Builds Rescuing a Basket Case '72 FJ40 (1 Viewer)

[FloridaLife]

This weekend I did a little more work on the seat. I’m still not sure that this is the truck’s “forever” seat, but I’m hoping to install it in a way that is easy to reverse if I end up going a different direction at some point. In terms of what I wanted out of a seat mounting system, my main focus was to come up with something clean, simple, and stock-adjacent. I also wanted to be able to slide the seat back and forth if possible. I think my design meets all of these criteria.

The design consists of 1” square tubing that is bolted to the bottom of the seat using the stock mounting holes. That tube will slide in a “U” channel that mounts to the truck using a combination of stock and fabricated brackets. The square tubing is held in the U channel by bolts (or possibly some clevis pins). With some strategic drilling of the 1” tube, I should be able to remove the pins, slide the seat ahead or back, and re-insert the pins at the desired location.

The seat is not fully installed, but we’re getting there! Here’s the 1” square tubing bolted to the seat. I tapped the mounting holes M8 x 1.25 so that I could use Toyota hardware.

View attachment 3846131

The ends are angled so that I can get a socket on the bolt.

To make the “U” channel, I cut some 1 1/2 x 3 x 1/8 wall tubing lengthwise, making a channel about 1” deep. I cut one end back so that there was a “tongue” the same size as the mounting surface of the stock seat bracket. In this pic you can see the square tubing nesting inside the channel, and the mounting bracket attached. I also drilled through both pieces, then put a bolt through. Each “slider” will have two bolts or pins, and these are what attaches the seat to the supports.

View attachment 3846138
At this point I was able to start mocking up the seat position. This allowed me to determine the height of the rear seat support.

View attachment 3846139
I made this support from the same 1 1/2 x 3” tubing and some 1/8” flat bar.

View attachment 3846140

And here it is welded up for test fitting. Pretty pleased with the clean look and I think it’ll be plenty strong.

View attachment 3846144

And here’s the seat in its more or less final position:

View attachment 3846150

The passenger side wil be a little trickier due to the gas tank being in the way. That’ll be a challenge for another day.

And I thought I used to be handy. You are doing an amazing job!

 

[diesellibrarian]

Haven't had much time to work on the 40 lately, in part because I took a week to get some sun at my favourite spot in southern Baja. Have still managed to check a few little items off the list.

First, I installed a new accelerator pump and boot, both purchased from City Racer. Great service, as always.

I was also able to source a horn button. It's not in the best shape, but as the seller said, "it won't outshine your rig," which is exactly what I'm after. This will be a nice finishing touch that I can't wait to install.

I put together this short video of the 40's first trip up and down the alley, as documented by my gal. There's a lot of gear grinding - I only recently learned the nuances of driving a non-syncromesh transmission. Apparently if you throw it into 2nd gear before putting it in 1st or reverse, it doesn't grind. The thing is also running terribly rich and has no exhaust. Still need to do a full tune-up (timing, valve adjustment, etc.), but hey - it runs, and boy is it fun to drive!

 

[FloridaLife]

Haven't had much time to work on the 40 lately, in part because I took a week to get some sun at my favourite spot in southern Baja. Have still managed to check a few little items off the list.

First, I installed a new accelerator pump and boot, both purchased from City Racer. Great service, as always.

View attachment 3859017

I was also able to source a horn button. It's not in the best shape, but as the seller said, "it won't outshine your rig," which is exactly what I'm after. This will be a nice finishing touch that I can't wait to install.

View attachment 3859026

I put together this short video of the 40's first trip up and down the alley, as documented by my gal. There's a lot of gear grinding - I only recently learned the nuances of driving a non-syncromesh transmission. Apparently if you throw it into 2nd gear before putting it in 1st or reverse, it doesn't grind. The thing is also running terribly rich and has no exhaust. Still need to do a full tune-up (timing, valve adjustment, etc.), but hey - it runs, and boy is it fun to drive!

Awesome!!!

