Builds FJ45SWB recovered from a barn (1 Viewer)

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Sorry, I just have the one that I posted the photo of (which I thought was for a 40) and a one off a 60.
 
If you wanna visit southern IN I'm pretty sure I have an early splash shield in my pile. You'll have to get my brother to guide you to/through the stash though...

Nick
 
Jim

There's a set of splashguards for sale on Ebay.

Of course if you'd rather deal with the dueling banjo's out at Nick's place...:doh:
 
Here's a general thread update with pics, because this thread has been conspicuously devoid of pics lately.

Got the floor clearanced for the hi-lo linkage on t-case. In this pic the new 4-speed t-case (green) is behind the original floor hump for 3-speed (red) by a few inches. The shifter on top of the t-case is directly under the floor x-member (blue).

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With the engine in the chassis for good, the dressing begins.
A recurved 81-87 dissy is installed. Also visible is a generic oil pressure idiot light switch and the ginormous dumptruck oil filter.
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A good NipponDenso 81-87 solid state internal regulated alternator is freshened up with new brushes & SKF bearings, installed with correct hardware and a new belt.
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Good used 1987 Denso gear reduction starter gets cleaned up starter solenoid contacts, cleaned inside & out. Installed with correct hardware & OE ground cable. Installed new Aisin clutch slave with correct hardware including special pivot bolt for underdash H-L shift linkage.
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And installed new Aisin clutch MC with refreshed 1970's clutch line. Pleasantly surprised to find it fit perfect! :)
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I heard a rumor that this thing is back in the shop for more work...

Nick
Try a google earth search to see if maybe it just got moved for yard work.:p
 
:bounce::bounce:
 
This got rolled back in the shop recently for some more work.

One of the 'wants' for this truck has been to replace the centered rear with a more appropriate offset rear axle. I lucked out and stumbled across a pic of a cheap '76 FJ55 rear axle in the Ohio forum. So I spent an afternoon driving down to the Ohio river to pick up a complete drum to drum axle assembly. It had been sitting outside in the mud for 20 years and unfortunately had gotten some water in it, which rendered the diff gears useless, but the housing with sway bar brackets, bigger 10mm diff studs, and fine spline axleshafts is quite useable.

This is what it looks like after being stripped of guts & rusted drum brake crap, wirewheeled, POR-15'ed. Also, a 3.70 1983 FJ60 front diff has been cleaned & painted to go in it.
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And then the diff is installed in housing with new OE gasket, and one cleaned & painted axleshaft is slid into position. Drain & fill plugs cleaned & painted, installed w/ new crushgaskets, rear cover also wirebrushed & POR15-ed. Lastly, note the freshly painted @Poser RDB brackets hanging off ends to dry.
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Waiting for paint to dry on longside axleshaft, in custom heavy duty axle shaft holder-upper. Then they can be installed, shimmed & c-clipped. It's important to set the endplay tight with a RDB swap to minimize pad knockback. We'll get to that in a later post.
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Hey Jim I'm no Cruiser whisperer by any means but I think that diff cover gasket goes inside the cover. ;)

BTW I really like the red head with the black block. I've always been a fan of redheads!
 
Just received some parts in the mail. This thing had no fuel sender in the tank, so I got the oldest number still available, 83320-35020, which is for ~66-72ish. This new sender is 1mm too large to drop into the hole in the tank, and the screw hole circle diameter is also about 2mm too large.

The sender hole in the tank can be opened by 1mm, and the screw holes can be slotted in by 1mm to make this fit, BUT I don't want to do that if the '66 sender is electrically incompatible with 1962 fuel Gage in cluster.
Anybody know what the ohms range is for the early Gage sending unit?

The correct number is 83320-59450, but is long discontinued, which explains why the sender was replaced with a metal plate.
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I think that this early fuel gauge sender is actually a bimetallic ticker style, like all the OPSU. Later fuel sending unit are wire wound resistors with a wiper arm. This unit has a plunger that moves up & down a very small amount, just like an OPSU has a pressure pin that barely moves.

So, I'm gonna try to get some electric power to the cluster and test it w/ sender.
 
I understand the desire to keep things OEM, but I have had nothing but leaks rom any and all tanks I've tried - even when repaired.
 
Results of gas tank/sender/gauge research:
OK, got the compatibilty/interchange figured out for my 1962 FJ45.
The very early 83320-59450 fuel sender fits 1958-1965.
The next sender is 83320-35020, fits 65-72. It looks similar to early sender, but is a little larger physically.
Fuel gage 83310-60010 fits all FJ4x, 1962-1972.

From these facts we conclude that both fuel sending units have the same electrical value to work with the gage that is common to both generations of sender. My 1962 gage should work with this new 66-72 sender.

