..And so it begins.... my BJ40 frame off restoration

[whats the deal]

I just came across your thread and things seem to be coming along quite well. It makes me think that I should have just upgraded/restored as time went on instead of tearing the truck down completely and having it off the road for almost a year now. Great work!

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Forgive me for this being my first post but just wanted to say enjoy Salvador. I lived there between 99-04 and bought a 75 FJ40. It had to be one of the most enjoyable times of my life, the country and people are great. One fascinating thing about Salvador was if it wasn't available for purchase, someone could make it from scratch. By joining a local club, I was able to see parts of the country that most gringos or even locals never get the chance to see. We also did some great trips to surrounding countries, even drove up to Cancun a couple of times.

I haven't had a chance to read this entire thread, but I will make sure I do. My FJ40 is back in the states and looking to get back into wheeling again. Have you posted any trip reports?

Well, I feel honored to have your first post here. Let´s get the technical stuff out of the way first, Welcome to Mud! (New guy salute)

X10 on the country and the people. What club did you join while you were here? The 4x4 community is small enough and the country is small enough that you know most folks by name, face or rig. Most guys I wheel with here have been into 4x4 for the last 15 - -30 years. I haven´t done too much in trip reports because frankly work and the project got in the way. However, now that the final major mods are being finished, if they leave me here for another year I will be running this rig alot more on the highway and off road to really break everything in. As such trip reports are definitely in the plan.
Thanks,
John

 

[slvyj]

Well, I feel honored to have your first post here. Let´s get the technical stuff out of the way first, ************ Welcome to Mud! (New guy salute)

X10 on the country and the people. What club did you join while you were here? The 4x4 community is small enough and the country is small enough that you know most folks by name, face or rig. Most guys I wheel with here have been into 4x4 for the last 15 - -30 years. I haven´t done too much in trip reports because frankly work and the project got in the way. However, now that the final major mods are being finished, if they leave me here for another year I will be running this rig alot more on the highway and off road to really break everything in. As such trip reports are definitely in the plan.
Thanks,
John

Thanks.

When I was there, not many clubs really just a group of guys who would go out on the weekends. Most weekends we have four or five rigs. Things have changed since I was there, now groups are all over the place. During my time you couldn't get tires over 31 and muds were rare, some guys even cut there own mud pattern. I'm told now 35 mud tires are not a problem.

I just visited last August; gotta visit the in-laws once and a while, and one of my friends told me of an American who was restoring a BJ40 and had an engine shipped from Japan. I'm guessing that was you.

By the way, nice yellow license plates, I had the same color when I was there.

I recommend weekend trips into Guatemala, especially around Lake Attilan. When you get up into the mountains and visit some remote maya villiges, its really neat.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Thanks.

When I was there, not many clubs really just a group of guys who would go out on the weekends. Most weekends we have four or five rigs. Things have changed since I was there, now groups are all over the place. During my time you couldn't get tires over 31 and muds were rare, some guys even cut there own mud pattern. I'm told now 35 mud tires are not a problem.

I just visited last August; gotta visit the in-laws once and a while, and one of my friends told me of an American who was restoring a BJ40 and had an engine shipped from Japan. I'm guessing that was you.

By the way, nice yellow license plates, I had the same color when I was there.

I recommend weekend trips into Guatemala, especially around Lake Attilan. When you get up into the mountains and visit some remote maya villiges, its really neat.

Yep, That was me. PM I bet we have wheeled with the same guys.
John

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Ok, an update. Things have bogged down at the garage doing the work, the helper mechanics quit, leaving just the owner. It has been two months since they rolled out and he still hasn´t hired replacements. As such he is working on every rig himself and takes a lot of little maintanance jobs leaving the big two or thee to last every day.

He got the rear axle with the re-machined spindle on and the rear dbs are mounted. Both the front and rear e lockers are mounted. He is now about to mount the MAF disc parking brake and bolt the drive shafts back on. Once he gets past that it´s onto pulling the old exhaust manifold and putting on the new one (HD-T) and mounting the turbo. Once the turbo is in I can mount up the PWR intercooler.

COMPRESSOR:
Just got the Viar Compresser and tank kit in. Below is the photo of the kit that arrived. It is the Viar Heavy Duty P/N 10005.

