HJ47 welcome here? (1 Viewer)

[Henry James the 47th]

Last one

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Another 3 hours tonight. Doesn't seem like I got much done, though the driver's side floor is looking a lot better.

Started with a bit of work on the steering column. Before welding the splicing collar to the end, I wanted to make sure I could remove the bearing. No problem, so welded to holes up, and then assembled it to the steering column.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

another column picture, and two shots of the driver's floor progress

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Then we come to my next dilemma, this time concerning the front bib. As you know, I have a brand new bib, new emblems, and a restored grill, along with some grommets for it. Nothing wrong with it at all - except that I just came across an early-style bib. It's in terrific condition- hardly rusted at all after 40 years. It looks to be made of 14g. metal, and is noticeably heavier and stiffer than the 18g new one. I figure that, given equivalent prep and paint, the 40 year old early bib will outlast the newer one. So, I'm debating about changing to the old one, which would mean a different bezel, a different grill (got one), different grill badge, customizing the grill to accept the diesel badge, and cad plating the headlamp buckets. It add a couple of days of work, but when I found out today that new genuine Toyota bib marker lights are ony $17/piece. I'm sure I can sell my other bib, along with the other new and restored parts connected to it, for a decent amount on Ebay, so it seems like the die is cast.

what would you do?

 

[MoCoNative]

Looking good, very good. Your floor repairs are coming out very well.

Personally, on the grill, I'd keep your stock one. I'm a purist, so, I like to keep things in the proper time period. The metal thickness is not a big issue to me. If you prime and prep it well enough, the rust will not be there. Having thicker metal or thinner metal will mean it could rust through faster, but good paint will be the key for either one. As far as strength and rigidity, I bet the new one has more bracing in it, and less metal for cost savings and weight reasons as the manufacturing was improved on Cruisers to save money on the line. I've noticed that alot as Cruisers got newer, thigs appear to be assembled more quickly and probably with more robots than the early ones.

Part of what makes your rig unique is that it is an HJ47, not a FJ45 from the late 60's. I'd keep the stock grill and appearance, you already have the newer cab and such, might as well keep it in the same vintage.

But either way, it would look good, the early grill is not a bad thing either, but all the lighting you will have up front with the 70 series signals may look odd too.

Just my opinion on this stuff, hope it helps you out. I really like your project though, looking good no matter what you do.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

I'm still mulling over the bib surplus situation.

This morning I managed to arrange with a helpful friend to go out with a trailer to drag home some landcruiser stuff from out in the bush. Here's what the cat dragged in.

The red one is a '77 FJ40, while the white/green one is from a '79 BJ40.

The FJ had just the arrangement of heater cables and switches that I was wanting

 

[Henry James the 47th]

There were various good chunks of sheet metal to raid, so I went to work with the zip wheel

 

[Henry James the 47th]

I'm considering whether I might put in a second tank on the truck for use with vegetable oil, so I'm also considering installing a second infil port on the cab.

The third picture shows the passenger footwell after yesterday's welding and grinding.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

2 more, the second showing the rust chunk finally cut out

 

[Henry James the 47th]

another set

 

[Henry James the 47th]

next set.

I'm thinking that I could be pretty much done with the cab floor after a good day tomorrow. That leaves some more work on the cowl, dash, and firewall to complete the cab repairs/mods.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Then I turned my attention to getting the little mounting brackets for the glow and starter relays installed on the passenger side apron. The FJ inside firewall yielded the bracket for the glow relay, an exact match on bolt spacing. The small tab I'm using for mounting the starter relay came from the BJ40 firewall, and needed a nut welded to the backside.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

3 more of work on the apron brackets

 

[Henry James the 47th]

next set

 

[Henry James the 47th]

last set. I might put another bracket on the apron for mounting headlamp relays, or I might use the 60 series ones somehow. I'm also looking at the possibility of using the 60 series fuse panel instead of the 40 one.

Edit: I notice I've put two glow plug relays into place (one older style, and one newer style), instead of one glow plug relay and one starter relay. Hopefully this is not ass-backwards - though I'm pretty sure that my starter relay will fit one of the mounting bars I've put in.

Edit 2: the correct starter relay fits right in where the black glow relay is mounted in the picture, so no problems.

 

[DanS HJ-45]

Awesome. Awesome to the Max!

That is coming together nicely! I am anxiously awaiting pics of it all in one single primer color--I bet it'll look just about new then.

Excellent work!

Dan

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Awesome. Awesome to the Max!

That is coming together nicely! I am anxiously awaiting pics of it all in one single primer color--I bet it'll look just about new then.

Excellent work!

Dan

Well, thanks a lot Dan. I'm feeling pretty good about the project at this point, especially after this weekend's progress. The end of the wleding on the cab is now in sight.

I have bought primer already- going with the PPG line, DP48/50 2-part epoxy primer, in two colors, blue and white. I'm not going to be too traditional, though the top and the bezel will be Toyota 037 white.

Unlike a stock truck in which the exterior color carries through into the engine bay and interior, in my truck the white accent color will also be the color for the interior and the engine bay, along with of course the inside surfaces of the doors, aprons, and the hood. That's the plan as of late anyhow. The white interior will tend to be cooler on hot days I reckon...

Today i got about 9 hours of work done on the truck. Yesterday my progress was interrupted by running out of wire for the welder, but today was pretty much full on progress.

I started on the passenger side floor, and chopped out some previous ham-fisted work. Oh those early welding days... (actually, I'm sure I'm still in 'em)

 

[Henry James the 47th]

I cut the patch panel out of the FJ40 donor, taking a section of the floor pan that resides directly below the gas tank

 

[Henry James the 47th]

3 more

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Another set