Aussie FJ40: First Build

[Mtsvn]

We start this next update on a bit of a tangent. A few months ago, Heath and I drove well over 1000km’s in a single day to pick up a project for him, a 1942 Ford GP ‘Jeep’ that previously belonged to the US Ordnance Division during the Vietnam war and somehow ended up on a little property in the middle of nowhere. The colour is bloody horrible (for a war jeep) and decided we would do this project alongside the FJ40.

After being on separate properties, the GP and FJ were finally ready to meet for the first time. With the Australian weather turn up full heat, it was time for another day on working in the garage.

We got a car trailer hooked up first thing in the morning and moved the GP over to my place. My Trans Am had been sitting at Heaths place too, so I took the opportunity to move it over to my place too.

We pushed the Trans Am around the side of the house and forgot about it, as I am not going to even think about working on it until the FJ40 is completed. We then positioned the FJ and GP in the garage for the first time (they look great together)

I started work on giving the FJ40’s gearbox a clean. I’m certain it had not been cleaned since it rolled out of the factory, and didn’t even know what colour it was under all that filth. Armed with a kerosene and a wire brush in one hand, and a beer in the other… I went to work scrubbing until my arms went numb. The results however speak for themselves:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

While I was busy scrubbing, Heath got started on stripping the GP down in order to get both cars ready for sanding, priming and eventually painting.

AFTER:

It hadn’t seemed like long, but afternoon had already arrived and it was time to get started on the firewall. The firewall had been subject to countless layers of primer, paint and a rubber/tar like adhesive.

We applied an initial layer of paint stripper on the firewall and scrapped it off. We then repeated this process again which took off the vast majority paint, leaving a (fairly) nice bare metal firewall. We will revisit this a final time before primer.

By this stage, it was time to pack up and head our separate ways. I am heading off to New Zealand on a week long road trip next week, so it might take me a fortnight for the next post. We still have a long way to go, but any progress is good progress.

My plans for next time will be to strip and paint the chassis (with the tub still on) and whatever catches my attention. With so much work and so many things needing attention, there is always lots to choose from when it comes to working on the FJ40!


Hope you are all doing well and see you next time!

 

[skidplate]

My best friend just bought a 1956 CJ6 Willys j**p. It is in incredible shape, or good nick, as you Aussies call it. That was always his dream truck, as an FJ40 was always my dream truck. I don't hate on any old iron 4X4's. I think they are all cool. I'm having as much fun as he is tinkering with it. I do, however, appreciate jumping into my '40 after messing with his rig and driving a truly rugged truck.

 

[phils40]

Love the KFC and a carton of Asahi!

 

[Mtsvn]

My best friend just bought a 1956 CJ6 Willys j**p. It is in incredible shape, or good nick, as you Aussies call it. That was always his dream truck, as an FJ40 was always my dream truck. I don't hate on any old iron 4X4's. I think they are all cool. I'm having as much fun as he is tinkering with it. I do, however, appreciate jumping into my '40 after messing with his rig and driving a truly rugged truck.

I have always loved old 4X4s. Modern 4X4s like the new land cruisers, patrols etc are fantastic long distance vehicles... but there is a special feeling you have when driving old irons. You have a much closer connection to the vehicle and without power steering and air conditioning, the challenge of driving through the mountains is much more rewarding.

I also really appreciate simplicity in design. If something goes wrong, I dont have to worry that its something wrong with the ECU or something I cannot fix with a spanner/screw driver.

Best of all, they look amazing and have individual character that is missing in modern, comfortable, practical cars

 

[Mtsvn]

Love the KFC and a carton of Asahi!

You always need something to fuel the build

 

[Mtsvn]

Wow, it’s nearly been a month since I gave you all an update. Just before leaving to go to New Zealand, I found an ad online for someone selling a 2F that looks in great shape for a price I couldn’t say no to! I contacted him and told him I would drive the 5 hours round trip to pick it up from him as soon as I landed back in Aus… and that’s exactly what I did (Dad was nice enough to come on the road trip with me and let me catch up on some sleep on the way back… thanks mate!)

When we got up to this sellers workshop, I didn’t realise what a deal I was about to get. The 2F he was selling me was out of his late model FJ45 so he could do the 12HT transplant. The 2F had an original 180,000km/110,000-ish miles (the 45’ was immaculate).

Another angle

The seller was an awesome guy and I must have caught him on a good day because he decided to throw a few extra items in for me for free:

- 4 speed gearbox with everything in-between

- A second manifold/carburettor setup to run dual fuel

- Full gas setup

- Factory air box (something I really wanted because I hated the big chrome one on mine

- Extractors

- Full FJ40 exhaust system (my FJ40 system is rusted, this will need some fab work)

- Power-Steering pump (this was extremely exciting for me)


(Couple pics of some of the extra goodies below... forgot to take a pic of the power steering pump and extractors)

As I was about to leave, he realised that I wouldn’t be able to use the power steering without a steering rack, so he ran up to his 60’s series parts car, unbolted and then gave me his 60’s series power steering rack and cross member stating “I couldn’t be bothered going power steering on mine, so you can have it for free too”

 

[Mtsvn]

By the time I got it all back home, I was straight back to work and didn’t get any garage time up until this weekend! I made sure the old man and Heath were ready to get some good garage time in and off we went! First job back was to get back to the firewall and get rid of the tar like mess.

After removing the brake booster and master cylinder, we finally got access to the rest of the firewall and the results started coming through. The small dots you see below are water droplets after we found that pressure hosing off paint stripper worked a treat (we used the compressor gun to dry off quickly after)

While we were doing that, Heath pulled his GP apart even more...

After spending all the time with paint stripper for the firewall, I decided to start work on stripping the paint from the rusty bonnet too. I propped it up in the garage and applied a decent amount of paint stripper and let this one soak in for a while. I have to say, I am blown away with what a great job Toyota did with painting the FJ40’s from factory. The paint/primer is as thick as I have ever seen, but an absolute bastard to get off.

Always use a liberal amount!

Then I used a paint scraper to get the a fair bit of it off (this is gonna require a couple more coats)

This is how much paint has already been removed from the bonnet... nasty stuff paint stripper is!

Dad surprised me while I was away and purchased a full chassis painting kit. So we decided we would take the opportunity and start preparing the front bottom end of the truck while we had access. It was finally time to remove the front side quarter panels, so after taking some detailed photos of the wiring setup, we went to work.

And the other one...

With even more of the underbody exposed, we investigated the chassis closer and decided its current state was too horrible to paint over. It had was seemed like several hundred layers paint so we thought, well the front/exposed element especially, deserved to go back to bare metal for the smoothest possible result. By this time it was getting late.

Bumper came off too

Front chassis starting to look cleaner

Nearly there!

Tomorrow morning I am heading back over to the garage for a third day in a row (long weekend here) and going to spend more time cleaning the front end. I am really looking forward to getting the engine bay finished because the next step will be to clean/paint the engine and drop her back in!!

(And just a final pic of the two of them stripped together from earlier today)

 

[chappohj47]

Nice progress mate looks like you got a great deal on that 2f motor and all the spares

 

[bikersmurf]

When your 40 is on the road, you should drive up and deliver a case or bottle of something good... if things are as they appear, you got one heck of a deal... especially given all the freebies he threw in.



BTW, in many cases, I've used a single edged razor blade to remove factory paint... quick, easy, non-toxic.