FINALLY - '67 FJ45 LPB Resoration Begins (1 Viewer)

[Kotekaman]

One more question and that's it, I swear

What's the material you picked for the seats and do you like it?

OK, two more.

I'm glad you got all the kinks worked out.

No worries, I like questions, kind of gives the thread a purpose!

The seats are leather. I wanted leather for longevity, as I previously had fabric Corbeau seats on a j**p. They were nice and comfortable, but you could definitely see them wear over time. The downside of the leather seats, is when it's warm out, you stick to them sometimes. Even then, after having owned both, I do prefer the leather seats for the FJ45.

 

[Kotekaman]

Finally, some seat time off the pavement

I haven't had a weekend lately where I could take her off the pavement, so I finally made some time last weekend.

The and I took her on a long loop (6 hours), starting in American Fork Canyon (UT) to Midway to Guardsman Pass back to Salt Lake. The majority of the road traveled was dirt/gravel/rocks, everything from double wide to barely single-wide trail. Did a lot of climbing, from 4,500' up to about 9,000' and back down and up a few times. She rode very well, and the overheating issue is definitely fixed. Had her in low range most of the trip, keeping anywhere from 2000 to 3000 rpm, and the temperature held at 195, the only time it crept above that was when I stopped and was idling, at that point, the highest temp I got was 205. This was on a very hot day (in the 90's to 100's F), with some sustained (45min plus) periods of climbing. Not only that, but she rode like a champ.

A few minor issues, the suspension loosened up a bit, and started to clunk on the upstroke of the suspension. I'll put her up on jackstands and figure out what's loose and tighten things up. Still less than 2,000 miles on her, so some more break-in happening.

The GPS speedo antenna reciever came loose, so a lot of the day was spent not knowing exactly how fast I was going...but most of the time, it didn't matter. Low range 2nd gear is pretty slow. Now I have zip ties in my tool bag for the next time...

A few action shots on the Mineral Basin Trail (complete with flowers and butterflies for the )

 

[Slowerthanu]

I met the owner of this rig today, what a beautiful vehicle, perfectly executed and owned by great people.

 

[Kotekaman]

I met the owner of this rig today, what a beautiful vehicle, perfectly executed and owned by great people.

Thanks Man! Good to meet you and your better half as well.

 

[Kotekaman]

Busy Summer

It's good to be back! I have had an extremely busy summer, and by busy, I mean working, not riding around in the cruiser. I was signed up for the Relic Run, as well as the Cruiserfest Expedition from Moab to Tooele, and everything fell through because of work. I have not gotten much seat time in the 45 in the past few months, which was not the plan. I can't complain too much, however, because without the job, there would be no cruiser...

I spent most of the past few months in the Idaho's Silver Valley for work (on a shaft sinking project if anyone cares to know). Very pretty country. While I was up there, the drove the 45 all the way from SLC to northern Idaho by herself (that's 9 hours one way) to meet me. We had big plans to go camping in the Silver Valley and pick huckleberries and get some good wheeling in. As it turned out, we didn't get a chance to camp, but we did get some good wheeling in, and picked a lot of huckleberries. For those of you who aren't familiar with Northern Idaho, it's a great place to take your cruiser. Lots of logging roads to get around, and great scenery. The 45 was loaded down with camping gear, coolers, tents etc..., and did great. The goal of the build was to make the cruiser where it could go long distances over the highway to get to a destination, carry a lot of gear, and then be capable of going on unimproved roads to get to places most vehicles can't. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Anyhow, the freezer is full of huckleberries (will be making huckleberry beer and huckleberry mead this winter), and we had some good wheeling and scenery:









After a great weekend, I stayed and worked...and the made the solo 9hr return trip to SLC. I think at this point, she has more seat time than I do in the 45!

Work has quieted down a bit in the past few weeks, so I've been home and able to do a bit of driving. A few maintenance issues have cropped up, but all have been handled. In one of my previous posts, I mentioned the speedo went out. I thought it was a loose connection...nope, the speedo GPS antenna wire actually melted, was routed a bit close to the exhaust. In fact, a lot of the conduit for the wiring on the drivers (exhaust) side of the engine has melted. Not a good thing. I replaced and re-routed the antenna wire, works good now. The guys at Proffitt's are helping me identify some heat-resistant conduit to protect all of the wiring in the engine compartment. Better safe than sorry!

Even though I didn't make it to the Cruiserfest expedition, I did make it to the weekend of Cruiserfest. Got to hang out with some cool cruiserheads, see some great cruisers, and learn a lot. I would recommend to anyone interested in land cruisers makes it to this event, Greg Miller (and many volunteers, including Micah Platt, Kurt Williams and many others) put on a great event, and I haven't met many people as passionate about Land Cruisers as Greg.

Work is starting to get a bit more normal for now, and hopefully we'll be able to make a trip into southern Utah...something that I've planned to do since April. Stay tuned...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Great to finally get to meet you in person!

Shaft sinking eh? What line of work are you in?

 

[Kotekaman]

Great to finally get to meet you in person!

Shaft sinking eh? What line of work are you in?

Good to meet you as well Kurt! Can't wait to swing by your shop sometime.

I'm a dirty underground mining contractor...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Good to meet you as well Kurt! Can't wait to swing by your shop sometime.

Sounds great!