 

[MatthewMcD]

Haven't had much time to work on the 40 lately, in part because I took a week to get some sun at my favourite spot in southern Baja. Have still managed to check a few little items off the list.

First, I installed a new accelerator pump and boot, both purchased from City Racer. Great service, as always.

View attachment 3859017

I was also able to source a horn button. It's not in the best shape, but as the seller said, "it won't outshine your rig," which is exactly what I'm after. This will be a nice finishing touch that I can't wait to install.

View attachment 3859026

I put together this short video of the 40's first trip up and down the alley, as documented by my gal. There's a lot of gear grinding - I only recently learned the nuances of driving a non-syncromesh transmission. Apparently if you throw it into 2nd gear before putting it in 1st or reverse, it doesn't grind. The thing is also running terribly rich and has no exhaust. Still need to do a full tune-up (timing, valve adjustment, etc.), but hey - it runs, and boy is it fun to drive!

Even with no exhaust, you'll be amazed at the difference after you adjust the valves and do a tune up. Get the timing and carb adjusted. It's 2 hours well spent.

 

[FloridaLife]

Haven't had much time to work on the 40 lately, in part because I took a week to get some sun at my favourite spot in southern Baja. Have still managed to check a few little items off the list.

First, I installed a new accelerator pump and boot, both purchased from City Racer. Great service, as always.

View attachment 3859017

I was also able to source a horn button. It's not in the best shape, but as the seller said, "it won't outshine your rig," which is exactly what I'm after. This will be a nice finishing touch that I can't wait to install.

View attachment 3859026

I put together this short video of the 40's first trip up and down the alley, as documented by my gal. There's a lot of gear grinding - I only recently learned the nuances of driving a non-syncromesh transmission. Apparently if you throw it into 2nd gear before putting it in 1st or reverse, it doesn't grind. The thing is also running terribly rich and has no exhaust. Still need to do a full tune-up (timing, valve adjustment, etc.), but hey - it runs, and boy is it fun to drive!

When I was in Junior High (13, 14, 15) we lived in a little box canyon outside of Amarillo, TX. To earn money to buy my first car I went door to door and made agreements to mow several yards in the neighborhood and trim hedges and rake leaves throughout the year. In the winter, I got up way early before school and shoveled snow for each of my customers so they could get out of their driveways to get to work. One customer I had was the owner of an old military Jeep with a small trailer behind it. Any yard debris he had me load into the trailer, and he handed me the keys that first time and said "If you can drive that riding lawn mower, then you can drive that Jeep" and he had me drive it up over and out of the box canyon and deposit the debris in an old mining pit. So just like the riding mower, I got pretty good at driving an old Jeep without synchromesh, and I loved it. At 15 when I bought my first car (a POS), a stick shift WITH syncromesh, I remember thinking "Wow! This is super easy!"

 

[diesellibrarian]

I have a small update from the past week or so. Most of my garage time as been spent messing with the seat and trying to get it mounted. Trying to work around the fuel tank is a real pain. But more on that later.

First thing: got my horn button installed. It looks dope, and it works.

I then moved to the back of the truck, where I set about installing the lower door latch. When I bought the truck, the slide bolt was missing, but the rest of the latch was there, so I cut it off so that I could repair the doors. Finally getting around to reinstalling.

The first step was to make a new slide bolt. I started with an old 60-series body mount bolt, which happens to be the exact right diameter, and has a nice long shank. I drilled the side of the bolt, and tapped it M6x1.0. Then I found a suitable M6 bolt and rounded the top so that it looks more like a knob and less like a bolt.

The next step was to fit the bolt in the latch and measure for length:

And then situate it on the truck:

Finally, I tack welded it in place. Looking at this photo, I don't think my tacks are likely to hold, so I will have to go back and re-weld, I think. Don't really want this breaking off. But you get the idea...

