New to the Cruiser world 1965 FJ40

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I don't think the silver is terrible, but its one of the last colors I would choose. My only point in posting that pic is that it is an older mostly original cruiser with a mild lift and taller wider tires. I like the look of the older hard top, has more of a square look to it.

I didn't choose a 65, it chose me :D, and I realized how much I liked the little differences after I bought it and looked at abounch of pics online. It was kindof an impulse buy. Unless someone has an irresistible offer to "save" it, I'm going fourth with my my plans for an original 65/64 minus the lift and bigger tires :cheers:.
 
Dobster said:
Yeah - sorry for the percieved attack - I think misplaced passion from personnel frequenting the 25 section. Your truck and when driving it often it has to meet your own necessities. Pretty sure anyone with kids looks at changing brakes etc.

Truck is great, rust is not that bad. I had to fix pretty much the same areas on my 65.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/fj25-owners-group/316169-dobsters-1965-fj40-soft-top-resto.html

Cheers Dobster
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Appreciate it Dobster. Yours is looking great. I cant wait to dive into mine like that, but as mentioned it will be atleast a year. I am looking forward to the restoration work, and know I will appreciate it much more for it instead of buying one already done. I wish mine was right hand drive though :D.
 
Rust

Your rust looks a lot like the same problems I had. Those darn seat belt anchors destroyed the fenders and the rear sill is a catch all for the wet road grime. All fixable. I'm doing mine on a budget and made my own rear sill and bought one fender top and then cut it up and welded in the new steel. Lots of time but not much $$. Once you get started on this rig also start a thread. The guys here in the 25 section are GREAT. Tons of period specific advice. I couldn't do mine without them.
 
eyebmx said:
I don't think the silver is terrible, but its one of the last colors I would choose. My only point in posting that pic is that it is an older mostly original cruiser with a mild lift and taller wider tires. I like the look of the older hard top, has more of a square look to it.

I didn't choose a 65, it chose me :D, and I realized how much I liked the little differences after I bought it and looked at abounch of pics online. It was kindof an impulse buy. Unless someone has an irresistible offer to "save" it, I'm going fourth with my my plans for an original 65/64 minus the lift and bigger tires :cheers:.
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lol...you get the feeling that maybe some of us are a little too passionate about these old rigs...:lol:

The rust you pictured isn't that bad...still a great looking rig in my opinion. If you go stock, and add a lift and wheels, you'll be able to easily convert back if you ever want to. I personally prefer the 2.5" lift, but that is only my taste. Just keep what you take off...you might surprise yourself later on and bring it back to stock.

As for the almost irresistible urge to save it...ya, but knowing it will not get all cut up and turned into some kind of Land Cruiser hybrid, with all sorts of different year parts, well that will be plenty fine...not that my opinion should influence your choices in any way...besides...add on transport costs, and then finding a place for me to sleep for a while, while my wife cools off, is not worth saving it from just a lift and tires :lol::lol::lol:

PS...I would have suggested thinner tires 33x9.5 (if you could find them) or by 33x10.5, and you shouldn't need PS, as I do not think you can simply bolt on a PS unit... :beer:
 
a good set of oem 16" split rims and run 255/85r16's as the good doctor said :)

or the SS narrow tires come in 34x9.5 15's They were great on stocker rims :) like you see my spare has

here's mine with 4.5" of total lift ...but...over the MANY years and MANY miles it saged down to about a 3" total lift

we are passionate out our junk around here :D

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First off, WOW JohnnyC, I really like that. I dont know what it is about the softtop, but I would go tall and skinny on that too. I guess it's the military M.A.S.H. look of it. I guess we have all cooled off a bit now :D. I thought about 2.5" lift but feared it would not be enough to prevent tire rub and fender destruction in the rear. I looked at a lot of tall and skinnies and started to wonder if I wanted to go that route as it does look really good, then I looked at more tall and wide and I just like that more. Actually what I would really like to do is to have some stock 15s rebarrelled to 8" so I could run the stock hubcaps. I think it looks really good with the caps sunk into dished rims. I stole FF LC Freaks pic here (of course I mean hubcaps of my year):

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Living in the Past said:
It doesn't just have a more square look it is more squared off then later 40s. The back on the corrugated top is straight while the later ones angle in.

