My ‘79 FJ40 Build—a long time coming & a long way to go.... (1 Viewer)

[HefJ40]

Go here >Builds - Rebuilding a 40 but no longer in a 1 car garage. - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/rebuilding-a-40-but-no-longer-in-a-1-car-garage.951238/page-56#post-13828663 Start at the beginning. The man has just about recreated every body part on a 40

Awesome, thanks!

 

[HefJ40]

You are not the only one: Builds - Rebuilding a 40 but no longer in a 1 car garage. - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/rebuilding-a-40-but-no-longer-in-a-1-car-garage.951238/page-26

You can buy those ends separately, I don’t remember who sells them.

Thanks for honing in on this...it’s exactly what I was looking for. I’ll read through the entire thread this weekend. I’ve already removed my channel and recently received the replacement, but there are already issues with it. So I may just scrap the new one and fab up the ends. Great to see someone’s done it.

 

[HefJ40]

Second rebuild is equally as hard because I am trying to do something much more complicated. I'm rebuilding the same 40 again after thirty years. Bought a 60 but due to rust decided to transplant the axels, power steering, motor, transmission and driveshafts over to the 40 and scraped the body.

Beer is a decent portion of my budget as well.

Cheers and good luck with your project!

Very cool. Feel free to post a link to your thread here if you have one on this 40 rebuild. I’d love to check it out and follow. Would you happen to be doing a SOA with the 60 springs too? I’ve been back and forth on doing SOA since I have everything torn apart and need new suspension anyway. Conflicting opinions makes it hard to really see the true pros & cons of SOA.
Best of luck on yours a well!

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Don't be fooled, that tub can be saved!!!!!


Kind of looks like my tub when I started on mine, the frame, well, mine was solid.

 

[60 40]

Here's the link to my build, no SOA just 2" OME and 33s.

The 60/40 Project

OK so I'm starting this thread about a 1969 FJ40 I bought from a family friend as my first vehicle about 30 years ago. It was originally a faded blue and had some really roughly plastered on Bondo on a rear corner panel and a hand welded lumber rack that the original owner used to haul heavy...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[HefJ40]

I’ll save the bed for a rainy day. Plenty of other areas to fix.

 

[HefJ40]

Started hitting the frame with a needle scaler. Cleans it up pretty well until it gets blasted.....but there’s so much land cruiser on the floor

 

[HefJ40]

Got the frame looking much better. The boxed sections naturally had 2" of dirt and acorns becoming one with the cruiser. Scraped and vacuumed/blew all that out. Little steps getting checked off the list.

 

[HefJ40]

Before taking out the body mounts and front channel, I welded up a little brace underneath to keep everything where it’s supposed to be.....or at least where it was before starting to hack.
I got the channel out and started laying out a patch at DS seat.

 

[HefJ40]

Let’s give this a go. My first real patch...This one counts!

I used a bunch of scraps to test out different welder settings and gaps.

 

[HefJ40]

I’ll be pulling the suspension, axles and drivetrain soon, so I’ve been thinking about making a ‘Cruiser Cart’, fully adjustable and easy to disassemble and store so I can use it on my next builds as well. It’ll be beefier than needed, but I had access to 2" and 2.5" square tubing.

I like having a clean shop, so being able to move the cruiser in, out and around the shop will make this easier and more enjoyable in the long run. And it will be a long....run.
Here is what I designed and started cutting out and welding up some parts. Bolts and captive nuts let everything be adjustable. Not a new concept, I know, but seems like the easiest way to make this work.

 

[HefJ40]

Melting metal

 

[HefJ40]

Stripping her down

 

[JVZii]

I went through this exact process over the last couple of years. My 79 needed the entire floor replaced. And my mid body mounts were as bad as yours. I had someone bend up the overall shape then formed them in. Looks like you are making progress everyday.

 

[HefJ40]

Thanks for the pics. That helps in trying to reconstruct this thing. I did order a new channel support almost 9 months ago and it just recently arrived. I already removed the seat mounts from the old channel ready to transplant. I’ll see how it fits next weekend hopefully.

One question though: Where the body mounts meet up with the floor pan.....is that supposed to be totally enclosed with metal or is it supposed to be open at the ends?

 

[HefJ40]

I was down for a while with the flu, then playing catch-up at work. Had a good weekend in the shop.
Mobile now. Much easier to move around the shop.

 

[JVZii]

Glad to hear you are back at it The body mount is open on the inner (red arrow) side and then enclosed on the outer (blue arrow) side. To add support I put a 1/4 thick u channel support inside as well.

Did you get your channel support from LC heaven? They are the only company I have seen that sells them.

 

[HefJ40]

Yeah my question was about the outer. I figured it’s supposed to be enclosed, but mine was so gone I had nothing to reference. Enclosing that will take some more metal work. The channel support did come from LCH because that’s the only source I could find as well.

 

[HefJ40]

Started test fitting new quarters. Dry fitting, I noticed the panel seemed to be about 3/8" short as it laps at the B-pillar. Before I started cutting, I called Manny at CCOT and he ensured me it would fit once the old qtr was cut out. It just didn’t seem that the thickness of the steel would allow the panel to shift forward enough to close that 3/8" gap

 

[HefJ40]

Cut out the DS quarter and had to make a quick patch for the bottom 3" of the B-pillar with a tab before fitting the new quarter.