I replaced the antenna (the one that was on it when I bought her was pretty messed up) and I'm pretty sure I routed it through the same hole as the one that was originally on it. In fact, I know I did.
Build Marion Rising: 1974 FJ40 FST
- Thread starter MadMace
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I found a plasticky grommet and punched a hole in it and slit it so I could fit it over the housing. Not a perfect solution and probably should’ve put a small rubber grommet around the housing but it is what it is. I’m sure it helps some.
My antenna cable went through a different opening can’t remember which one at this point. Might actually be on the cab side of the firewall.
MadMace
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Thanks for the input on the grommet and routing of the antenna wire. The hole is a 30mm hole and I have some 1/16" and 1/8" thick gasket material and a Mayhew hollow punch set. The plan is to cut a 30mm circle out of the 1/16" thick material and two 38mm circles out of the 1/8" thick material. I'll sandwich the 30mm between the two 38mm circles with some 3M rubber adhesive to form a grommet. Then I'll cut appropriate sized holes for the 2 cables. We'll see how it goes. I'll post some pictures
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MadMace
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Some quick updates. Speedometer before and afters. The grease in the odometer was super gummy and sticky so I went ahead and took it apart. I used this thread by B y r o n titled Stuck Odometer Fix--awesome help. Fortunately, my odometer was exactly like the one in his thread. Follow it as he states and you cannot go wrong. The one thing I did maybe a little different is I used 100% silicone grease on the gears. I know silicone grease to be safe for plastics, there are some greases that will eat away at plastics so be careful.
Cleaned all the glass with 99% rubbing alcohol and Q-Tips to get in all the crevices. Worked like a charm. I considered painting/powder coating the outer casing in bengal silver but in the end, I like the character of its age.
Something neat is that all the light bulbs in the cluster are the original Yazaki bulbs--all still have their labels on them and all still work so after cleaning up the light sockets and bulbs, I reinstalled them.
Before:
After:
Yazaki sockets and light bulbs
Cleaned off the copper contacts with the fiberglass pen seen in the picture
Cleaned all the glass with 99% rubbing alcohol and Q-Tips to get in all the crevices. Worked like a charm. I considered painting/powder coating the outer casing in bengal silver but in the end, I like the character of its age.
Something neat is that all the light bulbs in the cluster are the original Yazaki bulbs--all still have their labels on them and all still work so after cleaning up the light sockets and bulbs, I reinstalled them.
Before:
After:
Yazaki sockets and light bulbs
Cleaned off the copper contacts with the fiberglass pen seen in the picture
MadMace
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Couple of additional before and afters:
The upper dash pad is new, from CityRacer. The lower dash pads are original to Marion. It is amazing what a steam cleaner, some 0000 steel wool, and 303 aerospace protectant can do to these old rubber parts. Dash panel prepped and waxed with Collinite.
Before:
Before:
After:
After:
The upper dash pad is new, from CityRacer. The lower dash pads are original to Marion. It is amazing what a steam cleaner, some 0000 steel wool, and 303 aerospace protectant can do to these old rubber parts. Dash panel prepped and waxed with Collinite.
Before:
Before:
After:
After:
MadMace
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The underside of Marion's transmission hump has a fair amount of grease. This is hardened, stubborn grease. I want to remove it because I want to coat the underside with the MasterCoat rust sealer.
We tried to pressure wash it off, little success. We tried to scrape it off and the scraper just skated over it. I tried some brake cleaner and it does loosen it but it makes more of a mess than I want to deal with. I considered trying a wire wheel but I'm afraid that the heat generated from it will just melt the grease and clog the wheel. I know a guy how can soda blast it, which is the way I am leaning. Of course, I would only have him blast the underside.
Any suggestions?
We tried to pressure wash it off, little success. We tried to scrape it off and the scraper just skated over it. I tried some brake cleaner and it does loosen it but it makes more of a mess than I want to deal with. I considered trying a wire wheel but I'm afraid that the heat generated from it will just melt the grease and clog the wheel. I know a guy how can soda blast it, which is the way I am leaning. Of course, I would only have him blast the underside.
Any suggestions?
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You could use a heat gun on that. One man on the heat gun, the other on a Lisle razor scraper. Wedge a chunk of rubber behind the blade clamp for hard core scraping. I scraped tar-like bedliner off the entire underside of my 76. I became one with heat gun and scraper
I’m fairly sure the heat generated by the heat gun would not harm the topside paint. OEM paint can take alot of heat. Once you’ve removed most of the caked on grease, wire it. Do you have any flap discs for your grinder? They are a bit more aggressive than a cup brush. You can get a flap disc that has a round edge to get in nooks. It’s sandpaper so it’ll get you to bare metal quickly, sometimes too quick.
Radiused wheel on top.Pictured on bottom is standard flap disc, great on flatish surfaces. 80 and 120 grit are good.
Last resort. Very handy wheel, but very dangerous. Weiler roughneck stringer bead wheel.
