truck bed liner. I do not like to paint plastic parts, but this is a low "touch" application should be OK

 

[sloanstavern]

Finished-

Those seats turned out very nice! What are you doing for the plastic side covers?

can’t believe I have the funky little screws taht fit

…. By now I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m doing everything possible to avoid going back to the wiring project…….

 

[sloanstavern]

Got the jump seat frames all media blasted and painted. I was missing a few of the retaining clamps and while a pipe clamp would’ve fit perfectly it wouldn’t match and I wanted to keep them as original as possible so just bent up some 18 gauge sheet metal I think that did the trick once I got it curved around the radius of the pipe then I cut that last tail to length.

Technically I can seat seven but no place to go!

I have not decided on the metal setbacks yet I do like that original look but they are pretty beat up once I make the cut I have to commit so I’m gonna hold off for now.

Spending some time on the tail end mounting the auxiliary gas can and other bits. Months ago I bought a factory auxiliary fuel can, but my bracket doesn’t fit so I’ve got to figure something out I have to get that beautiful can mounted somehow

I pulled the trigger and ordered a replacement Dash and lower pads which should arrive next week

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I have the correct OEM auxiliary can and carrier. Let me know if you need some detailed photos or measurements. Where’s the second half of your jump seats? There’s supposed to be two of those seat bottom sections on each side.