Builds An FJ40 Named Dusty

[roadstr6]

@roadstr6 - when u cleaned up and painted the underside bits, curious if u used spray cans (brand/type), POR15 type product, or something in a hvlp gun?

As I am disassembling and prepping for installing new TRE’s I’ve decided to remove the brown glitter with a wire wheel and then treat/convert it with FDC Rust Coverter Ultra and then my plan is to spray with some black rust oleum enamel spray cans.

Do u support this approach or do I need to restrategize?

I’d love to think about POR15 but seems like a whole lot of steps fora time and space strapped father of many….

On Dusty, the frame and underneath had very little rust, but it was packed full of dried mud. I just scrubbed and sprayed cans of Rustoleum and coated with Fluid Film. With rusty parts, your approach is good. Wire brush, rust convert and coat with spray paint. Finish with a coat of Fluid Film to keep rust at bay. POR is great, but it is hard to apply, messy, and breathing the fumes isbad for you. I do use it from time to time, but I hate it.

 

[roadstr6]

Life always has a way of getting in the way of projects, and Dusty is no exception. The truck has been sitting for over a year now with very little progress made on it. I finally decided to get it back on track. I recovered the seats. Bottom foams were a crumbly mess. I sprung for new foams from Specter to the tune of almost $500. Covers are from Cruiser Corps.

 

[roadstr6]

Random Dusty driveway pics:

 

[roadstr6]

I hate seeing this truck just sit. I had been keeping it intact enough to start it up and move it in and out of the shop as needed to make space for other projects. I decided to bite the bullet and start to tear it down to build it back up. Radiator and all front drive components removed. Removed carb and leaky manifolds for refurb. I'm doing a lot of cleaning and degreasing as I go. Ultimately the plan is to leave the engine in situ, clean everything and paint or powder coat parts as needed, refresh the manifolds, cooling system, carb rebuild, new valve seals (with head on), dizzy recurve, swap on a non-leaky power steering pump and re-do the air conditioning with new hoses and a more modern compressor. The engine runs strong and compression checks out at 150 psi across all cylinders, so I don't see any reason to pull the head. I think this one will just be a freshen-up of all the ancillary bits.

 

[roadstr6]

More tear down and clean up:

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

 

[Comet]

Come to my house Dave. I need your motivation.

 

[roadstr6]

Slow but steady progress on Dusty. Working on the driver's side and front side of the engine now. Got the manifolds cleaned up and ready to go back in. I used the plasma cutter to remove the exhaust thermoreactor and plugged the holes with pipe plugs. Timing cover re-seal. New water pump. Thermostat housing refresh. Lots of parts removed, cleaned and either painted or powder coated. Moving on to the passenger side next. Lifter cover reseal, desmogged dizzy and new cooling hoses next.

 

[roadstr6]

Slow but steady work on Dusty. Moving over to the drinker side, I refurbed the charcoal canister, installed a mini-starter, installed a new fusible link, removed the dizzy and did a homebrew recurve, re-sealed the side cover and did the oil galley plug on the head. Next up, valve seals with the head in place. Ugh...

 

[roadstr6]

Installed fresh valve seals using this tool from AutoZone. It worked great. I did use a flap disc on an angle grinder to remove some material from the hooks at the end of the arms to allow it to more easily slide between the valve spring coils. I did find that it was easier to get a better grip on the springs leaving more space for removing and installing the keepers by attaching the compressor arms and then spinning the compressor on the spring to get the jaws as far down on the spring as possible before tightening the compressor. I aired up each cylinder with 100 psi using my air compressor and a hose from an engine compression tester. I removed the schrader valve in the hose of the tester to allow air to flow into the cylinder. As an added precaution, I brought each cylinder to the top of its stroke before fiddling with the valves. I'm not sure if it would have helped, but my thinking was that if a valve fell down and the cylinder was at the top, maybe it would not fall out of reach and I'd be able to retrieve it. Regardless, the valves stayed put and the whole process was drama-free. I set the engine at TDC #1, which just so happens to put #6 in the top most position as well. Then I did the valves seals on #1 and #6. Rotated the engine until #2 came up and did the valve seals for #2 and #5. Rotated a little more until #3 came up and did valve seals for #3 and #4. There is definitely a learning curve to this. It took me 2 hours to do the first two valves, including some time to modify my air-up hose and to grind some material from the spring compressor tool. The rest of the valves took about 10 minutes each.

 

[cruisermatt]

2024 relic run with this one?

 

[roadstr6]

2024 relic run with this one?

That's the plan! I can't believe this truck has been simmering on the back burner since 2018. I can't wait to get it out and have some fun with it. I'm hoping it will be running, driving with all the bugs worked out by Relic Run next year. Fingers crossed... Got a non-leaky power steering pump you'd let go of? My best one is weepy and I just hate to put a Sag pump on a factory PS 40 series. It would be different if it were a 60. There were just so few 40's with PS, it's kind-of a badge of honor. Sag unit would take away from that, I think.

 

[roadstr6]

Soldiering on with Dusty. It has been a productive weekend. Rocker assembly reinstalled. Cold valve lash set. New motor mounts. New Denso plugs. Installed intake and exhaust manifolds with Remflex gasket and all new hardware. New valve cover gasket. Got started installing a few coolant hoses. Installed air pump bypass pulley. Still a lot to do, but it feels so satisfying to finally be in reassembly mode. Nothing beats bolting on fresh (or refreshed) parts.

 

[roadstr6]

Finally down to the short rows with Dusty. It won't be long before I fire it up.

 

[open country]

Minty fresh

 

[roadstr6]

I was set to light this one up yesterday and when I filled it with coolant, there was a steady stream coming out of the oil cooler hard line at the front of the engine. This was a part that I reused. I cleaned, blasted and powder coated the part, and thought it was good to go. Apparently it has a pinhole leak. New part on its way. Unfortunately I’ll have to do some disassembly to access it. Regardless, Dusty will be making noise soon. Let’s hope it’s good noise.

 

[DTSkyCop]

Nice work on your 40! Looks great!!

I love the air cleaner, how glossy that is. Did you powder coat that? I was thinking of that for mine... Is that just a Gloss Black or a certain powder coat number?

Just curious.

 

[roadstr6]

Nice work on your 40! Looks great!!

I love the air cleaner, how glossy that is. Did you powder coat that? I was thinking of that for mine... Is that just a Gloss Black or a certain powder coat number?

Just curious.

Thanks for the compliments. I just painted the air cleaner housing. My oven isn't big enough to cook powder on a piece that size. I rattle canned the housing with gloss black Krylon and cleared it with Duplicolor 1K gloss clear.

 

[honestcharlie56]

excellent work. Thanks for the motivation!

 

[Roastchestnuts]

If you are ever on the outer banks hit me up! I love that FJ55 lurking in the back ground. They are my favorite land cruiser hands down. never had the pleasure of owning one though.