New FJ40 owner here. Been lurking on Mud for a while before buying this 1975 (2/75) FJ40 last fall in NE Texas. It's a survivor that has been in the same family for 35+ years and luckily has been stored inside all of that time. It's very solid overall, with some surface rust and the typical rust on the door bottoms. It will need a new sill and drip rail, as both are shot. The frame is clean and the quarters have no sign of rust. This will be a patina restoration and the paint should clean up nicely. I assume the roof rack is nothing special and probably came off of a 70's station wagon?
It has a SBC that was probably installed in the early 80's because the Holley 2 bbl has a 1980 stamp on it. That matches the timeframe of the white wagon wheels. The PO still had the 15" steelies and hubcaps, which I gladly took (and appeared to still have original tires on them!). They have now been stripped and painted, with a set of BFG 33x10.5 AT K02's on order. The next thing to get sorted is brakes. I saw where someone had posted to 1) fix the things that will kill you, followed by 2) fix the things that will leave you stranded.
I didn't get more done on this one over the winter because I had actually bought a 1978 (11/77) "practice" FJ40 in late summer and spent the winter tearing it down and learning how these things are put together. Pictures to follow in the next post. It was a real junk heap because it had been used as a plow vehicle and the frame was rusted out, as was most of the body. I got it cheap and there were lots of other good parts and I learned a ton about how things worked without worrying about breaking anything.
It has a SBC that was probably installed in the early 80's because the Holley 2 bbl has a 1980 stamp on it. That matches the timeframe of the white wagon wheels. The PO still had the 15" steelies and hubcaps, which I gladly took (and appeared to still have original tires on them!). They have now been stripped and painted, with a set of BFG 33x10.5 AT K02's on order. The next thing to get sorted is brakes. I saw where someone had posted to 1) fix the things that will kill you, followed by 2) fix the things that will leave you stranded.
I didn't get more done on this one over the winter because I had actually bought a 1978 (11/77) "practice" FJ40 in late summer and spent the winter tearing it down and learning how these things are put together. Pictures to follow in the next post. It was a real junk heap because it had been used as a plow vehicle and the frame was rusted out, as was most of the body. I got it cheap and there were lots of other good parts and I learned a ton about how things worked without worrying about breaking anything.