I’m fairly sure the heat generated by the heat gun would not harm the topside paint. OEM paint can take alot of heat. Once you’ve removed most of the caked on grease, wire it. Do you have any flap discs for your grinder? They are a bit more aggressive than a cup brush. You can get a flap disc that has a round edge to get in nooks. It’s sandpaper so it’ll get you to bare metal quickly, sometimes too quick.Radiused wheel on top.Pictured on bottom is standard flap disc, great on flatish surfaces. 80 and 120 grit are good.
Last resort. Very handy wheel, but very dangerous. Weiler roughneck stringer bead wheel.
Or leave it be that grease creates a nice rust proof layer... 
MadMace
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Quick update. Been slower moving this week than I'd like. The ol' 9-5er is taking up a lot of time and energy, not leaving as much for Marion. I had asked about the grommet for the hole in the firewall for the speedo cable and got some good feedback on how to tackle it. I decided to make my own grommet for this opening and for the speedo and AM antenna cables to pass through.
The hole is question with cables
Constructed grommet
Side view
With holes and relief cut to get it around the cables
Installed...not too shabby!!
The hole is question with cables
Constructed grommet
Side view
With holes and relief cut to get it around the cables
Installed...not too shabby!!
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MadMace
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We also had to get the underside of the transmission hump cleaned up. thebigredrocker gave some good ideas but I ultimately decided to use EasyOff. Worked even better than I hoped it would.
Before cleaning--YUK!
The magic wand...it is even labeled for use on Land Cruisers
After cleaning, before Ospho
Coated with Ospho
MasterCoat coating
Before cleaning--YUK!
The magic wand...it is even labeled for use on Land Cruisers
After cleaning, before Ospho
Coated with Ospho
MasterCoat coating
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I previously posted on the stabilization of your FJ40. I was a museum director for 30 years. When you are presented with an important artifact your charge is to do no harm and stabilize the artifact. Your attention to detail is over the top. Be sure to document every step in the process.
MadMace
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Time for an update. I have been working on getting the transmission hump, gas tank pan and surrounding area nice and purdy. The first pictures shows where we started. Process has been rust removal with CLR and elbow grease, stabilization with Ospho and then protection with MasterCoat. I was going to leave it silver BUT my damn OCD got the best of me and I painted it in is original color--621 Rustic Green. No offense to any other colors but it is the most awesome color. The paint came from 66autocolor--it is the 2k Spray Max. Super easy to use. Very, very forgiving. I'll outline some things I learned along the way so that hopefully somebody can benefit.
Here's where we started. Also note the the portion of the transmission hump you can see is quite corroded. More on this in a little.
Ospho--great stuff.
MasterCoat--also great. This is like liquid metal--literally. I think the T-1000 in Terminator 2 was made from this stuff. It can patch small holes in the sheetmetal. I'll show some pictures in a later post to demonstrate.
I used the back taping method here. Gives a pretty nice, feathered, blended edge.
All taped up and ready to go--LET'S DO THIS!!!
Here's where we started. Also note the the portion of the transmission hump you can see is quite corroded. More on this in a little.
Ospho--great stuff.
MasterCoat--also great. This is like liquid metal--literally. I think the T-1000 in Terminator 2 was made from this stuff. It can patch small holes in the sheetmetal. I'll show some pictures in a later post to demonstrate.
I used the back taping method here. Gives a pretty nice, feathered, blended edge.
All taped up and ready to go--LET'S DO THIS!!!
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MadMace
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Here is the transmission hump.
As could be seen in one of the pictures in the previous post, there was some significant corrosion on the passenger side of the transmission hump. There were 2 areas, albeit small areas, that has been eaten through.
This is the patch that was attained using MasterCoat. Super simple. Tape the underside and paint on top--3 coats. The rust seen in the first picture is now black--that is because of Ospho. Ospho converts iron oxide to iron phosphate. Sand down and you get this:
And this:
Ready for paint. I am very dedicated to keeping as much of her original paint as I can. I only painted areas with MasterCoat that had significant corrosion/pitting (and a small adjacent area to feather out the MasterCoat). Those areas can be clearly seen in this picture.
This is the underside of the transmission hump. I am thinking about painting it 621 but probably will leave it silver.
As could be seen in one of the pictures in the previous post, there was some significant corrosion on the passenger side of the transmission hump. There were 2 areas, albeit small areas, that has been eaten through.
This is the patch that was attained using MasterCoat. Super simple. Tape the underside and paint on top--3 coats. The rust seen in the first picture is now black--that is because of Ospho. Ospho converts iron oxide to iron phosphate. Sand down and you get this:
And this:
Ready for paint. I am very dedicated to keeping as much of her original paint as I can. I only painted areas with MasterCoat that had significant corrosion/pitting (and a small adjacent area to feather out the MasterCoat). Those areas can be clearly seen in this picture.
This is the underside of the transmission hump. I am thinking about painting it 621 but probably will leave it silver.
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MadMace
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As Peter Pan said "...and away we go!!"