 

[diesellibrarian]

As mentioned, I've also been working on mounting the seat, which has been a real challenge. The driver's side is taken care of, but the passenger side is proving more of a challenge. The first issue is that the passenger side mounting bolts are perfectly in line with the fuel tank overflow hose or whatever it's called - so the first thing I had to do was move the mounting rail outboard a little bit. This entailed making up a new bracket and welding it in. The mounting nut is welded in place on the back side of the bracket:

That still left the challenge of attaching the seat to the floor. In the end I decided to hack up a seat mounting bracket from a later FJ40, as it has the necessary curve to get around the fuel tank. This entailed lots of cutting and welding to get it to fit.

After several hours of work and lots of puzzling, this is where I'm at: I basically have one more piece to weld in to connect the seat mounting rail to the bracket. I'll then need to fab up the bracket that will support the rear of the seat -- and that should be it! Getting the seat mounted is one of the last major hurdles to getting this thing roadworthy!

On tap for this week: getting a windscreen cut, and starting work on the front bumper. I also need to fab up a bracket for the spare tire latch. Aiming to have this on the road for my 52nd birthday, which is at the end of April. Thanks for following along on the journey!

 

[diesellibrarian]

Still messing around with stuff on the '72.

Had some pals over the other night, and me and one of the guys spent a good chunk of the evening meticulously adjusting the carb per the specs in the manual. It was waaay out - especially with regard to the opening of the secondary butterfly. Many of the other adjustments were way out as well. Hoping this will solve my rich running problem. We started it up, and it ran ok after warming up, but before making any further changes to the carb, I need to do other tune-uppy stuff like setting initial timing, adjusting valves, adjusting points, etc.

I also made a repair to the exhaust down pipe. It took about a week of soaking with PB Blaster, but I was finally able to remove the exhaust flange nuts. There was a significant crack in the down pipe right at the flange (sorry for blurry photo. stupid phone):

I was able to clean it up and get it welded back together. Should last a little while, anyway...

Once reinstalled with a new gasket, I can start on building the exhaust. Thinking of just throwing a glasspack on there for the time being - we shall see.

I also spent an evening installing the new windshield I had cut. The glass place only had green tint available, which I had misgivings about, but they *assured* me it's legal. I guess we'll see what the insurance inspector says. Getting the glass installed solo wasn't the most fun. I started by installing the gasket on the window, but that didn't work very well as it kept falling off. Tape helped, but even so it was very frustrating.

Finally I ended up installing the gasket on the frame, and then dropping the glass into the bottom groove, and then working it into place all the way around, using Windex as a lubricant. I still need to add the lock strip, but we're almost there.

This weekend will be all about dialing the timing and whatnot, and adjusting the rear brake shoes. Hoping to also finish up with the seat install. Then we're on to:

• Painting/coating the underside of the tub
• Painting the cargo floor
• Fabricating the latch for the spare tire carrier
• Making a front bumper
• Other odds and ends like heater ducts, cowl drain hoses, a few electrical bits etc.

 

[MatthewMcD]

Making a front bumper

Not sure what you had in mind, but these are still available from Toyota. Free shipping if you pick it up from a dealer.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Not sure what you had in mind, but these are still available from Toyota. Free shipping if you pick it up from a dealer.

Yes, and in fact I have the part number for the bumper (52111-60030) on a sticky note on my computer monitor. $CDN 270 from the dealer - pretty reasonable! But I'm planning to build something a little beefier with an integrated mount for my winch.

 

[pb4ugo]

Make it yours. I've always made my own. Come up with a design that fullfills your needs and figure out how to build it. Dont forget the tow hooks that are solidly mounted that might incorporate holding the bumper on too. Bolt it on, don't weld it to the frame.

 

[rainingagain]

Yes, and in fact I have the part number for the bumper (52111-60030) on a sticky note on my computer monitor. $CDN 270 from the dealer - pretty reasonable! But I'm planning to build something a little beefier with an integrated mount for my winch.

I have one of these ready to install. Pretty cool you can still get one but keep in mind that it has pre-drilled holes for everything that was offered over the years. I don't think it will bother me and I really don't want to weld them up and repaint but we'll see.

 

[FloridaLife]

Still messing around with stuff on the '72.

