Builds Aloha from Las Vegas! 77 FJ40 Project

[1MAC]

I’ve spent most of my free time this summer doing body and paint. Got it re-assembled this week and took it for its first test drive in Rustic Green. So far, everything works perfectly! LOTS of power, steering is tight, brakes grab hard. Runs around 195-203 in stop and go driving around the neighborhood, which is a bit cooler than the Suburban the engine came out of. Next up is to install stereo and then AC with a little help from @tornadoalleycruiser.

 

[2fpower]

looks amazing. Great work.

 

[turbodog56]

I’ve spent most of my free time this summer doing body and paint. Got it re-assembled this week and took it for its first test drive in Rustic Green. So far, everything works perfectly! LOTS of power, steering is tight, brakes grab hard. Runs around 195-203 in stop and go driving around the neighborhood, which is a bit cooler than the Suburban the engine came out of. Next up is to install stereo and then AC with a little help from @tornadoalleycruiser.

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Really nice work!

 

[1MAC]

The stars have aligned: perfect weather now in KC, I’m off for a few days, and the 40 is coming together. Been driving it all over town to shake it down. Only a few tiny issues to popped up- loose interconnect cables to the stereo amp, air cleaner popped out of the elbow and the engine computer did NOT like that. Otherwise, it’s just been way too much fun to drive!!

 

[1MAC]

Great weekend of "camping" and wheeling at SMORR with the Tornado Alley Cruiser fam. Even got my bride to join me. Took the 40 on a few mild trails and it worked great. 3:1 gears in the split case with the low first gear in the H55 made it crawl nicely on the steep hills. A few things worked loose over the last 500 miles, so I've had to go back and tighten things like hood hinge screws, clutch master pushrod lock nut, etc. but I'm extremely pleased with the drivability and power.

 

[merbesfield]

Super impressive build and workmanship. It is nice to be able to follow your thread and get ideas for my own rigs.

 

[franklin40]

The stars have aligned: perfect weather now in KC, I’m off for a few days, and the 40 is coming together. Been driving it all over town to shake it down. Only a few tiny issues to popped up- loose interconnect cables to the stereo amp, air cleaner popped out of the elbow and the engine computer did NOT like that. Otherwise, it’s just been way too much fun to drive!!

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man seeing this photo makes me want to get my white spoke rims back on mine! it looks awesome. nicely done

 

[1MAC]

Soon after we got back from SMORR, we took a vacation to Ireland and the 40 got put on the back burner. Fall turned to winter and the 40 sat in the garage. This spring, I pulled apart the crusty old seats and took the frames to the powder coater.
The frames got totally sandblasted and coated satin black. I ordered new vinyl from Cruiser Corps and a driver seat foam from $OR.
Spent a couple days over Memorial Day weekend getting them all back together and added seat heaters to the front seats.
Rig is looking pretty good now. Still need to bodywork and paint the doors and top in time for SAS 8!

 

[1MAC]

Spent the last few weeks doing body and paint on the doors and hardtop. My buddy @2fpower helped me out with rust-free corners for my hardtop sides.

 

[1MAC]

Almost ready for SAS 8!

 

[newmexicokid]

Nice. Where do you get the sheet metal for those hard top corners?

 

[2fpower]

Nice. Where do you get the sheet metal for those hard top corners?

From some old factory tops that I was scrapping out.

 

[1MAC]

We made it to SAS 8! Had a blast with old friends and made some new ones. The 40 performed very well and we did several of the trails we did in 2017 AND finally went down Black Bear Pass. I can’t believe this thing is just about done.

 

[1MAC]

Labor Day Weekend approaches- time for another project. My son helped me pull the roof cap off so I can work on it. Today’s step: lightly sanding the inside to clean it up and scraping several areas of what appears to be vinyl flooring adhesive!
It’s otherwise in great shape, so I’ll probably roll a coat of resin on to seal it up tight and guarantee a good surface for the new headliner.

 

[1MAC]

First hiccup- I bought a quart of Cygnus white to paint this thing. It looked way too brown/beige, but I reassured myself that the original paint had surely faded. Then I compared it to an old bezel from another (newer) 40 and decided it was a perfect match.

I know the truck was originally Dune Beige 416, from the Body Tag and had been repainted Rustic Green, then back to Dune before I completely stripped it and made it Rustic Green again. I don’t think the roof has ever been repainted, except the edge of the gutter still has the old green then beige where the painted the body without removing the roof. I hoped when I sanded through the paint that I’d find a layer matching my can of Cygnus. No dice. This roof is a much lighter color with a bit of yellow in it. I powder coated my wheels and bezel RAL 9010, based on others’ experiences and that color is much closer to the color on this roof, but a little whiter and less yellow. Coincidentally, I took a sample of trim paint from my house interior and it’s closer than any of these!
I guess I’ll go back to the paint shop and have them mix a couple other colors to try to get a better match. Some people say 031 and 033 are correct trim colors for the 40.

 

[1MAC]

My paint guy had a tough time finding it, but this is 031 White. A nearly perfect match. I’m now confident 031 is the original color for this roof. Next step is to compare to another truck that was originally Rustic Green. It’s possible that Toyota would have used a different color white on a Beige truck vs Green.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

I have 2 different colors of white on the 2 45's. One is more yellowed, one is more white. I can pull a bezel off each if you want to compare. We had to change the color on the tan truck to get it to look correct.

 

[1MAC]

Lucky for me I’ve got a friend with a Rustic Green 76 FJ40 in my neighborhood. I checked @bhardy78 ’s roof against my paint samples and his was a good match for White 031. I’m just gonna run with it.
I got up this morning thinking I would go over the roof with 180 grit, scuff the metal with 80 and shoot epoxy on the whole thing. Once I started sanding, the layers of the onion started peeling back. It became obvious that this roof has been repainted twice. It started out 031, then got painted Rustic Green when the whole truck was changed, then a bright white layer was added (presumably when the truck was painted back to Dune Beige).
After about an hour with a razor blade and small screwdriver picking the last of the bathtub caulk out of the gutter, I spent the rest of the day with the DA sander cutting through the white, then green, then 031 white back to the white gelcoat. Only burned through in a few tiny places down in the gutter.
I was very pleased to see the fiberglass was in great shape and shouldn’t require any repairs. The gutter was almost rust free, except a little corrosion starting in the welded junctions. I ground out the little bit I saw and treated it with Os-pho.
Tomorrow I should be able to shoot epoxy on the cap and header, rivet the header back on and seam seal the gutter. Maybe get a second coat of epoxy over the seam sealer. Fingers crossed!

 

[GreggL]

1MAC, The Rustic Green is a great color for the Cruiser! Awesome build thread.
Looking forward to seeing it with the Con-Ferr roof rack.

 

[1MAC]

Another productive day yesterday. I shot epoxy on the gutter and cap, then used two tubes of 3M self-leveling seam sealer to fill the gutter. Riveted the header rail back on after priming it. Another generous coat of epoxy on the whole thing. It’s starting to come together.