ANTFJ 77 Build.. (ends up as a 1978) (1 Viewer)

[bsmith123]

AF

Nice job so far, here's a pic of my piggy, I have the body off now doing the frame. I built sawhorses and ran 4x4s under the body and with the legs on the saw horses at 36" I am able to push the frame back under the body when I am done.

I only have a suburban garage to work in.

A cadet eh? I showed a few cadets around the flight line in my day. I was in maintenance until I retired in 2001. I work as a civilian tech rep now. You'll probably spend some time visiting units and seeing how things are done if you haven't already.

I like the shelter although I have my FJ in the garage I am scared having my freshly painted harley in the workspace plus I need space for bikes and things.

I'm just renting cause I'll be moving in 2 years on after this assignment so I don't want spend a load on a shed but that looks like a good solution.

Best of luck with the AF career.

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

"AntFJ," quite the project you have going there! Looking good!

If you ever make it out to McCord AFB let me know - I'll have Bull buy you a beer!


Good luck with the FJ40, and your cadet training!

Regards,

Alan

 

[antFJ]

finally - time to get going

well so here it goes. I'm back from school and being a Cadet Training Assistant for Maxwell 1 Field Training in Alabama.. 36 days of fun - and now i'm home for a month and get to work on the cruiser again.

updates in life if you care.. i got a pilot slot so as long as i pass my medical exams thats what i'll be doing after i graduate, got elected president of the WPI Men's Glee Club (men's choir), and well i guess those are the only major things.. i'll be starting senior year at WPI in late august so hopefully i'll be able to get a lot of work done before then.

Cruiser Updates:
first off i got that frame.. or a frame from oklahoma.. i don't really feel like typing out what happend but you can read allll about it here https://forum.ih8mud.com/chit-chat-section/211986-screwed-over-advice-needed.html

made it through that escapade only to end up buying a frame from rapovt here on MUD. and that wasn't all i got from him - he really hooked me up just like mud members always do. i got a clean body, clean front doors, tons of stuff that i didn't have, a cowl from a 79 with an intact wiring harness and goodies.. a 78 motor and carb, a pretty clean drivers fender, and a bunch of other stuff i can't remember.

and now.. some pictures..

 

[antFJ]

o yea.. got a pretty clean hard top too... needs a lot less work than the hard top that came with the first one i got. it also has this pretty cool half amby doors that i am going to try to get to work with my barn doors.. thats for the end of this project though since i have a top coming over with ehsan..

also you can see the frame is already painted with POR.. but honestly its chipping and rusting through in some spots.. and it has been sitting in a garage for a couple of years - so i think im going to sand blast it and get it powder coated - the previous owner before rapovt also had done some crappppy welds so i need to redue all of his welds on the shackle reversal.

 

[antFJ]

got a bunch of parts coming in the mail so i should be able to start working on some things..

• first is to get as much sandblasted as possible
• get the frame out to get powder coated, and the work from the ground up
• get the brakes and axles done first
• then get the suspension on the frame - it's a lift kit.. i think a safari or rough country.. either way it'll have to do for now - i'm trying to save money where i can
• clean up the engine and get it ready to be mounted - have a man-a-fre cermic coated header on the way
• clean up the transmission and transfercase
• get my carb rebuilt from jimC or mark..
• run the brake lines and get the drive line on the frame
• and then... i can't think that much into the future.. one step at a time..

 

[antFJ]

lastly... a video.. got the 78 engine running that i just got - it hadn't been run in a while. it ran a lot smoother than the 74ish engine i have using the same carburetor so i am going to use this one instead. put oil in the cylinders overnight, put on the 74 carb, a DUI distributor, ghetto wired the thing and it started right up.

this is the first time i got it running.

YouTube - FJ40 2F Motor

 

[Spud]

Sweet, just checking out this post now for the first time Ant...Looking good. A lot of progress!

Your cruiser is a month older than mine! Cool...Look forward to meeting you tonight at the car show.

 

[apeterson]

cool!!!! your shop is bigger than the one I started out in cant wait to see the rest of this project

 

[albee]

Good job keep up the good work.
My wife is one of the doc's at WPI health center. Let me know when you get bact to school, maybe we can hook up.
Cheers
Albee

 

[JJS]

Ant,

Looks good, man. Keep going at it.

 

[krzyabncanuck]

I must of been asleep when this one first started.

Am keeping an eye on it now though.

Good luck as a fly boy. They saved my 4th POC more than a few times in my career.

