Rusto
SILVER Star
Well, I did it. I bought a 40 series LandCruiser to go with my FJ60. It's a 1975 BJ40 originally from Costa Rica. This will be the official build thread, as it needs a lot.
TONS of good things about it for sure. I'm already learning things and broken promises I made to myself, so I feel like I'm off to a perfect start.
Lessons I've learned (this will be updated regularly)
1. Don't do your first and only in person inspection at 8:45pm after a 900 mile drive.
2. Be willing to walk away, even if you drove 900 miles and had agreed on price. Had I done that, I could have saved some money.
3. Stay true to not getting a 40 if it's been repainted, as repaints hide a lot. "don't buy the paint"
4. Don't go over your budget, no matter what.
5. Be willing to throw all your rules out the door if it's the make and model you want and right there in front of you for the taking..
The good:
The plan:
Anyway, not a terribly long list, and I can drive it around during most of the work.
And now... what you've all been waiting on. PICS!
TONS of good things about it for sure. I'm already learning things and broken promises I made to myself, so I feel like I'm off to a perfect start.
Lessons I've learned (this will be updated regularly)
1. Don't do your first and only in person inspection at 8:45pm after a 900 mile drive.
2. Be willing to walk away, even if you drove 900 miles and had agreed on price. Had I done that, I could have saved some money.
3. Stay true to not getting a 40 if it's been repainted, as repaints hide a lot. "don't buy the paint"
4. Don't go over your budget, no matter what.
5. Be willing to throw all your rules out the door if it's the make and model you want and right there in front of you for the taking..
The good:
- Diesel. Always wanted one, now I have one. Runs good.
- New full OME lift with 5 BFG KO2's
- Drives straight and true with no slop.
- Original interior including headliner
- Incredibly clean, untouched frame and underside. Crazy how clean it is. supposedly garage kept in Heredia, Costa Rica while it was down there.
- Floor plans, tub, etc is very good shape (I think)
- Classic LatAm respray, even on wires and hoses in places, which probably means classic poorly done filler in places.
- The top has horrific rust. It looks like the seams in between the roof (steel in LatAm models, I believe) were bad, water got in there and it just sat. And sat, and sat.
- Pulls hard left when braking.
- Rear sill repair starting to bubble.
- Some bondo present on doglegs underneath paint
- one rear seat frame busted
- Door stopper on passenger door compromised.
- Emergency brake inoperable.
- Glow plug light doesn't work (PO says glowplugs work, just not the light, we'll see) It does start easy.
- Temp gauge in operable
- Lighting has some bugaboos. Intermittent tail lights, one headlight out, one front blinker is always on in white, one in yellow, etc..
The plan:
Get the title transferred and add Collector Plates.- Done. Collector plates definitely the way to go. $96.00, but registration is good for FIVE YEARS!Order / Download FSMs. Done.- Give it a good cleaning! - Stripped some of the cheap paint off from under the hood while cleaning, but it's coming off anyway at some point.
- Baseline all "systems"
- Address the hard left braking (leaky wheel cylinder is my hypothesis at the moment) - it actually evened up with a little driving. Probably just needs a good flush.
- Basic tune on the motor. I know nothing about diesels other than they use compression and no spark, get good mileage and can run on biofuel. I think the idle needs to come up a bit
Get lighting sorted out- It was mostly just 12v bulbs and a 12v switch used instead of 24v. Easiest electrical fix to date.Get emergency brake operable.Looks to just be missing the cable. We'll see. Pretty easy rebuild. Wasn't the cable, but a part within the brake that had broken. Just rebuilt it, painted it up nice, and put it back in. I now have a functional e-brake!- Fix passenger side door stopper.
- Start uncovering rust on rear sill and elsewhere to stop the spread now and correctly.
- Source and install OEM heater (most from FJ, I assume, with blower motor from 24 volt BJ) - Has assembled most of the parts, but putting this on hold while I baseline everything else.
Fix/replace rear seat frame- This was welded for the repair. Looking good.- Address other small body imperfections
- remove all signs of over spray on wiring, hoses, etc (constant work in progress)
- remove and repair top. Needs all new gutters and thorough, proper rust repair.
- and in the immortal word of Johnny Cash, "drive, drive, drive, drive, drive"
Anyway, not a terribly long list, and I can drive it around during most of the work.
And now... what you've all been waiting on. PICS!
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