Picked up a new to me '71 FJ40 on Friday

[StaleAle]

Drove to NC in 4 hours and only took 9.5 hours to get back in the snowstorm...adventures already and I hadn't even gotten it off the trailer!

It's pretty much stock with the exception of front disc brakes, shoulder and seat belts, floor shift conversion, and white 15x7 wagon wheels (3k on the tires).

The PO's daughters drove it to school until last summer (his wife insisted on a more substantial vehicle so being the good father he put them into a nice FZJ80). He spent a day preparing to start the resto by pulling the dash apart, removing the heater, and part of the wiring harness from the engine bay so it isn't running at the moment. I hope to rectify that shortly, if I can ever get it off the trailer and into the car port. Mother nature is conspiring against me.

It came with a pile of parts that were gathered for the resto, such as replacement rocker panels, all new rubber seals for doors, windows, roof and firewall, stainless hardware for hardtop, windshield, cowl, hood, and grill, new hood and windshield latches with bumpers, turn signal/dimmer switches, . Also a lot of used stuff (spare Weber carb, headliner, stock bumper, skid plate, water pump, etc.).




Jon

 

[76FJ40]

Looks like a good place to start.

 

[Thornton]

Looks good Jon. Isn't fun bringing things home in a snow storm on a trailer. Brought my M-416 from KY thru WV in a storm. Actually it's a test from the cruiser gods to see if you really want it. Good luck with it

 

[kulangot]

Sounds like an great truck. Let me know if you need any pointers with the rust restoration and welding.

 

[crotalusatrox]

congrats!!

 

[greytandy]

Nice score Jon. I'll take the fiberglass hardtop with rust-free rain gutter. Oh what the heck, throw in the headliner too. Thanks!

 

[cuteo100]

Congrats, Jon!

 

[Devilmans Hand]

sweet ride. More pix!

 

[Von Hayek]

I like the color too.

 

[StaleAle]

Sounds like an great truck. Let me know if you need any pointers with the rust restoration and welding.

Oh boy do I ever need help with that! Cutting and replacing the rocker panels and patching the right rear corner of the sill are high priorities for me (I hate rust through). After the snow melts I'll ask you to stop by and give me your assessment. I'm still debating how far to take the body work (full off resto or something less ambitous).

Thanks for offering!

 

[kulangot]

I'll forward you some pics of past projects to give you some ideas. Bring it over and l'll give it a once over for you.

 

[kulangot]

I'll forward you some pics of past projects to give you some ideas. Bring it over and l'll give it a once over for you.

to add to that...

I'd suggest doing a "rolling restoration" with an emphasis on doing as much as you can DIY with in reason. Keeps the costs down, keeps the truck on the road and keeps the drudgery of a full nut and bolt bare frame resto to a minimum. If you can drive it, you'll keep your head in the game.

I've got a tool to bend the patches for the back quarters and I'll show you how to weld sheet metal with out warping. It's all about what I call an "interrupted arc" technique. You basically can't run a bead on sheet, you have to do a series of tack welds.

Sounds like a good tech day to me. Mid February Sebastian? Outside? (inside joke).

 

[Devilmans Hand]

i second that idea of tech. need to learn!

 

[John Smith]

Drove to NC in 4 hours and only took 9.5 hours to get back in the snowstorm...adventures already and I hadn't even gotten it off the trailer!

It's pretty much stock with the exception of front disc brakes, shoulder and seat belts, floor shift conversion, and white 15x7 wagon wheels (3k on the tires).

The PO's daughters drove it to school until last summer (his wife insisted on a more substantial vehicle so being the good father he put them into a nice FZJ80). He spend a day preparing to start the resto by pulling the dash apart, removing the heater, and part of the wiring harness from the engine bay so it isn't running at the moment. I hope to rectify that shortly, if I can ever get it off the trailer and into the car port. Mother nature is conspiring against me.

It came with a pile of parts that were gathered for the resto, such as replacement rocker panels, all new rubber seals for doors, windows, roof and firewall, stainless hardware for hardtop, windshield, cowl, hood, and grill, new hood and windshield latches with bumpers, turn signal/dimmer switches, . Also a lot of used stuff (spare Weber carb, headliner, stock bumper, skid plate, water pump, etc.).


View attachment 381059

Jon

Nice!

I would put it back together into a drivable state and enjoy it for at least one year while you decide what route you want to take with restoring / modding it. Because once you decide to take it off the road and go down the restoration path a very simple body patch can turn into a frame off, which sometimes never gets finished once life gets in the way. Since it was a daily driver it should be easy to get back on the road. Let us know if you need any parts to get it back on the road.

 

[StaleAle]

Thanks everyone! That's good advice as far as getting it back on the road first. I'd like to baseline the rig first to get a feel for what I might want to do mechanically and in what order of precedence.

First on the list is to flush the fuel tank and fuel lines. Any advice on the best method for doing this and disposing of the waste fuel? PO had fuel flow troubles that he solved by blowing out the lines with compressed air and adding an inline fuel filter. This took care of the problem so he never got around to flushing and inspecting the fuel tank. thinking he would do that when he had the tank out for the resto. Considering the age of this truck I'd feel more comfortable knowing the integrity of the tank holding 20+ gallons of fuel beneath my passenger.

