Another Noobie - First post and introduction (1 Viewer)

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Looks great I will
Get some better pics of mine and add to my build thread . I have 3 going on now. Ugg. But makes it kinda easy to do all the same with the 3 The yellow one I need to get the chrome cleaned up.
I had a fair amount of rust on the backside and the inside of both the dash part and the ashtray itself. I spent quite a while using a Dremel and doing my best to get rid of as much rust as possible. The used Rustoleum Rust Remover to eliminate any rust that remained. Since its an ashtray I decided it needed to get a bit of Rustoleum 2000° Ultra High Heat Black spray on the inside of both parts. There was a little pitting on the grate so it received some cleaning and a coat of the High Heat Black as well. I was careful not to paint the roller which as in pretty good condition. The front plate got a coat of primer then a couple of coats of 1E7 Toyota Silver Mist and a couple coats of clear topcoat on both sides. I'm going to be using that for all the components that were factory silver. Its a bit brighter but looks good. For the grab I darkened it with an Acrylic Black Dye and then used a Clearcoat designed for plastics. When it came to the Chrome areas that would be visible I used some 6000 grit buffing paper and then ultra fine steel wool prior to applying a thin topcoat for protection. I may eventually decide to acid wash it and re-chrome those areas. For now it looks pretty good.
 
The Glovebox door is the current evening project and is coming out great. I took it down to bare metal even though it didn't have much rust although there were a few scratches I wanted to fix. So I removed the pin from the hinge to work on both parts separately. Next I hit all the spot weld areas on the front of the door with glazing to get the smooth appearance I was looking for. I applied the same primer, 1E7 Toyota Silver Mist and clearcoat to both sides of both the door and the lower hinge part. I restored the Pocket Pull the same way as the ashtray's but painted the "Pocket" lettering white prior to the clearcoat. Back when I was younger I lived in an area that we'll call questionable. I had installed a decent Pioneer stereo inside the glovebox. So I decided to add a Combination Cam Lock to the upper left side of the door to secure it. I'm waiting on a Cam Lock Collar and I'll add it and a Cam Lock to the door. Not much of a choice but to do so the "D" hole there for the cam lock. Then I'm going to grab a new Trans/TC Instruction plate from Shipmag once we figure out what were going to do for them. It will be secured with stainless steel allen head screws. Pictures to follow once its complete.
 
Thanks Lou. Funny you should mention the 8274. Way back in the day I picked one up that was almost new for a steal. At the time I was working for a company that had a nice shop I could do fab work in. So I welded up an awesome mount out of 1/2" steel and it withstood all we put it through. There are ever some cool stories behind it. The mount survived the years well and acquired no rust. The 8274 not so well. Prior to removal I did hook it up directly to a battery and it still worked. I looked it over and figure with a rebuild kit and some tender loving care I can get it back to looking and working perfect.
There are some good rebuild threads here on mud to guide you through the rebuild of an 8274 warn winch.
 
Glovebox Door.jpg

Finished up the Glovebox Door although I still need to pick up a new Gear Shift Instruction Plate from Shipmag. On to the Instrument Cluster Face Plate.
 
What year did you buy your FJ40
If I remember right I bought it in '82 or '83. My best friend brought the idea of a LC up and we both started searching. I looked at a few and then found this one. It was running and had low miles so I paid the seller cash. My best friend found a '67 FJ40 and the next weekend we took them both out and the fun started.
 
I started taking apart the Instrument Cluster this morning. The speedometer and gauges all were working prior to my LC being parked so I suspect that they'll still be working after restoring the Instrument Cluster. The inner black plate shows no signs of rust and the white lettering is still perfect. The blue high beam indicator lens fell off sometime in the past so I'll have to see what I can do to replace it. I found part of the plastic clip that retains it inside the cluster. So I'll need to find one of those as well.
The front plate of the Instrument Cluster has a dent in the lower right edge just under the fuel gauge. I really don't want to tape the glass off work on the front plate. The glass is in great condition but the rubber retention surrounds are pretty brittle as is the high beam rubber and the seal rubber that goes around the entire front plate. I'm thinking of using glycerine and hot water to revitalize the rubber prior to attempting the glass removal. As I mentioned earlier I'll need to source the blue high beam indicator and plastic retainer also. Does anyone know of a better way and have a source for the rubber components and the high beam components? I would really prefer restoring the Cluster myself over dropping a bunch of cash and going with a Dakota Digital.

Instrument Cluster Front Plate.jpg


Instrument Cluster Front Plate Rear.jpg
 
UPDATE... I was able to boil the entire Front Instrument Cluster plate and apply glycerin, wash, rinse, repeat and the glass seals softened up enough to remove the glass. I was then able to remove all the seals from the plate itself. The Fuel / Amp side seal was a little to cracked and a couple of small areas broke off. At this point I've been able to remove most of the dent below the Fuel / Amp gauges and have applied a super thin glaze. I'll be sanding and priming it in prep for 1E7 Toyota Silver Mist and clearcoat. More photos to follow.
 
Dent repaired and primer applied. It came out pretty good I think.
but...
And as luck would have it I ended up finding a complete front plate in almost flawless condition with good glass, rubber seals and the high beam lens that is missing from this one. I ordered it and it should be here next Monday. I'll attempt to restore it and if it turns out better I'll use it to complete the Instrument Cluster. Leftover parts are a good thing I guess.
Instrument Cluster Front Plate Primered.jpg

A couple of questions...
I'd like to make the the odometer reels white again if possible. Has anyone been able to remove the yellowing that occurs on them and restore them to white? .

Also what is the opinion on changing the gauge back grounds from black to white using the kits that are available?

More photos to follow!
 
Dent repaired and primer applied. It came out pretty good I think.
but...
And as luck would have it I ended up finding a complete front plate in almost flawless condition with good glass, rubber seals and the high beam lens that is missing from this one. I ordered it and it should be here next Monday. I'll attempt to restore it and if it turns out better I'll use it to complete the Instrument Cluster. Leftover parts are a good thing I guess.

That means you need another FJ40....
 
I've been working on smaller components since we're waiting to take a 3 hour drive to grab a compressor that will work with our media blaster. Figure we'll do that in a couple weeks. In the meantime things like the glove box door, ashtray and front and rear heaters are in process or completedView attachment 2959425View attachment 2959429View attachment 2959431View attachment 2959432
I think they came out pretty decent considering they shape they were in before I started.
that's the best heater I've ever seen! great job!
 

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