jim land
SILVER Star
Take a close pic of your decal, camera square with the surface and you can have a new decal made from the pic
Builds My Hawaiian 1975 Fj40 Resto-resurrection (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Aloha Jen
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Hi jan,saw your build tread,looks like not a short project,ive done a few myself
im going to visit Oahu end of january,are there many cruiser lovers on the Island?
i know is not a very big island,are there any offroad trails to go on?
Simon
im going to visit Oahu end of january,are there many cruiser lovers on the Island?
i know is not a very big island,are there any offroad trails to go on?
Simon
- Thread starter
- #63
It’s been a really long time since I updated this thread. There has been some progress, but it’s mostly been collecting all the missing parts that disappeared off my 40 over the years of PO’s. The piles of parts are getting ridiculous, but hopefully really soon they will make their way back on to the 40!
New oem parts were sourced when I found out that a lot of parts were still available from Toyota. My favorite is the new lock set, will be nice to have one key for all the doors!
New oem parts were sourced when I found out that a lot of parts were still available from Toyota. My favorite is the new lock set, will be nice to have one key for all the doors!
- Thread starter
- #64
Most of the parts I’ve collected have been used. Some I’ve been able to find locally or on neighbor islands, but most have come from the mainland from members in this forum.
A really lucky find here in Hawaii have been some front doors from Kauai to replace my rusty Swiss cheese doors that are currently on there. They are in really great shape under the cardboard!
Little by little it’s coming along!!!
A really lucky find here in Hawaii have been some front doors from Kauai to replace my rusty Swiss cheese doors that are currently on there. They are in really great shape under the cardboard!
Little by little it’s coming along!!!
- Thread starter
- #65
One of the best parts finds (and saddest) has been from a 40 that was left to rot away in the jungle. The property owner said it was getting hauled off the the junk yard, so we could take anything from it we needed. It was hot, raining off and on, and full of mosquitoes. But we’ll worth the salvage efforts.
Pretty good haul of used parts.
Even got the fiberglass roof off it as a spare. Was in really good shape considering the conditions it has sat in for the last 15 years, but will be great to restore it and have as a spare here in Hawaii.
My beautiful 80 did a great job of transporting it home!!
Pretty good haul of used parts.
Even got the fiberglass roof off it as a spare. Was in really good shape considering the conditions it has sat in for the last 15 years, but will be great to restore it and have as a spare here in Hawaii.
My beautiful 80 did a great job of transporting it home!!
- Thread starter
- #66
Clean up and restoring some of these used parts has been very satisfying. I love new parts, but being able repurpose working old parts and reuse them has been fun.
My 40 was missing the rear license plate holder. Found a great new used one... little cleanup, some rust removal and paint...and now ready for another 40 years of service!
One of my favorites was this old radio from a 40. It had become a birthing center for a family of geckos (those are gecko eggs inside the window there in case you are unfamiliar with what gecko eggs look like).
Cleaned up pretty nice, just needs a little touch up paint on the outer trim. Was even able to replace the burned out green light inside with a new LED one.
My 40 was missing the rear license plate holder. Found a great new used one... little cleanup, some rust removal and paint...and now ready for another 40 years of service!
One of my favorites was this old radio from a 40. It had become a birthing center for a family of geckos (those are gecko eggs inside the window there in case you are unfamiliar with what gecko eggs look like).
Cleaned up pretty nice, just needs a little touch up paint on the outer trim. Was even able to replace the burned out green light inside with a new LED one.
- Thread starter
- #67
Enough parts pictures, here are some of the 40. A house remodeling project forced the moving of the 40 from its comfy spot in my covered patio.
It was temporarily relocated to a gated storage lot around the corner from my house. It was only supposed to be 1 month.....but construction drama at my house turned its temporary stay into 8 months!!
It was wasn’t good for the rust to be out in the elements that long, but we didn’t have a lot of say in the matter. Plus, I would go visit it every couple of weeks (mostly to make sure it was still there and that the jungle wasn’t trying to swallow it up).
It was temporarily relocated to a gated storage lot around the corner from my house. It was only supposed to be 1 month.....but construction drama at my house turned its temporary stay into 8 months!!
It was wasn’t good for the rust to be out in the elements that long, but we didn’t have a lot of say in the matter. Plus, I would go visit it every couple of weeks (mostly to make sure it was still there and that the jungle wasn’t trying to swallow it up).
- Thread starter
- #68
Thankfully the time came to take the 40 back home from the storage lot.
It was very hard to go work on it when it was there, so progress should pick up on it now. Can you tell how happy I am to get it back home?!
It was towed back to my house where the tear down has slowly started to happen. There is still quite a bit of construction going on at my house, the 40 can only be torn down enough that it can still be easily moved out of the way for construction to get finished up. Hopefully we will be all wrapped up in the next two months and we can really dig in!!
But fist to go on it’s return home was the hideous tube style bumpers that were on there.
And after!
Much much better in my opinion, and now those areas are ready for the oem tail lights, bumperettes, and rear step. I have a new front bumper on order from my Toyota dealership, so will be very nice to get that all bolted up. It’s slowly looking less like a Jeep and more like a 40!!!!