:cheers:
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I kinda thought so, but wasnt sure if it was just an illusion from the lack of glass space. Now looking closer I definitely see it.
 
Icantdive55 said:
Your rust looks a lot like the same problems I had. Those darn seat belt anchors destroyed the fenders and the rear sill is a catch all for the wet road grime. All fixable. I'm doing mine on a budget and made my own rear sill and bought one fender top and then cut it up and welded in the new steel. Lots of time but not much $$. Once you get started on this rig also start a thread. The guys here in the 25 section are GREAT. Tons of period specific advice. I couldn't do mine without them.
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Im on a bit of a budget myself. Basically once its drivable, thats all its getting for about a year. When we get to it, all the patch work will be home fabbed sheet metal (my brothers and I are learning quickly on the 66 Bug, this FJ should be cake after that). I have noticed that rear sill is very common issue on these. I will definitely document my work here once the real work begins. :beer:
 
FF LC Freak's 40 is Capri Blue, which is what I'll be doing on mine, as the '64 in the picture below is also Capri Blue...this is a cool picture that JohnnyC found of a then new '64 FST (factory soft top). The next one below is of a beautifully restored '65 in Japan.

I had some Capri Blue mixed at the local NAPA, and Capri Blue code T -310 was a perfect match up against a blue sample FF LC Freak was cool enough to send me.

To be fair, I should go with the original SunduneWhite my '64 was originally, (like yours) but I am restoring this rig with my daughter (it will be her's one day) and she is not a fan of the "band-aid" white it is now, so blue was the next best choice for us...and it is year correct, so I am OK with this change :)

I have read that you can fit the 33 x 10.5 on stock rims and caps (plenty of threads on 33" tires, with pics, in the 40 section). Not 100% sure, but I believe I have read that 33 x 10.5 on stock rims, and 2.5 lift have no rub...but the wider 12.5 tires will rub. Again, not 100% sure on this, so you'll have to check it out for yourself. A bonus would be that you should be able to get away without needing PS if you get the 10.5's...which will also save you from hacking the frame for the PS installation. Here is a thread on 33x9.5 (with a couple of pics of the 10.5)...sorry, I could not find the thread or pics of the 10.5 on stock rims https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/278728-33x950x15-pictures-tall-skinny.html

If you want the old caps, as pictured below, you might want to get in touch with Mike before he is all sold out of the new batch he had made...I do not have his new caps, but they look pretty good in the pictures I have seen; https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-seri...iser-hubcap-not-available-soon-available.html .

Edit: PS...those tires below are the stock 700R15, on the stock black rims and caps...just in case you fall in love with the real stock old cruiser look, now you know :beer:
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If your planning on going larger tires your probably going to want to upgrade the brakes. The reason is the larger tires will go further for ever rotation meaning the brakes need to stop quicker to match the stopping distance of the stock setup. A disc brake axle from a later FJ40 can bolt on. You will need to change the 9MM brake lines. A adapter can be added to firewall and I understand a booster and master cylinder from a Geo Metro will bolt to that. If you have a stock set of wheels widened make sure you use the later welded stock wheels. You widened the old riveted stock rims and then switch to a disc brake axle you need to run a spacer to clear the calipers.


Here is a couple of pictures of larger tires on stock rims. The first is 33X9.5X15" on stock disc brake wheels. 10.5 would be no problem. The second picture is 245X75X16" on stock FJ25 16" rims which I believe are 1/2" narrower than the stock FJ40 rims. So if you widen your rims you really only have to do it if your going for a look. Not sure where you are in NM but if your in a area that snows the narrower tires work better. The FJ40 with a hard top already has a high center of gravity adding a lift only makes it worse. So keep this in mind. A stock cruiser is going to be a better snow/ice vehicle than one that is lifted with wide tires. It is your vehicle but if you do lift it and add wide tires spent the money and ungrade the brake system to match.

