Sad. At Camelback Toyota here in Phoenix it would be like a rock star just walked in! Here in AZ we dig our old Yota’s!
Builds Bucket List
- Thread starter cruiserjunktion
- Start date
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Deo shot me a text that I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not, he asked if I wanted to be its new caretaker. He knew how much I loved this truck, for the hundreds of cruisers I have been around this one was my favorite by miles and miles. A few days later I took delivery of Ed the 45 and celebrated with mexican food and good stories. Can't thank Deo enough for giving me the chance to own my dream cruiser, Thanks again buddy! I hope you love my old Fj55 as much as I love this Fj45.
Today I spent some time putting in a new clutch master cylinder, but mostly I spent it removing the brown primer from the paint. I got about 30% of it removed from the truck and its going to take many more hours to remove the rest, but from what I have seen so far I think it looks great. It was really the only part that bugged me about the truck.
ClemsonCruiser
Supporting Vendor
Awesomeness! I remember Al from my earliest days on Mud glad to see you’re still around. Ed is in fine hands congrats to you and Deo both!
Plans for Ed?
Plans for Ed?
I never really left, my first vehicle I ever purchased was a Toyota Land Cruiser. It was my first taste of real freedom and adventure. It honestly shaped my entire life, oddly enough I work in the Aerospace Industry because of the love of Land Cruisers but thats a long story for another time. There has been only 1 year in my life I haven't driven a Toyota, it was a Mercedes G-Wagon (in short order I found out how poorly they were built).
But back to Ed...
Plans for Ed will be just to get some preventative maintenance done and enjoy driving it. There is a vibration/wobbly type thing that happens around 43-51 mph. That I have to track down but aside from that Ed seems like a solid truck.
Aside from that the only physical changes I want to make are
- Refinish the seats in factory coral color (currently a mixture of old rugs and a pillow)
- Reattach an oil filter ( that's the weirdest one for me, not sure why Ed removed it. He told Deo he just changed the oil a lot)
- Repair the hole cut in the dash for a CB Radio
- Finish removing the brown primer
That's all for now, Ill add some more pictures of progress and travels in a bit.
So excited to finally have an fj45!
~Al
I got a PM wondering how I removed the primer and I thought I would attach my response to the thread in case it helped some one else out on their journey.
"I took a really smooth/fine large rag and a small can of acetone. Wear gloves (you will go through many depending on the brand) because the acetone will eat through them.
The reason for the rag to be large is you get rag wet with acetone in a small area ( about 1x1 inch) rub only the primer'ed area. The primer will come off on the rag making that area not effective anymore, rotate the rag to clean area and repeat. Once you get down to factory paint don't rotate the rag since it won't be as effective at removing paint with all the fibers clogged with primer.
This process can take hours...
With any luck your 50+ year old paint will be harder to remove than what ever primer was sprayed. Hopefully the primer sprayed over the factory paint was like mine out of cheap can. If it was epoxy primer shot out of a spray gun you might not have as good of luck removing it."
"I took a really smooth/fine large rag and a small can of acetone. Wear gloves (you will go through many depending on the brand) because the acetone will eat through them.
The reason for the rag to be large is you get rag wet with acetone in a small area ( about 1x1 inch) rub only the primer'ed area. The primer will come off on the rag making that area not effective anymore, rotate the rag to clean area and repeat. Once you get down to factory paint don't rotate the rag since it won't be as effective at removing paint with all the fibers clogged with primer.
This process can take hours...
With any luck your 50+ year old paint will be harder to remove than what ever primer was sprayed. Hopefully the primer sprayed over the factory paint was like mine out of cheap can. If it was epoxy primer shot out of a spray gun you might not have as good of luck removing it."
middlecalf
SILVER Star
An old school practice on large oil sumped motors. And from this thread it looks like Ed was very old school. Congrats, and thanks for keeping it original!
Deo said he tracked some of the parts down for an oil filter and was nice enough to include them with the truck. Is anyone familiar with this set up or know where I could get some new oil lines for it, these appear to be suspect. Thanks in advance...
middlecalf
SILVER Star
SOR has SS lines with block fittings (banjos on filter side).
Thanks! on it...
Hours and hours of rubbing...Most of the primer is off of the cab now (only have the vent to do). Removing the primer from the bed has been proving to be far more difficult. Its been resprayed at one point and heavily pitted, not nearly as smooth as the cab. But I am getting there and I do like the result.
Going through all the old part boxes, looks like Ed opened just about everything up on this truck at one point. Evidence of the transmission, engine, diffs all being apart at one time.
Checked the surf this morning and filled the truck up with non-ethanol 
whitey45
SILVER Star
A little trick that might work on the primer. Oven off oven cleaner, yellow can. Try a small spot and let it sit a couple minutes, I use a pressure washer and spray it off. You can experiment with how long you leave it on. I have had great results, especially with the old 60’s paint, it is tough as nails.
jfz80
Cruisin’
Congrats to you both. An excellent steward chosen for Ed and awesome work so far Al. The truck is looking better and better each day.
Alright a little update, and a few questions...
As for the update I have about 80% of the rattle can primer removed.
A well loved interior...
As for the update I have about 80% of the rattle can primer removed.
A well loved interior...
As for the questions... Does anyone know what OEM door seals are still available for a 1965?
Im also taking a stab in the dark and say Im missing a heater valve? It feels like the heater core is constantly circulating hot coolant, it's hot enough in Florida with the heater off.
Im also taking a stab in the dark and say Im missing a heater valve? It feels like the heater core is constantly circulating hot coolant, it's hot enough in Florida with the heater off.
OEM Front Door Weatherstrips for '63 to '72 Land Cruiser FJ40
Genuine OEM front door weatherstrips for '63 to 6/'72 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40. Note: It's known that these OEM weatherstrips will make the doors protrude out a bit and harder to close. Things will eventually settle with time. You may want to consider going to the '73-'74 version we reproduced...
www.cityracerllc.com
Old heater valves were on the head, look like a petcock upside down