Had some pals over the other night, and me and one of the guys spent a good chunk of the evening meticulously adjusting the carb per the specs in the manual. It was waaay out - especially with regard to the opening of the secondary butterfly. Many of the other adjustments were way out as well. Hoping this will solve my rich running problem. We started it up, and it ran ok after warming up, but before making any further changes to the carb, I need to do other tune-uppy stuff like setting initial timing, adjusting valves, adjusting points, etc.

I also made a repair to the exhaust down pipe. It took about a week of soaking with PB Blaster, but I was finally able to remove the exhaust flange nuts. There was a significant crack in the down pipe right at the flange (sorry for blurry photo. stupid phone):

View attachment 3874892

I was able to clean it up and get it welded back together. Should last a little while, anyway...

View attachment 3874893

Once reinstalled with a new gasket, I can start on building the exhaust. Thinking of just throwing a glasspack on there for the time being - we shall see.

I also spent an evening installing the new windshield I had cut. The glass place only had green tint available, which I had misgivings about, but they *assured* me it's legal. I guess we'll see what the insurance inspector says. Getting the glass installed solo wasn't the most fun. I started by installing the gasket on the window, but that didn't work very well as it kept falling off. Tape helped, but even so it was very frustrating.

View attachment 3874905

Finally I ended up installing the gasket on the frame, and then dropping the glass into the bottom groove, and then working it into place all the way around, using Windex as a lubricant. I still need to add the lock strip, but we're almost there.

View attachment 3874907
View attachment 3874908

This weekend will be all about dialing the timing and whatnot, and adjusting the rear brake shoes. Hoping to also finish up with the seat install. Then we're on to:

• Painting/coating the underside of the tub
• Painting the cargo floor
• Fabricating the latch for the spare tire carrier
• Making a front bumper
• Other odds and ends like heater ducts, cowl drain hoses, a few electrical bits etc.

Do you use a MIG or a TIG welder?

My windshield looked milky in areas so I had to replace it too. I ran into the same thing, every place I called said that the new flat glass would have a slight green look to it but that out in the sun and driving it I would probably not notice it. I haven't installed it yet. All my glass is bubble wrapped in the garage until the paint and body is done. While all the glass is out I was going to tint the side & rear glass, but my wife thinks it will look terrible tinted. I thought it would look good. But, I have the final word.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Do you use a MIG or a TIG welder?

So far, MIG. Been looking at TIG setups, but financially it's not in the cards just now. In theory my current welder will do TIG, but I'd still need to buy the torch, pedal, and argon gas tank, so probably looking at $800 for just those items.

 

[FloridaLife]

So far, MIG. Been looking at TIG setups, but financially it's not in the cards just now. In theory my current welder will do TIG, but I'd still need to buy the torch, pedal, and argon gas tank, so probably looking at $800 for just those items.

I miss my MIG. It and all my other tools were stolen many years ago along with my 1934 Coupe years ago. Mine would also do aluminum. Harbor Freight has some good ones, and Amazon has a ton of them very inexpensive that would probably do anything a home user would need.

 

[diesellibrarian]

So, I've spent a few evenings over the past week trying to get this F engine to run properly. After installing the exhaust down pipe and new points (well actually an old set of points that I found in the glove box), the engine idled happily for 25 minutes as i brought it up to temp. I couldn't believe how smoothly it was running. Anyway, once it was warm, I popped off the valve cover and adjusted the valves, most of which were really quite loose. With the valve lash brought back to spec, I started it up, and it would not hold an idle at all, and was misfiring like crazy. This led me down a deep rabbit hole where I went through every system with a fine-toothed comb:

• Pulled the carb (again) and made some adjustments to the float (fuel level was a high in the sight glass). I also pulled the power piston, which seemed to be binding slightly in the bore, and smoothed its sides a little with some 320 grit. No more binding.
• Tested primary resistance on the coil. It was a little low at 1.0 ohms.
• Pulled the distributor and gave it a good cleaning. Re-set the point gap. Tested the vacuum retard function - it seems to work ok. Replaced the oil seal, reinstalled. I also cleaned the contacts in the distributor cap, as there was some corrosion forming that could have impaired the spark. I'm still running what I believe to be the stock dizzy for this truck:

• Set base timing using the static timing method.
• Removed valve cover and re-checked valve clearance. All good there.

