Refurbishing a legend - drooartz's 1976 FJ40

[drooartz]

Good thing I've got a Land Cruiser

Good thing I happen to have a spare Land Cruiser lying around... managed to nail a deer on the way to work this morning (by the Jordanelle Reservoir on US40 for those who know the area), and the Honda is not in drivable condition. Wife and I are fine but the car isn't. Still waiting on the estimate to see what happens.

Was planning on selling the Honda anyways to pay for the Cruiser, but was planning on waiting a few more weeks until I was sure I had the FJ40 all sorted out. Ah well, best laid plans and all that. Insurance will cover the costs so we're good there, just a pain to get it all sorted out. Not how I wanted my day to go.

 

[bikersmurf]

Glad you're Both ok. Also glad it wasn't your 40.

 

[taro]

Glad you and your wife are okay!

It's facinating to see the hood deform the way it is supposed to though.

 

[drooartz]

I'll give Honda some credit here -- the car did exactly what it should do and absorbed the shock. We didn't get a scratch. I guess there is something to modern car engineering.

I'll admit I'm glad it wasn't the 40 as well.

 

[subzali]

Having my FJ40 as the 3rd vehicle for my wife and I is one of the decisions I have yet to regret...you just never know what's going to happen.

 

[70Cruza]

Congrats on the new Rig. Looks great!!! Love the stripes as well. Glad you and your wife are OK too!!! Good luck!

 

[Walton]

Keep up the good work.

I'm pulling my 40 out of the shop today for a winter run.

 

[1978freebornred]

so what are you doing with those aluminum ar outlaw wheels?

 

[drooartz]

so what are you doing with those aluminum ar outlaw wheels?

No plans for the wheels. Tires are going to a friend for his beater Jeep. Won't be using the wheels now that I have the stockers.

Got a bunch of parts from CruiserDan today, including my new stock steel wheels. They're off to Les Schwab for powder coating ($25/wheel) after work. Takes a week for them to do them, then it's new tires and on the truck they go.

 

[broth9640]

Hey whats the name of the stock color you are powder coating them with? Just curious what Les Schwab calls it.

 

[subzali]

From another thread, make sure you sandblast the wheels before powdercoating, or else you'll be doing at again soon.

Also, unless your buddy's Jeep has 6-lug axles, your wheels won't fit.

 

[drooartz]

Hey whats the name of the stock color you are powder coating them with? Just curious what Les Schwab calls it.

Don't know what the name of the stock color is -- Les Schwab had 3 grey color chips and only one was even close so it wasn't hard to pick. When I pick up the wheels on the other end I'll have to ask what the color was.

From another thread, make sure you sandblast the wheels before powdercoating, or else you'll be doing at again soon.

Also, unless your buddy's Jeep has 6-lug axles, your wheels won't fit.

Didn't blast them first, assumption is that they do some prep on these wheels. At this point I'm under a time crunch so have to hope for the best -- I've got to prep the FJ40 for daily driver duties much earlier than I hoped due to my deer hit.

Jeep buddy just wants the tires, not the wheels. They're in better shape than his, and he's got 15" wheels so they'll work for him.

 

[drooartz]

Christmas comes early

Had a nice set of boxes come in today, from CruiserDan and SOR. Belts, hoses, new fan, wheels, hub caps, and a few other miscellaneous bits and bobs. Got the wheels off to Les Schwab for coating, will be done in a week or so and new 30x9.5 tires will go on all 5. That's the last big thing I need to get done so I can get driving this with more confidence.

Did a couple small projects and got a new bulb into the headlight switch (no carny hands, but I still got it all to work) and put the new dome light in. Nice to have the lights working.

Oh yeah, it included a gas cap too.

 

[MicahMan]

Oh Deer

Wow I'm glad your safe. I live in Salt Lake and there are tons of deer being hit this year it seems. Good thing you have the 40 for a backup.
I had a good friend hit one in Ogden Canyon!

I'd love to get together and snag lunch That canyon is one of my favorites to drive too bad guardsmans isn't still open.

 

[bikersmurf]

The damage reminds me why I built this...

I've considered going back to something more stock... But I'm now reconsidering...


Do you have any bumper plans for your 40.

An acquaintance hit a moose with a Bj43... Neither the moose nor the truck survived. animals can sure do a lot of damage.

 

[coleman2347]

Just a note on the CB

I believe I'm correct in that the FCC changed from 23 to 40 channels in Jan. of 77, the actually announced it in about mid 76 and you could buy a 40 channel radio a little prior to 77. So I very much believe your radio is period correct. If you decide to keep it in the truck at least the time period is right. BTW you can probably get your friend to "strap it out" and get a little more power than the 4 watts it is suppose to make. Very nice rig you have there....Lee

 

[drooartz]

I've considered going back to something more stock... But I'm now reconsidering...


Do you have any bumper plans for your 40.

Plan is for one of the SOR (or similar) winch bumpers so I can mount the 8274 a bit lower. Stock-ish, essentially. I'm not really that panicked about the deer thing -- it happened, hopefully that was my time.

 

[drooartz]

Got some minor fixes done

Spent about 4 hours puttering on the truck last night, and made some small progress. As we're down one car due to the deer hit I've had to push the work on this up a bunch so I can get driving it. Still need to do the belts and hoses (have them in hand), fan, and look into a small seeping of brake fluid at the master cylinder -- may wind up taking it to a mechanic I know as I'm running out of free time now and really need to get it sorted. I'd rather do it myself, but I'm thin on time over the next week and need it done.

Bumperettes:

New lock cylinder. Managed to drop the wire clip that held the old lock down into the door, but the mechanic gods were smiling and I was able to fish it out with one of those long magnets-on-a-goose-neck.

New straps for the jump seats:

New boots for both shifters:

New mirror as well. I put one of these on the cruiser I had 15 years ago, and managed to mangle and snap the screws holding the hinge on. Now I have an air compressor and impact wrench. Some benefit to being older and a bit wiser with a better paying job.

 

[Jacket]

If it's leaking at the back of the BMC onto the booster, you probably have a failing seal. That brake fluid is pretty caustic so clean it up as best you can...

You can buy a rebuild kit and go at it, or pick up a brand new BMC from Toyota for around $150 IIRC.

 

[jmdaniel]

If it's leaking at the back of the BMC onto the booster, you probably have a failing seal. That brake fluid is pretty caustic so clean it up as best you can...

You can buy a rebuild kit and go at it, or pick up a brand new BMC from Toyota for around $150 IIRC.

And if it's leaked into the booster, that a whole 'nuther can o' worms.