- Thread starter
- #21
Oh wow I never considered that it may be a fst. That’s really cool. Thanks
Builds My 1972 Fj40 Build
- Thread starter JustOneMore
- Start date
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- #22
Yes it has been changed to a different gauge cluster. Unfortunately the original one did not come with it. I'm sure as I get into the stack of receipts and everything I'll find when the new one was bought and hopefully some documentation of how many miles it had before that.
Thanks! I'll definitely keep the pics coming!
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- #23
Yeah right now a spare tire carrier won't work at all but I'm planning to fix that. The bumper right now is just a big piece of round tube welded to a couple of pieces of rectangle tube that are welded to the original bumper. I'm planning to cut that off and put the factory taillights, reflectors, and bumperettes on. That makes complete sense about having the spare on the driver side to make accessing the back easier. Thanks!It does look like you may have a 75+ hardtop and ambulance doors on your 71. Spare carrier was on the driver's side for that style top to allow the rear passenger side door to open easily and the license plate was on that door as well during those years. Unfortunately with your current taillights it doesn't look like a spare carrier would be able to fit or function on either side. Probably why the previous owner went land rover and mounted the spare on the hood.
Pura Vida
What an absolute noob
You mentioned you wanted a 4+ bumper? Or are you going to OEM?
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- #25
I'm thinking I'm going to do the 4+ tire carrier
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- #26
Work has been crazy lately so I haven’t been updating this but I have still been doing some work and have some updates. I got in my lift springs and tires and got them installed. I went with 4” skyjackers and 33x10.50 accelera badak extremes. I love the look. They’re a pretty big jump up from what was on there before.
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- #27
I also made a lot of progress with the paint. The entire body except for the top was finished. I pulled it out of the shop, took the top off, and took it apart to make it a little easier to clean it off.
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- #28
Having the top off and apart also let me check the rust under all the seals and weatherstripping. It was way better than I expected. What rust is there is getting treat with rust converter and then sprayed with fluid film to keep it from getting any worse. I also ordered all new seals and weatherstripping from city racer that I’m going to install.
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- #29
I also checked all the top parts for rust and while there was some it was again better than expected. I forgot to get the before pictures but this is after being treated
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- #30
As for the paint, it’s almost finished. All of the big parts are done. The only things left are some little things like hinges and few small parts of the top, and the roof itself which is going to get repaired white anyway. Everything came out great. As someone guessed earlier, the rear passenger side where the spare tire carrier should be was a little messed up. It’s had some body work done and not done very well. Thankfully though it’s all sealed pretty well and no water has gotten in to cause any rust. I don’t love it but for now I’m going to leave it. I just don’t want to get into fixing it and have it I drivable right when the weather is getting good. All the underside will be coated in fluid film and the outside will be waxed. It will be kept under cover any time it’s sitting so it shouldn’t start rusting out or anything for now. I also have to say I’m super thankful for my dad who has been helping out a ton. We both worked on stripping the spray paint off but he did all the polishing which was a huge help
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- #31
That just about catches us up. The most recent couple things that have been done are the wheels. Got them repainted. I know they should be gray from the factory for a 72 but I really like black wheels so that’s what I went with. If I want to change it later I always can. For a while I wasn’t able to decide what I wanted to do with the hubs. I knew I wanted the green paint off of them but I didn’t know what to go back with. My dad found some stuff online that showed how they looked from the factory so he took them apart, cleaned them, and put them back how they were. We also got hubcaps and clips and put those on. I love how it came out
I like your style, Landcruiser, deer heads and Square body Chevrolets.
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- #33
I appreciate it. The square body was my first real car project so I’m trying to apply everything I learned on it to the 40
sterling
SILVER Star
New wheels and tires totally a game changer
Looks great
Any plans to change the bezel to the factory color?
Looks great
Any plans to change the bezel to the factory color?
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- #35
Yes definitely! As soon as I can make some room in the shop for paint the roof and bezel are going back to white
sterling
SILVER Star
For my top I (and others)use Rust Oleum Marine paint, very pleased with the results for not alot of $.
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- #38
Good to know. Thanks!
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- #39
The last few weeks have been pretty busy so I haven’t got as much done as I’d like but I’m making progress where I can. I forgot to take pictures but I pulled the old windshield base weatherstrip, cleaned under it, treated the little bit of rust there was, and replaced it with a new seal from City Racer.
While I was driving it the first few weeks I had it, I had started to notice that the clutch would work fine when I first started driving but after a while it got to where it didn’t want to release and made it really hard to shift. After doing some reading on here, I decided to replace the clutch master and slave cylinders. I went with Aisin replacements from JT outfitters.
I had also noticed over time that I was losing brake fluid from the rear reservoir of my brake mc. Unfortunately when I went to work on the clutch master, I found the brake fluid was leaking out of the master, through the booster, and down the inside of the firewall. Obviously my master was bad after reading it seemed likely it had ruined my booster too so I decided to replace those too. Got the new mc and booster from city racer and ended redoing the clutch cylinders and brake booster/master all at the same time. While bleeding the brakes I found I had a loose hard line on the rear axle that was leaking. Thankfully I just had to tighten it up and it was all good.
After finishing that up I was able to drive it a little bit again. I put it in low just to creep around the yard at first and noticed a not great noise coming from somewhere in the front end. I stopped, took it out of 4wd, started again, and it was gone. That let me know it has something to do with the running gear. I got my dad to help me look and listen and we found the u joints on the front driveshaft were pretty shot. They hadn’t made any noise before, but the new springs must have changed the angle enough for them to start. I got new ones from cruiser outfitters and got them replaced. Also greased both driveshafts as I was reinstalling the front one.
Once all those things were fixed, I took it on a drive. I’m happy to report everything seems to be working great. Clutch and brakes both feel good and the new u joints took care of the squeaking in 4wd.
While I was driving it the first few weeks I had it, I had started to notice that the clutch would work fine when I first started driving but after a while it got to where it didn’t want to release and made it really hard to shift. After doing some reading on here, I decided to replace the clutch master and slave cylinders. I went with Aisin replacements from JT outfitters.
I had also noticed over time that I was losing brake fluid from the rear reservoir of my brake mc. Unfortunately when I went to work on the clutch master, I found the brake fluid was leaking out of the master, through the booster, and down the inside of the firewall. Obviously my master was bad after reading it seemed likely it had ruined my booster too so I decided to replace those too. Got the new mc and booster from city racer and ended redoing the clutch cylinders and brake booster/master all at the same time. While bleeding the brakes I found I had a loose hard line on the rear axle that was leaking. Thankfully I just had to tighten it up and it was all good.
After finishing that up I was able to drive it a little bit again. I put it in low just to creep around the yard at first and noticed a not great noise coming from somewhere in the front end. I stopped, took it out of 4wd, started again, and it was gone. That let me know it has something to do with the running gear. I got my dad to help me look and listen and we found the u joints on the front driveshaft were pretty shot. They hadn’t made any noise before, but the new springs must have changed the angle enough for them to start. I got new ones from cruiser outfitters and got them replaced. Also greased both driveshafts as I was reinstalling the front one.
Once all those things were fixed, I took it on a drive. I’m happy to report everything seems to be working great. Clutch and brakes both feel good and the new u joints took care of the squeaking in 4wd.
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- #40
Next I finished cleaning up the paint. The polishing was finished but it had gathered a lot of dust over the last month or so if sitting, so I cleaned it off and started waxing it. I’m super happy with how it came out. Much nicer than when I first got it.
