New to me 63 fj45 (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Apr 27, 2012
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After acouple months of dealing with shipping and problems I finally got to drive home another solidcab 45. Laurel and Hardy been long awaited couple months but very pleasantly surprised with the quality and ride of the new truck. Definitely needs some touches to finish up where it should be but all and all couldn't not come close to building it for the purchase price then the typical drop another 500 turns into acouple thousand but money well spent. The red 45 is 12016 titled and model 1963 the spring green is 12018 model and titled 1962. Just another added to the collection and something else that will always get the last laugh hence the names. Just when you think your comfortable and they are good they will always play tricks. Anyways lots of photos to come and build pictures. 12016 is all matching numbers very clean frame off done in about 2014 from everything I can find has then bounced from auction to auction to auction. 12018 has been in the family since 1972 and pulled cab and rebuilt it all in 2011 dropped a new motor in out of my 71 pig and have the stock motor still in the shop always on the back burner of another project. But

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Beyond tripendicular.
 
It was in oregon went mecum auction in 2015 and 2016 believe sold for 57, not sure where it ended up living. Then went to barret 2019 and 2020 sold to BMW dealership in California for 39688 I bought from them for 39888. It was a very painful transaction dealing with crappy cars salesman and even worse manager that had no clue anything about the truck or really selling a used vehicle. They don't care about customers or vehicles its just the sale of money but with that said I'm also glad because there's is alot going for the truck and I know alot of people veered away from it because of the dealership. All and all super excited with the purchase.

The fix it list as of having it in front of me for a few hours priority waterpump is noisy. I drove it home 38 miles with zero problems other than running out of fuel.

Brake master is leaking and has ruined the inside firewall paint so that will be a strip interior clean sand it all down and repaint interior firewall and floors. Re paint tunnel cover to red.

Fix electrical as they have headlight switch wired incorrect

Fix pto winch which is a disaster new cable time

New stock front bumper

Replace step material with correct white diamond pattern material

Replace front windshield vent with a better one and new weatherstripping.

Replace interior upholstery

Replace with factory horns

Rearview mirror back to a oem

Then drive the hell out of it and have fun with them. The red will be the wife's mine is the spring green. Maybe sell if someone offers enough but otherwise we are going to have a blast having 2 of the earliest cruiser pickups around. I'm sure there will be some more things pop up as I start working on it but its a fairly short list compared to most cruisers alot of work has been done and it drives very nice. I've owned 17 cruisers and this is by far the smoothest driving. Nice a straight brakes work no pull and just cruises down the road
 
@sofj45 Nice looking trucks! Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m curious with this level of restoration why you used the later model hub caps instead of acorns? Again not trying to nit pick just curious.
 
@Unimogguy I just bought it the way it sits and will be putting acorns on when they are back in stock already been talking with @Speedsail2001 waiting for him to have both holes and solids. My goal is to go as close to stock as possible. Acorn hubcaps are on the list. Stock front bumper. Has a pto but isn't a factory so will be switching out with one off the shelf I have. Fixing the front windshield vent with one I have. Seats will be re done. Hopefully can find tin cup masters at somepoint. Has a Carter on it currently but will be going back aisin carb when the times right. It runs amazingly as is but would like it to be correct. In the market for stock drivers side round mirror and stock interior door pulls. Will replace blinkers with pewter colored and new weatherstripping inside the blinker housing, Will put correct horns back on fenders, I'm sure there's more but little by little it will get there. Its a great start for where I want it. The master cylinder is leaking which has went from acouple hundred to now will strip interior repaint firewall and floor as its been leaking for awhile and the paint has bubbled and then having the carpet kit in it has kept the brake fluid on the floors so little things turn into big problems as we all know. But it will be correct in the end.

Did steps today and happy with both what shape metal was underneath and the final look.

Questions to other early 25 40 45 guys the Vader light cover inside whats the correct color? Body color or pewter?

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Also rewired headlight switch to correct wiring so I have taillights when headlights are on. Back to the Acorn hubcaps always amazes me when someone goes so far and so close yet little s*** is wrong. Not saying I don't make thing work on other cruisers to get by but just simple things like wiring headlight correct amazes me sometimes. The good news is all dash gauges and lights work. Which was a huge win in my book charge light works, fuel gauge, temp blinker indicators inside, 4wd engage light. Vader hood light very happy overall just needs a little more to be correct. I'm trying to be a purist but its hard. My other 45 is close but not there my pig is no where close and I love it for what it is. My 63 fj40 is a good solid early body on 60 axles with a sbc, so I'm really trying on this one to make it correct and pure
 
@sofj45 I’m not sure if it’s correct or not but the 2 Vader lights I have are pewter. Maybe one of the more knowledgeable experts will be kind enough to chime in and let us know for certain.
 
My 62 pickup is body color but was previously painted. My 63 40 is pewter and the new pickup is bare metal so pewter it will be
 
So been gone the last week just got home waiting on parts to get going on the truck. Fixed the pto winch today. What a disaster the cable was, ended up cutting about 30 40 feet of cable out but was able to save around 40 feet for now tell its replaced with a factory pto. Atleast it looks better now. Once the boxes start showing up this week the truck will start looking a little more correct, the way it should have on the first build. Get everything where its supposed to be mechanically and bolt on parts then fix the paint issues on the interior and she should be one good looking driver.

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Got the new pewter blinkers on, replaced new orange lens with original clear lens and orange bulbs. Got factory horns on and hooked up, replaced leaky master cylinder with a new oem master. Still waiting on the new acorn hubcaps, stock front bumper, then re upholster seats. Then on to the few body and paint items of replacing the front windshield vent, painting the tunnel cover back to red and strip interior out and repaint firewall and floor to fix leaky master cylinder. If anyone else finds incorrect things on this truck don't hesitate to point it out you will not hurt my feelings. Theres more to do but thats the list as of now
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Looks like you still have a generator and the original generator-compatible voltage regulator that has the internal switch that works with the idiot CHG light in the instrument cluster. Correct?

Just out of curiosity, why do you think this is a ‘63 model with a 2-FJ45-12016 VIN?

And for those tracking these things this ‘62 (‘63? 😂) rig has the wiper motors that sit below the bottom edge of the window frame, so they park to the driver’s side (so does my ‘63) vs. some that sit higher on the frame and park to the passenger side (like my ‘65 FJ40). Can‘t tell which ones the spring green rig has. There’s been some discussion as to the dating of these motor variants and also the market application, whether for RHD or LHD. And as with a number of things with these early rigs there’s no obvious consensus what‘s what.

Sweet rig notwithstanding!
 
And if seeking 100% original it would be 3-spd column shift, not floor shift, and the tranny would be a side-shifting linkage one not a top shifting linkage one. But that is problematic in that rebuild kits for side shifter are unicorns with hens teeth, too 😂.
 
@middlecalf yes has the silver backed gauges with an idiot light and all in working order, I do have the setup for 3 on the tree sitting in a box, not sure if I will go back to it, Until you said that it hasn't even been one of those things on my mind. Now I guess a decision to be made before painting the tranny hump. Had everything to go back I was going to do on the spring green one just never got around to tackling that yet.

The reason I say the red is a 63 is the model stamped on the vin plate under hood is 63 and titled as a 63 like every other 2fj vin I've seen. My spring green is the only one I know of that has model year as 1962 and titled as a 62. Atleast that I have seen and or heard of as of yet. Not many out there so not a ton to go off.
 
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