Build Project Beach Cruiser | The 1971 FJ40 Patina RestoMod

[GRM]

Moved on to replacing the reverse light, mainly because it looked terrible. The lens was hazy and and the inside it was clearly holding moisture and rust. Years of living near the beach was apparent here. It was crusty

The mounting screws were rusty and completely stripped, so there was no chance they were backing out cleanly. To avoid tearing up the surrounding panel, I cut the old lens off with an oscillating saw, then drilled the mounting screws out once the housing was exposed.

With the housing off, I treated the area behind the light the same way I did the hood hinges: I soaked a blue shop towel in Evapo-Rust, laid it over the rusty area, let it sit for ~20 minutes, then lightly scrubbed with a grey Scotch-Brite. That knocked down probably 90% of the surface rust without getting aggressive or removing paint. Good enough to hold back the rust and make it look better.

Replaced the gasket and installed a new lens. It looks correct on the truck — just clean.

And yes… it still doesn’t work. I never hooked the reverse light up. This is 100% cosmetic. Maybe the next thing to fix?

While digging through my parts pile, I found the original reverse light switch from the 1971 3-speed, which leads to the next question: Does anyone know if the early 1971 3-speed reverse light switch will physically fit and function in an ’81 FJ60 4-speed transmission? Mainly curious about thread size/pitch and plunger depth. I haven’t tried installing it yet and figured I’d ask before spending an hour on something that won’t work.

 

[GRM]

Finally tackled the side steps. The originals were toast. Years of sitting near the beach rotted them out and they were rusty and crusty enough that they had to go. You can see in the before pics just how bad they were.

These came off my buddy’s 1977. He pulled them when he added sliders, so they were just sitting around. Not a perfect match for my 1971 since the originals were a multi piece welded design and these are stamped steel, but honestly they look a lot better. I spent years trying to track down a set that matched my 71’s and never found anything, so when these came up I jumped on them.

Before they went on, I shot them in Cygnus White to match the rest of the truck. The rattle can came out more yellow than the original paint; no idea why. Its noticeable when called out, but still looks 10x better than before

Bolted them up and they sit right. Keeping with the theme here, I’m not chasing perfect, just better than it was and good enough to drive around with the top and doors off without dropping rust chunks on the ground.

 

[GRM]

Started needing an alignment (never aligned it in 16 years), but found a single loose tie rod end in the process. These ends are 55 years old at this point. I figured if one is loose, the rest are sure to follow, so once I had it apart I did them all while I was in there.

Cruiser Outfitters set me up with their 555 tie rod end kit (TRE69045), and I love that they package the whole thing together. All five pieces in one box instead of hunting down individual ends. One thing worth noting: 555 no longer ships these with the Zerk grease fittings installed, because too many people over grease the joints and blow the boots.

I also picked up additional tie rod end shims to adapt the 40 series ends to the 60 series steering arms. The old shims were fused onto my original tie rod ends and would not come off, so new ones were necessary.

Before install I masked off the threads and ball studs with frog tape and hit them with SEM Trim Black (satin) on a cardboard box.

While I was sorting out suspension, I found that BTB (btbprod.com) sells a Bilstein steering stabilizer. It’s part of their lift kit and isn’t listed separately on the website, but they’ll sell it on its own if you ask. Worth a call or email if you’re after one. It’s a Bilstein 5100 style stabilizer with the silver can, which I went with specifically because it matches my 5100 shocks.

Got everything reassembled. New 555 ends, drag link and tie rod back in, and the Bilstein stabilizer in place. Then did a tape measure alignment with a TMR alignment jig. Steering feels tight now with zero slop.