On the eve of picking up a 1970 40, could use some advice (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Feb 25, 2019
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780
Location
San Clemente, CA
Planning on picking up this longtime California FJ40 that has pretty much sat since 1985. Story is it was parked on a hill and water rusted out the front floorboards, but everything else seems like surface rust with a nice straight body. Also wanted that pre 75 for smog exemption.

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Obviously looking for a project, but as this is my first 40 or project of the kind, really hoping to at least start with as complete of an original as possible. From the pics it seems mostly there, but I start the 9 hour journey tomorrow, so only so much I can do from behind a screen.

What does seem to be missing is the transfer case shifter. It looks like the transfer case is there however. Any thoughts? Am I missing something?

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Obviously a lot to learn, but trying to jump on what I think is a deal and figure most of it out later. Thanks for any help.
 
Transfer case is vacuum which is the FD knob and the lever next to it. Looks pretty good. I’m also doing a 70 that sat- farm use post.
 
Ok, glad thats what it was. Was staring at that knob and was curious what it was. The learning begins.
 
Ok, glad thats what it was. Was staring at that knob and was curious what it was. The learning begins.
This looks like it is going to clean up very very VERY well. Is this a truck that's been in the family? If you paid less than $8k, I think you made out like a bandit

Looks like it was non-boosted single circuit brake master cylinder. Read up on options depending on what you want to do with brakes at the axles. You can upgrade to a booster and new master cylinder, master cylinder selection will depend on if you want to keep the drums or convert to discs. Some members have upgraded to a disc/drum master cylinder and omitted the booster (using a JT outfitters adapter at the firewall) and report great brakes with discs front/drums rear. I'm slowly working my way towards a non-boosted dual circuit master with drums/drums on my 69, but just too much other stuff needing my attention right now.

You have a SOLID base to start with from the looks of it. Well done!

I'm in Menifee and have complete running and mostly original 7/69 and 12/70 FJ40's if you need to put your eyes on anything in person.
 
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10k. Which isnt a steal but i think is a good price all things considered. Apparently it ran 3 years ago but has just been sitting in northern california. Have always wanted to fix up a car with my dad, and with how straight the body was, it seemed like a good candidate.

Not a lot of experience in this realm, but i did manage to swap a tundra front end into my 200 to make it a long travel. Excited to work on something "simple" compared to the 200.
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Not bad, wonder what the emergency stop button does
Turns on the hazard flashers :p

Or maybe it was wired inline from ignition to the coil as a joke or theft deterrent!
 
Looks solid. Going to be easy to dump a whole lot of money into it. Will be worth it. Hope you're handy with a wrench, have lots of free time, and you're wife doesn't mind endless packages of parts arriving in the mail. ;)

Keep that original paint!
 
Nice find. Seems mostly complete which is good. Agian sweet find. You can check sor.com, toyodiy.com, and partsouq.com diagrams to see what is missing and once you have part numbers you can search what other models used them at the toydiy site.

I would suggest dual brake circuit at the minimum. And brake calipers for the front will be a nice mod.
 
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You should CALL Mark Algazy. He is an awesome individual and is a tremendous resource for knowledge and parts. Mark's Off Road 437 N. MOSS ST. BURBANK, CA 91502 (818) 953-9230 http://marksoffroad.net/index2.html
 
Nice find! Cruiser looks sold and a great base to start with.
I have a 4/71 FJ40 that I am working on myself. Any questions you may have let me know or anyone here has lots of knowledge.
Good luck and fun with it.
 
Thank you all for the words of encouragement and recommendations. I’ll be sure to start up a build thread once it’s in my position and I figure out what that emergency stop button is haha.

Really have zero expectations on the motor, that will be interesting. Apparently it started 3 years ago, but no idea how reliable that is.
 
In the first picture there are two upright metal pieces just in front of the windshield...any idea what they are for??
 

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