Builds New here, no idea where to start.

[Nader]

Cheap seat covers will buy me time until I can address the interior.

 

[Kleatus]

I also have a couple things to report. First, that relay off the starter is a bad, bad idea. At least on my truck, despite following the simple instructions from another thread on this site. Retaining the coil "exciter wire" not only keeps the new gear reduction starter on for a few seconds after the the truck is running (albeit disengaged), but also caused some coil malfunctioning such that the engine was difficult to start, missed badly, and died easily. I disconnected it, and all was well. I'm back to having a dangling unused wire.

In other news, I wanted to start doing some of that bodywork I alluded to, and plan to start on the rotted floor under the passenger seat. The PO removed the original gas tank, so there's empty space under there, and full of litter. Leaves, broken glass, cigarette butts, and a couple of those disposable Bic lighters. The coolest thing I found was this Remington 280 cartridge. Remember the gun clips on the top of the windshield frame? This was a hunter's rig in Idaho. Wonder what he hunted?

View attachment 1569806

Nice!
I found two .30-06 cartridges behind the lip at the glovebox fairly recently in mine. I had previously found a bunch of .22 LR in the ashtray and center console, and a few crusty high brass 3" 20 ga. shells on top of the gas tank. Hunting machines these old rigs!
Glad to see it's back and coming along again! Looking forward to seeing some bodywork.

 

[Nader]

I added this drier duct to the exhaust manifold to supply warm air to the intake manifold. Not even sure the heat-activated spring valve that controls the flow still works. Someday, I'll pull the intake tin and repaint it, and maybe even have these aftermarket headers ceramic-coated. Someday...

 

[Nader]

Okay, let's keep going.

I'm removing the passenger seat to get to the rotted floorboard for some rust repair. Original tank was removed presumably because of the rot, so the truck has been relying on the auxiliary tank in the back. First step is to drink some scotch.

 

[Nader]

Now fortified with liquid courage, we attempt to remove frozen bolts anchoring the passenger seat to the floor. Fortunately, we have met success, with no snapped bolts! Yeah, Aberlour!

 

[Nader]

Using similar finesse, the gas tank cover is unbolted, and wiggled out from under the surrounding framework. What is uncovered is shocking, sad, and somehow, funny. Styrofoam covering large rust holes. Freaking styrofoam.

 

[Nader]

At this point, as you can infer from the moisture on the bodywork, it's now raining while I work. Time to take the booze indoors. Partway. An old Porsche's whale-tail makes an excellent tray.

 

[Nader]

The good news is, I have a replacement panel (in the right color, no less!), and a decent stock gas tank. I'll tackle the metal cutting and welding in coming days!

 

[Nader]

Didn't get any metal work done today, partly because the weather was rotten (I do all the work outside), and partly because I had to make a big-ass 220V extension cord for my plasma cutter. It's a cheapie from China, less than $300. I may have mentioned before that I was willing to farm out the body work because I just didn't feel like dealing with all the noise and mess of body work, much of which is generated by cutting wheels. I figure this plasma cutter may cut down on some of that. Might be more fun, too. Haven't had a real chance to use it since its cord doesn't let it get much past my garage. New extension cord should take care of that. Weather forecast for tomorrow shows sun, so I plan to get this passenger floor pan finished tomorrow.

 

[Nader]

Had decent weather today as predicted, so in about 4.5 hours I got this knocked out. Plasma cutting is fun. My welds look like bird doo, but I'm reasonably good with a grinder.

 

[Pierps]

Looks awesome!

 

[Nader]

I've bought about six different shades of red from various rattle can brands. The closest I've found to Freebord Red is Krylon's Gloss Classic Red. Looked like we were going to have a few hours of dry weather, so I took a chance and shot parts of the body. Not bad! If I were smarter, I would have shot the side the neighbors had to face. If had more time and paint, I'd do the rest of the truck at once. I think this will buy me time until I can do definitive rust repair on the exterior.

 

[Drake2]

All sounds pretty normal with the exception that it has not been too molested by previous owners. They all need a little TLC in the beginning, which also happens to be the best teacher. You will learn much from this forum and slowly, as you work on it & make it your own, you will bond with it. This may sound a little strange but it is what I experienced will all of the different FJ40's I have built in the past. I was out of the LC community for many years buy my interest in them never wavered. For many of us it's just in the blood.

 

[Nader]

Restored the gas tank. Inside and out was pretty clean, just some surface rust, which I wire wheeled the outside, and tried to knock loose from the inside with a box full of dry wall screws shaken around in it. Blew out a bunch of rusty dust with compressed air, through all the ports, then shop-vac'd it. Painted the tank with VHT chassis paint.

Then I cut up an old inner tube I kept from one of my old Honda CB160 projects (to my wife's chagrin, I never throw anything away) to use as tank pads. Just need to connect a few lines and screw on the tank cover and seat.

 

[cruiserkev]

Nice work Nader!

 

[Nader]

Thanks everyone! A rolling restoration on a vehicle that is so easy to work on is really a pleasure. Straight panels, exposed fasteners, minimal fluffy trim to carefully pry and remove to reach parts that need work... I really enjoy this.

Now, speaking of fluffy trim, check out the sad state of what little trim this truck has. I mentioned this earlier, I think, but the story I got from the prior owner was that this was his uncle's hunting rig in Idaho. The prior owner who inherited this truck, which he sold to me because he's more of Jeep guy and already has another '40 in better shape, is about my age. He said he remembers as a kid one of his cousins left a kerosene lantern hanging in the corner of the truck, and it melted the end of the dash pad, and burned the sun visor above it. See?

 

[Nader]

Addressing this, I made a call to our mutual friend Beno, and was happy to hear that Toyota still makes these visors. Do you also get excited when you see that red/white Toyota barcode sticker on carefully bubble-wrapped new parts?

 

[OGBeno]

Oh I do, trust me.

I do.

 

[Nader]

One of the first things I bought when I acquired this truck 8 months ago was a replacement dash pad. It was in as-new condition, and I kept in in my bedroom for several weeks because it was so nice. I grew up, and moved it to the basement until I could find the time to replace it. I thought it would be a straightforward process of a couple knobs and a few JIS screws, but then realized the windshield needed to tilt forward, which meant the top had to be lifted a bit, etc. etc.

So I waited until I had this rig at the shop to get other things addressed (like replacing the cracked and bullet-holed windshield). Well that finally happened, and the beautiful dash is in place. Which prompted me to replace the visors. So here we are. Only trim left needs work, from top to bottom of the truck, are the headliner, seats and floor mat.

 

[Flatlanderfj40]

Any trouble getting the dash knobs off? Mine are seized. Keep the pics coming.