I'm a dirty underground mining contractor...

Would love to chat mines too, I like exploring them

 

[Timbo FJ45]

Great shots. Man that thing looks great.

 

[monke south]

Ahh, Idaho. That's my neck of the woods. I've spent many weekends and weeks traveling the old logging roads of Idaho, hunting, fishing, and camping. It is very different than the jungles of Papua New Guinea but both are beautiful in their own right. Your pictures brought back many fond memories. Sometimes Idaho feels like another planet away. Great looking cruiser!

Chad Wells

 

[BeratE]

Wow, I have been drooling over 45s for years, but this one takes the cake! Beautiful build, and awesome to see you using as it should be. Thanks for posting

 

[scrapdaddy]

Very nice pictures. I'm glad the 45 is everything you thought it would be. I hope my 55 turns as nice. Keep posting your travels and hope to cross paths on the backroads.

 

[Kotekaman]

The snow's getting too thin to snowmobile on...but there's enough to keep non-tracked vehicles off the trails. The FJ 45 was tired of hiding in the corner of the garage all winter, so we decided to head south to the San Rafael Swell and do some camping and wheeling. For anyone that hasn't heard of the San Rafael Swell...it is west of Moab about 1-2 hours. Absolutely beautiful country, lots of great trails, great places to camp.

The 45 was loaded up with a dog, kennel, tent and a weeks worth of supplies.

Was able to set up camp in areas that minivans or SUV's couldn't reach.

The tailgate worked great for the kitchen. Very happy with the spray on bedliner.

 

[Kotekaman]

We got a good amount of wheeling in. Most of the trails were pretty straightforward, however we did have a bit of trouble on the trail coming south over to the Head of Sinbad. Lots of boulders and loose on a steep incline posed a challenge that we couldn't get through. I even tried out my fancy Max Traxx...to no avail. Without any solid anchor to winch to, we ended up having to back down and retrace about 15 miles of trail.

The front end was making a good bit of noise on the rougher sections of trail, I did a lot of searching for loose bolts, signs of metal on metal contact. I couldn't find anything. I ended up making a quick trip to Safari LTD and caught up with Hugh Phillips. He was kind enough to put her up on a lift and check out the undercarriage. He found a few minor issues, but nothing catastrophic. Hugh educated me on the basics of airing down the tires and enjoying more traction and a better ride. When we got back off pavement, we aired down to 23psi, and a whole new world was opened up (I'm thinking we wouldn't have gotten stuck earlier had I figured this out earlier. I was real happy to meet Hugh and see the shop. I have a feeling that any major work that comes up with the 45 will be done at Safari.

While we were camping near Swayze's Cabin, we ran across some of the guys from Book Cliff Cruisers out on a trail run. They were kind enough to invite us along with them, and we were more than happy to hit some trails that we haven't seen before, and even happier to have some company.



The obligatory group photo at the beginning of the day.

We covered a lot of beautiful country, went to a few of the paid out uranium mines.

We ended the run heading up (towards the east) Eagle Canyon. I was pretty happy how the 45 handled the rock obstacles on the trail. Not a bit of paint scratched on the undercarriage!

The cooked jambalaya for the group in the dutch oven, I think I ate better in the camp that most do at home. The 45 is very conducive to good camp cooking.

After 6 days on the Swell, we were ready for some sleep in a real bed.

This was definitely the most serious trip the 45 has been on. We didn't search out any specifically difficult trails, but we sure ended up in some areas that tested her. Had the axles locked up a few times, had the suspension tweaked pretty good at times. I am very impressed how the Proffitts guys set up the suspension, it has a LOT of travel for an SUA. I'm very happy with her abilities on the trail.


She'll take a few days to clean up and get pretty again, but I'm looking forward to getting some more red Utah dust on her again.

See you on the trail.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Glad you're getting to use it. The 45 looks so good out in the elements, dirt and all!

 

[ClemsonCruiser]

Great write up and pics, truck looks beautiful

 

[FJ40Jim]

The 45 was loaded up with a dog, kennel, tent and a weeks worth of supplies.View attachment 885368

Great looking 45.
Where/how do 2 adults and a dog fit in a FJ45LP?

 

[Kotekaman]

Great looking 45.
Where/how do 2 adults and a dog fit in a FJ45LP?

The 2 adults rode in the cab - as well as adults can fit in a 45 (I actually get used to the straight back seat and steering wheel in my chest after a while), the dog had to ride in the back. We had a collapsible kennel she rode in when we were on the highway (it takes up almost half of the bed space, so the bed was loaded to the gills when moving all the camping gear+kennel), when we were on the trails, the kennel was collapsed and she had free range in the bed. It actually worked out pretty good.

 

[DomSmith]

Nice build. Makes me want to tear mine into a million pieces. Which brake booster/master is that? Looks like they just cut the firewall brace and angled it over and reattached?

Thanks.

 

[Kotekaman]

Nice build. Makes me want to tear mine into a million pieces. Which brake booster/master is that? Looks like they just cut the firewall brace and angled it over and reattached?

Thanks.

The booster/master is from an FJ 60, part number 47201-60340. You are absolutely correct, they modified the firewall brace by cutting the top away from the firewall, bent it outboard and re-welded to make room for the clutch and brake cylinders. It worked out well, almost looks like the brace was supposed to be like that.