 

[antFJ]

Good job keep up the good work.
My wife is one of the doc's at WPI health center. Let me know when you get bact to school, maybe we can hook up.
Cheers
Albee

ha too cool - if shes been there for a couple of years she's probably seen me more than once.. pink eye seemed to get me a lot back in the dorms

 

[antFJ]

so not too much physical progress today.. but i laid out both wiring harnesses i have.. one is from the 78 cowl that i just got (I will be using this cowls vin plates since they supposedly match the frame - tomorrow i'll clean the paint off and check) and the other is from the green oct 76 cruiser that i had from a while ago.

the 78's harness is pretty much complete... everything is there it's awesome. the only thing that was missing was the seat belt switch and the fuel sender wiring... but i was able to cut that off of my old harness. tomorrow i am going to go out in search of some heat shrink tubing, high quality connections and some electrical tape.. it seems that the outer most electrical tape around the whole harness was grey, the spliced connections were covered in tubing and blue electrical tape.. the inner form of the harness was held together with black electrical tape, and the unused, optional stuff was held together with yellow tape... this is good to know because i want to leave all of the connections i won't be using for the emmissions equipment for example.. i'll just wrap them up in yellow tape.


my only two questions at the end of it all is..
1. how come on the later harness there is no horn relay and two wires going to the horns? do i just need horns from 78?

and 2. on my oct 76 there was no voltage regulator on the firewall but on the 78 there is a hulking black one (Pass Side firewall) with a ton of wires coming out of it.. EDIT*** there is a small blue wire with a female connector coming out of the voltage regulator and there is nothing hooked up to it.. any ideas?

 

[Spud]

ANT...Read this...

and 2. on my oct 76 there was no voltage regulator on the firewall but on the 78 there is a hulking black one (Pass Side firewall) with a ton of wires coming out of it.. there is a small blue wire with a female connector coming out of the loom next to the regulator and there is nothing hooked up to it.. any ideas?

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/226603-wiring-diagram-76-fj40.html

 

[antFJ]

yea i saw that post.. but my regulator is the one pictured on the left here MAF Voltage Regulators

it has 7 wires coming out of it.. 6 go into a plug which has 5 wires going out of the connector into the loom and the 7th wire, the blue one with the single female connector, is the one that doesn't have anything attached to it..

now after looking at the 79 wiring diagram in my FSM it only shows 5 wires going into the voltage regulator.. and the 78 diagram online matches up better color wise with the harness i have - but it shows only 3 wires coming out of the voltage regulator

unless someone knows the answer to this confusion off hand i am just going to leave it for now and just see if it works with the current set-up when i get everything back together.

 

[Spud]

yea i saw that post.. but my regulator is the one pictured on the left here MAF Voltage Regulators

it has 7 wires coming out of it.. 6 go into a plug which has 5 wires going out of the connector into the loom and the 7th wire, the blue one with the single female connector, is the one that doesn't have anything attached to it..

now after looking at the 79 wiring diagram in my FSM it only shows 5 wires going into the voltage regulator.. and the 78 diagram online matches up better color wise with the harness i have - but it shows only 3 wires coming out of the voltage regulator

unless someone knows the answer to this confusion off hand i am just going to leave it for now and just see if it works with the current set-up when i get everything back together.

Ant, I purchased a new VR for $20...
If I remember correct, mine has a single dangleing wire with a female connector, unattached. Works just fine.

You are welcome to come over and check it out to compare the wiring...

 

[rapovt]

Ant,
glad to see that motor start so easy. Glad you are happy with the stuff. Gary

 

[antFJ]

couldn't find grey electrical tape but thats no biggy - i just used black.. although I need to go buy more tape I ran out of black pretty quick

i'm taking the harness completely apart one section at a time - cleaning everything, and then taping back up the way I found it.. and i'm adding some heat shrink tubing where the factory just left a splice out in the open.

they even have the part tags still on them.. the factory splices were covered in blue tape..

 

[antFJ]

there are these rigid plastic coverings on the harness... the wires are taped then the covering goes on and the same piece of tape goes around the covering..

 

[antFJ]

so making some progress... and getting a little more realistic on some things.

spencer.. a local cruiser guy came over today to take a look at what I have. He is the guy I wanted to do all of the body work for me.. anyways he talked me into doing a lot of the work myself..

and instead of powder coating the frame and getting someone to weld the frame, i am just going to get a welder and do it myself - and i'm going to paint the frame myself as well - suggestions on paint?? i was thinking rustoleum rusty metal primer and just rustoleum gloss black as the top coat.. I don't want to use POR 15. Anything not too expensive.. or at least something that will last for the price??

hurray for decisions.

on to stuff i've done.. got the wiring harness done.. it looks so new...