Builds FJ40 in a barn (1 Viewer)

[David70FJ40]

Recently I replaced the old, tired dizzy for a new off-shore version from JTO. I worked with an ignition shop to transfer the electronic pick up fro the old dizzy to the new and ran a vacuum line from the dizzy to the Weber carb. HUGE difference! Starts easier, idles smoother, has a bit more pep and when I pulled the plugs they looked better, not moist looking and the smell of gas that wasn't burned is gone. I am guessing on the timing, the F engine has had the flywheel changed when I put in the H55 so I am not real confident in the timing mark.

 

[C6H12O6]

I'll be curious what heater hose you use,

All the hoses I pulled off were leaking badly, but they were all the original hoses (stamped "09 74"). I guess they just don't make them like they used to. I saw a post somewhere about some currently available Toyota hoses that could be cut up to make enough chunks of all the ~5/8" heater hoses. I can't remember the cost, but it was fair, though fairly high.

I was going to go that route, but ended up buying inexpensive Gates 5/8" heater hose at Napa. I went with Toyota hoses when I replaced all the firewall heater hoses on my 80, but everything is so easy to get to on the 40, I decided to save some money on this first round. Hoses are wear items, and just about all the heater hoses can be easily bypassed if one fails. I've got so many parts in need of replacement, I'd rather spend the money on the hardware.

 

[apeterson]

What month is your truck? I have a 9/74

 

[Flatlanderfj40]

Mine 11/74-

 

[C6H12O6]

October 1974 for me. Also posting the block number for documentation sake. Seems to be in the window for this build date, so probably the original motor. Looking at those last two, I'm guessing this was pretty early in October.

 

[C6H12O6]

Here are a couple before and after shots of the "new" wheels. Big improvement, if even just for morale when I walk through the garage. It looks like much less of an old piece of junk for the curious neighbors, too.

 

[C6H12O6]

Here is a portion of what I flushed out of the block. I'm pretty much ready to re-assemble everything and button up the cooling system. I'm wondering if I should put the old radiator back in for a flush before installing the new OEM radiator I have sitting in the garage. I think I got most of the big chunks of whatever stop-leak garbage the PO put in there, but you never know what will break free once I put coolant in there and heat things up.

I also don't want to introduce old radiator funk into my flushed block, heater cores, new water pump and hoses. Hmmm... Need to mull on that one for a while.

 

[C6H12O6]

I am not loving the look of the old pads that were between the frame and the radiator support, so I Dremeled up an OME poly shock bushing. Perfect fit around the studs in the bottom of the radiator bracket. Seems like this would be better than putting the crusty, rusty old ones back in.

 

[hj 60]

I repaired my old rad and kept flushing it but it did not help much, then it broke again at a seam and I installed a new one.
So if you have a new one I would use it and throw the old one away if that was repaired with gunk.
I never use water and the drain was chrystal clear but the rad when shaken and spray with hose had this brown stuff.

And I repaired, taped and painted the old one and tried to straighten every bit of the cooling fins with a tiny screwdriver
Started leaking at a seam a few cm further than the old leak within one testdrive, out again

 

[David70FJ40]

Look at the old runway matting. I hate that stuff! Remember it all to well from the Camp Evans, Vietnam airstrip.

 

[C6H12O6]

Ok, I know things have been going slow. Believe me, I know. Summer fun has slowed down now that school has started back up, and I've been able to spend a couple weekend days in the garage. The cooling system in the engine bay is all back together. New Gates water pump, hoses, stainless liner clamps (not OEM, I know), new radiator, new heater valve, and everything else has been scraped, wire wheeled, and de-rusted.

I also pulled the valve cover to check out the top end and decided to paint the cover while it was off. Same for the side cover that looked to be leaking a little. I put a new OEM gasket on it and carefully scraped a bunch of crud from around the pushrods and lifters. It was gross. Lots of carbon crunchies and dirty sludge filling up the two pockets next to the oil ports down to the camshaft. The top end was immaculate. Everything looked great on the valvetrain.

 

[C6H12O6]

While I was waiting for paint to dry, I bounced back and forth between cleaning up the inside, pulling the gas tank, and cleaning 25-year-old dried mud off the underside.

The gas tank looks to be shot. I drained a couple gallons of "fuel" out of it. Well foul, nasty smelling, dark amber colored liquid that burned the skin when it got past my gloves. After all the liquid was out, I tipped the tank over and heard the thud of a tank full of rusty sediment. There are a couple rusty spots along the seam that look to have been leaking, and a few other spots that look to be rusted enough to seep. Not full-on leaks, and I couldn't smell anything from inside the cab, but there is an accompanying rust hole on the floor pan under one of them (pic below). My guess is the outdoor carpet strips the PO used to hold the tank off the floorpan held onto some moisture and rusted from the outside while the inside was rusting out with the fuel left inside over the last 20+ years.