It was very hard to go work on it when it was there, so progress should pick up on it now. Can you tell how happy I am to get it back home?!
It was towed back to my house where the tear down has slowly started to happen. There is still quite a bit of construction going on at my house, the 40 can only be torn down enough that it can still be easily moved out of the way for construction to get finished up. Hopefully we will be all wrapped up in the next two months and we can really dig in!!
But fist to go on it’s return home was the hideous tube style bumpers that were on there.
And after!
Much much better in my opinion, and now those areas are ready for the oem tail lights, bumperettes, and rear step. I have a new front bumper on order from my Toyota dealership, so will be very nice to get that all bolted up. It’s slowly looking less like a Jeep and more like a 40!!!!
- Thread starter
- #69
Some progress on the interior has been completed. If you go back to page one on the day I brought the 40 home, you can see the gross smurf blue rear jumper seats that were on there. The fold down seats were taken out and the grossness was removed....very satisfying!!
Some rust repair is in order for the seat frame, but fresh seat cushions and new black seat covers from Cruiser Corps will follow the frame repairs.
And a shot of my little helper! He is the worst helper, choosing to just get into trouble instead of helping, but he’s so dang cute it makes up for all of it!!
Some rust repair is in order for the seat frame, but fresh seat cushions and new black seat covers from Cruiser Corps will follow the frame repairs.
And a shot of my little helper! He is the worst helper, choosing to just get into trouble instead of helping, but he’s so dang cute it makes up for all of it!!
Pleased to see you're still on the job. I was beginning to worry. There's nothing more noble than saving a rustbucket 40, so good on ya for keeping the faith. 
- Thread starter
- #71
Thanks for the encouraging words. It’s a huge effort in front of us, but we are really excited to get it fixed up and back on the road.Pleased to see you're still on the job. I was beginning to worry. There's nothing more noble than saving a rustbucket 40, so good on ya for keeping the faith.
- Thread starter
- #72
Next up is cleaning and restoring some of the interior dash parts and the steering wheel. Pretty straight forward for the procedure on the dash pieces, going to remove all the rust with wire brush and chemicals (evaporust or Ospho) then paint to protect metal.
But the steering wheel is a whole different animal. Was tough to get off, but went with some encouragement with a big sledgehammer on the center pin as I pulled out on it.
But the steering wheel grip part seems to just crumble off when you scratch it with a finger nail or rub anything on it with a small bit of pressure. It just the top layer, as there is a solid porous core just underneath that layer.
Any ideas on how to best restore it? How best to fill in the porous areas or build up the uneven surface of the steering grip? Any suggestions would be appreciated!!
But the steering wheel is a whole different animal. Was tough to get off, but went with some encouragement with a big sledgehammer on the center pin as I pulled out on it.
But the steering wheel grip part seems to just crumble off when you scratch it with a finger nail or rub anything on it with a small bit of pressure. It just the top layer, as there is a solid porous core just underneath that layer.
Any ideas on how to best restore it? How best to fill in the porous areas or build up the uneven surface of the steering grip? Any suggestions would be appreciated!!
samatulich
SILVER Star
I always degrease, sand, and put a coat of epoxy on then shape it with sandpaper. Feel free to contact me, if you have questions.
Jimmy (BIRDHEAD)
- Thread starter
- #75
Making some slow progress. Dug out the old wheels from storage to cleanup and prepare for paint.
But 2 of them were the riveted kind (and I have front disc brakes), and since I needed to order a new spare wheel from Toyota, just added on 2 more from the dealer to make all 5 match.
And since I was without a front bumper, added that and a new front license plate holder to the order.
But 2 of them were the riveted kind (and I have front disc brakes), and since I needed to order a new spare wheel from Toyota, just added on 2 more from the dealer to make all 5 match.
And since I was without a front bumper, added that and a new front license plate holder to the order.
- Thread starter
- #76
Also had a little luck this last week by finding these hardtop side panels come up for sale here in Hawaii. This is pretty huge for us, as our current side panels are nearly beyond repair with the amount of rust rot.
These are really clean and very little rust repair needed. They are not the correct year side panel for my 1975, but they came with a really nice sliding rear window, so it’s a acceptable compromise.
These are really clean and very little rust repair needed. They are not the correct year side panel for my 1975, but they came with a really nice sliding rear window, so it’s a acceptable compromise.
Michael B
SILVER Star
Those are very nice side panels. That purchase will save you a lot of time and effort!
- Thread starter
- #78
Yes, we knew they had to be replaced when we bought the 40. The upper and lower lips of the side panels had rotted away almost entirely. There wasn’t much metal left that was secured to the bottom tub or to the roof gutter.
We got really lucky because hardtop sides almost never come up for sale here, and shipping them from the mainland with there heavy weight and odd shape would have been very expensive.
rkymtnflyfisher
Trout Bum
Those sliding windows are a score in themselves!
Contact me and I’ll walk you through restoring your steering wheel.