Even with all of that baselining, the truck barely ran, and would not run at all without full choke. I was about to throw in the towel for the day when I noticed oil oozing out from around the rim of the coil. This let me to believe that I had perhaps cooked the coil when I left the ignition on without the engine running for several minutes. I swapped in a higher-resistance (i.e. non-external resistor) coil, and that seemed to improve things somewhat, but it still was not wanting to idle and still needed choke to fire at all.

Confident in the knowledge that the ignition system was fully dialed, I turned my attention to the carb once again. I had noticed that what I thought was the fuel cutoff solenoid was not wired in at all - there was just a stub of wire sticking out from it. Upon further research, I learned that on the 2-barrel F carb, it's not a fuel cutoff solenoid, but an idle cutoff solenoid. It's supposed to get power whenever the key is on. When it gets 12v, a pin retracts into the body of the solenoid, opening the carb's idle circuit. This is the little bugger right here:

In the above photo, I've added a spade connector to the stub of wire. I tested the solenoid off the carb, and confirmed that it works. I then reinstalled it in the truck. I'm pulling keyed power from the voltage regulator.

Wiring in the idle cutoff solenoid made a dramatic improvement: it would finally idle, even with the choke off. Based on what I've read on this site, it's possible to get the engine to idle without an operational idle cutoff solenoid, but you have to adjust the various idle screws way out of spec. Anyway, getting the solenoid wired in seems to have been time well spent.

Having said that, I'm still not happy with how it is running. There is still a miss and intermittent stumble. I am starting to think that the problems are electrical in nature. Occasionally it will almost die, and then come roaring back to life. It's almost like it's losing all spark briefly, and then bump-starting itself when the spark returns. In an effort to get more consistent spark, I cleaned the contacts on the alternator, and that actually helped more than anything else I've done so far. It's still not 100%, so I'm wondering if my voltage regulator is not working properly. I have noticed that the ammeter in the dash jumps around like crazy, which suggests to me that the VR is not doing its job. Either that or there is a loose/dirty connection somewhere that's causing intermittent current drops to the ignition. Unfortunately I ran the battery down with all this testing, so it's back on the trickle charger for a day or so.

Thanks for reading this lengthy post (if you've made it this far, lol). If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears! Cheers.

 

[middlecalf]

I don’t know, it was running great (“happily”, “smoothly”) and with valves adjusted (all I assume) “back to spec” it then wouldn’t run. You then chased a bunch of issues and corrected them and it runs better but not good enough. I can’t imagine how loose valves overcame all of those issues and then some. So just a guess here (at risk of adding more chaos) but I wonder if you’re in the throws of a dying coil, of which impacts can be progressive as well as regressive. You put on a different coil, but have you measured the resistances to see if it’s in spec?

 

[MatthewMcD]

So, I've spent a few evenings over the past week trying to get this F engine to run properly. After installing the exhaust down pipe and new points (well actually an old set of points that I found in the glove box), the engine idled happily for 25 minutes as i brought it up to temp. I couldn't believe how smoothly it was running. Anyway, once it was warm, I popped off the valve cover and adjusted the valves, most of which were really quite loose. With the valve lash brought back to spec, I started it up, and it would not hold an idle at all, and was misfiring like crazy. This led me down a deep rabbit hole where I went through every system with a fine-toothed comb:

• Pulled the carb (again) and made some adjustments to the float (fuel level was a high in the sight glass). I also pulled the power piston, which seemed to be binding slightly in the bore, and smoothed its sides a little with some 320 grit. No more binding.
• Tested primary resistance on the coil. It was a little low at 1.0 ohms.
• Pulled the distributor and gave it a good cleaning. Re-set the point gap. Tested the vacuum retard function - it seems to work ok. Replaced the oil seal, reinstalled. I also cleaned the contacts in the distributor cap, as there was some corrosion forming that could have impaired the spark. I'm still running what I believe to be the stock dizzy for this truck:

View attachment 3880131
View attachment 3880133

• Set base timing using the static timing method.
• Removed valve cover and re-checked valve clearance. All good there.