I'm researching my new tank options. I think this one is probably past saving. I noticed another fuel separator in my extra parts bin, and the hoses are all labeled, leading me to think that this might not be the original tank. It looks to be in great shape, other than the holes and rusty innards. A bit of a, "besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" sort of thing.

The hole isn't huge. It looks like I could grind it out, make it a circle, and plug it. Or, cut it out and patch it. There are several spots under the tank cover that have some degree of pitting rust, but nothing else rusted through. Fixing everything the right way would likely require repainting the whole floor front to back—a much bigger job than I want to tackle right now. I think if I knock the rust off, clean it all up, and hit the bad spots with some POR-15 or Rust Bullet and deal with it later. I want to drive this thing before I start that kind of project.

 

[C6H12O6]

I wanted to put the heaters back in and try to get this thing running, but the rust near the formerly leaking rear heater hoses has me wondering if I need to pull the tranny hump and deal with this rust before I put all the heater stuff back in. Still trying to decide. Most of this wasn't visible when I bought it. There was paint over a lot of it. Once I started wire brushing the loose paint and flaky rust off, the extent of the rust damage was visible. Bummer, but not nearly as bad as some I've seen. I doesn't look bad from underneath, at least from what I can see. I'm sure it will be gnarly along the edges. I sheared off a few of the gas tank cover bolts, so I'm sure these will be a bear, too. Nothing too deep, but I think once I start grinding, I'm committed to fixing it the right way. I should probably pull it and get to work.

 

[C6H12O6]

Things underneath continue to be a dirty mess, but ultimately look ok once I get them cleaned off. Whatever mud the PO drove through (a lot) seems to have sealed things off pretty well. Lots of dried brown dirt, but lots of pretty rust-free black paint underneath. Even in some spots that look pretty crusty, once cleaned off and wire brushed a little, there really isn't much rust.

The leaf springs look a little flat, but have around 4" of flex from the center of the top leaf at the axle, to the top of the top leaf right in front of the rear shackle. Fronts seem to be about the same arch, but I didn't measure. We'll see how it rides once I get it running.

 

[C6H12O6]

The exhaust looks pretty funky. Some sort of header— old Downey? They hang down pretty low and the welds and collectors look awful, but don't appear to have been leaking. The muffler has a couple hose clamps holding it together, so it may not be long for this world.

Other notables for this weekend were new gear oil in the diffs, tranny, and transfer case, along with new allen head plugs. I drained the old oil, but I'm going to wait for the FIPG on the new side cover gasket to set up for a couple days before I fill it up.

I'm getting close to a test fire. I need to figure out the gas tank and replace the rubber fuel lines, then finish off the heater box rehab so I can hook up the rest of the cooling system.

 

[C6H12O6]

On a side note, anybody know how this little piece goes back into the lock cylinder? I pulled things apart to clean it all out (spider eggs and dried grease), then lost the picture I took of everything before I pulled it apart. I can't figure out where it goes.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

Looking good, Steve!

 

[White Stripe]

Here is a portion of what I flushed out of the block. I'm pretty much ready to re-assemble everything and button up the cooling system. I'm wondering if I should put the old radiator back in for a flush before installing the new OEM radiator I have sitting in the garage. I think I got most of the big chunks of whatever stop-leak garbage the PO put in there, but you never know what will break free once I put coolant in there and heat things up.

I also don't want to introduce old radiator funk into my flushed block, heater cores, new water pump and hoses. Hmmm... Need to mull on that one for a while.

View attachment 1515479

Thats pretty nasty, I wouldnt be surprised if your new radiator get clogged as stuff dislodges in the future. I would remove the trans tunnel and repair the floor, it doesn't look too bad. Rust converter will fix a lot of that and a wire brush on a drill. You can buy cruiser paint in a aerosol can from a paint supply store.

 

[Trollhole]

Not that it matters now but usually oxidized paint like that doesn't work well with wax. It will chalk right back up even worse after a few times in the rain and sun.

 

[C6H12O6]

Not that it matters now but usually oxidized paint like that doesn't work well with wax. It will chalk right back up even worse after a few times in the rain and sun.

Yeah, I didn't wax it much. Just the hood, which was probably a mistake. I'm trying to walk the fine line of preserving the patina and keeping it from getting worse. There was just so much nasty stuff in the paint and small cracks, dots of surface rust, etc. everywhere that I wanted to try and start off with as clean of a start as I could. The cheap rubbing compound was doing a good job of cleaning off all the nasty bits, but after I used some CLR on the exposed metal that had little dots of rust here and there, I wanted to seal it off with something. I've been reading up on preserving the patina correctly. Glad I didn't go too far with the wax. It's already started to haze up again just sitting in the garage.