Builds Found an Arabian FJ40

[78fj40mg]

Thanks Mits. Contact me if/when you visit here!

Progress on the roll bar. This isn't a full cage. It's designed to add safety in the event of a slow roll/tip.

Nice work on the height compensating shims!

 

[alberta mac]

Pretty sweet ! thats some of the best Toyota rust I've ever seen ! Before you go frame offing and painting and stuff I'd just oil spray it and enjoy for the first year of driving.
Very nice !!!

 

[Honger]

Nice work on the height compensating shims!

Yes, I was quite happy with their approach to bridging over the ribbing.

Pretty sweet ! thats some of the best Toyota rust I've ever seen ! Before you go frame offing and painting and stuff I'd just oil spray it and enjoy for the first year of driving.
Very nice !!!

Funny you'd mention something like that. I've owned it a bit over a year now and it's time to button up the rust. Now that I've relocated this beauty from an arid desert to a coast desert the surface rust is much more aggressive... and I don't want it to get ahead of me. As it is there are two areas with problems. One is the rear-sill... it has a mild blistering starting on the drivers side. Easy fix.

The other rust area is my front, drivers-side floor pan. When I bought the truck you could see the rust... it was clearly the result of some brake/clutch fluid leaking and eating through the paint. I looked under the truck and you couldn't see any of it peaking through so I figured it was just surface rust.

This past winter I did some wire-brushing to see just what I was dealing with...

Hmm... those holes aren't good.

But this isn't too bad.

Ugh... more pinholes.

I cleaned out all the dust/debris and primed it to protect it.

In any case, this is all easily repairable for the skilled body guys here in the UAE. The roll cage is finished now and just yesterday my truck took a trip to a body shop in Sharjah (city north of, and adjoining, Dubai).

Complete tear-down and rebuild to commence shortly.

 

[DRWFJ40]

Complete tear-down and rebuild to commence shortly.

Is that body work only? Knowing you are in a similar situation as me family wise and hobby wise, I'm impressed with your rate of progress. When I bought my truck I had recently moved back to the states from Central America & having seen what a $1.50 an hour body guy can do down there... I seriously debated making the drive again. It's less than 2000 miles from Texas to the canal.... but it's a long 2000 miles, especially in a '79 Corolla.

Roll bar looks great Joel.

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

Thanks Mits. Contact me if/when you visit here!

I will do it Honger, thank you!

 

[cuteo100]

Even Toyota rust is unlike any other rust. It's beautiful!

 

[Honger]

Is that body work only? Knowing you are in a similar situation as me family wise and hobby wise, I'm impressed with your rate of progress. When I bought my truck I had recently moved back to the states from Central America & having seen what a $1.50 an hour body guy can do down there... I seriously debated making the drive again. It's less than 2000 miles from Texas to the canal.... but it's a long 2000 miles, especially in a '79 Corolla.

Roll bar looks great Joel.

This will be a complete tear-down and rebuild. Chassis will be sandblasted and repainted. Engine will be cleaned up, new seals/gaskets (not pulling the head), and painted. Body is being sanded down to bare metal, rust cut out, and repainted. AC will be added. Roof will be repaired and repainted.

My rate of progress is afforded by the much cheaper labor here... cheaper though still amazing craftsmanship. I'm trying to visit the shop as much as I can to check in and also lend a hand.

I will do it Honger, thank you!

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Even Toyota rust is unlike any other rust. It's beautiful!

Agreed! Funny how rust can add character if done right. The problem is keeping it at bay.

It appears my 40 is having a body-off experience...

Trying to spend time there doing odds and ends work as well so I can keep my hands active in the project. My only issue with farming this out is how much of the work I'm missing myself.

 

[78fj40mg]

This will be a complete tear-down and rebuild. Chassis will be sandblasted and repainted. Engine will be cleaned up, new seals/gaskets (not pulling the head), and painted. Body is being sanded down to bare metal, rust cut out, and repainted. AC will be added. Roof will be repaired and repainted.

My rate of progress is afforded by the much cheaper labor here... cheaper though still amazing craftsmanship. I'm trying to visit the shop as much as I can to check in and also lend a hand.



Looking forward to hearing from you.


Agreed! Funny how rust can add character if done right. The problem is keeping it at bay.

It appears my 40 is having a body-off experience...

Trying to spend time there doing odds and ends work as well so I can keep my hands active in the project. My only issue with farming this out is how much of the work I'm missing myself.

Joel, we need to see more pics! Is that your tub in the background?

 

[Honger]

Joel, we need to see more pics! Is that your tub in the background?

Yes, that's my tub.

And here it is a bit further down the road to restoration...

I am blown away by how clean the metal is under the original paint. I really scored on this truck.

And here it is nearly completely in primer.

I'll be heading to the shop again this week to give them some guidance on the dash layout and put some more labor in. =)

 

[ClassicLCfan]

Loved your post and thanks for all the useful info. I also became an owner today of a BJ 40 back home and will receive it there in September/October once I visit. Most of the parts are available there locally but sometimes you don't get the quality you need. Was looking for sources in Dubai / Sharjah and stumbled upon your post. Read through all 6 Pages and ended up signing up for the website . Please post some updates and photos of the progress. I wish to do a restore on mine over the next few years keeping it as close to the basics of Factory / Stock state
Take a look at my Rig in attached photo. It is a Diesel model obtained from Federal Government / Customs Auction in Pakistan.

