PRE '63 Door Strikes for FJ40

[Living in the Past]

I'm confused as I don't see anything in the picture of what your working on being earlier than mid 65. Vent in the cowl and no vent in the windshield frame. The top isn't corrugated and no bug catcher vent windows. Are the doors pieced together? Is there a plug to excess the pivot for the vent window?

 

[D'Animal]

Let me know if you want pictures with measurements.

 

[TOY350]

We have a pieced together 40. The frame and hood to cowling is from my '67 which we rebuilt with an early 60's tub (best guess), 63ish bottom door halves, who knows what year upper doors and the windshield is late model too. I know it will make the purists cringe but we were shooting for a clean 40 that we could wheel and those were the parts available to us.

 

[TOY350]

D'Animal. Just a thought on further review. Is there anyway you can tell if the bolt pattern on that early tub strike is the same pattern as the later ones? We have a 67 from the hood all the way to the B pillar where the strike attaches. We have an early tub from there back which doesn't matter for this. Just trying to make sure if we source some they will actually work.

Or better yet, if your strike is available to borrow for a week or so we could try to get some make locally and send it back.

 

[D'Animal]

Here are a few pictures with a metric ruler for reference.

 

[D'Animal]

Here are a few more pictures for reference.


This is a 1962/1963 FJ40

This is a 1964 FJ 40

 

[TOY350]

Thanks, will check measurements and see if it fits our pillar.

 

[Living in the Past]

I would look for signs the B pillar had been cut down to match the rest of the tub. Early hard top models have a tall B pillar. Guessing about six inches taller than the rest of the back section.

 

[D'Animal]

For reference

 

[TOY350]

Thanks D'Animal, that helps out a bunch. So original old tub strikes will not bolt up on our tub since the newer strikes bolt right in. Our tub must be mid-63 and newer but not much newer. If we want to have our factory door strikes work we will need to fab our own using the style of the old to the bolt pattern of the new. Or, drill and tap out holes on the doors for newer door strikes if they will work (not sure on this, will have to look into). Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Living in the Past]

My guess your tub is mid 65 or newer. I serious doubt someone added that vent in the cowl. I betting on the passenger's side there is a grill for fresh air intake for the heater blower. These were a option on the 65 models (mid 64) in the US but starting with the later style tops they were standard in the US market. If the louvers were at forty-five degrees they would be the earlier style. Horizontal would be later. The defrost vent on the earlier tub with the vent in the windshield were one piece and needed to be removed before the windshield could be folded down. When the vent in the windshield was replaced with one in the center of the cowl the defrost vents were two piece setup with part in the cowl and the other in the windshield frame. The later style would be easy to replace the windshield with the later 75+ style and still have working defrost vents. Driver's seat on the early tub with early doors would be tube frame and mount on a tool box that is angled to match the transmission tunnel cover on the inside. When tub changed the tall B pillar went away. Tool box changed shape as well as front seat frames with more noticeable changes to the driver seat.

Would be curious to see a picture of complete inside of one of your doors. Those seem like the only real early part of the rig. Could even be later doors that a PO installed the earlier mechanism. Do your door have a crank or slide to lift the windows?

 

[TOY350]

To clear up your questions @ Living in the Past:

1. Yes the B pillar all the way to the front bumper is from the '67 we started with. So door strikes on the tub were the newer ones for sure. From the behind the B pillar back we replaced with an older tub of unknown year and encountered a bolt hole placement problem for the roll cage we made. Not sure how to tell the year from only the rear half of a tub.
2. Windshield mid 70's and newer and the defrost vents work with the stock heater, used some collapsible ducting to hook them up.
3. Tool box is not angled and the B pillar has not been cut (matching the above statement that is a 67).
4. Lower doors are early and those are the parts that came with them, research shows a few months of production in 63 only. The door uppers are newer but fit into the lowers with slight mods such as cutting out the top of the lower to be able to slide the newer uppers in.

Would like to know the year of the rear half of the tub though, can post a pic of the bolt hole that isn't there but was on the 67 tub we used to create the roll cage with.

 

[Living in the Past]

Where is this hole that isn't there on the tub you used but on the 67 tub. By 67 the hard top/soft top were universal so a hard top could mount the soft top and vise versa. Part of this was a fixed nut along the top of the tub just behind the B pillar to bolt the bracket for the soft top safety strap. Wasn't until later the hard top latch mounting holes were used for the safety strap. Other thing I would have to check into is if the hole with the welded nut on the back of the B pillar was there in earlier hard tops. This is used to help lock the round tub on both the hard top and soft top bow. Uses a bolt with nut. Thread the bolt in until it's tight against the tube and use the nut so it tightens against the welded nut. A couple of things would be easy to tell if the tub was a FJ25 just by looking at the outside. But the 61 I've seen would have a few carry over items on the inside. Straight ribs in the floor that outside two were connected. Bracket on the front of the wheel well for the front arm on the jump seat. Plus a larger opening in the cut for the gas fill. Think it was sometime in 62 a couple threaded holes were added in the lower section of the rear floor for seat belts. These also had bracket in the front of the wheel well for the outer strap of the seat belt. Not sure how long that bracket lasted. My 9/67 (68 model) the seat belt threaded holes were on the floor in front wheel well.

 

[Splangy]

Found em:

 

[KT40]

Found em:

View attachment 1184993

Nice quarter sawn!

 

[TOY350]

Nice! Now I wonder if there is enough room in those to drill the bolt pattern for the later model tub? See all the previous pics showing the bolt patterns. Seeing your sig line it appears you have a later model 40 that you could use for reference and see if it's feasible. Let me know what you think and thanks!

Or maybe we could drill and tap the B pillar but I think modifying the strikes is better.

 

[TOY350]

OK for those of you interested in trying to narrow down the year of the rear tub we have I now have the pics. You can see the modified roll cage we are using and large "flap" that comes down on the wheel well behind the seats is drilled out for the hole pattern on the '67 tub we originally had. Those holes are not there on the tub we installed so we will have to modify the cage in order to use the factory holes on the new tub. I took some random pics hopefully showing you guys things that will narrow down the year.

 

[TOY350]

Living in the Past can you figure out the year based on these pics?

 

[Living in the Past]

Need more information to guess better then mid 62 to mid 67. That's going by the seat belt bracket in the fender well. I have two 62 tubs. One has the bracket and one doesn't. My 9/67 model model doesn't have it.

Is the tailgate part of the original tub or added? Are the holes that mount the top hard top sides factory. Were there holes for the soft top twists along top of the tub? I see bolts from the bracket the roll bar is mounted going into the top of the top, were there factory fixed nuts in those locations? The split between the front and back half is the part the B pillar bow goes in part of the back or the front?