Irish's Slow 1978 Rustic Green Build

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I am overdue for an update. I installed a lift and put new wheels/tires on the 40. The lift is a skyjacker 4" soft ride, Bilstein 5125 shocks, and MAF shackles. I went 1" over in the front and 2" over in the rear (not installed in these photos). On 33x10.5r15 BFG ATs mounted on the factory wheels.

Thanks again for all the input on this thread: Another lift question thread and to Paul

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Side by side comparisons in the one year since I have owned it.
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Irish11 said:
I am overdue for an update. I installed a lift and put new wheels/tires on the 40. The lift is a skyjacker 4" soft ride, Bilstein 5125 shocks, and MAF shackles. I went 1" over in the front and 2" over in the rear (not installed in these photos). On 33x10.5r15 BFG ATs mounted on the factory wheels.

Thanks again for all the input on this thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/another-lift-question-thread.811944/ and to Paul

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Man, that is looking good! Great job so far.
 
Looks great mate. Cant wait until I get mine up to that stage.
 
It has been a while since I updated my build thread. I have been trying to save up to buy a house so the cruiser fund has been cut. But I needed to do a full suspension rebuild on my Tacoma this Fall so the FJ40 needed to be my DD for a few weeks. I rebuilt the heater and had the doors refinished and repainted. The drivers door needed a new lower skin. I put OEM seals all the way around. It cost almost double what I anticipated, but they turned out very nice. At 30 degrees or lower in the last few weeks its been nice to have them and the heater. Still need to work on a top and windows though, turns out its a little cold without them, haha.

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Thank you. I want an OME-ish top. Unfortunately my rig is now too tall and the door is too short, haha. know it's a running joke, but its true. It's one of the reasons I'm saving up to bit my own place.
 
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I think garage doors shrink ;) I running into the same problem with my 40...
 
Doors with glass in them make a BIG difference, haha. This is right before I added the glass to the front doors. It really does help keep you warmer and dryer driving in the rain. Still no updates on the top front. I haven't decided what I am going to do yet.

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I did get a tailgate for Christmas and added a spare tire. Now it almost looks like a complete rig.
 
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Dude, great rig....you made fast progress on this too. I'm just down the street in Issaquah, would love to grab a beer or two some time.

Cheers.
 
"Doors with glass in them make a BIG difference, haha. This is right before I added the glass to the front doors. It really does help keep you warmer and dryer driving in the rain. Still no updates on the top front. I haven't decided what I am going to do yet."

Man you need a bikini top. With the hard doors the front cab will stay warm unless it's below 0 around here plus you won't have to tarp your seat to keep it dry. Great in the Summer too to avoid sunburn. Nice 40! :)
 
Thanks for the kind words. Its been a fun project. I'm taking a break for a bit (after I rebuild the front knuckles) because I need to save money for a house with an actual garage, not this small one car slot. So I just need to get it functioning and enjoy it for a bit, sounds rough, haha.

Major Nelson said:
Dude, great rig....you made fast progress on this too. I'm just down the street in Issaquah, would love to grab a beer or two some time.

Cheers.
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Sounds good to me. The Seattle Cruiser heads are actually meeting up next Tuesday. Its an excuse to drink beer, talk about and look at cruisers if you are interested. I can send you the info when they figure out the location for this month.

cruiserkev said:
"Doors with glass in them make a BIG difference, haha. This is right before I added the glass to the front doors. It really does help keep you warmer and dryer driving in the rain. Still no updates on the top front. I haven't decided what I am going to do yet."

Man you need a bikini top. With the hard doors the front cab will stay warm unless it's below 0 around here plus you won't have to tarp your seat to keep it dry. Great in the Summer too to avoid sunburn. Nice 40! :)
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Bikini top is on my list actually. I want to have a full top but it wont fit in this garage. A bikini top would get me by in the mean time and the no sunburns as a pale ginger is a serious plus, haha.
 
Irish11 said:
Thanks for the kind words. Its been a fun project. I'm taking a break for a bit (after I rebuild the front knuckles) because I need to save money for a house with an actual garage, not this small one car slot. So I just need to get it functioning and enjoy it for a bit, sounds rough, haha.



Sounds good to me. The Seattle Cruiser heads are actually meeting up next Tuesday. Its an excuse to drink beer, talk about and look at cruisers if you are interested. I can send you the info when they figure out the location for this month.



Bikini top is on my list actually. I want to have a full top but it wont fit in this garage. A bikini top would get me by in the mean time and the no sunburns as a pale ginger is a serious plus, haha.
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Yeah, definitely let me know where it'll be.....that'll mean another Irish ginger showing up though. :)
 
It was time for another update. Progress has been slow since funding for the cruiser has been diverted to less exciting and more adult-like projects like saving up for a house. That being said I cannot ignore the 40. So I decided to put the door panels back on. I was missing all but two of the plastic inserts for the door panels. Luckily my local hardware store had some that worked and were only $.33/piece. I used 1 mil paint drop cloth for the weather barrier and poster tack to hold it in place (tar was too messy and I wanted to be able to take it off if I needed to access the inside). I put a coat of armorall on the panels and I have to say they turned out pretty good. Its the little things that make a difference.

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I am borrowing a friends shop at the end of the month for a knuckle rebuild party. Should be a good time. I have had a bad knuckle bearing and haven't been driving much. It will be nice to get out and go above 35mph again.
 
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Hi all,

Kyle, great vehicle thread! :beer: :)

Are you up to taking that pretty rig on a mild 4 wheeling trip in 2015? :hmm:


Regards,

Alan
 
Hey Alan,

Thanks for the kind words! I'm in. Just finished my knuckles last weekend. Now I just need to do my TREs and a new muffler and I should be good to go. I'm trying to get Tony to do his front disc conversion so we can go somewhere this summer.
 
Its been a almost a month since the last update. From the outside things don't look that different, but inside the knuckles have been rebuilt and the TREs (I guess they are outside) have been replaced. The 40 is going to get driven this summer. After all the hard work of putting it back together it needs to see some adventures. Here it is hovering above my friends shop before we started on the knuckles. The lift was a HUGE help. I might need one of those someday...

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Great thread, job well done...I'll quit whining now and get busy on my own project!!;)
 
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