Builds Project 2027: 1977 FJ40 Rebuild

[Jetlander]

I run a GM CS-144 that puts out 140 amps. There are a lot of write ups on here about those and the CS-130 if you search them. Only one battery and I have a winch. Keeps up fine.

You might want to look at changing your starter for a gear reduction starter. One of the better upgrades you can do.

@abtx4x4 I also live in the Clear Lake area. In fact I live off of Clear Lake City Blvd. Where are you located? I’d love to see what setup you have for your alternator bracket, mounting, and see if I can duplicate it.

 

[Jetlander]

While I’ve been waiting for the temps to warm up a bit to resume some minor painting tasks, I decided to finally pull the gauge cluster apart. Wanted to give it a good cleaning, blast and paint the faceplate, lube, and also zero out the odometer for the rebuild.

I’ve seen several threads on adding EL lights and/or LED lights to brighten things up a bit. Probably one of the first things I ordered prior to initial tear down was both LED strips and a EL light cord. I finally decided I liked the EL option the best.

Before I seal it all back up does anyone think there would be an issue using lithium grease for the odo gears? In a few threads I’ve read it’s been used so I’m hoping it’ll work fine.

Also, anyone have a line on paint that closely resembles the OEM silver?

Before:

Mid:

And I’ll add finished photos when I have it all put back together again.

 

[merbesfield]

Wow, so organized. I’m impressed

 

[Jetlander]

Wow, so organized. I’m impressed

Don’t know about that but I certainly try to keep things moving along smoothly.

 

[Jetlander]

Finished up the gauge cluster today. Blasted and painted the faceplate so I was waiting for that to dry before reassembly. That gave me enough time to pull the glass and clean it. Super surprised the 40 year old rubber gaskets holding the glass was still very flexible. Anyways, managed to get the EL lighting all set up throughout the cluster. Hoping it does the trick and brightens things up a bit, without being too bright. From some of the reading I’ve been doing I should be able to control the brightness if I run the wires to the normal bulb base.

I drilled a small hole near the back of the speedometer to run the wires out the back. Happened to have a perfectly sized grommet laying around so I used that. Came out pretty clean in my opinion.

And the finished product. I painted the faceplate with the same high temp paint I used on the engine block. It’s called ‘cast iron’. I really like the look.

 

[Jetlander]

I spent the majority of today cleaning and sorting out my garage. Pushed the Cruiser out and gave everything a good once over. Rebuilding a 40 year old vehicle is a messy business. Part of the reason for cleaning things up a bit and rearranging the garage is because I’m moving into the final stage. Other than power steering the mechanical portion of this project is done, so now onto bodywork. There is going to be a steep learning curve but I’m willing to take my time and go slow.

First item up is the cowl. Mostly in decent shape. There’s a hole rusted clean through near where the drivers right foot would rest. Also a bit near the A-pillars. Certainly not near as bad as most of the projects I’ve seen on mud.

This is the point I got to when my Dewalt 4 1/2 grinder decided to give up the ghost. That poor thing owed me nothing. I’ve had it for 10 years and I’ve worked it HAAAARD, especially when I was cleaning up the frame. I wouldn’t be shocked if it has over 1000 hours of use.

RIP.

 

[fjdiesel]

I welded in a thicker plate on the bottom of the cowl where the aluminum tub bolts up. Since I see yours needs attention, you might want to do that as well. I did bolt mine together this week and it is very stout.

 

[Jetlander]

I welded in a thicker plate on the bottom of the cowl where the aluminum tub bolts up. Since I see yours needs attention, you might want to do that as well. I did bolt mine together this week and it is very stout.

Great suggestion. How thick was the plate you used? Any chance you have pictures of just the A-pillar with the plate welded on?

 

[merbesfield]

Looking good, but your comment about cleaning up “before” rust repair is made me laugh. GLW the bodywork portion. I think would have started there. Hopefully will not be too bad. Thx for posting.

 

[fjdiesel]

Great suggestion. How thick was the plate you used? Any chance you have pictures of just the A-pillar with the plate welded on?

I will look and see if I have any pics of in progress.

 

[fjdiesel]

I did my cowl before I had my Aqualu tub. The pinchweld next to the cardboard needs to be trimmed more to clear the mounting surface of the tub to cowl. The cardboard is the thicker steel that I did. I used 1/4 in. But, 3/16 would have been suffice. 1/4 is just what I had around. For the bottom of the cowl, I used the patch panel from RealSteel Lower cowl patch panel

Lower cowl patch panel

Hope these help. It did make a nice and sturdy mounting surface. The first pic is of them together. I have been test fitting and bolting down the tub now.