:cheers:
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WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! :steer:

Got to drive it for the first time today!!!

Had most of it ready yesterday but the clutch master I got had a different fitting into it, so had to have a new line made today. Was able to just clean the old brake master up and put back together and its fine. Some dirt and crud had built up and breaking the seal, but the internals appeared fairly new. Old clutch master seemed the same, but unfortunately cleaning it up had no positive results. But as mentioned, got to drive it around the block a few times, LOVE IT!!! Tomorrow morning getting it registered and down to the parents house to put the dreaded lift and 33"s on.
 
And "NO FJ", I that blue will look great. At the moment the original color has grown on me, did a bit of research (got all the time in the world to browse the web at work :D) and decided the stock color is most likely Lilly White . Possibly Volcanic Beige, but it looked too dark, areas in my Cruiser that should be unharmed by the sun are still pretty white, so Im leaning towards Lilly White. The only brownish colors of this year are Lilly White (off white creamy color), Volcanic Beige (Slightly darker) and Colorado Beige (even darker)
 
"Living in the Past",

Nice collection you got there!! I do want the wider look. I live in the
Albuquerque area. There is only snow on the roads a couple times a year. It gets cold enough, just during the winter there is an effect created by mountains that pushes the storms around the area. Bad roads are not a big problem here, and if I venture off to the ski resorts or what not, my main driver is a Subaru WRX, does awesome in the snow. The stock brakes actually surprised me how well they work, they take less effort than my brothers MGB manual brakes with disks up front. I was easily able to lock them up with stock tires (yes I was playing :steer:). I think they will be fine with the larger tires, but i guess I will find out soon. Ill post pics once the wheels are on.
 
Glad to heard it going back on the road. Probably would have been easier to replace the slave cylinder with the master. I do believe rebuild kits were or are available for both the master and slave clutch cylinders. If you do a little search you will find it's not that uncommon to had the slave go out when you rebuild or replace the master cylinder with better pressure. Had it happen to me back in 1974 shortly after buying my 68. I was four wheeling in the San Francisco Peaks around Flagstaff and had the slave just completely give out. Made for a interesting ride back into town with the three speed column shift. I know most seeem to hate the stock brakes on the early cruiser but when set up correctly they are pretty good. But with wide 33" tires it may be a different case. I would drive it a little the way it set up not than do your lift and tires as quick as you can and then see how much difference you notice while you still have a feel for the original setup. Just remember even with good brakes your going to have to stop with fewer rotations of the wheels to match your current setup. You can always stay a little further behind the car in front of you but I feel that little extra room just invites the guy on the side street to pull in front of you. I moved to Flagstaff over forty years ago. While I don't live there anymore I know the traffic is crazy compared to back then. I'm sure Albuquerque is the same. Make sure your brakes are up to the task.


I have a couple of sets of original bumperettes from back around 63 that are still the original beige color. They were removed new and stored away. Next time I'm where they are stored at I will take some pictures to give you a idea of the original beige from back then. It seems to be a little more grey then these beige cruisers with original paint. one on the left is a 70 the right a 76.
:cheers:
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Wes really took the time to look up what this color might have actually been (both his and mine are the same original color as yours) and digging into all the original samples he could get his hands on, he noticed that Sundune White T-1267 was actually the closest match to some virgin paint he found on his rig.

Cool that you got it going...and I agree with living in the past..drive it around like this first, before doing anything to it...at least you'll have something to compare your work to, and it might grow on you ;)
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I didnt see that sundune white. I saw dune beige and thought that was the color you were referring to. That does look closer to it. I would be more willing to drive it the way it is for now, but the tires on it are anywhere between 15 and 20 years of sitting in the sun. Dont feel too comfortable driving on them very long. They have really bad flat spots in them too, which makes for a fun drive :bounce:.
 
Find a used set of cheap 235/75 R15s....unless you can score some original 700R15s :hillbilly:

Seeing how the old color is growing on you, and that you love the old school look, here are a couple more cool pics I found on the interweb of skinny tires...I love the last pic ;)

PS...there is nice thread of the first one in the 25 section...
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