Ok so a little about my background.. I grew up in South Africa and my family are mostly all from South Africa except for my mother who is from the USA.
My family has always been outdoorsy and when I was a kid I went to a outdoors boarding school down in Natal called Treverton.
My family has owned Toyota's for ever and we have owned 5 Land cruisers in South Africa.
I Started racing Mountain Bikes in 2000 in the Downhill scene and have been racing ever since..
I bought my first FJ40 end of 2008 and it looked ok.. not ideal but the guy had bought many new parts for it and he had a ton of manuals.
I knew it would probably take about 4-5 years but so far it has been going pretty smoothly with the resto..
I want a vehicle that is a weekend vehicle for trips and for everyday use to.
Most of it is going to be stock with a 2.5" lift 31" tires.
I bought a great parts FJ62 with a good motor with only 92K Miles on it for $1000.
My Fj40 didnt come with a motor as the original F motor had seized and the guy had sold it for scrap I think.. He was about to put in a 305V8 in it before I bought it off of him.
Sold the V8 motor...
I have since had the axles completely striped and painted and have replaced every seal in them... then I ended up taking them back apart to put in a Disc conversion!... now they are done.. I also went back and forth with the color scheme I wanted to go with.. I think I thought about this for almost a year.
Anyways here are some pics to get started.
The day I brought it back home.. I know a lot of you will say I could have found a better deal but I have looked long and hard.. $2000 and it was local.. with a ton of new parts and soft tops.. lots of parts I could sell so with everything sold it ended up being about $1400.
Tear down had started and of course the first thing you start saying to yourself is... What have I got myself into!.. I found that you just need to take on 1 thing at a time!.. just keep going.
I have been doing this frame off by myself which is how I like it.. and I have been doing it mostly by hand..
One thing I have found with doing first time restos is you will spend more money on the right tools than anything else! thank goodness I have a Harbor Freight tools just down the road. They are easy to work with and so far just about all the tools I have bought from them work great... just don't get their air filters for compressors.. absolutely terrible. if you have any questions on tools I can probably answer them for you..
Axles are washed and are wire wheeled...
I know now that the best way is get a little sand blasting pot!!
Freshly painted!
Disc conversion from my Parts car..!
I bought these wheels local and they work nicely but because I have been going back and forth on the color scheme I have decided on the Blue with the White Wagon wheels! its just a more playful look in my opinion.. even though a darker color with black wheels would still look amazing!.. it was a tough decision for sure..
Pic of the FJ62 parts car.. it was beyond repair with to much rust underneath..
This is a great buy and was still drivable and with the parts I don't need I have sold just about enough to cover the cost of buying it..
I find this is a must for First time restorers who are on a tight budget.!!
Quick picture of some of my bikes.. Trail, Dirt Jump, Road and DH..
I have fitted out my garage quite nicely with a smaller bike corner with bench.
Next to it is a Wood stove which is amazing! it can be 10 degrees outside and with that fire going in the stove it will be a hot 80 degrees easy inside.. nice for those horrible Winter days.
little Sand Blasting pot from Harbor Freight Tools works well!! only thing I would say is the instruction on how to put it together are a bit confusing... also I would go buy a dead mans valve for it... I think that is what they call them..
Painted the seats.. and some of the interior parts to..
3FE motor out of the 62.. wasn't to bad to pull out..! lots of cleaning to do though.. I will tear into that maybe this Summer..
Another quick pic of the finished axles.. with the black wheels.. they look so good!! but I'm still going with the White wagon wheels..
Just some quick biking pictures from 2008..
Should get a bit more done this year hopefully.. I have the race season starting back up very soon and I don't get very much time to work on the 40.. although I make money to work on the FJ40 so racing is important for my Cruiser!
My family has always been outdoorsy and when I was a kid I went to a outdoors boarding school down in Natal called Treverton.
My family has owned Toyota's for ever and we have owned 5 Land cruisers in South Africa.
I Started racing Mountain Bikes in 2000 in the Downhill scene and have been racing ever since..
I bought my first FJ40 end of 2008 and it looked ok.. not ideal but the guy had bought many new parts for it and he had a ton of manuals.
I knew it would probably take about 4-5 years but so far it has been going pretty smoothly with the resto..
I want a vehicle that is a weekend vehicle for trips and for everyday use to.
Most of it is going to be stock with a 2.5" lift 31" tires.
I bought a great parts FJ62 with a good motor with only 92K Miles on it for $1000.
My Fj40 didnt come with a motor as the original F motor had seized and the guy had sold it for scrap I think.. He was about to put in a 305V8 in it before I bought it off of him.
Sold the V8 motor...
I have since had the axles completely striped and painted and have replaced every seal in them... then I ended up taking them back apart to put in a Disc conversion!... now they are done.. I also went back and forth with the color scheme I wanted to go with.. I think I thought about this for almost a year.
Anyways here are some pics to get started.
The day I brought it back home.. I know a lot of you will say I could have found a better deal but I have looked long and hard.. $2000 and it was local.. with a ton of new parts and soft tops.. lots of parts I could sell so with everything sold it ended up being about $1400.
Tear down had started and of course the first thing you start saying to yourself is... What have I got myself into!.. I found that you just need to take on 1 thing at a time!.. just keep going.
I have been doing this frame off by myself which is how I like it.. and I have been doing it mostly by hand..
One thing I have found with doing first time restos is you will spend more money on the right tools than anything else! thank goodness I have a Harbor Freight tools just down the road. They are easy to work with and so far just about all the tools I have bought from them work great... just don't get their air filters for compressors.. absolutely terrible. if you have any questions on tools I can probably answer them for you..
Axles are washed and are wire wheeled...
I know now that the best way is get a little sand blasting pot!!
Freshly painted!
Disc conversion from my Parts car..!
I bought these wheels local and they work nicely but because I have been going back and forth on the color scheme I have decided on the Blue with the White Wagon wheels! its just a more playful look in my opinion.. even though a darker color with black wheels would still look amazing!.. it was a tough decision for sure..
Pic of the FJ62 parts car.. it was beyond repair with to much rust underneath..
This is a great buy and was still drivable and with the parts I don't need I have sold just about enough to cover the cost of buying it..
I find this is a must for First time restorers who are on a tight budget.!!
Quick picture of some of my bikes.. Trail, Dirt Jump, Road and DH..
I have fitted out my garage quite nicely with a smaller bike corner with bench.
Next to it is a Wood stove which is amazing! it can be 10 degrees outside and with that fire going in the stove it will be a hot 80 degrees easy inside.. nice for those horrible Winter days.
little Sand Blasting pot from Harbor Freight Tools works well!! only thing I would say is the instruction on how to put it together are a bit confusing... also I would go buy a dead mans valve for it... I think that is what they call them..
Painted the seats.. and some of the interior parts to..
3FE motor out of the 62.. wasn't to bad to pull out..! lots of cleaning to do though.. I will tear into that maybe this Summer..
Another quick pic of the finished axles.. with the black wheels.. they look so good!! but I'm still going with the White wagon wheels..
Just some quick biking pictures from 2008..
Should get a bit more done this year hopefully.. I have the race season starting back up very soon and I don't get very much time to work on the 40.. although I make money to work on the FJ40 so racing is important for my Cruiser!