I'm The Fu Mann
FuMann is my old college nickname. Arizona DMV rejected my personalized license request for FUMANN because they thought I was secretly saying

Man. I've always been misunderstood.
About me, I'm on my 3rd FJ40, though it has been about 27 years between em. Funny how it almost correlates directly to the number of years I was married to The

. Hmmm? Well, that problem is almost solved, and I ain't getting any younger. I am getting divorced

after 26 years. Hell, I may just become a two Cruiser family to make up for lost time, who knows?
I've been working on the latest 77 FJ40 for about 3 years now. I've restored it in the image of my previous Cruiser, which was a brand new mustard 74, with a chrome bezel. The family bought it new at Scott Toyota. At 18K miles, I did an AA conversion using a custom built SBC 350 cu, with 10.5 to 1 compression, a Crane RV cam, chrome headers, Lakewood scattershield, Weiand high rise manifold, Carter 4BBL and a baffled large capacity oil pan. Keep in mind I did this with a couple of buddies. The year was 1976. It all happened about 3 miles from the Sonic where we meet. I loved that Cruiser!!! But I had to sell it to pay for college.
So my 77 should have never been restored. When The

and had our first separation (about 3 years ago), I had a moment of weakness and decided to become a one man FJ40 Rescue Society and I bought (and paid too much for) this rusted out, bondo'd up POS, blue FJ40 from some kid in Mesa who had picked it up in Utah and never titled it. In fact, he lost the title. Dip****! I had to contact the guy in Utah to get a duplicate title and create paperwork that showed I bought the vehicle directly from him. The smog equipment was gone, too. That's another story.
I stripped the entire body down to bare metal only to find that there were numerous places where you could stick a finger right through the metal. I replaced quarter panels, fenders, fender aprons, rear sill, running boards and door bottoms. I also replaced battery carrier, windshield, window and door rubber. Repaired numerous holes in the tub. I removed the dash pad and dash support, and the knee rubber on the dash. There was a nasty looking hole in the dash, where someone had used a crow bar to mount a stereo. Its flat metal now, so currently there is no radio in it. I usually just wear my Bose NC headphones when I drive. I'll be mounting a stereo in a Tuffy console at some point. I replaced all the turn signals and lights, door panels, and door hardware. The heater, skid plate and lots of smaller pieces were powder coated at AZ Powdercoat on Washington. Powdercoat is a lot cheaper than people think, and it is 5 times harder than regular paint. I had it painted by Chuck and John at Arizona Street Scene. They specialize in muscle cars and street rods, primarily for the auctions in Scottsdale in January.
Mechanically, this Cruiser still has a ways to go. It is a tired old pig with something around 200K miles on the 2F. At the moment, the ampmeter doesn't work, nor does the speedometer. The V8 will come after the divorce. I'm also planning Power steering, AC, a Shackle Reversal, U-bolt flip with 4" rear and 2.5" front lifts. Unfortunately, it could be a while, as we have a house to sell before any of that can happen.
I've got BFG AT 33x12.50x15's on aluminum rims. I originally ordered black steel spokes, but when they showed up, the offset was wrong. So I had to find something different. Black spokes were not in in the 70's, white and chrome were the styles.
Here are a few pictures: Before, During and Now.
Happy Trails,
Trent
P.S. Yeah, I wheel in it.