Builds New Alaskan FJ40 intro thread (1 Viewer)

[Aussie Alaskan]

Hey Aussie, could it be a fuel problem? Are you getting fuel to the carb? Bad fuel? Seems like most of my vehicles and toys that have ever had issue in the cold here (especially plugged in) ended up being a fuel problem (ice). Maybe try some heet to liven things up.

Could be. I put 10 gallons in to start it up from a couple of gas cans I had sitting around. The fuel could have been a year or two old. When I get it all re-assembled after cutting out the rusted floor pans I'll put new gas in to eliminate that variable. New OEM mech fuel pump, and my carb bowl sits right where it's supposed to after I adjusted it.

 

[sggoat]

How did you bolt it on? Once I weld the sill plate in place there will be no way to undo my bolts. I'm still not sure how to make the bolts accessible in the future. Unless I drill holes in the sill plate much like I've drilled the holes in the new 2"x2" sill. But then those holes will be wide open to the elements and all sorts of junk will fall into the sill.

Sill was not bolted--welded in-chopped out the crud, insert a 1" square tube -~3" long into the stubs at the outside of the door closures--seal welded in one side, then installed a 2" tube over that--left ~ 1/2" play between the innner tube and outer(for the weld access)once the outer tube was placed, welded in the other end of the inner tube tube to body. Then centered the outer tube and sealwelded that in to the inner tube on both ends

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Got in some of my packages. New seat covers to replace the old trashed one that were being held together by aftermarket cloth seat protectors. Also got a rusty driver's side rear quarter panel, a rusty driver's side floor pan, a period correct air cleaner and filter as well as a few smaller parts I ordered. After some wire brushing and a liberal application of POR-15 the floor panel looks great.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Some more pics of the after effects of hours of scrubbing and wire brushing and painting.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Tore into the driver's side floor pan. Pretty leery to start cutting into my cruiser, but once I had it apart I was committed!! The under-supports were in good condition and so I reused them after de-rusting and painting. Since I don't plan on taking the tub off the frame I went ahead and wire wheeled and painted everything in reach with the floor opened up.
After mocking up the new floor pan it's looking

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Patched up the sides where rust had eaten into the door frame area. I'm no great welder, but I was pleased with how it turned out. I just used 16guage steel plate to form up the firewall section of the kickboard. Turned out good, albeit missing a couple original raised grooves that I cut out with the rusted section. Welded it all up and it's really quite a feeling of accomplishment to take it from what it was to what it looks like now.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

The after pictures of all my work on the floor and the tranny tunnel. Look back in this thread for some before pics. Still need to trim the new floor and weld nuts underneath for the tranny tunnel, but this part of my project is nearing completion

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

After getting the drivers floor replaced I moved on to more rust patching. Using 16 guage stock sheets I cut out and weld in the patches. I'll need to do a surface coat on most of my patch welds, but it won't be much filler, and hopefully will turn out just fine.

Also you can see the original Rustic Green paint underneath and it is my plan to repaint the vehicle and bring it back to the original color.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

I finally broke down and cut into the rear drivers side quarter panel. The whole backend of the panel was rotten and has previously been "repaired" and the whole panel had a decent layer of filler on it. My patch panel has a bit of surface rust because it isn't brand new, and before I tacked it in place I painted the backside with POR-15.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

As I finished up the rear quarter panel work I also had to finish up the rear sill and sill cover metal work. I ordered the new sill cover from CCOT, but made the sill myself from 2"x2" steel tubing. I had to figure out how to attach the sill without making it a permanent attachment. I ended up welding the SS nuts as shown and then welding the sill cover over the top sealing it in. If, in the future someone needs to seperate the body and chassis they can still unbolt the sill from below. I guess its the engineer inside of me that makes me design for future use, and disassembly.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Great to see you attack this through winter. Hats off to you. I am in the “I can grind like Rembrandt club” if it’s any consolation. Looks great.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Getting the bolt holes for the spare tire mount aligned with the sill and sill plate was a bit of a frustration. I used the sill (1/8" thick side walls) and tapped them instead of welding nuts onto the inside of my sill tubing. In hindsight my diy sill was a great idea until it came time to attach anything to it. I ended up having to strip a corner of it off for the sill plate to fit correctly. And then I had to weld my nuts for chassis attachment inside of the tubing. And finally I had to find ways of welding makeshift nuts to the inside of my sill tubing to connect the spare tire mount to.
Anyways, after getting all of that sorted out I sanded (220g) the bed and liberally coated with POR-15 to seal it.
I've also managed to procure a set of brand new Toyota Tacoma 16"x8" wheels and 235/85r16 tires that will work for the time being. It was just too good of a deal to pass up. I want to run 16" wheels for ease of tire sourcing, but just cant quite stomach spending $1600 (after shipping to AK) on a set of City Racer 16" wheels. Plus another $1000 for the tires. These Tacoma wheels are going to be the new semi-permanent shoes on this FJ40, and fit just fine with a set of 1" spacers.
Bonus picture is one I took last night of the Aurora Borealis above my house. Just a reminder that some of us indeed live in "God's Country"