SECOND GAS TANK:
I also picked up my second gas tank. This was on my long term mod list but again for $40.00USD I couldn´t pass it up. I will gather up all the pieces to run a dual tank with a Pollack switching set up, filled by a twin filler neck from an 80 using the OEM filler door. Thanks Dave of Japan 4X4 for tracking down the twin filler neck plumbing for me. I still have some bits and pieces for I have everything together for the dual tank install. Here are pics of the tank and the major dual filler neck pieces from Dave. BTW the tank is 23 gallons and identical in dimensions to the S10 Blazer tank. After cleaning the tank up I found an id tag. The tank is actually from an Isuzu Trooper. Lining it up it fits nicely between the frame rails at the rear. I´m glad that I have the rear tank now and we can see exactly where it will sit and how it fits. In terms of the exhaust I always planned to re route it to make it as straight as possible for the turbo. Now it will exit out the passenger side at a point after the fuel door and before the tank. This all means that the trailer hitch placement and rear bumper design will be placed on hold until the tank is installed and I have a better sense of what I´m working with in terms of space.

Finish the turbo and intercooler install
Install dual tank setup
Install full roll cage
Send to shop for body work and paint

rolleyes:

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Update

RDB:

Ok, the RDBs are on and the car has been rolled over the pit . The problem is that my new rims have a ridge in the backside that rubs on the new RDBs. The solution was the Spidertrax wheel spacers.

Lug Centric (Early Model)

T case parking brake
confession time I ordered the wrong kit! I ordered the kit for the single piece case and not for the split case. MAF was good enough to take it back and they also informed me that they will be offering an upgraded version of the TSM T case PB kit for the split case. I told them that I´d order one as I didn´t see a lot of alternatives out there. However the more that I read about either of the kits the less satisfied I was. I have no choice but to order one mechanical pb kit so I can pass DMV inspection when I get back to the US. I decided to work a little more insurance into the package against the most common complaint, slippage. I found a writeup about this bracket, see below and this Remote MC, aka line lock. After noodling this around a bit I decided that since both will work off of my existing parking brake lever and cable why not have the cable first pull the lever on the bracket and actuate the line lock and at the same time pull the caliper shut on the calipers on the mechanical disk. The line lock just arrived and the bracket is getting fabbed.

E lockers:
Front and rear are on and getting connected/ wired up using the wire harnesses that I made up following Drew´s instructions.


Turbo:
The exhaust manifold is on. Turns out we were missing the elbow that connects the turbo to the exhaust manifold. The turbo shop had apparently promised the owner of the mechanic shop that he knew where one was. He didn´t and now the machine shop is turning one out. This however explains some of the cryptic answers I was getting from the owner over the last few months when I asked about why the turbo hadn´t been installed. Obviously the intercooler has to wait to be plumbed until the turbo goes on.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Spydertrax spacers:

I got the reference from 5 club memebrs who each run them. I like them because all the pressure isn´t on the OEM lugs it is more evenly spaced out.

 

[whats the deal]

RDB:

T case parking brake
confession time I ordered the wrong kit! I ordered the kit for the single piece case and not for the split case. MAF was good enough to take it back and they also informed me that they will be offering an upgraded version of the TSM T case PB kit for the split case. I told them that I´d order one as I didn´t see a lot of alternatives out there. However the more that I read about either of the kits the less satisfied I was. I have no choice but to order one mechanical pb kit so I can pass DMV inspection when I get back to the US. I decided to work a little more insurance into the package against the most common complaint, slippage. I found a writeup about this bracket, see below and this Remote MC, aka line lock. After noodling this around a bit I decided that since both will work off of my existing parking brake lever and cable why not have the cable first pull the lever on the bracket and actuate the line lock and at the same time pull the caliper shut on the calipers on the mechanical disk. The line lock just arrived and the bracket is getting fabbed.

I'm also interested in this set-up. I understand the company that originally designed the bracket is no longer around or I just can't get a hold of him. Who are you getting to fab the bracket and would you be able to put me in touch with them?

 

[Leaping Deer]

Great to see more pics of the RDB conversion. I am planning on doing this shortly. Project looks like its comming along nicely.

 

[rloaderro]

I decided to work a little more insurance into the package against the most common complaint, slippage.

I totally have this... but I was guessing it was a worn adjuster (#46503: ToyoDIY.com). The teeth are so worn down I was assuming that was where the slippage was occurring. I tried searching now on the forum but couldn't find other threads on the issue... Do you think it's something else then?

 

[Volcano cruiser]

I'm also interested in this set-up. I understand the company that originally designed the bracket is no longer around or I just can't get a hold of him. Who are you getting to fab the bracket and would you be able to put me in touch with them?

