Quest for a 40 series rig (1 Viewer)

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MidLifeCrisis

Joined
May 18, 2013
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Hello fellow Mudders!

I have just passed a milestone birthday and my future gift to me is a 40 series rig.

I have been looking for one for some time now but with, obviously, no success.

I am looking for either a BJ or FJ. The BJ is nice for the cool factor - men will be jealous, women will throw themselves at me and hipsters will turn their heads to watch me go by and crash their fixie bikes. FJ is nice for the practicality - fuel anywhere, no need to deal with a 24V system.

I will use it as a daily driver mostly in the winter, as well as for exploring forest service roads. I am not really interested in a rock crawler or something modified for serious off road. I'm thinking 31" tires would be the maximum, with a minimal lift.

I have been reading a bunch of restoration threads and tell myself that I can do that as well. Grab a welder, set up the shop, and spend a few hours a night on my new hobby. Then my wife reminds me that I don't have the tools, skills or time. She is right. I have a 2 car carport, not a garage, and no tools. I have welded a total of 1 m in my life, none of which was sheet metal. As this will be a hobby as much as transportation, I will be willing to work on it, but the full frame off restoration will have to wait a while.

I have a few areas that I am monitoring for potential purchases - Craigslist and the classifieds on this site. I have a link to a website that collects Craigslist land cruiser adds in the US as well (http://fj40search.com/).

I saw a BJ40 Abbotsford last month. It was a nice rig and the owner had put a lot of work into it. It had 35" tires, SOA and a lift that made it too tall for me.

There is a in BJ42 in Richmond for $5500. The engine started up well but the body is in rough shape - both driver and passenger floor pans are shot as are the quarter panels and wheel wells. It looks to me like it needs a half tub, windshield, rollbar and who knows what else. Too much for me to take on.

My budget is somewhat variable. I see several rigs in the $5k to $8k range but the bodies seem to be needing attention. I've seen some iin various American Craigslist sites in the $10k to $20k which seem to offer the rig I want, but when you add in the airfare and time to drive it back they start to loose the value. The frame off restoration trucks $20k + are way out of my budget.

So, after that long read, I have a few questions for the community:

What does it take for a relative newbie to do body work on a rig? Does a shop like EBI do this work at a reasonable cost? What is involved in a 3/4 or 1/2 tub replacement? Or is this question too open ended? Perhaps you can tell me about what it took you to get your rig right.

I have a small child, so I will eventually put a rear bench seat in the truck. Many have done it - are there any legal issues with this since it is not OEM?

I've seen pictures of people with ear muffs on while in their cruiser, when on the highway, are these trucks noisy inside? I'm wondering if we can have a conversation during a trip to Squamish.

I am looking south of the border as well. Does anyone have experience in importing a truck of this vintage? I know about the 3 day border wait and the $200 fee. What was the process like?

I appreciate any help or advice you can give me.
 
Well, that's a lot of questions!

Having owned my BJ42 for about eight years now and having put my kids in the back, here are some comments:

1) It's loud; but not too loud. You can have a conversation but you're talking, not shouting, and forget whispering. Nothing more cool than taking the top off in summer and cruising to the lake. Your kids will LOVE it.

2) The BJ's are more desirable than FJ's due to better travel range on a tank of fuel. The 24V isn't that much of an inconvenience.

3) Learn how to do your body work yourself; most panels are flat and are easy to patch and repair; nothing against EBI or other shops, but your labour is free and besides, there's a lot of pride in being able to fix your own truck. 3/4 tubs are available from Aqualu. However, time for a family guy is pretty limited, don't forget that. Often I've wanted to just drop my truck off and get the tub put in; might still do that rather than take the job on myself, which could put my truck off the road for a very long time.

4) Others have imported trucks and can comment; it's not too difficult, but the 'out-of-province' inspection can uncover some issues that are a pain (ie. rust) to deal with. I imported my truck from Calgary and had to find the right inspector that knew this was an old truck and wouldn't be perfect.

5) I considered the bench seat as well, but after finding one that would fit, I never bothered; I drive slow, stay off the freeway when I have kids in the back. The bigger issue is safety vs legality. A bench seat mounted properly is safer, for sure, but if all you have is a rusted tub to bolt stuff too, you're not really improving the situation. Cool Cruisers of Texas sells an aftermarket rear bench seat for the 40.

If you plan on going on any family excursions with the 40, you will find the limit of its practicality pretty quickly. A wagon is much more convenient for camping trips, although I have gone camping in the 40 with both our kids.

Good luck in your search. Remember, looking is 1/2 the fun, so don't settle for anything but the right truck. My search took me months before I found mine.

