My Favorite Color Is Mustard - A Full Restoration
- Thread starter flatlandhj
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #102
She turns heads wherever she goes.
By the way, there is a new windshield and headliner too.
The D-Link was a souvenir from an overseas flea market that I just had to have integrated into the final look. That's why it's so very large, and also why there is only one of them. It's a special case.
I have pile of recovery gear with half a dozen more of them in different sizes. This one stays on all the time.
By the way, there is a new windshield and headliner too.
The D-Link was a souvenir from an overseas flea market that I just had to have integrated into the final look. That's why it's so very large, and also why there is only one of them. It's a special case.
I have pile of recovery gear with half a dozen more of them in different sizes. This one stays on all the time.
- Thread starter
- #103
Whew. We're up to the present day.
These shots were from a day recently that I washed her for a local car show. I drive her most weekends, to the beach, and when I need to haul anything. The bed liner (LineX) is very durable.
I didn't mention the engine so far. 250Km 2H. It runs like a top. I haven't had to do anything to it. Great compression. It just keeps going.
In colder weather, I've noticed that the routing of the air intake means it takes a little longer to warm up. If I were in a colder climate, I would have switched sides to go over the exhaust manifold. As it is, it would be an easy swap.
I'm saving the space above the manifold for a very special stainless steel burrito box. I have the box, but haven't figured out the best mounting yet. Stay tuned.
Speakers inside are also an issue. No space at all. For the moment, I have some indoor/outdoor boxes on the passenger floor until the right solution comes to me.
These shots were from a day recently that I washed her for a local car show. I drive her most weekends, to the beach, and when I need to haul anything. The bed liner (LineX) is very durable.
I didn't mention the engine so far. 250Km 2H. It runs like a top. I haven't had to do anything to it. Great compression. It just keeps going.
In colder weather, I've noticed that the routing of the air intake means it takes a little longer to warm up. If I were in a colder climate, I would have switched sides to go over the exhaust manifold. As it is, it would be an easy swap.
I'm saving the space above the manifold for a very special stainless steel burrito box. I have the box, but haven't figured out the best mounting yet. Stay tuned.
Speakers inside are also an issue. No space at all. For the moment, I have some indoor/outdoor boxes on the passenger floor until the right solution comes to me.
- Thread starter
- #104
One last note. When I started this, I wasn't expecting to invest so much or spend so much time on it.
When I owned my '73 FJ-40 it didn't always stay on the pavement.
Eventually this one too will go back to her roots and get a little banged up and dirty, but for a little while longer, I'm going to enjoy the shininess.
When I owned my '73 FJ-40 it didn't always stay on the pavement.
Eventually this one too will go back to her roots and get a little banged up and dirty, but for a little while longer, I'm going to enjoy the shininess.
Nice to follow, 
busy weekend for you.
Nice truck by the way.
Cheers
Peter
busy weekend for you.
Nice truck by the way.
Cheers
Peter
- Thread starter
- #106
Thanks Peter. I've followed your posts over the years (as Greenspan?). I love your red truck, and like you, I ride with the top off sometimes.
- Thread starter
- #108
The raised letter tailgate really makes the look of the truck. I had no idea how to get the letters painted correctly. When I heard how Jake was going to do it, I got nervous. My fears were unfounded. The technique was as follows:
1. Clean and prime.
2. Paint the local surface area in the final coloring of the letters. (In my case, the same white as the headache rack, roof, and bezel; Cygnus White T12)
3. Once cured, spray the entire piece in the main color. (532 Yellow)
4. Here's the freaky-sneaky part. Sand off the main color, just from the letters, leaving the underlying color in place.
5. Make sure that everything is clean. Spray the clear coat.
It came out looking great.
1. Clean and prime.
2. Paint the local surface area in the final coloring of the letters. (In my case, the same white as the headache rack, roof, and bezel; Cygnus White T12)
3. Once cured, spray the entire piece in the main color. (532 Yellow)
4. Here's the freaky-sneaky part. Sand off the main color, just from the letters, leaving the underlying color in place.
5. Make sure that everything is clean. Spray the clear coat.
It came out looking great.
whitey45
SILVER Star
I had pretty good results with shanes vinyl lettering! truck turned out great!
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2011
- Threads
- 89
- Messages
- 3,678
- Location
- Harbour City, the New Southern Wales
- Website
- www.freewayoneentertainment.com
I had pretty good results with shanes vinyl lettering! truck turned out great!
Dude I had no idea that was your plate! Classic haha. That plate down here would cost me about $3k to own.
They really stick! once they touch the tailgate it's almost impossible to reposition. Only remove a small portion of the backing until you get them placed where you want them. I also used masking tape on the tailgate as a guide to help me align them.
whitey45
SILVER Star
Dont drink the night before! And take your time!
