Build Louie - 1973 FJ40 - A OEM work in Progress

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Wiper Cover 3D printer Development progressing. Played with the sizing and material type. Size and catch lip are perfect. The early model wiper cover fits well. Need to update the print to give the cover a little more structure/support. I am wondering how it will hold up in the heat of summer if it ever shows up here. Snowing today. The later model cover still needs to have the mounting screw holders designed and printed. I'm waiting for my kid to get home from school to do this project together. Once the designs are finalized, I share the information for 3D printing.

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Toyota Headlight Upgrade has been installed. I do wonder what Toyota had in mind when they created the kit. The wires are too long in some cases(between the headlights)and not long enough in other cases(power connections). I took the wiring harness apart and rebuilt it. I took about 4 feet of wire out between the two head lights and about 2 feet from the fuse wires. I didn't like the plastic wiring harness, so I cut it all off and wrapped the wires with fiber wiring harness tape. I also fabricated a relay/fuse holder using a relay mount from a old Cadillac and the original relay brackets. Just need to do a headlight alignment after I cleaned up the headlight buckets.

I would recommend this modification. Basically plug and play.


Relay/Fuse Holder Fabrication

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I mounted the holder on the fender support bracket.

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Had a bit of "Are you kidding moment". I had tested the headlights before I taped and and mounted the relays and fuses and everything worked. Once I mounted and cleaned everything up, I tested the headlights again and they didn't work. Pulled all the taping apart to check connections, removed the headlight switch to see if it was the problem. 45 minutes later I found the problem.... The truck needs power for things to work...
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After all the work this winter, body mounts and remove the front bib to install the headlight upgrade, I now have body fit/alignment issue. The hood is totally misaligned with the fenders/bib. Any hints to deal with the alignment issue would be appreciated. I don't know if the truck has been in an incident or whether the frame is bent.

The gap existed before I did the work this winter however it was not take large.

Did a combination of the body mount replacement and bib drop create the issue?

Is there a sequence for mounting the fenders to the tub?

Driver's side

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Hood is sticking out 1/2" from the passenger fender/bib.
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The gap between the hood and front cowl is fairly even.

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FJ40Savvy said:
After all the work this winter, body mounts and remove the front bib to install the headlight upgrade, I now have body fit/alignment issue. The hood is totally misaligned with the fenders/bib. Any hints to deal with the alignment issue would be appreciated. I don't know if the truck has been in an incident or whether the frame is bent.

The gap existed before I did the work this winter however it was not take large.

Did a combination of the body mount replacement and bib drop create the issue?

Is there a sequence for mounting the fenders to the tub?

Driver's side

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Hood is sticking out 1/2" from the passenger fender/bib.
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The gap between the hood and front cowl is fairly even.

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I'm having similar issues after removing the bib and doing a bunch of engine work. If I find a solution, I'll post it.
 
Goldbug said:
I'm having similar issues after removing the bib and doing a bunch of engine work. If I find a solution, I'll post it.
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Just found this. I know I should always do the search before asking the question. Found this link using google search. Going to try this next weekend.

Post in thread 'What order to put together front end FJ40'
What order to put together front end FJ40 - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/what-order-to-put-together-front-end-fj40.414884/post-5897474
 
Last winter prior painting I test fitted my new oem fenders and dog house to check fitment. I ran across the same alignment problems. I finally found setting the hood to cowl gap as best i could, then set the bib in the right spot in relation to the frt of the hood. Keeping the fenders and apron bolts loose. I also found the apron gap to the fenders were not as tight as I wanted. I straighten the apron mounting bolt holes so the gap tighten up, which helped the gap and height of the apron between the cowl and aprons.
 
FJ40Savvy said:
Toyota Headlight Upgrade has been installed. I do wonder what Toyota had in mind when they created the kit.
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Unless you have a kit I never heard of this kit was made for a different Land Cruiser model not the 40 series. This was not a universal kit one size fit all design but make for certain model. The cost of the kit is so cheap just having a harness that isolates the new headlight from the old harness made it worth it. Better than starting from scratch on a new harness. I would never upgrade headlights and put the load on the fifty year old harness.
 
Living in the Past said:
Unless you have a kit I never heard of this kit was made for a different Land Cruiser model not the 40 series. This was not a universal kit one size fit all design but make for certain model. The cost of the kit is so cheap just having a harness that isolates the new headlight from the old harness made it worth it. Better than starting from scratch on a new harness. I would never upgrade headlights and put the load on the fifty year old harness.
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Thanks for the information.

Based on the City Racer website, I assumed it was for the 40 as well, which I purchased directly from Toyota. I used the wiring harness provided in the kit however I modified it to shorten the wires to make the installation cleaner. It makes sense now why the kit harness was so long. Is it possible the harness is for a FJ60 installation and not a FJ40 installation?