 

[Tommy Shumpert]

Finished up the gauge cluster today. Blasted and painted the faceplate so I was waiting for that to dry before reassembly. That gave me enough time to pull the glass and clean it. Super surprised the 40 year old rubber gaskets holding the glass was still very flexible. Anyways, managed to get the EL lighting all set up throughout the cluster. Hoping it does the trick and brightens things up a bit, without being too bright. From some of the reading I’ve been doing I should be able to control the brightness if I run the wires to the normal bulb base.View attachment 1872384


I drilled a small hole near the back of the speedometer to run the wires out the back. Happened to have a perfectly sized grommet laying around so I used that. Came out pretty clean in my opinion.

View attachment 1872382
View attachment 1872383

And the finished product. I painted the faceplate with the same high temp paint I used on the engine block. It’s called ‘cast iron’. I really like the look.

View attachment 1872385

How did the test go on the lights?

 

[Jetlander]

How did the test go on the lights?

Terrible! I didn’t test the EL lights before I installed it in the cluster. Reassembled everything and plugged it into my Tundra’s 12v outlet...nothing...not so much as a hint of light. Pissed would be an understatement. Went back on Amazon to order another one and sure enough, they’re out of stock. Just my luck. Granted, the rig isn’t even remotely ready for the cluster anyways. It’s basically something to do on bad weather days. Definitely not happy about having to tear it all apart again.

 

[Jetlander]

I did my cowl before I had my Aqualu tub. The pinchweld next to the cardboard needs to be trimmed more to clear the mounting surface of the tub to cowl. The cardboard is the thicker steel that I did. I used 1/4 in. But, 3/16 would have been suffice. 1/4 is just what I had around. For the bottom of the cowl, I used the patch panel from RealSteel Lower cowl patch panel

Lower cowl patch panel

Hope these help. It did make a nice and sturdy mounting surface. The first pic is of them together. I have been test fitting and bolting down the tub now.

Thanks for the pics. I’m having to replace the same patch. From what I can tell, as of now, it’s the only rust on the entire cowl. Should be a straightforward fix with the realsteal patch. I’ll probably use some 3/16 like you suggested as I happen to have some laying around from a prior project.

 

[Jetlander]

Even though the posts haven’t been coming at a lightening pace, the work on the Cruiser has been on going. Lots of cutting, welding, and grinding as of late. Even a bit of fab work to make braces for the lower cowl panels. I’ve got a bit of a photo dump.

I ordered lower cowl patches from Real Steal and I’m very happy with the quality. They were on my front door within a week of ordering.

As you can see, just general rot and rust pitting. Trying to really limit the amount of filler needed so out with the old, and in with the new.

This was the first time I’ve welded sheet metal on something that mattered, appearance wise. Going slow was important and overall I’m happy with the turnout.

 

[Jetlander]

Even though I thought I was going slow enough on the first side I still managed to warp a bit of the metal. Nothing crazy but I was pretty p1ssed about it. I’ve spent so much time trying to get things right that I couldn’t stand the thought of adding a bunch of filler to cover my rookie mistake. Sooo...

After an evening of generally moping around at the thought of my mistake, I made a run to the steel shop and picked up a sheet of 16 gauge and cut the entire warped section out to start over.

As you can see, there is a small wave towards the middle. It wasn’t too bad but my OCD wouldn’t allow it.

Even though it was a bunch more work I’m glad I patched my patch. It was a valuable lesson in patience and the importance of keeping the welding surface cool. Sometimes slow isn’t slow enough...

 

[Jetlander]

Anyways, with a lessons learned I took today off work and started hacking off the opposite side. With the realization it’s far better to do it right once and be done, I cut my welding speed in half and used copious amounts of compressed air to cool the entire areas between runs.

And not a hint of a warp. All told, a couple of hours to put all the beads down. Another half hour of grinding and smoothing and it was ready for some temporary primer to prevent flash rusting.

Second project today was to make the stiffening brackets for the back of the lower cowl panel. The ones on the original were beyond fixing so I set out to fab some new ones up.

 

[Jetlander]

As you can see in the pics, the support/ stiffening brackets had succumbed to the cancer. No chance at saving them. I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to replicate but with some ingenuity I was able to bend and hammer new ones with the help of a torch and bench vise.

The pitting was so bad I wasn’t even able to locate the spot welds so I could drill them out to use as a template. Basically ended up taking some measurements and got to work.

My biggest concern was wondering if I would be able to reproduce all the right angles. The torch and vise proved my fear were unfounded.

While not OEM my fab work will definitely serve its purpose. They fit nice and snug. I will spot weld them into place just like I did with the other bracket seen at the bottom of the pic.

One thing about the RealSteal patch you can see by the A pillar. It didn’t have wraparound lip like the original. I will have to fab them up and weld it on. Not that big of a deal but not sure why they didn’t build them exactly like OEM.

 

[rickpaw]

Welds look great Johnathan. You did not say what diameter wire you used for welding, but I have found using 0.025" wire for welding sheet metals yield the best result.

 

[fjdiesel]

I didn't even know those supports were behind the cowl lowers!! Mine were all taken from the cancer long before I saw it. Nice work, keep up the good fight!