Bought my first 40! 36k mi 1974 FST.

[PetrichorGW]

That is a Beautiful 40, I just got my very first FJ40 this morning, its a 1975 in Freedom Red, albeit not so shiny but I wish my PO would have had nice carpet such as yours. Mine was a very fun drive on the freeway along with some gusty crosswinds it made for a fun journey. Nothing like my 07 FJ good on You for getting a beautiful ride.

 

[BadReligion]

Nice! And from Reno too with another mid 70s Freeborn Red! You need to join the local TLCA club as there are a few people in it who know 40s very well.

 

[PetrichorGW]

I shall look into joining the local TLCA, I know I am biased however Reno is the best place in the world hands down, at least my hands are down. Thank You I will be on the look out for you in this Biggest Little City

 

[BadReligion]

Another weekend update. Continued carpet removal and first oil change. Removing the carpet is pretty labor intensive and a huge PITA but it looks like the carpet actually did a pretty good job of preserving the paint underneath. As for the oil change....no one warned me of the massive amount of oil that comes out of that 24mm drain plug. Definitely made a bit of a mess with that!

Before shot with carpet in place. Plan was to remove it up to the rear of the seats. I tried 2 different types of 3M adhesive remover and the "specialty" adhesive one (38987) did a pretty good job but has tons of VOCs. After a quick test section, I determined it was in the best interest of my brain to pick up a VOC rated respirator. In this area, the adhesive remover was easier to use than the rubber wheel.

With the carpet removed, just some dirty paint.

Afterwards. Many hours later. Paint looks great underneath.

CityRacer reproduction floor mat installed. Looks and fits great.

My son approves. This photo made my wife forget how much that floor mat cost. I need to be more prompt at getting to the front porch first over the next several months. Only mishap was cross threading one of the bolts that holds a rear portion of the PS seat. Need to invest in a good tap and die set and chase the threads of every bolt removed.

Again, super excited to be wrenching on a 40 and very glad I bought this. Just feels different that my 80/100. More satisfying for some reason. To be continued.

 

[cbmontgo]

Man, that is a clean truck. Great find.

 

[nakman]

Have you had the doors installed on the 40 yet? Those hinges on the tub side are specific for those OEM soft doors... just FYI if you decide to run some other hard doors, or half doors, etc. they likely use the other hinges. I've got a set of OEM soft doors (not as nice as yours) but I never did anything with them as I don't have the hinges for the tub. (anyone know where to find some?)

And nice score on the 40! Can't believe how clean it was under that carpet, and passing emissions is a huge hurdle.

 

[secretsquirrel]

very nice.

 

[thecrazygreek]

This is a sweet ass 40.

Those floors are amazing!!! Looking forward to what you are going to do.

 

[BadReligion]

Have you had the doors installed on the 40 yet? Those hinges on the tub side are specific for those OEM soft doors... just FYI if you decide to run some other hard doors, or half doors, etc. they likely use the other hinges. I've got a set of OEM soft doors (not as nice as yours) but I never did anything with them as I don't have the hinges for the tub. (anyone know where to find some?)

And nice score on the 40! Can't believe how clean it was under that carpet, and passing emissions is a huge hurdle.

I haven't installed the soft doors yet as I still need to give them a gentle cleaning. I figured the factory hard doors wouldn't mount up without some type of modification. Good to know that its only the hinges. Probably easier to source hard door hinges than the other way around. The soft doors are in great shape and only really need new seals but I like the look of a FST with hard doors. I'm going to try to find some rust free ones. I'll definitely keep the soft doors though.

Yes, pretty excited about the emissions. I could have done a "classic car" plate that exempts you from smog but limits your mileage to 5k per year. Not like I'm going to drive it that much anyway but I like the idea of not being restricted by that.

 

[BadReligion]

This is a sweet ass 40.

Those floors are amazing!!! Looking forward to what you are going to do.

Thanks! Initial plan is to just get it baselined, remove many of the cosmetic additions, get it back to stock configuration, and just enjoy it. I will do the front disc conversion and shoulder harness style seatbelts as "necessary" safety upgrades. I need to learn how to TIG weld too, among many other things. My 40 "IQ" has gone from minimal to at least novice level in the last few weeks but there is still a lot to learn. Glad to have 'MUD as a resource, along with a ton of the well documented 40 series builds.

 

[airon23]

That is a Beautiful 40, I just got my very first FJ40 this morning, its a 1975 in Freedom Red, albeit not so shiny but I wish my PO would have had nice carpet such as yours. Mine was a very fun drive on the freeway along with some gusty crosswinds it made for a fun journey. Nothing like my 07 FJ good on You for getting a beautiful ride.

Nice! And from Reno too with another mid 70s Freeborn Red! You need to join the local TLCA club as there are a few people in it who know 40s very well.

Another fellow Reno FJ40 here. Love both of your cruisers!
Mine is a 1976 FJ40 different yet still beautiful.

I'm not an official member of the Battle Born Cruisers of Northern Nevada (BBCNN), but I follow the group and there's a good group of guys involved there. BTW they're having a picnic I was going to try to attend this Saturday. Check them out if you haven't had a chance yet.

NV- Battle Born Cruisers of Northern Nevada

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[BadReligion]

Another fellow Reno FJ40 here. Love both of your cruisers!
Mine is a 1976 FJ40 different yet still beautiful.

I'm not an official member of the Battle Born Cruisers of Northern Nevada (BBCNN), but I follow the group and there's a good group of guys involved there. BTW they're having a picnic I was going to try to attend this Saturday. Check them out if you haven't had a chance yet.

