Copper and Rust (72 FJ40) (2 Viewers)

[BeerFit]

I got my 72 FJ40 a little over a year ago.
I think that one of the previous owners built this rig for offroad use only. Some of the modifications are awesome and show serious know how while others seem a little slapped together. My vision was to drive this FJ40 on the road way more than I drive it offroad. I spent the next year trouble shooting a short in the electrical, getting the wipers to work, getting the gas guage to work, and getting the parking brake to work. All things I needed to pass the Texas state inspection.

The electrical short was a shorted out alternator. one or more of the diode banks must have gone bad. That threw me for a loop and I couldn't find the drain with all of the fuses pulled....

The windshield wipers - I stalked heavily on this forum. It looks like someone had wired power to the switch. Several high speed wiper runs and several blown fuses later, I realized that the switch was a grounding circuit.

I installed a floor hand brake lever in the tans tunnel and rebuilt the transfer case mounted parking brake. I installed a double seal from valley hybrids in the transfer case while I was in there.

I passed the state inspection and enjoyed driving my FJ40 around. Now I am more informed about what I would like to do.

- Remove the 3" body lift
- Maybe swap for a 5VZ motor (it currently has a TBI 327 with a TH400 transmission mated to an Orion Transfer case build by Valley Hybrids.
- Lots of Body work
- Paint

I will take this slow, I think I will start with the body lift, then the body work (will likely stay primer gray for a while). I will likely put it all back together after that and drive a little longer before I do a total frame off restoration.

Now, I am starting on the removal of the 3" body lift. The lift was done pretty well which meens that it will be a real pain to remove. All of the blocks are welded into the frame.

 

[3_puppies]

someone spent a bit of time and energy doing that body lift
unfortunetly it won't be easy to undo it.

 

[macdaddy59]

i see a plasma cutter in your near future.

 

[BeerFit]

someone spent a bit of time and energy doing that body lift
unfortunetly it won't be easy to undo it.

You can say that again. Lots of time went into doing the body lift.

 

[BeerFit]

i see a plasma cutter in your near future.

I wish! I’m behind on my procurement of cool tools. It’ll be hacksaw blades and cutting disks for me.

 

[cruisermatt]

for what you want it would be 100% worthwhile to start with a different 40 that is more original. There are plenty of good ones out there to choose from.

Alternatively, if you do want a massive project, maybe get an original chassis and swap under. Classic Cruisers has them stacked like cordwood and would only be a weekend trip from Texas. Then you could bolt on a regular lift kit to undo the shackle reversal and whatever else. I think that would be really worthwhile as well if you are really attached to this 40

 

[BeerFit]

I knew that wasa coming! I totally agree that the smart thing would be to start from a more orginal cruiser. I think I'm going to give this one a go. At this point, I know what I don't like about it (it's alot) and I can take my time messing around with it. I don't think it will ever be a SEMA FJ40 but it will be somthing I can work and learn on. I'm not into it for a ton of money and anything more original is more expensive than what I paid for it (from what I've seen anyway). I consider it a hobby so I'm not charging myself for my time. So.... Maybe not the smart option, but I'm going to stick with it.

 

[BeerFit]

Got the Cage out (that was a lot heavier than I was expecting), the steering column out, and the exhaust off.

I had a pretty narly exhaust leak so I am also taking the oppurtunity to pull the headers and swap gaskets while everything is out of the way. Next will be the trans tunnel because there may be modifications needed when I drop the body 3". I'm running into lot's of hard sealer where I would expect metal. When I go back, I will weld up all of the sheet metal.

 

[pb4ugo]

Fiberglass covering rust holes?

 

[BeerFit]

Fiberglass covering rust holes?

No. I don’t think so. It’s a rubber material. Seams like seam sealer used liberally. No worries, I’m gonna scape it off and go from there.

 

[Clutchee]

Hope this cruiser brings you joy…… lots of memories with my dad working on it and riding around Moab with him.

Carry on.

 

[BeerFit]

Hope this cruiser brings you joy…… lots of memories with my dad working on it and riding around Moab with him.

Carry on.

Absolutely. I’m cleaning it up for my daughter to drive until she goes away to school. I’m hoping to make lots of memories with it myself.

 

[BeerFit]

It's been a while since I posted an update. Work and Family.
I was able to get the roll cage frame tie-ins, body lift, and rock sliders cut out. I lowered it to the new body height to see if there was any interference. I had to make some adjustments for the transfer case linkage. It doesn't look like I will need any modifications to the trans tunnel (except for patchers some lap patches and ensuring the parking brake functions (the body is much closer to the hand brake lever and it is very tight now).

Next steps -
I will hit all of the ground spots with a finer grit and POR15 the frame and hit the rest with epoxy primer.
I ordered a new rear sill and both rear quarters from Real Steel Cruiser Parts. while I was under the rig I pulled away alot of mud that was hiding a rotten floor board between the innner and outer rocker on the drivers side. I'll have to get in there to fix. The rest of the flooe is in great shap so I hope I don't need to replace the whole thing.

I have a feeling that the hood will not clear the radiator now. I will test fit that next and I may be trying to lower the radiator.

Here are some pics of the items cut off and of the FJ40 with the new stance sitting on the new bofy mounts (ordered from Marlin Crawler)

 

[Rocky_LC]

.

 

[BeerFit]

It's has been a while since I updated. It turned out that the trans tunnel needed some modification due to some interference from the Orion TC shift linkage. While I was at it, I removed the lap patches. I decided to keep the "split" design because with the roll cage in (the seats mount to the roll cage), it would be nearly impossible to remove the trans tunnel for access. I added a flange to the lip and will add a little bit of weather stripping to. It should seal up nicely.

Overall, for my first time doing sheet metal work I think it came out pretty good. At this point you can safely call me a grinder and not a welder.

I got my quarter panels and rear sill in from Real Steal Cruiser Parts. I have started to remove the passenger quarter panel. I am going very slowly and consider this my therapy (it makes me feel better about my snales pace when I call it that).

Here are some pics

 

[cruisermatt]

with everything you are doing it would be super worthwhile to flip the rear springs which will move the rear axle back about 4.5". They drive straighter and ride a lot better. additionally the rear driveshaft will be a lot happier with the long automatic trans. The sheetmetal work will be pretty easy especially in comparison to everything else you are doing, just cut the rear arch and move it back about 6"

 

[BeerFit]

I have been seriously considering flipping the rear leafs. When I looked at it and did some research, I didn’t see that anyone made any special considerations for the shock mount locations. Are there any shock mount changes required when flipping the rear leafs?

 

[bsilva132]

I have been seriously considering flipping the rear leafs. When I looked at it and did some research, I didn’t see that anyone made any special considerations for the shock mount locations. Are there any shock mount changes required when flipping the rear leafs?

just add new top mounts to the back side of the tube (instead of the front) where they mount. That's all I did when I flipped my springs and it has been working fine for years.

 

[CruisinGA]

I did the same as @bsilva132 with rear shock mounts. Later I replaced the crossmember and added sleeves to it for shock mounts.
I also flipped front springs forward.

 

[cruisermatt]

x3 weld some simple shock mounts on the back side of the crossmember. Lines up well.