Builds My Father-in-Law's 1980 FJ40 (2 Viewers)

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nice work. under carriage stuff is so tedious so good job. don’t let suspension scare you off trying. it’s really not a complex job needing special tools or anything. it just takes time and willingness to bust a few knuckles!
Don’t forget doing a thousand crunches!
 
nice work. under carriage stuff is so tedious so good job. don’t let suspension scare you off trying. it’s really not a complex job needing special tools or anything. it just takes time and willingness to bust a few knuckles!
Thanks, as it turns out it was a little more complicated than expected. The local shop had to go back and forth with the manufacturer of the lift kit a few times and in the end, they need to install a shim to level it out. They ended up working on it for a month before they got it right! In the end, it was the right choice for me at this time. Next time around, I will probably feel different.

With respect to the undercarriage, I have all the time in the world, so I am just going to do a little bit at a time. I am beginning to work myself up to taking on the body rust. I figure this is a project that will last me for the rest of my life! 🤣
 
Finished with the front and rear bumpers. Removed all the parts from them, ground off the rust, then primed and painted them. Unfortunately, I sheared off all save one of the bolts on the rear bumper taking the bumperettes and step off. Thank goodness I had one from which to get the correct replacement bolts, as well as the tap necessary for when I drilled out the seven other sheared off bolts.

To replace the old baby winch my brother-in-law installed god only knows when, I ordered a Warn Style Planetary Winch Mounting Bracket Kit for 1958-1984 4x-Series Toyota Land Cruisers - BTB Products - Land Cruiser Restoration and Parts - https://btbprod.com/product/fj40-fj43-fj45-bj40-bj42-bj43-hj47-winch-mounting-bracket-kit-for-warn-style-planetary-winch-1958-1959-1960-1961-1962-1963-1964-1965-1966-1967-1968-1969-1970-1971-1972-1973-1974-1975/ and a VR EVO 8 Winch - 103250 - https://www.warn.com/vr-evo-8-103250. I got a good deal on the VR EV0 8 Warn winch as they were having an end-of-the-year $150 rebate program on top of the already marked down price listed on their website. I can't wait to install them once they show up.

Relocated the license plate to make room for the new winch. Photos are in reverse chronological order.

New Year's Resolution - Finish POR15 treatment of the undercarriage and maybe, just maybe get started on the body!

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The winch and mounting plate arrived. Very straightforward to install. I just need to get a couple of longer bolts to accommodate the tow hook.

I also received taillight assemblies (they were hard to find, finally found them on amazon) and license plate lights. They both definitely needed replacing! Good thing I read the reviews on the taillight assemblies, as someone commented that the wiring of the connector wasn't correct. Got out the multi-meter and buzzed out the old and new connectors. Rewired the new taillight assemblies using the old connectors, as the new connectors were kind of cheap and rather brittle.

Things are looking good!

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I was a little stumped because I was planning to reinstall the amber fog lights on the front bumper. However, when I installed the new winch I had to relocate the license plate to where the fog lights were originally, so now where to put the fog lights? I eventually figured out that I could mount them on either side of winch rollers by attaching a stand-off to where the winch rollers are mounted and then attach the lights to the stand-off.

Here's a before and after picture. It's starting to show a little more attitude!

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Actually if your going for the stock location for the front plate…you nailed it !
 
Actually if your going for the stock location for the front plate…you nailed it !
I couldn't see anywhere else to mount it and still use the original license plate bracket. Unless I attached it directly to the bumper in the middle, but that didn't appeal to me. Glad to have accidentally arrived on the stock location! Thanks!
 
Playing around with DALL-E to see what it might come up with.

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Here's how it described the picture, "Picture a scene where a realistic brown wolf, anthropomorphized and wearing casual human clothes suitable for driving, is seated behind the wheel of a cream-colored 1980 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. The vehicle is set in a stunning forest environment, with the dense foliage of tall trees and underbrush adding to the allure. The wolf appears ready for an adventure. The Land Cruiser is detailed with a green mountain Colorado license plate that reads "WIIPOW", adding a distinctive touch to the vehicle. Sunbeams piercing through the tree canopy bathe the scene in a warm, dappled light, accentuating the classic elegance of the Land Cruiser and the serene beauty of the natural surroundings."
 
@BrownWolf are you saying you described what you wanted into the computer and it produced this image?
 
Playing around with DALL-E to see what it might come up with.

View attachment 3568731

Here's how it described the picture, "Picture a scene where a realistic brown wolf, anthropomorphized and wearing casual human clothes suitable for driving, is seated behind the wheel of a cream-colored 1980 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. The vehicle is set in a stunning forest environment, with the dense foliage of tall trees and underbrush adding to the allure. The wolf appears ready for an adventure. The Land Cruiser is detailed with a green mountain Colorado license plate that reads "WIIPOW", adding a distinctive touch to the vehicle. Sunbeams piercing through the tree canopy bathe the scene in a warm, dappled light, accentuating the classic elegance of the Land Cruiser and the serene beauty of the natural surroundings."
Unreal.
 
Playing around with DALL-E to see what it might come up with.

View attachment 3568731

Here's how it described the picture, "Picture a scene where a realistic brown wolf, anthropomorphized and wearing casual human clothes suitable for driving, is seated behind the wheel of a cream-colored 1980 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. The vehicle is set in a stunning forest environment, with the dense foliage of tall trees and underbrush adding to the allure. The wolf appears ready for an adventure. The Land Cruiser is detailed with a green mountain Colorado license plate that reads "WIIPOW", adding a distinctive touch to the vehicle. Sunbeams piercing through the tree canopy bathe the scene in a warm, dappled light, accentuating the classic elegance of the Land Cruiser and the serene beauty of the natural surroundings."
Amazing.

I'm a fan of the ram air hood scoop and spherical polished chrome axle hub end caps! With so much detail, its a head scratcher AI can't get text aesthetics correct.
 
I am amazed!🤯
 
Yep, it’s one of the open.ai tools DALL-E. Their other one is ChatGPT.
While it is indeed stunning (and somewhat frightening. Not the picture, our infant future overlord) I’m partial to your wife’s drawing.

My wife did this for me awhile back.

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But yes, I am busily writing what I want from AI…
 

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