Builds Project Pikachu: 1977 FJ40 (11 Viewers)

[77CruiserDog]

Try out xylene - I had great luck with it when stripping oil based and adhesive from the interior of my last 40. Didn't affect the paint, but I'd always spot check before going nuts with it. After I was happy with it not damaging the paint, i put in a spray bottle and let it soak in.

Xylene is amazing stuff!

 

[cbmontgo]

Almost 6 years later, I’m staying at the same hotel while in town for my Grandmother’s 100th birthday party. Feels like a long time ago that we yanked this thing out of MississippI. @wngrog

 

[wngrog]

100 years. Wow. Amazing.

 

[cbmontgo]

100 years. Wow. Amazing.

Truly. She just decided to quit driving in 2021.

 

[cbmontgo]

I ran to the lumber yard yesterday and stumbled into a little car show in town. Got flagged down to join in, so I pulled in and joined the fun for a bit. Mostly resto-mod cars, although there was one heavily modified 6x6 there.

My son and I are trying to get the exterior completed our log cabin project before the snow flies, that way we are only doing interior finish out once it gets cold. Yesterday's project was to start framing the outdoor bar. He did a great job and is getting really proficient with the circular saw.

The 40 is running like a Swiss clock these days.

 

[wngrog]

I got to see Picachu’s lair today. Delivered a nice fiberglass cap all the way from it’s home state

 

[middlecalf]

Where the heck is the snow? It’s December in the mountains of Colorado, right?

 

[cbmontgo]

Great to catch up today, Nolen. Had a blast and thank you for the top.

@middlecalf it’s been a fairly slow start to the season. Probably had about 12-15 inches total so far. Just need to get to 100 inches by June 1st and we are okay for summer.

 

[77CJ5]

Let’s see some more pics of the cabin!

 

[wngrog]

Let’s see some more pics of the cabin!

The cabin is super pimp and Carson built it

 

[Flatlanderfj40]

One of my favorite 40’s

 

[cbmontgo]

After trying nearly every chemical under the sun to strip the silver paint off of those rear amby doors with excruciatingly slow success, I decided just to paint them. Called around and realized that a quart of the mustard 532 is over $ 400 now, plus hardener and reducer, so I started digging deep into the back of the chemicals shelf. I found the old paint that I had professionally matched for the doors and tailgate back in 2017 and there was about 1/4 of a quart left, as well as a good bit of hardener and reducer. The lids were rusted from being stored near pool chemicals on the shelf at my old house in Texas. I had low expectations that this was going to work.

I stirred it thoroughly, mixed the ratios, pulled out the old HVLP sprayer and rolled the dice.

 

[cbmontgo]

And it worked. New weatherstripping is on order from City Racer and I'm starting to get this hard top together.

 

[cbmontgo]

As he mentioned a few weeks ago, @wngrog brought a nice fiberglass lid to me all the way from Mississippi when he delivered Moe Green to its new owner in Colorado. It was great to catch up and I really appreciate the front door service.

The fiberglass lid that came with Pikachu had some bad rust on the inside rain gutter (not to mention a sunroof), so I had been looking for a clean top for the long-term for this rig.

Gonna do a quick and dirty paint job on this lid and have a full hard top back together in the next couple of weeks in preparation for a winter trip coming around the corner.

 

[TheHardWay]

"Called around and realized that a quart of the mustard 532 is over $ 400 now, plus hardener and reducer"

$400 a quart? BALLS!!!

 

[wngrog]

Bump for a trip report

 

[cbmontgo]

Bump for a trip report

So yes, another really incredible trip to Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park is in the books. This one was the best yet, taking all of our boys on a long-haul Cruiser trip. In attendance were the usual suspects from my old Ole Miss college crew: @Drewk in his red 1977 FJ40 from San Marcos, TX, @xumFJ40 in his red 1975 FJ40 from Celina, TX, Pikachu, and @Swannie in his 1985 FJ60 from Lafayette, LA.

Backing up a bit, I worked feverishly over the last couple of weeks to get the old hard top put back together with the newly painted set of ambulance doors, new weatherstripping, and the @wngrog lid. I also picked up a set of 66" crossbars and towers from a church garage sale to mount my awning.

Two coats of Rustoleum Biscuit Appliance Paint on the Grogan topper.

A Mississippi straggler in the mustard door header when I transferred it to the Grogan topper:

Final touches on the amby door weatherstripping:

And final assembly, just in time to load up and roll out early the next morning:

 

[cbmontgo]

We were rolling out of the driveway at 4:30 AM on Friday morning, with a long 823-mile drive to Lajitas, TX ahead of us.

 

[cbmontgo]

We got to Alpine around 8PM and had dinner at a cash-only Mexican joint in the middle of an old neighborhood. La Casita. My son said it was the best quesadilla he'd ever had.

Then it was onward to Lajitas, where we met up with the crew, had some drinks, and made a plan for the next morning's departure.

 

[cbmontgo]

We were up early the next morning, grabbed breakfast in Lajitas at the General Store and hopped on the road into Big Bend National Park.

We took pavement down to Boquillas before setting out into the dirt.

Rio Grande at Boquillas.

One of my favorite pics. The boys were cutting up on the CBs and having a blast while we were stopped here.

Next we headed towards the Hot Springs. Didn't take any pics of the springs themselves, but the boys had a great time waving at a family across the river and watching a groups of dogs expertly swim back and forth to an island on the Rio Grande.