Painted with these wonderful products. Started with the degreaser. Then the paint, then the spot blender. After you are done with the degreaser, move it far way so it does not confused with the spot blender. Please do not ask me how I know
Gas tank pan. The pan itself is not smooth--I didn't sand it down too much because, well, it is going to be under the gas tank. The areas that I did sand look smooth and blend very well into the original paint.
Passenger side transmission hump:
Driver side--note you can still see the the scratches in the part of the hump that I left with the original paint--the new blends into the old very well. I guess i could have painted the whole thing but I am absolutely not going to cover up any of her original paint unless absolutely necessary:
Back to front:
Painted with these wonderful products. Started with the degreaser. Then the paint, then the spot blender. After you are done with the degreaser, move it far way so it does not confused with the spot blender. Please do not ask me how I know
Gas tank pan. The pan itself is not smooth--I didn't sand it down too much because, well, it is going to be under the gas tank. The areas that I did sand look smooth and blend very well into the original paint.
Passenger side transmission hump:
Driver side--note you can still see the the scratches in the part of the hump that I left with the original paint--the new blends into the old very well. I guess i could have painted the whole thing but I am absolutely not going to cover up any of her original paint unless absolutely necessary:
Back to front:
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MadMace
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Man, time flies. I have gotten behind on my updates. The 3-day weekend is giving me some breathing room from work so hopefully I can get some entries in. Marion is back on the roads, got her put back together. My son is in heaven riding around in her.
Some pictures below of getting her back together. I first had to deal with this hardline coming through the tub into the evaporation control thing-a-magig. The grommet was toast so I had to track down a new one. After trying to fit some grommets without success found one at a local auto-parts store that fit PERFECT, like it was made for it. I am mainly posting this so others who read this and need a grommet for this area will know where to find one.
Some pictures below of getting her back together. I first had to deal with this hardline coming through the tub into the evaporation control thing-a-magig. The grommet was toast so I had to track down a new one. After trying to fit some grommets without success found one at a local auto-parts store that fit PERFECT, like it was made for it. I am mainly posting this so others who read this and need a grommet for this area will know where to find one.
MadMace
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Coming together!! Seat supports all powder coated black. My son had a great time picking out the powder coat colors. Black, of course, was easy but he also got to pick the bezel and center console colors. There will be some pictures of those later. If it looks like everything in the front has been cleaned and buffed and everything behind the seat brackets hasn't been touched, your eyes are not deceiving you--I haven't done anything to clean up the back yet.
MadMace
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Those of you that have been following along might remember that my roll bar has bolts that I was not familiar with and unlike others I had seen in pictures. Here is a link to that thread where I inquired about them being OEM.
73FJ40 found a parts picture that showed them to be original and likely resistance welded at the factory to help guide installation. The problem was that the nuts were so rust frozen into place that I broke off 6 out of the 8. Truth be told, if I had more experience freeing up rusty bolts I likely could have saved at least half, if not close to all of them.
Because they were OEM and unique when compared to other pictures I had seen, I was dedicated to keeping them. I bought some stainless M10 bolts at Lowes and used a cutting disc to cut the head off them. I ground down the stubs that were left of the sheared off bolts on the plates. My son and I found a local welder who got them welded into place. Had a great time with my son at his shop--it was neat for him to see all the welding equipment. As you can see in the pictures, the welder did an awesome job. After they were welded, we took them for powder coating.
An interesting aside is that the welder actually was confused about why I would want the bolts welded on. He said "Just drill a hole through where the bolts were and place a bolt through it." I had to explain to him that I was trying to keep it as original as possible, at least in appearance. I found it interesting because it is not often that I have somebody trying to talk me out of giving them work.
Although it looks like there is a hole where the bolt was, there is not one. It has been ground down flush with the underside of the plate. You can see where the bolt had been welded to the plate at the factory.
Original bolt in the foreground, new one in the background.
73FJ40 found a parts picture that showed them to be original and likely resistance welded at the factory to help guide installation. The problem was that the nuts were so rust frozen into place that I broke off 6 out of the 8. Truth be told, if I had more experience freeing up rusty bolts I likely could have saved at least half, if not close to all of them.
Because they were OEM and unique when compared to other pictures I had seen, I was dedicated to keeping them. I bought some stainless M10 bolts at Lowes and used a cutting disc to cut the head off them. I ground down the stubs that were left of the sheared off bolts on the plates. My son and I found a local welder who got them welded into place. Had a great time with my son at his shop--it was neat for him to see all the welding equipment. As you can see in the pictures, the welder did an awesome job. After they were welded, we took them for powder coating.
An interesting aside is that the welder actually was confused about why I would want the bolts welded on. He said "Just drill a hole through where the bolts were and place a bolt through it." I had to explain to him that I was trying to keep it as original as possible, at least in appearance. I found it interesting because it is not often that I have somebody trying to talk me out of giving them work.
Although it looks like there is a hole where the bolt was, there is not one. It has been ground down flush with the underside of the plate. You can see where the bolt had been welded to the plate at the factory.
Original bolt in the foreground, new one in the background.
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