Even with all of that baselining, the truck barely ran, and would not run at all without full choke. I was about to throw in the towel for the day when I noticed oil oozing out from around the rim of the coil. This let me to believe that I had perhaps cooked the coil when I left the ignition on without the engine running for several minutes. I swapped in a higher-resistance (i.e. non-external resistor) coil, and that seemed to improve things somewhat, but it still was not wanting to idle and still needed choke to fire at all.

Confident in the knowledge that the ignition system was fully dialed, I turned my attention to the carb once again. I had noticed that what I thought was the fuel cutoff solenoid was not wired in at all - there was just a stub of wire sticking out from it. Upon further research, I learned that on the 2-barrel F carb, it's not a fuel cutoff solenoid, but an idle cutoff solenoid. It's supposed to get power whenever the key is on. When it gets 12v, a pin retracts into the body of the solenoid, opening the carb's idle circuit. This is the little bugger right here:

View attachment 3880144

In the above photo, I've added a spade connector to the stub of wire. I tested the solenoid off the carb, and confirmed that it works. I then reinstalled it in the truck. I'm pulling keyed power from the voltage regulator.

View attachment 3880147

Wiring in the idle cutoff solenoid made a dramatic improvement: it would finally idle, even with the choke off. Based on what I've read on this site, it's possible to get the engine to idle without an operational idle cutoff solenoid, but you have to adjust the various idle screws way out of spec. Anyway, getting the solenoid wired in seems to have been time well spent.

Having said that, I'm still not happy with how it is running. There is still a miss and intermittent stumble. I am starting to think that the problems are electrical in nature. Occasionally it will almost die, and then come roaring back to life. It's almost like it's losing all spark briefly, and then bump-starting itself when the spark returns. In an effort to get more consistent spark, I cleaned the contacts on the alternator, and that actually helped more than anything else I've done so far. It's still not 100%, so I'm wondering if my voltage regulator is not working properly. I have noticed that the ammeter in the dash jumps around like crazy, which suggests to me that the VR is not doing its job. Either that or there is a loose/dirty connection somewhere that's causing intermittent current drops to the ignition. Unfortunately I ran the battery down with all this testing, so it's back on the trickle charger for a day or so.

Thanks for reading this lengthy post (if you've made it this far, lol). If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears! Cheers.

On my '75 the wire for the idle solenoid was wrapped along with the temperature sender wire in the middle of the firewall. It had been cut, but I found it when I unwrapped the wires a bit.

Have you ruled out a vacuum leak? Any time I hear "won't idle without a lot of choke" it's almost always a vacuum leak.

As for your battery, I have one of these permanently wired to my battery.

https://amzn.to/3REVVBz

With the accessory wiring kit: https://amzn.to/4jo280E

Finally, setting your voltage regulator is pretty easy. This thread is the definitive guide to all things VR: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/voltage-regulator-ext-how-it-works.747718/

 

[diesellibrarian]

I don’t know, it was running great (“happily”, “smoothly”) and with valves adjusted (all I assume) “back to spec” it then wouldn’t run. You then chased a bunch of issues and corrected them and it runs better but not good enough. I can’t imagine how loose valves overcame all of those issues and then some. So just a guess here (at risk of adding more chaos) but I wonder if you’re in the throws of a dying coil, of which impacts can be progressive as well as regressive. You put on a different coil, but have you measured the resistances to see if it’s in spec?

I've been wondering about the coil. While I can't say for sure that it's a "known good" coil, it tested at 2.3 ohms primary resistance, which may be a bit on the low side for an internal resistor coil, but to my mind is close enough to spec that it should at least idle.

 

[90WT]

Keep at it. Seems like you are dialing it in little by little.
I'm also curious what sort of vacuum you're pulling. Do you have a vacuum gage yet?