HJ47 welcome here? (2 Viewers)

[Henry James the 47th]

final set for today, and hello pg. 29!

 

[DanS HJ-45]

Awesome.

It's really starting to look like you might be driving it sooner rather than later!

Dan

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Thanks Dan,

I'm aiming to have it on the road be early June, and should be moving into the body/paint stage in the next 2 weeks. Still planning on a matte finish 857 Nordic Blue paint scheme, with matte finish Cygnus White top and bezel.

Other than the body work & paint, which is the biggest chunk of work remaining, the other tasks to attend to are:


-apply the seam sealer (waiting for a little warmer weather)
-spray the SEM truck bed liner to the floor of the cab, inside and out, as well as the inside of the fenders
-fabricate 2.5" exhaust system (in stainless preferably)
-fabricate upper mesh protection for the radiator (these seem to rust out of every late model 40 I have seen, so I'm thinking of adapting the upper section of screen from an early-model 40, as they were made of stouter metal - and I have one kicking around)
-adapt 60 series firewall insulation to my truck, which will mean welding in little metal tabs to the firewall to secure it
-sort out the 4x4Labs steering situation and assemble the front hubs/selectors
-plumb the lines for the power steering
-complete the brake hydraulic lines (mostly done)
-install the tray, which will mean welding some supports up

The light at the end of the tunnel is gradually glowing brighter!

 

[DanS HJ-45]

Are you going to reuse the same tray? You should--it looks wicked cool.

Dan

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Oh yes, sweet little tray has been waiting patiently the whole time. It was brand new, and thrown on the truck (two tack welds) for shipping from Oz.

Actually, it's not really all that beefy, with single wall bed sides, and I'm thinking of getting these modified with an added inner aluminum skin. I'm also planning to deck the thing with some 1" t&g Black Locust, if i can get the local !@#$%^ sawyer to mill my logs up (been waiting on him for 8 months now!). The tree came down in a windstorm last year and should yield enough for a deck.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Here's what the completed hitch looks like installed. I am waiting on a small shipment from Japan which has new cad-plated center bolt and clevis for the pintle.

Good new on the suspension front. After a few phone calls, Luke Porter at 4x4Labs is going to send me a new set of knuckle arms that are set up so as to position the tie rod lower down, closer to the differential housing. This is no charge. He's a good guy to deal with and I recommend him.

Starting to debate installing a turbo before configuring the exhaust system. The engine has over 300,000 km on it, so I'm not sure if turboing it is entirely wise, even with low boost.

 

[merbesfield]

Very nice work. Keep the pics and descriptions coming.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Keeping 'em coming!

I have finished off the replacement of the screen that fits the upper section of the radiator support frame. The original was rusted off, as seems pretty common on 79~later 40 series. I've never seen an intact one actually . Toyota used what appeared to be a 18g. 'L'-section metal, about 0.25" x 0.125" as a very light support frame for the expanded metal lath used for the screen material. They didn't last, for a variety of reasons I imagine.

I initially wanted to make a replacement that copied the form of the original, but with 14g. metal. The local sheet metal shop couldn't produce a piece like I wanted, so I tried a different approach: I took an older-model bib grill, which used a 14g. (stout) frame, and sectioned the top of it off with the zip wheel.

Then with a little more tweaking the fit, I welded it to the rad support frame, removing the old stubs of the previous screen mounts, and keeping the original crosspiece to which to attach the bottom of the lath screen. I thought it worked out pretty well, and unless you compare sides, looks little different than stock. This is a much more solid arrangement I think than the factory original. Toyota started to cheapen the trucks, after 1979, with thinner metal all around - I have no idea what the reasons would be - perhaps to cut costs I guess. The older cruisers had thicker sheet metal, and the earlier the model, the thicker it was. I have a bib with the signal lights on the bottom, and it weighs nearly twice as much as the new oem 79~84 replacement I went with - I still think about swapping the bib out for the older one and 'square bezel be damned' - - aw you know I can't do that.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

And here's a few more showing the completed and installed catch for the winch control lever. Sorry for the blurry third picture

 

[Henry James the 47th]

last one.

I guess I should paint that winch lever black too.

It's getting to the time to finish tightening the bolts holding the bumper and mounting brackets.

One last note: I picked up some 1/4" fuel injection tubing to replace the three lines going from the fuel tank to the evaporator. It fits the tank outlets perfectly. The rest of the rubber fuel lines are 5/16" size, and all of it handles bio-diesel without problem.

Next thing on the tank will be gluing the felt protective pieces that the tank straps bear against back on to the tank.

 

[kkt]

Do you have a good picture of the way your 70 series turn signals are going to mount. I got a set and it looks like they will interfere with the hood hold down latches.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Check back in this build thread, posts #288~299, along with #370.

