Kermit, 1976 FJ40. The Cobbler has the worst shoes!

[ceylonfj40nut]

I have been on Mud for a while (sig details). We are a cruiser family. Both boys (@SipLife and @Cowboy45) and my wife all drive cruisers. We happen to be stewards of a few. I spent many years alongside my boys working on their rigs. Boys are now working/ college. Just as the cobbler having the worst shoes, I haven’t had the time to document my 1976 FJ40, Kermit. Its time.

I bought Kermit in Dallas in 2012. She has been in use on and off in my boys lives through their high school days. They learned how to drive stick shift in it. They went on to build and drive 40s because of Kermit.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Pretty rust free rig, 2F, 4spd, single case xfer case. Pretty much stock except 2.5” OME lift, anti inversion shackles, bilstein shocks which were done by PO. I baselined it before boys used it. I added a 4plus forward rake bumper and a Warn 8274 winch. It needed a few things which fell into the deferred pile, especially since it was used for short hauls.

1) Pushrod cover gaskets
2) Carb rebuild (more later on that)
3) All new weather strip
4) ball joints
5) Drive shaft ujoints
6) Knuckle rebuild

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Kermit always had trouble holding idle at first start. Smoky, excessive PCV blowby into the carb). Once warm, it held idle. First two or three releases of the clutch to get Kermit in motion made it fall flat on its face. Only way to get going was to rev it high and slowly release the clutch. Thinking it was in need a carb rebuild, it stayed as such. Boys got used to “learning Kermit” as they used it. Knowing it worked fine when warmed up, I did not think much of it.

Between 2020 and 2025, Kermit sat while boys projects and their 40s took center stage. It took a nudge from @SipLife to get Kermit up and running. Wiser on the ways of cruisers with time, we thought of doing a compression check first…

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Had a 12 hour wrench day with the boys in Jan of 2025. @SipLife got an itch to tear into Kermit to figure out why its not at its best. An itch I had a while back which was becoming a nervous eye twitch. He did a compression check and numbers were 120s across the board except cylinder 4 which was 30!!! We teamed up and yanked the head. Head looked good. Valves looked great. Cylinder 4 had a “chunk” missing at the top of the piston. Unexplained. Cylinder bore on 4 was perfect though. All other bores looked great. Reached out to @landcrusher909 to see if he had a spare 2f piston to send us. Will likely do a headgasket, replace piston with used one plus new rings and send it to see what happens. Plan B will be to swap out and put a rebuilt 2H sitting on shelf I thought.

All credit goes to @cruisermatt ’s eagle eye to notice that the PO had installed flat top pistons in a domed piston block/ cylinder head!!!!! Explains the “falling flat on its face after warm up”. Forever great to Matt for noticing this!

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Bore was stamped standard on the flat top pistons. Went ahead and ordered a new set of std domed pistons, new set of rings, and crankshaft bearings, installed it and buttoned it up with a OEM headgasket.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

I knew the carb rebuild was needed, so I took that on. Marlin Crawler’s video on carb rebuilds was a huge help in getting it done right! Highly recommend!!! I also invested in some carb rebuilds SSTs and a HF Sonicator. ChemDip first followed by Orange Zep blast in sonicator, Brake Kleen and dried. Blew out every orifice with shop air. Assembled and followed FSM to set throttle plates.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

.

 

[John McVicker]

Good job and GREAT pictures.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Installed carb and fired her up! Purred like a kitten after priming the carb. Smooth throttle to full rev. No flat spots/ bogging. No smoke or blowby through PCV. Took Kermit for a spin. What a different rig!!! Great throttle reaponse and power! Yea, she dusty from sittin in the corner

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Kermit has been on duty on and off on weekends since the engine and carb rebuilds. I had @dogfishlake powder coat some 80 rims in cygnus white to see how it would look on Kermit. I tested a wheel rim combo from my 80 series before installing the cygnus white 80 rims. Looks great on road. They will rub offroad. Might get a couple of sets of tires depending on duty

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

I am hoping to be at SAS 10 (on wait list). @thatcabledude has been nudging me to caravan up there with him and his kids this year regardless. My boys took their 40s to SAS8 with me in my 80. I need to earn their respect so I decided to drive Kermit up this year. Did a pre-flight checklist and ordered most of the stuff from @cruisermatt:

1) Knuckle job
2) All new bilstein shocks and new OME steering damper
3) Tie-rods
4) Full brake refresh - all new hoses, front caliper rebuild, rotors, pads, new rear brake cylinders/ shoes/ hardware kit), brake flush
5) Emergency brake refresh (new shoes, tcase seal)
6) New OME bushings
7) Procar 90 seats
8) Fluids
9) New wipers
10) New visors
11) New 4wd shifter nob
12) City Racer LED headlights
13) New belts/ hoses
14) Ambulance door weather stripping
15) New door felt/ runs
16) New cables for 8274 winch
17) New Procar 90 seats
18) Swap in BFG 33x10.5xr15 mud terrain wheel combo.
18) Grease per FSM
19) Do complete bolt/nut torque check
20) Paint interior roof with white tintable lizard skin
21) Comms
22) mirrors
23) Spare tire latch adjust

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Tire/ wheel combo swapped in. Not a hub cup fan.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

This weekend I fabbed up some custom seat brackets to install the Procar 90 seats. @thatcabledude alerted me to the wonky height difference when using the SCAT brackets made for the Procar 90s. I mimicked the profile of the OEM seat brackets using flatbar and built up the rest of the brackets with mini c-channel and custom tabs for seat mounts and seatbelt anchors. They came very close to being the same height which met the intent! What a nice upgrade from OEM. I designed it so that it can be returned to completely stock seats if needed.

 

[RevISK]

I tried calling you about the seats, I used the sliding hardware from my OE seats. Swapped them over with no fab or molestation needed.

Looking great dude.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

I tried calling you about the seats, I used the sliding hardware from my OE seats. Swapped them over with no fab or molestation needed.

Looking great dude.

My 1976 OEM sliders were riveted on. Did not want mess em up. Dunno if later models like yours are different. Incidentally, could not find much out there on ‘76 Procar 90 installs. Most were pre or post ‘75

 

[RevISK]

My 1976 OEM sliders were riveted on. Did not want mess em up. Dunno if later models like yours are different. Incidentally, could not find much out there on ‘76 Procar 90 installs. Most were pre or post ‘75

Yeah, mine just unbolted. I’ll holler in a little bit.

 

[dogfishlake]

You can powder coat a set of 60 wheels Cygnus White and get the 79-83 FJ-40 look.

I know a guy

 

[dogfishlake]

Jessica's 40 has 16" wheels from a 70 series, but same concept

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Jessica's 40 has 16' wheels from a 70 series, but same concept
View attachment 4099398

Yea! Knew about it. Need to find some. I love the 80 wheels too. The 60 wheels do pop!!!

 

[RevISK]

I like the simple, OE style. I have a set of Wheels Vintique I'll eventually put some rubber on (they are 16" and I have 2 pretty fresh sets of 15" BFGs).
Simple.