Ohio Red 1978 FJ40 (1 Viewer)

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That looks and sounds absolutely bionic!
 
Next step - on to the head. I ran a tap into the holes which had too small non-metric bolts and it looked like these fortunately didn't even mate with the threads. Threads were OK except for one 12 mm which was completely stripped. I cleaned off the paint which was left under the gasket with a Roloc bristle disk and drilled, tapped and TIME-SERTted the one bad hole with a M12x1.25 x12 mm insert. I left the 2 center studs which looked good after cleaning up the threads.

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Next in went 4 new studs with high temp Locktite. Vacuumed out any debris and test fit the Remflex - which is waay thicker than the stock gasket. The new studs are a lot longer than the originals. Not a problem except for fitting the manifold in the truck.

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The manifold is a pain to put in with the new longer studs. Initially the exhaust output flange hung up on the steering box heat shield bracket, which I had to bend out of the way. With that done it slipped in, not easily. In retrospect going with only the 2 middle studs and bolts might have been easier, though the studs do make it smooth once the thing is in place. Alternative would have been to grind off the studs to the length of the old ones. Maybe next time. Once in place torqued all to factory spec which is a little higher than the Remflex rec. "Torque" is a loose term for the rearmost exhaust bolt which requires multiple contortions and a U-joint.

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For now I skipped the smoke test bacause - well if it runs let's drive it and see. So reassembled with the carb insulator gaskets with a coat of grease and after hooked up started on the second turn once the float bowl had gas.

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With some poor man's quick and dirty lean drop tuning, I know have a steady 17-18 vacuum at idle at 650 rpm. Sounds and drives a lot better as well. The smell of the POR exhaust paint cooking off is pretty terrible.

The ultimate test - drove it to work the last 2 days and my wife no longer tells me "You stink like that truck." when I walk in the door. So as I tell patients - the early signs are good.
 
Nice work!!

what is your elevation there ?

higher elevations will yield different values for Vacuum
 
at 1000 feet, you should be making a little more vacuum than 17'', I believe, but perhaps some of the other sea level and above 2F owners can chime in here. perhaps a valve adjustment and compression check is in order? or maybe you have some other vac leaks.

for example: I am making 16.5" Vac at 6,700 ft in Colorado
 
at 1000 feet, you should be making a little more vacuum than 17'', I believe, but perhaps some of the other sea level and above 2F owners can chime in here. perhaps a valve adjustment and compression check is in order? or maybe you have some other vac leaks.
That was my thought as well, though it is better than the wobbly 13" I was getting before the manifold fix. Compression is between 144 and 147 for all 6. Adjusted the valves prior. I think the only other thing I haven't changed was the PCV hose. Could be that - next on the list.
 
That was my thought as well, though it is better than the wobbly 13" I was getting before the manifold fix. Compression is between 144 and 147 for all 6. Adjusted the valves prior. I think the only other thing I haven't changed was the PCV hose. Could be that - next on the list.
oh ya. check that area. that can be a huge source of vac leak
 
I've been having too much fun driving the 40 to work to catch up on posts. Had a little free time the last couple of weekends so decided to work through some of the parts that have been sitting. The wiring harness has some interesting quirks, so I've been waiting to install the Retrosound radio until I worked out some of those kinks. In the interim I scored a set of JDM fog lights from @red66toy which are in need of a relay.

Step one: Decided on a Bussman relay panel to make room for future power needs. I ended up with this prewired version:

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BUSSMANN 15305-2 PRE-WIRED FUSE RELAY PANEL 10' LEADS from 12voltconnection.com

This fits well in the spot on the left fender where the now unused VSV sat. So I bent up a bracket from 0.075" sheet and painted with Eastwood rust converter and Extreme Chassis Black. I then ran a new 8 Ga supply from the battery (+) directly to the panel. This I ran across the firewall which doesn't look great but didn't see an easy option.
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Fog lights from @red66toy look great with the big glass Koito lenses. They came with just a short + bullet connector. I added a ground lead wired internally to the bulb cage with a ring terminal, and then gave each a 2 pin Weatherpack connector that sits behind the bumper.

Made up a fog light harness with the weatherpack connectors via each frame rail, and a white 2 pin latching connector courtesy of @Coolerman on the inboard side. Not quite stock but stock-ish- thinking the weatherpacks will be more moisture resistant at the bumper.

Fog light switch with harness from @ToyotaMatt fit in an existing hole in the dash.
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Coolerman's harness tape made this a much easier job, even with a couple of screw-ups figuring out which wires to run. The Bussman block has 5 relay and 5 constant 12V fused outlets. I ran one of the constant outputs for the radio clock, and Y-d this to the fog light switch to feed the Blue #1 relay trigger, and the blue relay output plus a ground run forward to feed the fog light harness.


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I then took the green and yellow relay triggers and outputs, and a couple of constant fused outputs for future redundancy (restoring the dome light, etc) and made a new secondary harness which I pulled through the drivers side wire harness grommet alongside the original harness. Wrapped up the extra outputs for future use and ziptied inside the fender, then cleaned up the new harnesses.
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Fog lights done and working. Saving the radio install for another day. I'm really happy with these lights. I originally wanted the stock small round foggers, but couldn't find any after @Racer65 was out of stock. These are bigger but look right to me. Very bright at night!
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On to the radio install to get all the mess of wires cleaned up under the dash. I had previously bought the aluminum speaker panels from SOR and some Polk marine grade speakers from Crutchfield. I had to bend the aluminum panels quite a bit to clear the kick vents, and didn't really appreciate drilling the door pillars and floor to get it in, but oh well. Installed and not really in the way of the clutch pedal. Maybe with big boots.