The E-65 small sender is long ago disco'd.
62-72 gauge is also NLA now.
The 65-72 sender is still available.
The 65-72 style tank is also still available.

So I did not mangle the new '72 sender to fit the obsolete tank. Instead, the tank was mangled to fit the new sender, by die grindering the hole 1mm larger. The screw holes were redrilled a little larger and offset to the outside, then filled with standard self-tappers that are larger than the OEM machine screw. It's not quite as perfect as I like, but I didn't want to spend a bunch of time on it, only to find the ancient tank had a pinhole or rusted off fuel pipe. If this tank craps out, a new '72 tank will be installed with the new 72 sender.

It's had gasoline in it for a few weeks now, no problems. There is a problem with the ancient fuel gage. It reads below E most of the time. If the tank is completely filled, the needle comes up to 1/8 tank. That is just a cleaning issue in the cluster.

Added pic of wirewheeled floor with a coat of POR15. Also wirewheeled rust off the bottom of the tank and POR-ed. Should be good for another 50 years.

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To finish up the rear axle build:
The rear axle was assembled using the cleaned FJ55 housing & shafts, 1983 3.70 diff. Four different thicknesses of center blocks were tried to get the best (least) axleshaft end play. This is important to minimize the rotor moving to & fro in the caliper, causing pad knockback.

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Then the calipers were modified to get the hoses to exit the right way. It's common to find the hoses going forward out of the caliper and running smack-dab into the axle housing. To alleviate this, a new slot is cut at 90 degrees to allow the hose to point straight out the side, toward the center of the axle.
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The axle is closed up. Waiting on parts to run brake lines & fabricate flex hoses.
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The Earls hoses, ends, adapters are installed, so the axle is slung under the truck. The FJ45 sway bar connects to the FJ55 axle and some slightly used KYB Gas-a-just dampers are swapped on. Ready to roll (or is it).
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Setting it on the ground reveals a problem.
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The offset axle is 3" wider than the old centered rear axle. WTF?!
The 34x9.5 Swampers that usually tuck up inside the rear fenders are now sticking out of the fender, like a jeep.
That narrows down the tire choice: We're going old-skool.

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Dunlop Snow Cruiser 78, satin black steelie and repro 1963 hubcap, x5.
 
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Rear axle is under it, tires are on, fuel tank is in.

Fuel lines from a 75-78 frame are installed underneath to allow fuel return to function. The fuel feed line connects to tank as normal. The fuel return hose is routed through a hole drilled up through the box beam behind tank. Fuel return is teed into fill neck breather hose.

New glass bowl fuel filter assembly is installed on OE bracket.

New OEM battery tray and holddown are loaded with random battery.

Cleaned FJ60 coil & ignitor is mounted to fender in a location that allows wire to reach dissy and clears the battery.

Wiring is connected to alternator, carb, coil.

Gas is dumped in tank.

Key is turned. Nothing.:bang:

Investigation finds that the ancient fusebox is utter crap.
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A quick ebay search turns up a decent replacement from Blue-sea for not a lot of money.

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A little customization on the bandsaw eliminates the unneeded negative bus strip and splits the positive bus in two, so there is a switched ignition half and a battery half.

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The new & customized fuse box is installed.
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Reconnect battery, turn key, engine cranks!
Splash gas in the carb, engine fires up & runs on gas from the tank, woot!
Still no cooling system, so it's shut down after 30 seconds. But it's enough time to hear it start, begin pushing in on choke & dropping to idle, and revving it up a couple times with open exhaust.
The sound is so glorious that I be sure to have door open so the neighbors can share in it.
 
Cooling is next. Scrounging around the shop turns up one early radiator in decent condition, the matching radiator stand, and a 1977 fan shroud.

Pressure testing the radiator shows several leaks at tank seams, so it goes down to the rad shop to be boiled clean, re-soldered and painted.

Radiator mounts on front crossmember are redrilled to allow moving rad as far forward as possible. Radiator undertray is trimmed to clear Sag steering shaft. The rad stand is cut & trimmed to clear the saginaw steering shaft u-joint, and trimmed to clear the lip of the front x-member. Then the rusty stand & fan shroud are wirewheeled, rusty metal primed and painted.

When the rad comes back from the now-defunct local radiator shop (I was their last customer) :frown:, it's time to reassemble.
Belt goes on engine, tray goes under crank pulley, then shroud is hung on fan and stand is dropped into frame brackets.

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Then slide radiator down into stand, bolt up shroud, connect hoses.
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Fill it full of real coolant and install OEM cap & chain, install ugly overflow hose because it's the only hose here of the correct ID.
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After letting it run outside for a while to verify cooling operation and break-in valvetrain & rings, it was pulled into the garage to bolt in the front bib. For the first time in 30 years it has a complete engine bay and nose.
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