Stripped down my extra fuel carrier as well as the spare tire rack. Had to hammer the pins out of the spare tire rack. I'm considering replacing those pins with some SS hardware. They were rusted in there pretty good and I'd like to prevent that from happening again.
Some pretty fun reassembly of the front bib/grill. Almost all new SS fasteners and fresh paint on everything. Really looking good. My TOYOTA front badge is showing it's age, and so I may be looking to get a new one. I kinda like how it's still rustic looking however so who knows. I may just roll with it. Temps are back down to the -20s and -30s so my garage is back on car duty and so no more painting for a bit.
I ordered some of the matching vinyl that Cruiser Corps sells for their seat covers. I've got their coral seat covers and so my plan is to wrap my old door cards with matching vinyl. Fingers crossed that goes as well as I'm envisioning.
What do you guys think of the tan door cards with the Rustic Green paint? I personally love it.
I also put some vibration and sound dampening material in the doors. You could immediately hear a difference when tapping on the doors. Take all the TING and vibrations out of the doors and they sounds like high quality. Very cool!
I used white nylon washers wherever there was metal in metal contact. Hopefully this will keep the rust at bay for another 50 years by giving the water room to drain.
Also put my spare fuel can carrier back together. I know it's not OEM, but I like the SS look vs the original yellow zinc fasteners. It's a few bucks to use all SS. But again, rust is the big enemy of FJ40s and I'm building this rig to last. Fingers crossed.
Stripped everything out of the tub over the past two days. Removed all the anchor bolts and everything on the firewall and the tub is loose. I'll have to invite some guys over to lift it off the frame and flip it over. Next item of business will be to prep the underside for primer, seam sealer and paint.
Tub removed, flipped, and placed on a flatbed trailer. Ill be transporting it to a heated shop for paint hopefully this weekend.
Probably 9 hrs into scraping the old asphalt undercoating off, wire wheeling, scrubbing with WD-40, and sanding the underside of the tub. Coming along nicely so far.
Results were pretty good. Compared them to the 52" X Vision light bar on my brother's truck and they weren't quite as good as distance, but had a lot more flood light capacity vs his light bar.
I don't know about @Aussie Alaskan s area further north, but the Kenai Peninsula is a heavy Brine w/rust inhibitors (rust inhibitors don't to squat on my opinion)
Matter of great debate locally, but I prefer regular salt and sand over brine.
As far as I'm aware, thats true. They may salt the roads down along the coastal areas, but they don't in the interior.
Why you may ask?
Well it's because the interior of Alaska experiences temperatures in the -40F to -60F range pretty regularly during the winter and at those extreme negative temps, the salt has little to no effect. Salt simply lowers the melting temp of water, but for much of the winter, the temps are still too low for salt to be effective.
The cold is annoying, but the vehicles don't rust out as quickly.
Seam sealer and rust encapsulating paint done on the body. Ready for final cleaning and then primer this weekend.
Frame has been fully painted with POR15. Did most of it from the underside last year, and just had to clean and sand down the tops of the frame rails and it was good to go.
Tentatively looking for a front bumper in good condition for my 40. Can be OEM or not. My OEM bumper is pretty beat up and twisted. Shipping to AK will be a big cost. If anybody local or otherwise to Alaska has a bumper thats just sitting around let me know. A bit of rust and small dings are fine. As long as it can be restored with elbow grease.
. I may just roll with it. Temps are back down to the -20s and -30s so my garage is back on car duty and so no more painting for a bit. 