NV- Battle Born Cruisers of Northern Nevada

forum.ih8mud.com

Nice 40! Yes, I will be at the picnic too on Sat. The whole family is going so we will be in our 200. See you there!

 

[PetrichorGW]

I apologize for missing the picnic and I will do my best to be communicative. I love your Blue 40 that is sweet!

 

[BadReligion]

Haven't updated this thread in a while! I was off to a good start but then other projects got in the way. I had some time over Christmas to make a bit more progress. I still had one section left of the carpet and I don't know if it was due to colder temperatures or the fact that it was the last section, but the glue was truly horrendous and it took a few hours just to finish a few square feet. But the 40 is now officially carpet free. Again, paint looks great underneath. I also started chasing the threads on anything that I remove and that is making reassembly much easier.

I also had a few interior trim pieces that I needed to install, mostly to replace one that were either missing or plastic/rubber that was cracked and torn. I cant believe you can still find OEM parts for most of this...but at a price.

Next up were tires. The 34 year old existing tires were absolutely not safe to drive on. I had a set of 5 BFG KM3 7.5R16's mounted on CityRacer's reproduction 16" wheels. Everything turned out great, and I can actually drive 60mph without going white knuckle on the steering wheel. Road manners are greatly improved.

Looking pretty good for now, but more work to be done. I have an OEM bumper (non hacked and correct color) ready to go on but I need to dechrome the tow hooks and tow hook plates. I also need to dechrome the bezel and the cowl. Any suggestions? I was thinking just a HF top load sandblaster? I will then respray the hooks/plates with some flat black and bezel with white. It looks like the cowl should also be white, correct? Also, what about the hood hinges and latches? I believe those should be Freeborn Red, correct?

I also have some OEM running boards ready to go on too, but as mentioned earlier, the front fenders were "bobbed" to tie into the custom side steps/sliders so they would not work as is with the OEM running boards. I thought about grafting on the "unbobbed" section from some reproduction fenders, but that would take some time. I was able to locate a set of NOS OEM fenders so that made the decision easy. I'll need to patch a few extra holes from the custom sliders and the paint the new running boards/fenders before mounting everything up. I ended up buying a Miller 220 Multimatic to help out with patching up the holes. I have only ever used a cheap HF stick welder and this thing is SO much nicer. I still need plenty of practice but I am somewhat proficient at patching up holes on practice 18ga metal. Burning in patch panels to correct the fender flares will be a different story for a different day.

I think the truck will look pretty close to factory after completing the above mentioned plans. I'll then probably just respray the existing fender flares black so I can tolerate them for the time being. Other future plans include some new seat foam and covers from Spector (pricey but they look good) and I would like to find a set of full doors.

To be continued.

 

[lelandEOD]

Everytime someone puts chrome or a bowtie anything on a -40... God kills a kitten.

I can't believe how friggin' pristine it is under that carpet. I would have bet serious cash on rot due to moisture retention. The PO wasn't jerking us around when she said it spent 40 years in that garage.

 

[lelandEOD]

What are you referring to as the cowl? The fresh air vent? The vent grating, latches, and hinges should be body color and the bezel Cygnus white.

Looking good, brother!

 

[BadReligion]

What are you referring to as the cowl? The fresh air vent? The vent grating, latches, and hinges should be body color and the bezel Cygnus white. Looking good, brother!

Thanks! Yes, the air vent grate. So it sounds like pretty much everything chrome (other than bezel and bumper) should be body color. Cruiser Corps has some rattle can Cygnus I can use on the bezel. I'll probably have someone local make me a few rattle cans of color matched single stage Freeborn.

 

[BadReligion]

Project DeChrome has started. Took off the chromed and bobbed factory bumper, along with the bezel, tow hooks, and bumper mounting plates. I was going to sandblast and repaint the plates and hooks but a new set was under $100 for everything, so for less than the cost of sandblast and paint it made sense just to go with new stuff. OEM bumper went on too, along with a CCOT reproduction bezel. I was really impressed with the quality of the bezel and it fit better than the chrome plated original.

Really the only remaining chrome bits that need to be replaced are the cowl vent, hood hinges, and latches. @lelandEOD was nice enough to give me a cowl vent he was not using so I will get that painted up and replace the chrome vent on the cruiser. Chrome is such a pain to remove so I will likely just source new hinges/latches.

The 30+ year old bushwacker fender flares were in rough shape so to make them look a bit better, I did a quick sand and rattle can paint job. They look better in black and I can live with them until my welding skills are good enough to do a proper fender flare reversal.

Here is a before/after shot of the above mods, along with a close up of the fender repaint:

Before

After (lighting makes the paint look nicer than it really is)

Respray

Next step is to paint the new OEM front fenders and running boards, and weld up a few extra holes from the now removed PO homemade sliders, then get everything mounted. There is a tiny hole on the hood from the POs "hood ornament" that needs to get welded up too, along with a giant hole from a CB radio mount on the PS rear quarter, visible in the above photo. After that, the exterior should be pretty much back to original. I need to tackle some mechanical maintenance too but it drives great. I am looking forward to late spring/summer when I can really get to enjoy driving it around town.

 

[77HesterSue]

Wow, looks great. Amazing find.

 

[lelandEOD]

You can also have my old hood hinges if you don't want to mess with stripping off all that chrome. I bought new Toyota hinges but was kind of disappointed when I got them. The new hinges are stamped rather than cast. I opted to have them powdercoated since I didn't like the way they would look painted. The old hinges are yours if you want them.