Builds Project Pikachu: 1977 FJ40 (2 Viewers)

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cbmontgo

SILVER Star
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Feb 28, 2004
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On the eve of the 2016 Presidential Election, I was looking for anything-but-election-coverage on Facebook and suddenly saw a hell of a 40: mustard with old school pin stripes, for sale in Mississippi. Clearly it needed a ton of work to bring it back to streetable status, but I messaged the guy and came to find out that it was gone in a matter of minutes. No surprise there.

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Cool find, lets hear more!!! And welcome to mud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Soon, I found out that a buddy of mine, @wngrog, had seen it before me and snagged it. Cool. At least I could follow its progress getting back on the road. However, I messaged Nolen and asked that he give me first dibs if he decided not to keep it. He had only beat me by 14 minutes on the ad. He kindly agreed.

A week or so later, I was on an all-FJ40 camping trip to Arkansas and got a video from him and @beno. The rig was running and driving off of Nolen's trailer. A second video was the truck driving through the woods. The ole 2F sounded good. Nolen agreed to pass the rig on to me. I was pumped. Rig from my home state and birth year. And mustard. And had old school pin stripes, for which I'm a sucker.

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So, I bought a '73 in 2014 that I had pursued for a long time. It was the perfect trail rig and the owner was someone I knew. He needed the cash and I needed a Moab cruiser. It had a 4" lift, 34 x 10.50s on stock wheels, Aussie locker, and was the perfect all-around 40. I thought I'd keep it forever. Then, a year later, I was unexpectedly offered an HJ47 as a trade. Couldn't turn it down. The diesel was such a rare and exotic rig.

Once the honeymoon was over, I realized that I no longer had a rig that was capable of tight trails, or one that I didn't mind damaging a little in the name of adventure.

I want to recreate that '73. I think this is where the mustard 40 comes in.

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So, the day after Thanksgiving, my son and I loaded up and made the 400nm drive to Mississippi. I had wanted him to spend some time with his great-grandmother while we were there, so it worked out great. We ate unhealthy gas station food without mama around.

Loaded up that evening and rolled back to Texas on Saturday.

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So, the plan on this 40 is not to do a restoration. I want a mechanically solid, dependable and capable trail rig with the OEM look (FST bows, floor mat, radio, wheels).

First order of business is the fuel system. On the way are new hoses, fuel pump, fuel filter, tank, and sender. I'll rebuild the carb after that, but have not ordered the kit yet.

Old fuel tank and fuel pump:

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Wow, really cool story and nice rig. Congratulations, Pikachu is the perfect name for your new family member.
 
Another mustard 77 with original pin stripes! We should start our own sub forum. :D Looking forward to seeing this one come together.
 
I think ya got suckered... but since I'm a nice guy, I'll give ya what you paid for it and a case of beer to drown your sorrows in ;)
















Wow, 3K what a steel... just needs a wash, a bit of TLC, and the rock catcher hacked off the front of it, and you'll be set. We can only dream of a unrestored rig that's that clean. I call dibs if you decide to sell it.
 
So I decided to try the new steel OEM replica fuel tank from CCOT. Opened it up and installed it today. The fit and finish is excellent. I also installed a new sender and gasket.
I used one as well several years ago in my v8 cruiser, it has been much better than the plastic tank it replaced.

TECH ADVICE- fill it initially with a one gallon fuel can and check your fuel gauge after each gallon to see when it comes up off the bottom. Mine took 3 gallons to move the gauge- now I know that I have that much left when the gauge hits empty.
HTH,
Will
 

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