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Great to see you attack this through winter. Hats off to you. I am in the “I can grind like Rembrandt club” if it’s any consolation. Looks great.

Thanks, Its been the perfect winter project. The plan is to have most of it restored and serviceable and ready for paint at some point this summer. Its funny, that after thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours it actually looks worse than when I started. But new paint will fix that!!

 

[airon23]

Greetings all.

I've been lurking and stalking this forum for a couple of months since purchasing my first FJ40 and it's been incredible the amount of information and help that's available for those willing to ask and search. Thanks!

As far as an introduction goes, I'm a mechanical engineer in Alaska and just purchased a 1977 FJ40 with no engine. I also procured a 1979 2F seized junk "boat anchor" engine that was potentially able to be revived, but had been full of silt, snow, ice and more for potentially decades.

I'm not a purist, but more a operationalist and simply intend to get this rig up and running and then figure out the next step in this venture. Not necessarily opposed to a decent sized resto, but I'm definitely not planning on a collector level resto. I've been replacing old rusty OEM bolts/nuts with SS wherever appropriate (not a high stress location, like engine mounts). So that gives you a good idea of my lack of FJ40 OEM purity .

I've added a couple pics of my new rig and the engine block I'm currently getting up and running. Wish me luck and I'm sure I'll be lurking/researching and asking many questions along the way!

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I love the engine color. Mine is the same or at least very similar. I used POR15 blue color so it may be slightly different.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

I love the engine color. Mine is the same or at least very similar. I used POR15 blue color so it may be slightly different.

Matches your rig. I love the baby blue FJ40 color the most. Wish mine was blue. But I've got my eye on another blue project FJ40 so maybe I'll end up with a blue one eventually. What year is yours?

 

[Pura Vida]

I love the engine color. Mine is the same or at least very similar. I used POR15 blue color so it may be slightly different.

The engine shop that rebuilt my B went a little overboard with it. Doesn’t really match my red BJ40 at all lol. Whatever. I won’t open the engine up too much anyways

 

[airon23]

Matches your rig. I love the baby blue FJ40 color the most. Wish mine was blue. But I've got my eye on another blue project FJ40 so maybe I'll end up with a blue one eventually. What year is yours?

It's a 76.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Cut out and welded in patches for the opposite rear quarter panel. Overall it was in good shape and just had a couple of small bubbles that needed to be replaced. Liberal use of rust converter and POR-15 paint on the backside of my patches should mean it'll stay rust free for the rest of my lifetime.
Also tackled the visible section of the frame with a wire brush and degreaser, and then painted it.

 

[Aussie Alaskan]

Started to tackle the seats while some of my rust converter paint was drying. The seat side frames are in excellent condition with almost zero rust, while the seat bottom frame needs some attention from a wire brush and paint. The foam isn't in horrible condition so I'm planning on patching it up and then laying a fresh sheet of 1.5" foam over it and wrapping my new CCOT seat covers over the whole lot. I've mocked it up and sat on it (just on the floor for now) and it's surprisingly comfortable, and maintains the OEM molded form.
My CCOT seat covers arrived without hog rings and so I'm thinking of having them ship some up to me, but with my extra 1.5" of new foam I may need to use some extended length hog rings or heavy duty zip ties. Anybody ever added foam like this and had to deal with wrapping it all up? I think industrial zip ties would work, but open to suggestions or previous lessons learned from you guys.

 

[airon23]

Are you doing both seats? Tip, switch the foams for passenger side and drivers side so that the damaged/missing foam part would be on the inside of the driver/passenger seats respectively.

To answer your question, I have used some steel zip ties like this for some seat covers I put on when I didn't have any hog rings. They work pretty good actually and you can use some plyers to really pull on them as needed.