Ray, a 76 FJ40 Build (1 Viewer)

[Rider4]

Calling this one the Ray. Story begins as my wife's uncle Raymond passed and he was big into restoring a cars and trucks. He had a 1954 Chevy that he had restored that was amazing (wish I could have bought that one). The last car he was working on was a 1936 Bentley, which was sold to someone far more qualified than me to restore that. Long story short, we wanted to restore an FJ40 in his honor and because we really like them. I found this 76 in Denver and it only has 40k miles. As a retired USFS vehicle it was well beaten, but all original. I flew up to Denver from Durango and towed it back and that is where the story begins.

 

[Rider4]

Once I got it home my first plan was to get it road worthy. Tuning the carb, fixing the exhaust leak and getting some new suspension under it was first priority. After a little tweaking on the carb it really surprised me how well it runs (original 2f). I went with the OME 2" lift and a set of 33s will be next on the list. At this point it's kinda taken over as my daily driver.

I was in NC and reached out to Bud over at Bud built and snagged a pair or rear quarter panels. I got a tour of the shop which was really cool since part of it was an old skate rink and still has the wood floor. Awesome dude if you ever need something.

 

[Rider4]

Lucky score! Just an hour away I found a rust free tub. Super stoked as this puts me way far ahead where I was planning to be at this stage of the rebuild. This is a 74 tub so there are a few modifications I have to make (rear door indent and door strikes). I got the tub and door strikes from some guys on this forum. I'll be using this for a 3/4 swap and will have the entire piece media blasted before paint.

Few other things done as well. New clutch master and slave cylinder and starter.

My rear heater had not been working but there were no leaks so I grabbed a new fan motor, now it's pumping out some good heat.


Even installed a new radio

 

[RevISK]

Awesome, great color too.
Those dewalt inflators are great too if you’re already in that ecosystem.

 

[Wasatch Jay]

Great project ,and scoring a rust free tub is darn near unheard of!

My sincere congratulations on both!

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Already running and driving well is a great place to be! And can’t beat a garage full of bikes + a 40.

You planning on keeping it largely on the road and tackling a system at a time?

 

[Rider4]

Already running and driving well is a great place to be! And can’t beat a garage full of bikes + a 40.

You planning on keeping it largely on the road and tackling a system at a time?

Yeah, that's the plan. It's become my daily for the most part. There will be a point when I swap tubs that it will be off the road for a bit but that will likely be mid summer when I can just do it outside and have them sitting side by side for the swap.

 

[Rider4]

Not a big update, but a big update in comfort. I ordered my Procar seats when I first got the FJ40 and have been waiting on the brackets for a few months now. Well I got one of them in! Still waiting on the passenger side bracket but I got one of them in. This combo allows the seat to move a lot further back which makes the drive a lot more comfortable. No more knees in the chest.

Next thing I really need is a working set of windshield wipers, frame and glass.

 

[60 40]

Not a big update, but a big update in comfort. I ordered my Procar seats when I first got the FJ40 and have been waiting on the brackets for a few months now. Well I got one of them in! Still waiting on the passenger side bracket but I got one of them in. This combo allows the seat to move a lot further back which makes the drive a lot more comfortable. No more knees in the chest.

Next thing I really need is a working set of windshield wipers, frame and glass.

View attachment 3841969

Ooooh tan, bold move I considered that with green as well but ended up going black. The thing I like about tan is it doesn't get as hot and you can do a tan soft top which goes well with the green body IMO.

 

[RevISK]

I went black, cause… you know.
Just looking at those seats makes my back relax.
Best sub $700 I spent on my 40.

 

[Rider4]

Since adding the lift a while back, the tires have been looking a tad small. After searching around a bit I finally found tires in a 33x9.50. These are the Kenda Klever. The should be pretty ideal for our high country mountain terrain in the summer and the price was not too bad either.

 

[Rider4]

Separation Anxiety.

I've been staring at this tub for a while and finally decided to dive into the 3/4 separation. Using cutting wheels on an angle grinder, I cut out the metal around the welds leaving plenty of material to trim down later before I transplant it onto the running body. I didn't want to cut anything short so I figured leaving more material on the 3/4 section was better even though it pretty much left the front cowl useless, but fortunately I don't need that section.

 

[newmexicokid]

Dude. Looks great. We started tearing into our truck today too. Bet you’ll be done sooner.