Builds Project Pikachu: 1977 FJ40 (1 Viewer)

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Another interesting Cruiser conversation today.

My son and I went and had lunch at one of our favorite hole in the walls today, since he is back to remote learning due to the Great Coronavirus Sham.

Had an old timer walk up to us. Question number one was, “is that your FJ40?”, and question number two was, “does it still have the six?”. I said yes and yes, and he said, “good!”.

He told us all about the 1971 FJ40 he once owned. Apparently it was factory red with a hard top and had a huge Tulsa winch on it when he bought it from a rancher in the mid-1970s. He and his buddies drove this thing all over the country once he removed that huge winch. He also mentioned how much he regretted putting a Chevy 350 in the rig and that he quickly developed a huge retrospective appreciation for the old, slow six-cylinder engine after that. I mentioned how the winch story reminded me of the Alaskan logger we had met recently with a 40.

My boy thought that he talked funny, but I think it was due to the level of Coors Original he had consumed up to that point. We bs’ed about other topics as we sat by the old cast iron stove that heats the place. He settled back in at the bar while we ate our burgers, but got up two more times to reminisce about that 1971. It is really starting to click for my son how these vehicles can bond folks.
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I love it. I think these days, any reminder to older folks of the days when the world was a much better place is enough to get them in a happy and chatty mood. It's almost like you're a part of the past and they just want to be out of this mess for a minute or two.
I totally agree.
 
I read some inspiration last week on painting the lettering on the knobs. So, I scrubbed them with Carbon X cleaner, then hit them with white acrylic paint and wiped off. Super easy and made a huge difference. Came back later and did the hazard switch in red.

Took 20 minutes.

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We headed over towards Signal Butte in the National Forest this afternoon and hiked for a while. I feel so very lucky to live in a place where the wilderness is right at our door. Great way to spend quality time with the boy.
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I wanted to clean up Pikachu today after some unexpected mudslinging this past weekend, and decided to finish off the wash with a coat of wax. It's one of those things that I've intended to do for a while, but I hate waxing vehicles.

The paint really shined up nicely. First wax job for this 40 in many years. Maybe ever.
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What wax/process did you use? I need to do this before winter gets going as well.
I just used Turtle Wax. I think any wax will work fine on this old single stage paint and long as you use a buffer and/or lots of elbow.
 
I've got a new one to install - how did you put yours in? I know I can either drop the front bib or remove the radiator (ugh) or....?
 
I've got a new one to install - how did you put yours in? I know I can either drop the front bib or remove the radiator (ugh) or....?

child labor.

In all seriousness, I'd just lean the bib.
 
I've got a new one to install - how did you put yours in? I know I can either drop the front bib or remove the radiator (ugh) or....?

child labor.

In all seriousness, I'd just lean the bib.

And yes, some child labor to reach in the tight spaces to pick up bolts you drop. :)
 

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