- Thread starter
- #115
In the first batch of posts I mentioned the dual battery configuration I wanted. Batteries in the bed, switches in the glove box. It was going to be perfect.
- More room under the hood.
- No fear of being left stranded if winching or using lights.
- A slight weight shift to the back
- Ability to keep the unused winch without power
It didn't work out that way.
- More room under the hood.
- No fear of being left stranded if winching or using lights.
- A slight weight shift to the back
- Ability to keep the unused winch without power
It didn't work out that way.
- Thread starter
- #116
So that others may learn from my mistakes. Here's what I did wrong.
1. I used batteries that were too small. It was an easy enough mistake. The batteries were the largest size that would fit within the hatches. It looked good. It seemed reasonable at the time. Nope.
1b. I underestimated the required cranking power for the 2H diesel. It takes more power to turn than the gas engine.
2. Number 2 welding cable is good. It might work for almost every application, but it's not the same as 0 or 00.
3. Using 15 feet of cable versus 2 feet has a real impact. The calculator doesn't lie. V=IR and P=V squared over R. There are baseline tables that show cable resistance. I should have done the calculations BEFORE hooking it all up.
1. I used batteries that were too small. It was an easy enough mistake. The batteries were the largest size that would fit within the hatches. It looked good. It seemed reasonable at the time. Nope.
1b. I underestimated the required cranking power for the 2H diesel. It takes more power to turn than the gas engine.
2. Number 2 welding cable is good. It might work for almost every application, but it's not the same as 0 or 00.
3. Using 15 feet of cable versus 2 feet has a real impact. The calculator doesn't lie. V=IR and P=V squared over R. There are baseline tables that show cable resistance. I should have done the calculations BEFORE hooking it all up.
- Thread starter
- #117
I did hook it up though. It sucked.
Just not enough power to make you feel good about the engine turning over. You had to use both batteries to get a decent crank. There was too much resistance in the total circuit. Weird bits of cable were getting hot.
So, everything get examined. All grounds get upgraded to the AWG 2 welding cable, all connections get cleaned. No dice. Same issue.
The starter gets pulled and rebuilt. Same issue.
NOW the calculator comes out. Too late. I figured that 15 ft of AWG 2 had roughly 10X the resistance of two feet of AWG 00.
I made an expensive heater.
Just not enough power to make you feel good about the engine turning over. You had to use both batteries to get a decent crank. There was too much resistance in the total circuit. Weird bits of cable were getting hot.
So, everything get examined. All grounds get upgraded to the AWG 2 welding cable, all connections get cleaned. No dice. Same issue.
The starter gets pulled and rebuilt. Same issue.
NOW the calculator comes out. Too late. I figured that 15 ft of AWG 2 had roughly 10X the resistance of two feet of AWG 00.
I made an expensive heater.
- Thread starter
- #118
To take the cabling and switched out of the picture, I moved one of the batteries up front. It was so sad to see the nice open space under the hood get filled.
- Thread starter
- #119
When I did this, everything was fine.
Back to normal, except I didn't have what I wanted.
It made sense. I was back to just two feet of AWG 2 cable between the battery and the starter.
To get what I wanted, I would either have to upgrade all of the cable from AWG 2 to AWG 00, change the batteries to larger models, move one or both of the batteries under the hood, or some of each. I was ticked off.
The option to put two batteries under the hood came to mind. This is the solution I had in my '73 FJ40. In this case the switch was just on the other side of the firewall, tucked under the glove box.
Back to normal, except I didn't have what I wanted.
It made sense. I was back to just two feet of AWG 2 cable between the battery and the starter.
To get what I wanted, I would either have to upgrade all of the cable from AWG 2 to AWG 00, change the batteries to larger models, move one or both of the batteries under the hood, or some of each. I was ticked off.
The option to put two batteries under the hood came to mind. This is the solution I had in my '73 FJ40. In this case the switch was just on the other side of the firewall, tucked under the glove box.
- Thread starter
- #120
Unfortunately, my funky air cleaner was now on the wrong side. I couldn't fit two good sized batteries in that space without changing the air intake.
The cable routing was straightforward with AWG 2 when the dash was apart. Running AWG 00 with the dash assembled was going to be very, very frustrating.
The rear hatch brackets were built to hold two batteries that would load from the top. To modify that system to have the batteries load from below was going to be another big pain, with a real risk that larger batteries would show from the side.
I was stuck. No good answer. I screwed up. I was frustrated.
The cable routing was straightforward with AWG 2 when the dash was apart. Running AWG 00 with the dash assembled was going to be very, very frustrating.
The rear hatch brackets were built to hold two batteries that would load from the top. To modify that system to have the batteries load from below was going to be another big pain, with a real risk that larger batteries would show from the side.
I was stuck. No good answer. I screwed up. I was frustrated.