Toyota BJ 40

• ClassicLCfan
• Jul 14, 2016

 

[ClassicLCfan]

And I am really interested in seeing the progress in person, if you don't mind. You are doing exactly what I wish to do on my BJ 40.

 

[Honger]

Loved your post and thanks for all the useful info. I also became an owner today of a BJ 40 back home and will receive it there in September/October once I visit. Most of the parts are available there locally but sometimes you don't get the quality you need. Was looking for sources in Dubai / Sharjah and stumbled upon your post. Read through all 6 Pages and ended up signing up for the website . Please post some updates and photos of the progress. I wish to do a restore on mine over the next few years keeping it as close to the basics of Factory / Stock state
Take a look at my Rig in attached photo. It is a Diesel model obtained from Federal Government / Customs Auction in Pakistan.

Toyota BJ 40

• ClassicLCfan
• Jul 14, 2016

Rig looks great man! I'm a bit envious of the diesel to be honest... though your steering wheel is on the wrong side.

If you liked my thread be sure to check out some of the other build threads from folks in the region... the Arabian Cruisers Clubhouse (in my signature) has many of us, though admittedly it's been a bit dry lately.

And I am really interested in seeing the progress in person, if you don't mind. You are doing exactly what I wish to do on my BJ 40.

PM me for details on visiting the shop in Sharjah.

Well, the truck has been progressing. I visited to participate in some of the work this past week and this sight was waiting for me in the shop...

Mine is the naked chassis in front of the beautiful green one. That green and red one are amazing things to behold. Can't wait to see mine in that condition.

They've finished up repairs on my tub. Do you remember this problem rust area?

Well they hand-formed replacement panels and cut/patched accordingly.

And this corner used to have two dents in it.

The last major item before they could wrap up the tub was mounting the AC unit and laying out the dash and cutting the holes for switches and AC vents.

Here's the AC mounted (I'll give more detail in my Hurricane install thread).

As you can see they completely blanked out my dash (except for the brake light) so we could cut new holes based on a design I put together. Design 1 ended up not being feasible... design 2 was nearly feasible but we had to work some of it out on the fly while test fitting ducting and switch depths behind the dash. The vent and light switches left of the steering wheel turned out slick I think.

And here's the final dash drilled out for all the switches. Each of the eight small holes surrounding the center vents is for a specific item (wiper, choke, AC fan, AC temp, defrost cable, heater cable, RAM mount ball, and 12V socket).

 

[boozewz]

Very nice progress Joel.

 

[tstepp920]

I want to know more about your AC install

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Better late than never!

 

[Honger]

Very nice progress Joel.

Thanks bro!

I want to know more about your AC install

As requested... click here!

Better late than never!

Indeed. I gotta imagine you are pretty impatient watching other folks do their builds given the speed with which you kick them out. Though you've fallen behind on your 45 I think. Get a move on!

The Hurricane thread is updated... click the link above here in this post for the latest.

Almost forgot. I picked up a machined aluminum, black-anodized, laser-etched gear shift knob from @Diesel42. You can read up on these here. I grabbed a 3-speed knob as well as a 5-speed knob (gotta plan for the future). In any event these knobs are incredible...

I love how he matched the factor layout/lettering for these. He's gonna make transfer case knobs next... and eventually, possibly, dash knobs.

 

[Honger]

I've been dropping by the restoration shop as much as possible... once a week or so for a full day of chipping in wherever they allow. As well I'm managing a few one-off modifications and changes that deviate from an OEM restoration, so they need my input on that kind of stuff.

When all is said-and-done they will give me a thumb drive full of photos showing the complete process of restoration. In the meantime I'm updating this thread with the shots I take when I pop in for visits.

A few visits back I found them with the transfer case and transmission in pieces, mid-rebuild.

They tried to find all the bearings locally and couldn't so I ended up sourcing a transmission and transfer case rebuild kit from the States. Cruiser Outfitters had the transfer case in stock but I had to call four different places to find the transmission kit (finally found at CCOT). A lot of money/time spent on the 3-speed but I don't have all the parts needed for a 5-speed lined up yet.

It's done now...

They've done beautiful work re-plating hardware and painting small pieces while dis-assembled.

The motor looks gorgeous pieced back together...

I've been road-testing an FJ43 they recently completed and it has only heightened my anticipation to see the 40 complete and drive it around. It's going to be done just in time for camping season. =)

I've got an update in the Hurricane AC thread coming as well.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Very clean

 

[Grant Woodbridge]

Amazing work. Very motivating to see this high standard of work. Keep it going.

 

[Honger]

I went and visited the shop this past weekend. The chassis is complete... engine is back in and running (will have to download and post a video). So they've painted and polished the body. I took the boys with me and they wanted to pose with the tub...

And today I picked up my new shoes... 7.50R16 tall and skinnies.