I wanted some phone charging and accessory power, so I drilled out the Tuffy console with a hole saw and put in a Marine USB and 12v dual outlet, and brought power to this with an accessory harness through the bottom of the tuffy console. This got wired along the transmission tunnel and powered via a relay switched output triggered off the original radio wire, so it powers with the accessory ignition position. USB outlet lights up fairly bright at night, but fortunately there is a cover for it.


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The dash was really cut up and bent from some prior radio, which made the retrosound install somewhat challenging. You can still see the cuts in between the radio and the lower dash pads, so I will probably make a backer plate to hide the mess. Otherwise the install is fairly straightforward other than there is a ton of wire to tuck away. Mounted the remote mic to the steering column. It works. If you are parked. Sound is OK. I think the setup would benefit from an external amp and some bigger speakers in the back. Future project.
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Good weather to take the top off and get to some projects that require the windshield to go down. I anticipated a big chore here but everything came apart well. The 12 V ratchet is a great tool for disassembly. Now that the top is off I can't seem to get the truck back from teenagers...

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Hard to believe it's been months since the warm spring day the top came off. Several projects in the interim but I've been poor about posting so brief recap.

Fabbed up a bracket to mount the VCV with what might be an FJ60 Spring clip.
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For some reason my tub has captive nuts for the jack mount but not tool bag clips. Fixed that with some Riv-Nuts set with RTV and some tool bag brackets from @hyhpe
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Now the tool bag looks right next to the newly cleaned and school-bus yellow'd jack.
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That's such a nice truck. I hope you have some anti-theft method installed that you won't describe here on Mud. A truck that sharp would be tempting to a lot of lowlifes. Just my .02 worth!
 
That's such a nice truck. I hope you have some anti-theft method installed that you won't describe here on Mud. A truck that sharp would be tempting to a lot of lowlifes. Just my .02 worth!
Much appreciated. And thanks for the reminder. On the agenda for this weekend and something I should have done long ago.
 
Reading through this and getting some motivation to get to work on my 40! I really do need to tackle my leaky exhaust manifold. Considering where you are parked, and that someone posted a pic of your 40 on a FB group with the location, you definitely need some anti-theft measures! Believe it or not, my Dad, retired cop, said he never had a car stolen that had a "Club" on it out of the thousands of reports he did.
 
I've had a set of spare tire carrier greaseable pins from @Racer65 sitting on the shelf for a while. Continuing with "Operation Rattlestop," I wanted to get these in as well as the amby door stainless pins from @SMG. Neither turned out to be a one day job.

I don't have a hydraulic press (on the long wish list), so tried blaster and every means of driving the existing pins out with no luck. I ended up drilling these out with a progression of bits and eventually was able to drive the remaining rusted shell out. A serious PIA.
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The end result, though, is awesome. Swings out silently and smoothly without the rusty squeal I was used to, and the rear end rattle is gone. Looks pretty slick as well. Changed out the hardware for stainless from Overland Metric. Thanks @davework for quick delivery and great product as usual.
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On to the Amby Door hinges. I don't think I have seen a full writeup on changing the pins, though I may have missed it. Unlike the front door and windshield hinges, these don't just drive out. I ended up using a dremel with a small cutoff wheel to grind down the underside heads, and then drilling.
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The stainless pins with bronze bushings from SMG fabrications are works of art. The hinges ended up rock solid. In my case they were a half mm too long for the hinges, which I solved with a nylon washer from McMaster Carr on the underside. Only trick is the lower hinges have a very short distance between the pins and the screw holes. The heads of the pins are large, and I had to substitute a couple of smaller profile non-SEMS phillips to clear the head of the pins in this location.

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I used 1/32" EDPM sheet from McMaster-Carr to make the pads under the hinges. I've seen some on ebay which may be original part, but they are spendy. These worked well

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Couple of other projects while the top was off.

(yeah some of this is out of order. It's been a while. Life intrudes on the 40 rather than the reverse)

My Wipers were parking in the middle of the windshield, which drove me crazy. I read every thread I could find about fixing this problem, and did more of a disassembly than necessary. Took apart the wiper motor and found that one of the 3 contacts on the rotating plate was pretty worn, but smoothed up with some 800 grit and seems to function fine now that it is greased. Repositioning is as simple as loosening the nut on the inside of the wiper linkage and moving the linkage, the reassembling. Try the wipers again until they park in the right spot. For a minute I thought I had destroyed the wiper motor, since nothing worked. Took be a minute to figure out the motor grounds through the windshield, which doesn't ground to the frame without the windshield bolts in. Thus the jumper wire in the small photo.

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Finished off the cover with a new CityRacer gasket. Perfect fit.

The old upper washer nozzle had been painted in place, which always bothered me. Got this apart and cleaned the holes out. Repainted with some gloss black. The steel tube in the windshield frame was completely blocked, so I ran a length of 4 mm tubing from the access point at the top of the windshield and down the right side through the wiper harness grommet and connected this to a Y under the hood. Now it's a super washer.

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I also took the opportunity to run power and ground for the dome light through the left side of the windshield to prepare for the top install.

My 87 yo Mom got to enjoy the last trip of the season with the top off. Seems a long time ago.
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