Lucy the LC: 1970 FJ40 Rebuild

[Sparkman86]

Love what you are doing here! Well done! Live in Rowlett. Not far from ya.

Thanks! First time I've ever worked on an old car and it's been a fun little journey. If nothing else, it gave me an excuse to expand my tool box arsenal.

Rowlett is one of the few places in DFW area I've never visited. I figure there are plenty of FJ40 owners in the area, but I've only seen two in the 8 years I've owned mine.

 

[Sparkman86]

New tires installed.They definitely fill the wheel wells better than the 28's with the OME lift, but still need to settle the rear springs to shift the axle back. Ready to pull the body for the last time and wrap up brakes, fuel hard line, shifting linkages and exhaust.

 

[igotta40]

New tires installed.They definitely fill the wheel wells better than the 28's with the OME lift, but still need to settle the rear springs to shift the axle back. Ready to pull the body for the last time and wrap up brakes, fuel hard line, shifting linkages and exhaust.
View attachment 3848934

View attachment 3848938

Kenda Klever

 

[Sparkman86]

Kenda Klever

Yep. Went with the Klever RT. I hadn't heard much about Kenda tires, but they seem to get pretty good reviews from Landcruiser guys from what I could tell. Time will tell. I dig the narrower 9.5" width though.

 

[igotta40]

Yep. Went with the Klever RT. I hadn't heard much about Kenda tires, but they seem to get pretty good reviews from Landcruiser guys from what I could tell. Time will tell. I dig the narrower 9.5" width though.

I like mine. Kenda is big into bicycle tires. Mine hold air very well. Way better than the BFG Mud Terrain Km2 that I took off.

 

[Sparkman86]

Pulled the tub for the last time to finish undercarriage stuff. Looks badass with the new tires.

Ran new brake line along rear axle and torqued down diff cover. Still need soft lines but replaced the old 9mm tee with the later 10mm version at the axle breather. Fittings at the wheel are still 9mm (which I'll likely regret later) since I already had rebuilt cylinders and won't be adding a booster.

Ran new brake line to rear axle and bent in new 5/16 fuel hard line to replace the old, stiff soft hose. Used my fancy new hydraulic flare tool to bead the end of the fuel lines. Since the original fuel hose ran through the frame past the motor mount, I had to route underneath so it didn't interfere with the brake line. I added a clamp to keep it from moving forward/backward on the frame. I didnt know until the tub was back on but my rear fuel line angle in these pics is not sharp enough and will hit the body once the hose is on. I'll have to take the line back off and bend a little more. Happy with the result though.

Also installed my transfer H/L shifter linkage that can't be accessed with the tub in place and heated onto the 4WD sensor some heavy duty heat-shrink tube left over from the e-brake cable.

 

[Sparkman86]

When the header was installed, the exhaust hangers were replaced with some cheap weld-on tabs and just dangled from the body. The pipe from collector to muffler was 10-12" too long and the tailpipe banged into the rear shackles after the spring upgrade.

I cut out a good portion of this dented section and joined it back with a repair sleeve. I sourced original hanger brackets from a cruiser salvage, grinded off the cheap hangars, and the result is a near perfect exhaust alignment. I was worried the angled pipe wouldn't orient correctly but it worked out great. Primered, painted, and semi-gloss cleared with VHT Flame Proof paint after wirewheeling rust with an angle grinder and then degreasing. We'll see how this paint holds up.

Went through a final check of torque settings on everything I could reach, staged new Energy Suspension bushings and prepped to drop the body back on.