Builds My 1965 FJ45 LWB (1 Viewer)

[kunzma]

So here it is the day it arrived spring of 2014 while I was off touring Yellowstone with my girlfriend. My brother graciously came home early from work to offload it in his driveway. Long term plan is to get it road worthy and find the missing carburetor, seats, dome light, tail lights...etc. Does have the original engine and transmission. Lots of other parts are in boxes but sorely needing some attention. Super excited to dive into a new project!

 

[kunzma]

The windshield unfortunately did not survive the trip. If anyone is interested in the markings of original glass here is the door glass. Took the windshield down to the local auto glass guys and they used it as a template for the new glass. Three days and $90, I now have to locate a set of rubber window gaskets as every bit of rubber on her has dry rotted. Girlfriend has taken to calling it "The Grey Lady." It must be wearing off because I'm using she and her frequently.

 

[kunzma]

First order of business is to sort out what to do about the rims and tires. They are nearly bald in the rear and are from three different manufacturers.
Went with a stock look. Rims came in black paint, which Poser pointed out would be stock for a 1965, but I bought some gray paint from Cruiser Corps (spendy) because I think it looks better. The tires were bought from Universal Vintage Tire Co. (L78-15 STA Super Traxion) in Hershey, PA. "Tall skinnies" is the way I have heard them referred as.
Quickly coming to the conclusion that this is not a truck that deserves a detailed restoration. Too much is missing for that type of work. I couldn't afford, nor do I have the space in my small garage to undertake that much work. The goal now is to have her running by the end of the summer of 2014.

 

[Bear]

Congrats--looks like a good and worthwhile project !

 

[45Kevin]

Get that thing running by July and go to the Black Hills Cruiser Classic.

It would be nice to see several 45's there.

 

[kunzma]

Put in an order for the parts that were missing.

 

[kunzma]

More goodies to put parts on with. Little things seem to have gone missing or if it is rubber it has completely rotted.

 

[kunzma]

Ordered a tailgate and a headache rack from Awl_TEQ. Both are great. The tailgate is very accurate and the rack is a kit that needs some welding. Next major tool purchase is a welder. Took the gate to a painter to get it primed until I can pick a color.

 

[76FJ40]

Nice find! Good luck with your build.

 

[47coeman]

Always feels good when you can make progress on your projects and get them closer to drive them, you are not far off.

 

[Varty Yo]

Nice im welding up my rack i got from kevin this week!

 

[kunzma]

A lot of time has passed on this refurbishment. Several Mud members have been helpful with parts along the way and I should be more diligent in posting "thank you's" on this thread. A new year is here so here we go 2016...

 

[kunzma]

I can't seem to download any pictures right now. I will work that out later. For now I will try and stay close to the actual time line.

Summer 2014 I worked towards getting the truck running and finding missing pieces. Most of the rubber had rotted so that needed replacement. Found most of the rubber on SOR's and Cruiser Corps' site. I price compared and went with the cheapest. Didn't get burned except for the lower windshield frame seal, that didn't look right since it was for the fj40 and the vent holes were not close. I still have the original that I may still try and use.


Had all of the glass arrive safely except the windshield that broke enroute. The local glass guy used it as a template. Followed the advice from the threads on glass installation. Worked well except I tore the windshield gasket using a smaller gauge rope. Got a larger gauge rope and it went in much easier.

 

[kunzma]

I bought the nuts and bolts I needed from SOR to put parts on to get her safely running. Spendy, but they offered them in the small quantities I needed. I would hate to buy a whole trucks worth of nuts and bolts this way. Most of the other nuts and bolts are rusted on and will need to be a long term replacement project.

 

[kunzma]

The brakes were in sad shape. The emergency brake didn't work at all, save that for later. The fronts looked ok, just needed new shoes. The rears needed new shoes, drums, and cylinders. Went with original cylinders so I didn't have to change the lines out also. Plan calls for a winter visit to LCR4WD to have Poser put a two inch lift kit. Also a disk brake kit for the front and a two line brake master cylinder. The clutch master cylinder leaked a little, going to leave that for awhile.

 

[kunzma]

The electrical was in fairly good shape. It was missing the harness to the rear taillights and the harness to the headlights and horns. Since this seems to be not much or to complicated I went with original style wires and connectors. Found everything I needed including diagrams on Cruiser Wiring. Coolerman was very helpful in making educated guesses about what I should do for the rear harness. He didn't have much in the way of diagrams on the 1965 fj45 but he could point me in a direction based on all his knowledge and I feel pretty confident that I got close. He also had everything I needed in stock so when I found time to work on it, it went pretty fast.
Cruiser Wiring

 

[kunzma]

Towards the end of the summer I felt I had made good progress. I just needed to get it running like I had planned. The fuel system needed to be replaced. The fuel tank was not for a 1965 and neither was the fuel filler neck. When I was assembling the parts in the previous owner's backyard I didn't know all the small differences. The previous owner was helpful but I realize now he wasn't familiar with all the differences either. So I ended up with some stuff for later 40's like the gas tank and filler neck. ClemsonCruiser came threw with the gas tank. Mark's Offroad supplied a replacement big window single barrel carb. The rubber piece between the neck and tank isn't available anymore so I used one from the local auto store and cut to fit. Works well. The filler neck needed more holes in the flange to line up with the holes in the cab. A couple of trips to find the right rubber for gas line between the tank and the hardline and I had a fuel system. Poser pointed out that I had sediment in the fuel filter bowl. Looks like a good cleaning and professional sealing is needed. Many thanks to my friend Barry for assisting in getting the truck to start, run and stop. I Found out he used to work on old Toyotas when he was a mechanic in the Caribbean in the 1980s and 90s. He had it running within an hour of showing up. Love old Toyotas!

 

[kunzma]

Early September 2014 I ran to the DMV. Not a bad experience at all. Explained how I purchased it and that it hadn't been licensed by the previous owner. Not a hassle. Left with a temporary registration within the hour. Street legal. Grabbed the girlfriend and went to Dairy Queen to celebrate.


Pics on the road.

 

[kunzma]

Fall of 2014, not much exciting happened, other than getting it running. Purchased a small welder. I hope to be able to do some of the body work on the truck with it. I was able to successfully weld Awl-teq's headache rack with it. Not bad for the first time welding. After running for awhile several leaks appeared. Leak around the rear diff. Not serious. Poser talked me through this and supplied the right kit. Rear wheel brake cylinder needed to be replaced on the right side. I thought I could get away with just replacing the left side earlier.

Worked the Mud forum to find a couple of knobs for the dash. A couple of the lugs and latches for the roof and cab. Thanks to Whitey45, ecgruen, and Rix 45 for selling me their extras.

 

[kunzma]

I didn't have taillights. I chose to stay original here for some reason. Whitey had a rusty set of buckets that wasn't to bad. I disassembled them, had them blasted and powder coated in black. Not original, I think they would have been plated in yellow zink, but it was cheap and my powder coater was shooting black that day. I bought two sets of sockets to re-lamp them. Sprayed the interior of the buckets with some silver paint I had on the shelf to increase the brightness. Everything worked well except the former owner had mixed up some wires in the dash harness. That took some doing to get that right, but in the end I got all the lights to come on at the right time. Nobody reproduces the original two-color lens gaskets anymore so I made some out the three-color gaskets. Not perfect but for the first try it will work. Some day when 3D printing becomes cheap I'll have something close to copy. Electrical is mostly complete, just need a dome light for the interior of the cab.