You're quite right, the hood catches need to be moved rearward. That consideration, along with the indented dimples needed for the mounting to be clean, make the conversion to 70 series signals a little more involved than it may at first appear.

I will also probably need to put a little body filler to the font edge of the apron so as to produce a little contour adjustment when the sheet metal curves inward, in an effort to make it a cleaner fit and more water tight at the leading edge of the lamp body.

 

[kkt]

Check back in this build thread, posts #288~299, along with #370.

You're quite right, the hood catches need to be moved rearward. That consideration, along with the indented dimples needed for the mounting to be clean, make the conversion to 70 series signals a little more involved than it may at first appear.

I will also probably need to put a little body filler to the font edge of the apron so as to produce a little contour adjustment when the sheet metal curves inward, in an effort to make it a cleaner fit and more water tight at the leading edge of the lamp body.

Thanks for the input. I have also considered just mounting them to the top part of the fender, you may want to look at that also. There were so many post here that I could not find a good picture. Thanks again.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Thanks for the input. I have also considered just mounting them to the top part of the fender, you may want to look at that also. There were so many post here that I could not find a good picture. Thanks again.

Well thanks for the suggestion however I won't be looking at that option at this point, as I'm happy with the way they are mounted. I don't care much for the fender top mounting myself, though it would simplify the mounting somewhat.

 

[MoCoNative]

Henry, you are right about the lesser materials in newer cruisers. I am always amazed at my 73, and all the little things on it that must have been hand assembled. Small brackets, lots of extra bolts and things that no robot was putting in. Also areas only some guy with a little hand must have reached in put it together. But also the finish was really good because everything was exposed.

But when I look at newer 40's and my 60 series, you can tell they came off a much more mechanized assembly line, and many of the parts on the pre 75 40's seem to have dissappeared for cheaper and easier to assemble parts. Also the unfinshed feel of the floors if you take the factory floor mats out on newer cruisers. I guess they figured they would be covered, and of course you can't do much with the sound deadening stuff, which does help, but an early 40 has such clean bends and finish to the floor. None of the wrinkles and such you see with the intended hidden floors.

One thing I always thought was kind of lame was the deletion of the marker light in the fender apron, so that it could be integrated into the front turn signals after 75, or even the loss of the bib marker lights. I'm sure that the apron lights were taken off to reduce the cost of the apron contruction and the cost of the light.

But that seems to be the trend of all vehicles through time, and of course it only makes good business sense. Keep it up on your build, looking great, few more weeks and it will be painting weather I'm sure.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Well that painting weather hasn't arrived around here - it's been a cool wet spring for the most part so far.

I've been toiling away on the wiring, and a few mistakes in previous sections have been uncovered along the way. I've got about a dozen connections left.

First though, I've got pictures of the body work on the doors thus far.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

And here's the wiring scene. I plan to have the harness buttoned up tomorrow, and tested, all the while moving the bodywork along. When it warms up a bit, I can apply the Kent seam sealer and then do the bedliner.

 

[DanS HJ-45]

I plan to have the harness buttoned up tomorrow, and tested, all the while moving the bodywork along.

Fantastic! Flashing your lights has probably never been so much fun as it hopefully will be this weekend!

Dan

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Connected up the last of the wiring and hooked up the fusible links to the battery....

Well, mostly good news. Nothing blew up or fried. Most everything works.

But not everything:

-the starter motor (relay clicks but solenoid doesn't seem to be actuating)

-wiper motor not working yet, though the wiper relay makes noise

-front parking lights seem to be on a different circuit and are on when they shouldn't be

-can't get the horns to work yet.

-the light dimmer rheostat doesn't seem to do anything

-brake warning light circuit doesn't seem to work

-sedimenter warning is not working

-the headlight and taillight relays. These are the 'M3' type, which has 3 terminal blades. I have 4 of these gippers kicking about in my pile of electrical parts, and all 4 click when power is applied, however when testing them as per the FSM procedure, none of them produce output power then the relay is switched. This seems a little unlikely that all 4 would click but not actually work, so I have some more looking into it to do. I used a wire to bridge across the headlight relay and the headlights come on fine. Power reaches the relay from the battery, but doesn't seem to come any further.

Otherwise, the hazard light switch works, the reverse light, the left and right turn signals, the rear brake lights come on when the pedal is depressed, the heater blower motor works at both low and high speeds, and the fog lamps work. With the headlight relay bridged, the hi/lo beam was functional too.

So, a little troubleshooting is in order today. Most of it should be fairly straightforward to solve, but I'm puzzled about the relays. Either I'm not testing them properly and they are fine, or I need to get a functional one before I can proceed much further.

I guess I'll be doing some more body work today anyhow. It's still a bit cold for paint, but the body filler hardens chemically so I can work with it when outside temps are a little cool.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Right-o, I now have the horns working (easy solution)....