I couldn't get in touch with them either. Thank God for the photos and the Net. The owner of my mechnic shop has pretty good fab skills and he wants a crack at doing it. I told him if he can get to it and not lose ground on getting the other stuff on the list done great. If not I will take it to the same machine shop that did the work on my rear axle parts. Let me see how the bracket turns out, if it looks good I may have them make a run of them if folks are interested.

 

[whats the deal]

You can put me down for one if it turns out well. Let us know how the set-up works after you get it all back together.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Ok the Spydertrax spacers worked out great and the new rims and my old Creepy Crawlers are mounted again. The only beat part is that the tire place doesn<´t have another Creepy Crawler in inventory for my spare. If I want a matching spare I´ll have to wait 3 months for a boat to come in with more.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Turbo: The turbo is back from the turbo shop which is good buit the guy who we were looking to as a source for the dump pipe elbow fell through. I went to Toyota and they didn´t have the dump pipe elbow for this turbo in stock. So I had to burn another week at a different machine shop to get the following solution. Machine a 1/2 inch thick flange from the same material as the turbine side of the turbo ( iron) and have the exhaust shop build/ weld on the rest of the dump elbow and exhaust to the flange. While at the turbo machine shop there were three other turbos ahead of me in line getting the same thing done. The exhaust shop had one in that they finished the welds on, looked nice and sturdy. Here are some pics of the newly machined flange .

 

[Volcano cruiser]

trying to make the best use of the down time with the turbo flange being done in the machine shop I sent the 1HZ boost compensator that I got from George at All American in Holland, and my fuel pump over to a diesel lab owned by a club member here. He had is guys tear my fuel pump down and rebuild it, new gaskets, seals, the works with the new boost compensator now on top. Below is a pick of the new fuel pump with the All American boost compensator installed. BTW in a fit of the dreaded "while I´m in there" syndrome I decided to have the injectors pulled and inspected. I´m not sure what they will find since I have had neither the fuel pump or injectors off the engine since importing it but I will probably have the tips replaced with new ones. This way once buttoned up I will not have to worry about either the fuel pump or the injectors for years to come.

 

[crusinfool]

Parking brake

Curious about cable/parking brake setup, Is it plummed inline with rear brake line (like a linelock) or a seperate circut?

Did an online search, cant even find the actuator pictured

Thanks

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Curious about cable/parking brake setup, Is it plummed inline with rear brake line (like a linelock) or a seperate circut?

Did an online search, cant even find the actuator pictured

Thanks

It´s a line lock. Summit racing sells them. Look under Wilwood Remote Master Cylinder on their site.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

I totally have this... but I was guessing it was a worn adjuster (#46503: ToyoDIY.com). The teeth are so worn down I was assuming that was where the slippage was occurring. I tried searching now on the forum but couldn't find other threads on the issue... Do you think it's something else then?

Amigo I think that you are referring to the stock drum style parking brake that came on the back of the transfer case. My 40 never came with one as I had the cable style parking brake which locked my rear drum brakes mechanically. One of the trade offs when you go to rear disk brakes is you lose the ability to mechanically lock the rear brakes circuit via the rear drums.

As such I had a choice, (1) try to find an OEM drum style parking brake that mounts on the transfer case, (2) go with aftermarket disk brake parking brake kits which mount on the transfer case or (3) a line lock which mounts where ever but taps into and locks the brakes hydraulically, not mechanically for parking.

Regarding option #1, the OEM Tcase mounted drum style parking brake, After some initial looking around I abandoned the option because, (a) the complete setup was hard to find (b) the parts to fix it were even harder to come by. That, I think is your problem. your drum style pb has worn parts and is slipping. I can´t tell you anything about the TCase mounted drum style pb as mine never came with one. However, given where you are, if you can´t get the parts from Toyota anymore, I would take whatever parts are worn over to a machine shop and see if they can´t make new ones for you. You need to replace the parts anyway and afterwards see if you still have a slippage problem.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Heat and A/C progress

Now that it looks like my job assignement here is up soon the shop is finally working overtime to get my rig done. The long postponed Heat and AC install is done. The famously almost non existent AC man, sub contractor finally cam around and popped in the in cab unit, the duct work and vents and bolted up the drier, condensor and hoses. When I imported the engine it arrived with the OEM compressor installed. There are some pics of the unit that I bought earlier in the thread. I´ll try to get some pics next week of the installed unit and vents etc.

 

[KY Longhunter]

Spydertrax spacers:

I got the reference from 5 club memebrs who each run them. I like them because all the pressure isn´t on the OEM lugs it is more evenly spaced out.

What size rims and backspacing are you running?

And what size spacers did you go with?