The second item is to either reinstall the old wiring that was removed, or go ahead and install the "Painless" weatherproof wiring harness that came with the pile of spare parts. For that I will most likely need a consult or two (or three) from Mr. Ed (the Techno Geek, not the talking horse). I'm thinking of upgrading to a buss with breakers and wiring for radios (AM/FM/MP3, CB and UHF), GPS, aux. and trailer lights, air compressor, air locker switches, and dual batteries.

Third is getting the heater hooked back up so I can drive it this winter.

Fourth will be getting the body looking good. This will also help dissipate some of the skepticism I'm getting from my better half so this comes very soon after I get the rig running, registered and inspected. I want to do it right but there is high risk of mission creep. I'm not looking for a show car restoration, but I do very much want to have matching paint on the firewalls, under the dash, and good protection on the underpanels, etc.

One of the first mechanical items will also be to install a header. It has a brand new exhaust from the down pipe back, but the PO's instructions were not specific enough and the skid plate was missing at the time so the Fabricator routed the exhaust too low for offroading. I'll have to jump on that and might as well do the header so I only cut and reroute the exhaust once.

Does anyone have experience with the Pertronix electronic ignition conversion? Any noticable improvement or does this just make tune-ups easier?

Lots of questions and looking for lots of free advice. Thanks!

Jon

 

[kulangot]

The Waste Transfer Station on West Ox Rd (AKA "the dump") takes old gas on household hazardous waste days - IIRC Thursday? Check their website.

Get the tank boiled and lined by Dolphin Radiator in Alex off Edsel rd on Gen Washington drive. Bring your wife and drop her off at the Chair Shop and Warehouse Show Rooms - both are awesome furniture stores that sell real furniture for reasonable prices. West Marine is nearby and they sell great crimp fittings. I just got a Snap-On crimper that works amazing well, I'd also recommend the Klien and Channelock versions as well. What say you Ed?

On the older trucks with the cloth covered wiring, I prefer Painless and went that route my self. 74 and newer with the amber turn signals, Painless does not work as well and you have to run some extra wires - no biggie but not as clean of an install. Just plan on replacing all of the switches to make it all new. Painless sells an ignition switch, hazard switch, wiper switch and hi-beam/lo-beam. In my opinion, all that makes is more bettah than using a new harness with the 39 year old other stuff. I ran a separate Circuit Boss for all of the accessories to keep that stuff from harming the main harness if anything went wrong. I even ran it in a separate wrap so that it could not melt down and damage the main harness.

Petronixs is great, Marksoffroad.net sells them. He sells a great header as well as a great header gasket. Check out his specials page. I'd suggest you send him your carb for a rebuild. He also sells a great aux tank that I chose over messing with my stock tank. Mark is an awesome vendor and it's great to have a guru who you can trust to walk you through troubleshooting and give sage advice. For that alone, I give him any business I can vs. other vendors.

What you said about your body work plans is very well thought out. I've taken short cuts in the past and painted the dash and floors a different color, usually black. I did this to cut time and or budget and in the end did not like it. I'm also not a fan of using a bed liner in the back unless it's a trail truck. My point is that having a clear plan and setting your own expectations is critical and you seem to be on the path to doing so. Of course, it's always good to be willing to modify the plan to fit situation but having a clear vision is key.

 

[StaleAle]

Pertronix, et al

Mark is exactly who I had in mind when I asked the question about the Pertronix. My list of short term "needs" from Mark includes the Tri-Y header and gasket, receiver trailer hitch, billet side cover, and possibly a 2F valve cover w/oil filler cap and gasket.

I'm toying with the idea of swapping the 3 speed for a 4 speed but retaining the 3 speed x-fer case using Mark's conversion kit. Also trying to decide if I'm going with a 2.5" or 4" lift down the road. The 31" tires I have now are brand new on 15x7 rims and I should probably put some wear on these tires first...but I'd like to go to 33" and really liked the looks of the 35" tires on Bob's FJ45. I must admit however, I'm a little shy about lifting such a short rig to 4". I'm not a fan of high pucker factor off camber situations. I'm not going there yet, because I want some stick time behind the current suspension and steering so I get a feel for how this truck behaves before I start messing with those systems.

One annoying item I also need to fix is the missing hook on the tool box lid for one of the hold down clasps. Hopefully I can fab something up when I do the sheetmetal work on the rocker panels and rear sill.

It has been too damned cold to do wiring since I brought it home so not making much physical progress, just planning and scheming. The wires are too stiff and my fingers don't work for very long before I lose dexterity. Hopefully we'll get a warm spell soon so I can clean out the beast, wash off some of the road grunge, and hook-up some of the instrument panel.


Jon

 

[iptman]

Mid February Sebastian? Outside? (inside joke).

Not too inside...I was there! Brrrrrr. Great tech day though.

-Patrick

 

[emorth]

Congrats Jon. Nice find.
Looks like an electrical tech day in the making to me

Ed

 

[StaleAle]

No doubt about the need for both a body panel cut-n-weld tech day and an electrical tech day.

With that wiring harness already pulled, and the seats out, I'm tempted to attack the body and paint it before putting it all back together and getting it running again. It was a daily driver until one Saturday this past summer when the PO decided to start his partial resto rather than monkey with yet another finicky connection with brittle tail light wiring so I'm not too concerned about mechanical problems.

Did you say you had a tow bar? If so I'd like to know if I can please borrow it? If I go after the body work and paint first I'll need an easy way to drag it over to Stumbaugh's to get his advice and assistance with the body work and possibly set-up a tech day.

Sure would be nice to do some of that wiring harness in a nice warm auto shop/classroom facility....

Jon