Builds Mission Creep - 1973 FJ40 Called Tru Blue (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 19, 2020
Threads
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60
Location
RI
The story of Tru Blue starts in late August 2020. My buddy and I, both of us retired, were looking for a project to tackle during the pandemic. What we found was a 1973 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser listed for sale in a neighboring town. While neither of us had any experience with working on FJ’s, we are both car enthusiasts and went to have a look. What we found was pretty rough looking. We learned from the seller that it had been sitting for several years and that it would start with a jump, but it possibly needed a clutch because it wouldn’t move. We got it started and had a mechanic friend check it out. He thought the motor ran surprisingly well, but the car itself needed “a lot of work”. We had no idea what a “lot of work” would really entail but we were surely about to find out. We made an offer and on September 1, 2020. We had Tru Blue towed to my shed, and the retiree project that turned into “Mission Creep” began.

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Looks like a fun project, believe it or not people start out with waaaay worse on here.
Poor ashtray:confused:
 
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We thought we would get it running real well, clean it up some, sell it on. The more we learned about the rig and the market, the more we learned we had a lot to learn about both.

We cleaned out all the junk inside and power washed it outside and in the engine bay. First issue we getting it to move. Problem was no fluid in the clutch master cylinder. Filled that up and bled it and she moved. Score! Didn't need a clutch. Next it needed a voltage regulator. Go that on and took it for a test drive. Had never driven one before. Wow! Very different from my Subaru Outback!
More pics to come.
 
Previous owner had put in a new battery and tires. After a charge the battery was good. the tires still had nubs on them so that was good. After power washing, we sent it to my mechanic where he did the following:
  • Oil and filter change
  • change all fluids in the diffs, transfer case and transmission
  • replace all brake lines and brake hoses, replaced all fluids
  • replaced rear brake pads and wheel cylinders and turn the drums
  • inspected front disc brakes. all good
  • replace clutch line and replace fluid and bled
  • Adjusted the valves, and timing
  • Adjusted the carburetor
It ran really well after all of that. It still didn't look great.
More to come......
 
Gold mine exotic Downey Header, get it blasted and coated, then savor having it. Not a big fan of Weber carbs though, sending you a private message here on Mud.
 
Gold mine exotic Downey Header, get it blasted and coated, then savor having it. Not a big fan of Weber carbs though, sending you a private message here on Mud.
Thanks for letting me know. I had no idea.
L
 
We have found out some things about this truck I want to share. Feel free to comment.
  • Looked up the engine and it's from a 1978
  • It has front disc brakes
  • Has 4:11 gear ratio
  • it has a later model hardtop side panels with the pop out windows
  • It has an EZ Locker in the rear diff
  • Weber 38MM carb
  • The original color looks like Capri Blue
The next step is to do a detailed inspection of the body and chassis

Lee
 
So, the original idea was to buy the truck, fix it up to be a reliable vehicle, and sell it and make a few bucks. Well, when we took a real good look at the FJ, we found that the rust was really bad on the tub. We started deconstruction to see how bad it was. This is what we started with:

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We decided to deconstruct the body and see what we could find out after media blasting. We never thought we would get in this deep. Everywhere we looked it got worse.
 
“We never thought we’d get in this deep,everywhere we looked it got worse”

It will get better. It will test you fortitude, patience and financial creativity.

Welcome to 40 ownership !!
 
and then the next thing you type will be “while we were in there…”

Welcome to the journey brothers.
 

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