Builds My attempt at bringing another FJ40 back to life (2 Viewers)

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I tell people that if they plan to actually wheel their Cruiser they should get a season or two of seat time before they spray the exterior. It makes the learning curve less worrisome ...and less painful.
 
Great advice 65swb45. My 76 "Toylet" snorts but it's too nice to thrash on. I think it has 3 small scratches;)

Hopefully this 71 and I will get to breathe some fresh mountain air soon.

I got my horns mounted and functioning. I bought a bunch of wiring stuff from Coolerman and it came in handy today. Built a couple extensions using GW wire and his pressure style terminals were perfect. Also had to use his horn relay as my OEM 71 seemed shot. God bless Coolerman! Also shaped a rubber washer to replace the cracked one on the brush plate.
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Cut with scissors and ground to shape with a pink Dremel chainsaw sharpening bit.
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Slowly checking small to-do's off my list. Been vasilating back and forth on whether to scrub up my air cleaner and call it good or to spend time removing all the rust. Every time I have wire wheeling session I kick myself for not investing in a blast cabinet. Oh well.
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The things we do for our cruisers
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Still need to fab up a bracket for my fuel filter
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I ended up having to move my elephant horn forward.
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Thanks gator. I learned when you remove all the paint around the "equator" of the air cleaner base, pleats are present. I shoulda just removed rust from the base and scuffed the sides. Instead, I took it all down to bare steel. Luckily I had 2 rattle cans of high build filler/primer to smooth it back out. It's not perfect, but all the rust went bye-bye. The goofy part is I have a sandblasted cleaner off a 74 I coulda painted and installed. Feels good to gussy up another rusty part though.
 
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Bit of a letdown monday, I drove to my Upholstry guy's on May 1st hoping to see some progress. 2 months and my seats haven't moved.

So tonight I slathered my bib with Naval jelly to clean up some rust. Instead of using my usual nylon brush to scrub the gel, I tried some 2000 grit waterproof sandpaper. Some may cringe at my new method, but it made quick work of the rust. Paint still has a sheen. @C6H12O6
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I can't express how much I wish I didn't have people in town for a wedding this weekend. Rehearsal tonight, bachelor party tomorrow, big dinner for everybody at our house Saturday, and the wedding on Sunday. The results you posted up are downright inspiring, and I have to stare at my new project just taunting me from the garage. Looking good, man.
 
Yeah, I know the feeling well. I figured I'd do a Naval Jelly session tonight to torture you while your burnin' daylight at the wedding festivities;). The good news is your cruiser has about 1% of rust mine does.

Forgot to add I occasionally dipped my paper in water to clear grit away.
 
Mark, I have been going thru the karma cruiser, panel by panel, the same way, for years now. Over and over I count my blessings that I was able to convince the PO not to have the truck resprayed. I spent a couple of days last fall working on just the rear quarters and the hatch while I was out camping.

I did the inside of the apron on the 45 in the early winter. Original paint from 1964 came back to life.

Makes me smile, every time.

It's gotta make you smile too.
 
Yeah, once I heard the engine run I really took interest in polishing her up a bit. When I installed a M.O.R headlight bucket, I flipped the bib down, polished the inside and painted the mesh grill. My Elephant horn project led to inside fender/apron cleaning. The racer65 booster resulted in a cleaned firewall. I lucked out and got a $100 upper dash pad from from a fellow mudder, foam was crumbling off mine. The pad cleaned up so nicely, it led to pulling dash switches apart and restoring them. As many on this site know, there is enjoyment to be had in making slow and steady improvements. I do smile when I think about how nice this little 40 is.

Just did remove the lower dash pads. They are in poor condition. May give those repop lower pads a try. Discovered the PO tried to cut a rectangle in the dash and started to hack under the switches.
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You should see what's behind my ashtray bezel! Or not! :eek:
 
About a month a ago I ran across a trailer light I bought years ago. I modified it to mount where a Vader light would be on a fst. I always wondered what the RG wire taped to my harness was for. Turns out it's wired in with the dome light switch.
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No dash was harmed during the making of this Map light. The "custom" 4 Bolt pattern fit inside existing factory hole and a backing plate was used to sandwich the assembly.:hillbilly:
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