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Door Stop Installation/Repair

Last summer the drivers door stop came out of the door when it got caught in the wind. It was a PO repair and worked however I purchased new door stops and wanted to install them on both sides. I'm not ready to do the cut, grind and weld on the door so I machined a temporary fix.

Original Repair. Bracket with the threaded connection for the door.

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New Door Bracket. Bent the bracket so the door stops would fit and used a threaded insert in the door to mount it.

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Final picture of install. Might pull it apart to modified the shape of the bracket to make the fit better however pleased with the temporary repair. If I do it again, I would not have centered the hole in the door mount to allow more room between the door stop and weather stripping.

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Winter Projects Finished. Now it is time to drive it.

Completed the headlight /fog light alignment after the bucket cleanup/ headlight replacement. Put tape on the garage door for the adjustment setup based on the details in the FSM. Don't forget to put headlight on to high beams when doing the adjustments. Light upgrade was worth it.



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FJ40Savvy said:
Winter Projects Finished. Now it is time to drive it.

Completed the headlight /fog light alignment after the bucket cleanup/ headlight replacement. Put tape on the garage door for the adjustment setup based on the details in the FSM. Don't forget to put headlight on to high beams when doing the adjustments. Light upgrade was worth it.



This is for right hand drive, right?
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No, left hand drive vehicle. The alignment of the hot spots are based on diagram shown in the FSM. The hot spot diagram in the FSM is for adjusting the left headlamp. The hot spot for adjusting the right headlamp would shift to the center line of the right headlamp and is shown in red below. This gives full coverage across the front of the vehicle. The Toyota headlight upgrade kit is for LH drive vehicles and I believe the glass on each headlamp is modified so that the lights don't blind on coming drivers. I use the fog lights as day time running lights and adjusted them to be slightly below the hot spot of the headlamps.

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Here is the rest of the information from the FSM. One headlight is adjusted at a time.


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My 10/72 has the same plugs, always wondered as well what they went to 🤔
 
I have a RHD 10/72 FJ40 and these plugs together with the chasiss harness connectors are on the right hand side. The three pin plug is for the horn relay whereas the two pin plug is for the wiper washer motor. Not sure if LHD configuration is the same
 
Weekend is just around the corner and I will be attempting a carburetor adjustment on Louie to address the idle and rich exhaust smell. I love when projects required a tool purchase. Digital Tachometer/timing light and vacuum gauge acquired.

I took the truck into a shop to have the work completed and not happy on how it is running. I hooked up the digital tach and it is idle at 450 rpm. I plan to use the following procedure from youtube university to complete the tune. Let me know if this will not work on the F engine.



If anything owing a FJ40 pushes learning and boundaries.

The truck is all stock including a fully functional smog system including and air-pump. This is the carburetor that is installed.

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Lean drop is the same for any carb, not Toyota specific.

1. Get the truck hot, so drive it for 20-30min.
2. Check timing is between 7-10deg max at idle with dizzy advance/retard (whatever you have currently) when disconnected and plugged.
3. Check vacuum at idle when hot with all items connected and plugged in.
4. Note vacuum measurement. 15-17inHg usually means manifold leak. 18-22inHg is preferred but anything less than 21inHg has a leak if at sea level. Remove 1inHg per 1,000 ft above sea level.
5. Hook up tach and adjust idle to start. Baseline idle - you can use 690rpms. Earlier trucks noted base idle of 600, but bumping it up doesn't hurt especially if the engine has worn out compression.
6. Spin mixture screw Clock-wise at 1/8th to 1/4 turn increments then blip the throttle a few times to reset mixture. If idle goes up, reduce idle speed to 690. Continue adjusting mixture Clockwise or Counter Clockwise until no change occurs with mixture screw. You should ultimately still be at 690 rpms.
7. The lean drop is using the mixture screw as the final step to reduce idle to 650rpms.

That said, if the rings/compression are worn out and/or low vacuum, it is best to repair those items but in the mean time, you can play with the mixture to improve the increased amount of air in the mixture.

8. Note vacuum reading at the end of tuning and if needle is unstable. If the needle is unstable it is a result of poor valve clearances, misfire or poor mixture.
9. Recheck timing. You can advance timing if you'd like a few degrees up to around 10-11degress if you listen to the motor for any pinging. Using higher octane will aid in reduced pinging if you go this route.
 
Carburetor Tune completed. Truck is now idling at ~650 rpm. I will run it this way for a while and see if the rich smell during running is better. All the vacuum lines seem loose on the small connections. I will order and replace all of the vacuum lines over the next couple of weeks. Vacuum gauge connected directly to the exhaust manifold (i.e. bypassing all of the emissions equipment) Needle was steady at 15 in Hg. Calgary elevation is 3400 ft above sea level.

I need to review the smog FSM manual to figure out where to connect the gauge. Truck is stock will all smog equipment in place.

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