Build Mississippi Delta Beast - 1974 FJ-40 Rescue and Rehabilitation

[wngrog]

1974 best year made

I have never had a strong F1.5 in any of my rigs......this thing is a beast. Love it.

 

[wngrog]

Nolan, when you sprayed on the bedliner did you use it straight or did you thin it?

Straight......it went on nice. We used a good stir rod on my drill to keep it even.

 

[wngrog]

Paint that ugly blue valve cover..... black

The engine bay is as it will be. I actually like the look. Its super clean under there......

 

[wngrog]

I put the seats in thinking the owner would be coming back to drive it yesterday, Lou also had a brand new Tuffy console that would not work in his truck. He sold it to this project for 50 cents on the dollar. This will give Brian a place to lock up his things when he stops off at some fine Delta eateries......Thanks @under_psi we will bring him to Lou's on his next trip and he can sample some of your fine dining.....

I'm really bummed this driver seat has one tear. The rest of both seats are almost perfect.

 

[wngrog]

The electrical system seemed good but I have no headlights. I reached under the dash to check fuses and the fuse box fell apart. Dammit.

I look on @Racer65 site and he was sold out of fuse boxes and was so sad to see him sold out. I Hail Mary'ed him to see if he had one.....and he did!! I ordered up one......also some of his cool LED headlights for those dark Delta nights and a lift gate handle.....

In the mean time I pulled as much stuff as I could without pulling the heater and cleaned up all the weird wiring. Hopefully I can plug in the new fusebox and this thing will be "wired" If not, it will be close.

The speedo was not working but it is new so it wasn't a problem at the cluster.......

 

[wngrog]

I traced the speedo cable into the transfer case and it wasn't spinning in the speedo housing on the Tcase.

I decided to pull the NASTY skid plate off and just clean up and possible pull the speedo tail housing and just get a new one from @Mudrak like I did on my Pig.

I think there was 20# of mud on top of the skid......

I reached up and checked the rear driveshaft......solid. Joints tights. Good.

I reached up and checked the front driveshaft....joints.....solid. Tight.

Front output.....loose. s***! Pulled the shaft. Nut is tight. Bearing is shot. DAMMIT! The transfer case was difficult to shift but I had gotten it to shift so I thought it was OK.

I wanted to change the clutch out while I had the tranny cover off so I was going to pull this down, but now I have to find a 4 speed case. And of course, thats on me. It was busted when I sold it.

This dirty ass thing was driving me crazy anyway.

 

[wngrog]

This sucks.

It was full of nasty ass watery muddy 90 wt.

Explains the hard shifting and no speedo working.

 

[MScruiser]

Dang, that blows. You gonna buy a new used one, send it to Georg, or try and do a rebuild yourself?

Before you toss it, fill it up with some deisel and ATF and let it sit for a few days; rig up a way to get it spinning with a heavy drill or something else. The deisel and ATF have tons of detergents in them that ought to clea the s*** out of that t case. You might get lucky and only have to replace a bearing or two.

It's worth a shot to save you a ton of time and money.

 

[wngrog]

Dang, that blows. You gonna buy a new used one, send it to Georg, or try and do a rebuild yourself?

Before you toss it, fill it up with some deisel and ATF and let it sit for a few days; rig up a way to get it spinning with a heavy drill or something else. The deisel and ATF have tons of detergents in them that ought to clea the s*** out of that t case. You might get lucky and only have to replace a bearing or two.

I'm going to find a good 4 speed case. If that's not quick and cheap I'm going to convert one of the 3 3-speed cases I have to 4 speed with $200 in bearings from @cruiseroutfit

 

[ROSSJOHN75]

A few more shots.....thanks to @wct49 at the 49Tire Pro's in Richland MS for putting my KM2's on this morning while I was at work.

They completely transformed this 40 IMO

Did you have to put any kind of lift or change the suspension at all for those to fit? I'm about the buy new rubber and would REALLY like to go 33" instead of 31" without having to completely revamp the suspension.

 

[wngrog]

Did you have to put any kind of lift or change the suspension at all for those to fit? I'm about the buy new rubber and would REALLY like to go 33" instead of 31" without having to completely revamp the suspension.

It's got decent shape stock springs and 1.5" over stock shackles.

So it's likely stock height.

They fit great.

I have them on my FJ55 too with stock height springs.

People love to over lift 40's. Not me.

 

[wngrog]

I went to get a lift gate for the 74 and some footman's loops and ended up bringing the whole thing home......

 

[JackA]

You are making me jealous......lucky bastard

 

[G-Cat]

I dang near lost my drink on the keyboard. That is awesome Grog

 

[bigezvol]

Nolan, you willing to let go of anything off of that donor or are you going to revive it? Might need a few things for my 74 resto.

 

[wngrog]

Nolan, you willing to let go of anything off of that donor or are you going to revive it? Might need a few things for my 74 resto.

I'm going to offer it up initially as a whole truck. It needs floor pans but I happen to have that exact part on another partial tub.

I'd love to see it survive whole.

Pm me what you might need

 

[AggiePE]

Pm sent

 

[onemanarmy]

crap where do you keep finding these?

Great save and perfect patina on the new hunting rig.

 

[gwalt584]

I love the patina. great find and save.
Gary

 

[wngrog]

I'm sad I got this close and now have to find a Tcase. I'll get it though. All part of the fun.