Ol' Blue, my 68' fj40 project (1 Viewer)

[2fpower]

Local find. Guy had it on Clist and MUD. I was looking for a 97' lexus, and ended up with this one.... time will tell if I made a good choice I had major reservations about getting it as I think there is tranny issues. I am getting ready to order a front rebuild kit and do that first.

However, the price was right, AND now I can start wheeling with the family!!!

Another local MUD member, and I are looking for lifts, bumpers, winches, etc. to get our newly acquired rigs on the trail.

FUN FUN

 

[weejub]

Nice grab!!

 

[2fpower]

baby steps

So, thought I might save this thread from falling off page one....

Found some time to play in the shop somehow.

My only goal for the last month is to go out and work on the back seats for the kids to sit. In case I have not shared, the goal is to get this rig rolling to pick the kids up from school in late May. So, I really needed the rear seats to be done.

The seats are from a Geo Tracker and I got the idea from MUD of course. They are the flip, fold seats so they will get out of the way if needed. I needed to engineer them to be extremely well secured, yet did not want to be drilling lots of new holes in the body.

So, my buddy Josh came out and we figured out where the seats would need to be mounted, and then I went to work. We determined for a good seating position, the front needed to be raised a little over an inch. The best position was just about in line with the body bolts in the middle rear of the tub, so I decided to get a 1 x 3 square tube and cross over the entire rear.

The original seat mount on the front of the seat had a bent section that needed to go. I cut it off at that bend, then drilled a new mounting hole.

 

[2fpower]

square tube

Here is the tube I installed. I cut it about 1/2 short so it would not rub on the edges, then drilled holes with a hole saw so that I could bolt it to the body mounts. Originally, I cut the holes on the front edge, but then realized that the seat mount was in the exact same spot, so I had to move the body mount hole to the center of the tube. To get the correct height, keep from rubbing on the tub, and to avoid the raised sections of the tub, I added two 1/4 plate sections at the mounting points.

 

[2fpower]

seats continued

From that point, I drilled and tapped holes for the seat mounts (that I had added a new hole after cutting the bent section off earlier)

Lined the seats up and marked for all the attachment points.

 

[2fpower]

Ta -da

So, here is what they looked like.....

I then stripped the old covers off and found really rust frame on the bottom. So, I did a quick sandblast and powdercoating. This really maxed my oven out. they were at an angle in the oven and barely fit. Really happy with how they turned out once again..... I do love powdercoating....

Soonerfan set me up with a local upholstery shop, so I took them over to him to do his magic. I had bought some extra material from Shane when I got the front seat covers, so we shall see....

 

[2fpower]

progress

Stopped by the shop to look at the progress...

Bad cell phone pic, it does not do his work justice.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

keep your upholstery info handy. I will need to pick your brain. I will need those services in the future.

 

[2fpower]

If things finish up as nice as they look so far, I will be screaming his name from the tallest building in the kingdom.

Nice guy to work with too, laid back, works from his basement. Cool dude.

 

[weejub]

Wow - Looks REAL nice.

 

[trainrech]

Ditto what Erik said - planning to recover the seats in the '78.

 

[kc_chevota]

Eric and I can do a group buy

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Rob you needs seats redone as well? OH WAIT.. Yes you do..
This guy migh end up having a waiting list huh! Good find kelly.. For not wheeling your leading quite well..

Rob we will chat at the wrenching weekend about seats and thoughts.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Rumor has it Kelly has today and tomorrow off and might be taking advantage of the 60 degree weather. In anticipate we might be able to see some progress soon.

 

[2fpower]

Thanks for the bit of urging.... I finally got out this AM to work on it, and got a lot done. Started testing the electrical, and most things work. Brake lights are not working yet, but the switch appears to be working, need to debug that one. Front park lights are not working at this time either. Again, something to think about I guess.

Ran a new hard fuel line and ran all the brake lines and installed the gas tank.

Clutch is confusing me -- the rod from the slave to the clutch fork arm it is way too long. maybe 2.5 inches. I know that I had this working before when I drove it, so I wonder if my parts got swapped. The tip is the ball end, the correct one, so "confused is me".

 

[CrowleyFJ40]

I've got a "ball" ended one here at the house, threaded portion is 6 5/16" long and the ball end is 1 3/8" long, off of a '73. I don't know if they had them in different lengths for the F engine, but if that is shorter than the one you've got let me know and I'll put it in the Jenn Express parts delivery vehicle.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Colin deciphered the different clutch push rods so take his word.. 3spd has the enclosed tip 4spd doesn't
did you bleed down the clutch slave? could be a bad slave or master. i can pull either this weekend for you if you need. or both. will probably work on trucks tomorrow.
getting inspection and insurance early next week.. I did get the opportunity to speak with Colin's mom Friday so that is good news.. Colin will know what that means cause she works for my insurance agency.

 

[2fpower]

Thanks for the length of the rod, I will check. I need to dig into the parts corner and see what I am missing. Something had to be misplaced.

Big question for me is brakes. I found a geo brake setup by the stadium at a junkyard, so may head out there to pick it up: otherwise I need to order the oil filter relocation setup.

I made the pieces to mount the kids seats today and powdercoated them, so that part of the puzzle should be good. The car turns over (starter wired up right)

I need to turn it over until I get oil pressure....

Also the voltage regulator was smoking this AM when I was testing wires, so need to see if a swap is in order there.

Fuel tank installed today, finished up a bunch of wiring issues,

I need to get some pics posted. Sorry, not trying to pull an "ERIK"

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

i have an oil filter relocation kit on the shelf for that vintage.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

anything yet kelly? You want me to dig out the filter thing this weekend? Can use it for now and go back to old school later if you want. Can send via parts express monday.. Colin might have the different push rod for the clutch as well if your needing that. don't think he's going 3spd again.