Build Eureka - a 1974 Factory Soft Top FJ40 preservation

[pb4ugo]

Looks like your diving in with both feet. You should square up the tub and opening and brace it up b4 you start tacking in the replacement parts. A Sawzall and cutting wheels should be sufficient. I find a torch leaves a ruff edge.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Watching this. I’d like to see where the soft top bow project goes. I’ve been thinking of doing the same.

Thoroughly power washed her today, so it might be a good day to work on the bows while everything dries out.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Looks you diving in with both feet. You should square up the tub and opening and brace it up b4 you start tacking in the replacement parts. A Sawzall and cutting wheels should be sufficient. I find a torch leaves a ruff edge.

Yeah planning to. I also have to patch the corner channels so there will be some bracing going in.

A torch would have been handy for liquifying the body mount bolts...rather than chunking the sill out to get a cutting wheel on them

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Not really any progress on the soft top bows today, but here's some of what I'm working with.

Cut down hardtop sides, and CJ3A bows I will modify, I also have more thin 1" tube with the proper radius bends in the form of the bestop bows currently holding the remains of the top protecting Eureka from the weather, I'll be able to use it to make the middle bow. Have some other random 1" tube around as well if I need more, but should not.

Will still need to pick up some 5/8ths square tube to make the c-channels

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

After drying off from the power washing today I did take some time to roll some Rust Converter on the frame and wheel wells.


Huge difference

Before:

After

This is the brush on version of the product (Tannic acid that converts Iron Oxide to Iron Tannate). Really big fan of this stuff. I have a few aerosol cans of it coming to get the harder to reach spots.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Pulled the 45 up for moral support while we work to get her running.

 

[bikersmurf]

Cool project. Seems 1/2 decent as a starting point.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Pulled off the water pump, thermostat housing and flushed some water through the system in preparation for new cooling components.

Also, did the ol' coat hanger roto-rooter to the block drain. It was actually easier to get flowing than the 45 was when I went through this with it.

Saw a lot of rusty crud come out, once the system is hooked back up and I have the engine running I'll do a more thorough evaporust treatment, but just the fact that the block drain wasn't too bad to get flowing I think at least bodes well for this particular aspect of the engine.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Drilled the holes for mounts and access on the new rear sill, then did a test fit.

I found these 1.5x3 rubber plugs to cover the access holes after Installation. Should keep the crap out.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Needed to get some marks on the sill to drill for the tire carrier mounting location. At the advice of @pb4ugo, took some time to square up the tub with the sill and reinforce it. Found that the drivers side was perfectly square,

but the passenger side was almost 1/4" out of square, probably from years of the spare tire + carrier pulling down on it with no sill structure to support it.

Used my hilift jack on the bottom hinge of the tire carrier to bring it to where I wanted it.

Then, in a moment of my finest hillbilly engineering, I grabbed a scrap of plywood out of the wood pile, drilled some holes and used existing holes in the top rail to secure it in place.

Nice and square now.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

More work on the soft top bows today.

Can't remember if I mentioned it or not but I'm using this thread for measurements:

DIY OEM soft top bows

The angles locate the outside of the bow tube at the outside edge of the middle of the radius of the bend at the back of the tub. I don't have any installed images.

forum.ih8mud.com

I'm designing this with some adjustability in mind just in case my measurements don't quite match up with whatever soft top I get. So this b- pillar can actually move up and down a bit if necessary and is held in place with a set screw.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Also started cutting some stuff up for the rear bow that has the odd angled feet. I actually found some more tubing in the form of an old jeep hardtop stand I don't use, and it had some angled pieces with 1" I.D. so the bows can slide into them. Again, designing with adjustability in mind....

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

I forsee an immense number of tack welds in my future.

 

[craptabulous]

Also the first of probably many hillbilly-ish fixes to get this thing back on the road. Gas tank was actually in pretty good shape, but did have a few areas of pinholes, decided to try out JB tank weld with some fiberglass cloth, and will probably do an additional layer of fiberglass cloth with West Marine epoxy resin once this cures. Should hold at least for a while, I'll probably be feeding it ethanol free gas just to be on the safe side though.

If you want to use ethanol fuel just buy caswell epoxy . It is 100% ethanol proof , expensive but the most chemical resistant epoxy you will find .

I torch soldered my tank 10 years ago , still no leaks .

 

[Living in the Past]

Thought the rear bow came with the cruiser?

 

[bikersmurf]

For pin leaks I'd highly recommend "Seal All'. After using it, I've not had any further problems with pin leaks for more than 25 years... unfortunately sealing one pin leak on the side didn't prevent the bottom of the 40 year old tank from turning to confetti. It eventually reached a point where there were too many holes to fix... and fixing one was only a temporary measure till is sprung another leak.

Seal All is the only product I've used that will fix a pinhole while gas is actively dripping out of the hole. The first application stops the leak in about 30 seconds and then it's recommended to use a couple more coats for a permanent fix.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Thought the rear bow came with the cruiser?
View attachment 3680396

No, that was me test fitting the CJ bow

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

If you want to use ethanol fuel just buy caswell epoxy . It is 100% ethanol proof , expensive but the most chemical resistant epoxy you will find .

I torch soldered my tank 10 years ago , still no leaks .

I figure my current fix will be good enough to get the thing up and running for a while. I don't anticipate limping this tank along forever though. I'll just replace it when the need arises.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

More work on the rear bow today. Tacked together my angled pieces for the feet,

when I had them where I wanted them, burned them in.

Happy with the results. Now I just need to make the cross bars and middle bow.

 

[DailyDrive_FJ45]

Got my alternator in today as well, upgrading to an internally regulated CS130 (1990 Dodge Monaco). Originally came with serpentine pulley, but the v-belt pulley from the stock alt swapped right on. Lines up perfectly with a few washers to shim.

And yes. I know I'll have to bypass the stock ammeter on the cluster. Already been. Down this road with the 45. (I have a voltmeter in its place)