Come out to a club meeting (2nd Thurs in April at EBI, 8pm) and meet some like-minded cruiser heads! :beer:
 
Also, having driven a 40 series quite regularly for 15 years, not the best rig on winter highways. The short wheelbase does not give you any time to respond if you begin a skid. Also, the salt wreaks havoc on an already rust prone body/ frame, unless you were to go to an aluminum body. I have a beautiful Cali 60 series that we never drive in the winter, hopefully it will last a few years longer that way.
Lots of work to body re & re, cutting, fitting, welding, fabricating, grinding. Nice to have the body inside with the ability to make a couple of jigs to keep everything lined up, not mandatory, but nice. I think EBI's pricing is fair, there is a lot of work involved, plus the space it takes in a shop. You do know about the "while I'm here" theory? The second you start one thing it immediately leads to 10 more things to do "while I'm here" and its all torn down :)
I understand the diesel vs petrol thing, if it were me and I had a limited budget I'd look south of the border, Cali, Texas, Arizona, any hot dry state would yield a nice, fairly unmolested 40 series, that I wouldn't drive in the winter. Airfare is cheap out of Bellingham and it would be a great adventure, petrol is cheap in the states right now, unfortunately so is our buck. Any nice 40/42 series in Canada that doesn't need work will not come cheap, but at the same time won't require work, time is money. I chose to buy a rust free California 62 series that really doesn't require any work, more or less rust free, but cost 8K US. I flew down and picked it up from Oregon sight unseen, she is a really nice truck and don't regret my decision at all. On the other hand, I just picked up an 80 series for 4K in Fernie and immediately dumped another grand into it and it still needs more, so you get what you pay for. I believe Greg @Greg_B might still have his rig for sale, a beautiful turnkey 42 series with 100's of hours worth of work done to it, though in the end he might have decided to keep it.
 
Midlifecrisis
Have a 81 BJ42 that I use as a DD all year round.
Metal studded tires for the extra grip in the winter.
Waste of time this last winter.

Looked for almost one year before I found the "right 42", personally I prefer diesel to the gasser.
Get the best one that you can afford and if's a local BC truck get one of the local cruiser shops to check it out for you.
If you get one in the states get a local shop to check it out down there.
Had my pre-purchase done at EBI.

Getting a rust free one will be time consuming so you will have to be patient and as Granite Grinder writes you will have to look south.
The US border thing is no big deal, brought my 1987 60 in from LA last summer.
It seemed daunting at first but it's easy if you have all of your paperwork in order.
Contact me and I can expand on this.

My 42 is noisy and for long trips I do wear earplugs as does my wife.
Kids in the back will work if your kids young.

If you have the space which seem to have and are committed in doing the work to the cruiser yourself, you will save lots of $$$$$.
You have to weight it out as your time working at your job vs your time working on the cruiser.
Do you have all of the tools and gear to do it yourself and the time commitment in doing it right.
There is a satisfaction in doing things yourself and the whole learning process that comes with it.
In my 20's and 30s I did all the work to all of cars and trucks myself.
Now I'm way to busy with other things to even think about wrenching myself.

Hope you make it out to one of our meeting and you can see and meet us.

Good luck with your search.
 
Good luck with your journey. If you are patient.... You can pick up someone else's project for 1-3k. I find they are cheaper and better shape from stateside.

Cheers!
 
I went to the Cruiser meeting last Thursday. I chatted with a bunch of like minded people and got some great information. It appears that I am leaning toward a diesel rig and I will definitely have Steve at EBI do the pre-purchase inspection. A few people at the club gave me some good tips on what to look for as well.

I'm fortunate that my addiction is mild so I won't jump at the first truck that is available. I have plenty of time to wait for the right one. Hopefully that truck will show up in time for some topless summer cruising.
 
What.......,I could had a V8 ???

MidLifeCrisis, good choice and nice meeting you on Thursday.
 
I heard through the grapevine that it was 'restored' at hilltop in Alberta. Prepare for rust...
Too much for 4spd and no power steering and the ad claims guys get 60000-70000 for these things, USD. Ha no way!. Uh, nope. Not a chance.

Buyer beware.
 
A 78 will also have the B engine, not the 3B. Nothing wrong with that, just more rare than a 3B parts wize, etc.
 
I had a look at the '78 BJ40 on the island. A few small holes in the floor pan, surface rust under the tub, wheel wells looked like they were starting to go, brakes are shot, steering is loose, axles appear to have leaking seals, transfer case looked like it was leaking oil - the two drive shafts were very dirty and the rear one was wet with oil.

It sounded like it was having difficulty going much past 80 km/hr. Is that typical of a BJ40/42 or does a 3B engine get the truck comfortably past 100 km/hr?
 
I'm starting to look further south again. There is a 1975 FJ40 south of Seattle that looks promising. Based on the seller's email response I think he is illiterate. Or is that a symptom of Craigslist in general?
 
The 3B will do 100km/hr on the flat no problem. Good luck on hills :)

Washington trucks will typically have less rust than those in B.C.

A 75 will have the gas tank under the passenger seat. I think it was the last year for that. Not a long travel range as a result.

If you can hold out for a diesel, I would. Nothing wrong with a 2F, other than the fuel economy...
 
my '77 had the gas tank under the passenger seat, I don't recall the transition year, but I know the spring eyes got bigger at some point as well.
 
Spring eyes got big in 80-81 with the BJ42, cause the BJ40's still had the small spring eyes, one of the ways you can tell a BJ40 from a 42 from just looking around the outside ;)
 
I want to say fuel tank moved under the vehicle in 1979 and as Deny says, larger spring eyes in 1981 when the BJ42 came into Canada.

hth's
gb
 
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