Rivals 78 fj40 Aussie rebuild

[Rivalduke]

Hi all, thought after lurking here for so long I had better start my own build thread.
I have owned a few 4x4,s .
First a 76 fj40 that was my daily for most of my 20,s . Was pretty stock when I got it , ended up with a mild lift and rear ARB locker . Also converted to lpg as was too thirsty and I was too poor .
Did a lot of kms in that truck, had to replace the motor after my brother borrowed it to haul a trailer . He didn't watch the gauges and must have lost a hose and the engine overheated and seized.
Ran a 83 fj60 for even longer , mild lift again and put the locker out the 40 n it. On gas as well.
Did even more kms finally sold it as the rust had eaten the roof pillars and gutter away. Had 333,000 and motor was still strong.
Bought an 93 Defender on a whim to use as a tow car , but always missed the 40.
Restored a 56 series one landrover , back to chassis , loved it but not really usuable as even a weekend car. Too slow and ridiculously rudimentary.
Sold that a few years ago when prices where good , due to the interest caused by the production of current defenders ending.

Was browsing youtube and came accross the icon fj custom stuff. That got me thinking about the old fj40 I had , and then this great forum.

So I began looking for a similar vintage fj40 to my first , with the aim of a rolling resto . Building into a similar spec as before with few upgrages and making it the fj40 my first might have become had I kept it.

Enter the rival40

Yes that is a terrible stencil applied some sort of rattle can camo job.
The good is.
Seems good mechanically , lots of receipts for work done.
Front disc conversion.
Good rear springs ( efs brand ) .
OME shocks only couple years old.
Has both rear jump seats ( wanted at least one , as my original fj40 )

The bad is .
Interior is terrible , awful seats with no adjustment
Dash has been butchered full of holes
Has a bit of rust in the usual spot , worst is bottom of doors and rear sill ( PO was upfront about this so was no surpise ).


As mentioned my original plan was a rolling rest ...... well that went out the window so this thread will document my frame off rebuild .
I am currently up to having just mounted the body back on ( no teaser shots ) , so will tell the story posting when I get time . Hopefully catching up to current events.
I have taken lots of photos , as I find it a great reference when it comes to re-assembly, so this thread will be more pics than words.

Hope my efforts are worthy of this great forum , I have lost count the number of times this forum has helped me answer some fj40 conundrum !

More soon.
Cheers Andrew

 

[fjdiesel]

Welcome, I am pretty new as well. There is a ton of knowledge here. I can't wait to see how the project has evolved. Good luck!

 

[cbmontgo]

Looks like a decent start. Looking forward to it.

 

[Rivalduke]

First thing I did was dig around the bodywork to see how bad or good it was. A PO had done some dodgy repairs, while other repairs were at least welded in patches.

This became a theme for a while. Discover rust / cut out rust / weld in patch / grind smooth.

Rear sill and support frame where probably the worst. Made up a new support frame and sheet metal.

PO had butchered the dash big time.
Before.

Mid repair.

 

[Rivalduke]

Rear lower doors where some awful fibreglass recreations, so decided to use the hinges and make up a drop down tailgate with some storage.

.

Bit more patch and grind.

Started something now ! Might as well put it apart ......

 

[Rivalduke]

PO had some unusual repair techniques. Check out the added sheet metal above the windscreen

My cruiser came with no sunvisor as the PO has installed an overhead shelf, picked up these sun visors same as the ICON ones for the bargain price of ?? $20.00
Even the hole centres on the brackets line up with original holes !

Found this behind the dodgy windscreen add on.

Can it be fixed ... bit of creative metal work later. Well better than it was.

Excuse my random subject matter I tend to work on a few things at once as I maintain enthusiasm for the project easier that way.
I am trying to save or re- use as much as is practical . Keeping it pretty stock mechanically and in look .. with a few mods making it mine.

 

[Rivalduke]

Front edge of bonnet was a bit toasty with rust holes.... more patches..

Hardtop body posts not ideal... cut sheet metal... reinforce post with internal sleeve .. patch sheetmetal..

 

[Rivalduke]

Got a bit fed up doing body work so made a start on my EPS system. After a lot of measuring and checking I was pretty sure I could get it to work on the engine side of the firewall.
Modified the steering column side of the rag joint and welded a splined section that matched the EPS unit.
Modified the firewall column plate to locate and secure the EPS unit.
Made a spline adapter for the steering column.
Tacked it all together and trial fitted and jury rigged the electrics. Amazed that it worked so smoothly. Variable assistance from none to finger easy. Failsafe back to manual effort.

 

[Rivalduke]

Cut out some more rust...

Bought this box of bits.. original air con . Almost complete.

This has to be super rare. Original duct to go with air con to suit RHD.

Progress on body.. Epoxy primer..

 

[Rivalduke]

Oops.. this is the picture of the duct I meant .. The other pic I took before I took the brackets off the original.
The rare as hens teeth duct .

And cleaned up and added to the pile of refurbished bits..

 

[tls3601]

Very nice progress. If I might ask, doing your repairs are you using a MIG welder?

 

[scott fasken]

Hey can you tell us more about your EPS system? Looks very nice.

 

[Rivalduke]

Very nice progress. If I might ask, doing your repairs are you using a MIG welder?

Hi yes using a mig. Set as low as possible and I think currently .9 mm wire. I am not brilliant at welding by any stretch . Better grinder than welder as they say , but not too bad. Trying to avoid distortion it the main issue , so I usually just tack in place , then fill in the gaps letting it cool and then fill in again.. repeat.
Some of the previous repairs where done in zinc sheet, and that was a pain to work around.
Its not going to be a concourse resto , just want to cut as much rust out as possible , and hopefully wont have to revisit it for a good fews years.

Paintwise I would loved to have powdercoated but the bodys just not good enough. I like the finish on the ICON vehicles , also like the look of the Landrover that Raptor did In their product.

I spoke to one of the Aussie reps and after some discussion I am using a thinned out mixture of their product in a conventional spray gun.
I am quite happy with the low sheen / subtle texture finish. The thinned out Raptor liner seems even tougher than the product straight mixed.

I will post some pics shortly as the build thread catches up to that stage.

Cheers Andrew

 

[Rivalduke]

Hey can you tell us more about your EPS system? Looks very nice.

Hi , I pieced the bits together after a bit of research.
The main unit is of a Saturn View which I purchased of ebay. Lots of info on the net about using this component.
The controller which replaces the donor cars wiring and computer is also of ebay. Some guy makes a module gizmo that plugs straight in for this very purpose.
Another online company sells the splined collars to match the EPS unit.
I took apart the rag joint and bored out the centre on my lathe , welded in the splined collar, and faced it off again to made sure it ran true as possible.

I cut the original steering column shaft and that has a collar that also goes over the Saturn vue shaft. That is resrained by two High Tensile 8mm bolts cross drilled at 90 degrees to each other. That is on the Input side of the EPS so is under no great strain.
The original steering column housing tube brackets that attach it to the underside of the dash , I modified and welded those to the column housing. An additional modification to the bottom of the tube and the firewall plate is what locks it also together and mounts the EPS to the vehicle.
The unit is basically sensing the torque input and providing assistance based on the effort required to turn the wheel. So when moving slow its harder to turn so provides more assistance. On the freeway not so much effort required so less assistance given. Its also adjustable from 0 assistance to max via a potentiometer dial.

I think you can also get a true speed sensitive version which requires some other inputs , ie wheel speed etc. But I think this version will be fine for ithe Fj40.

I wont be going bigger than 33,s so I dont think will be too much strain. As I mentioned before if the unit fails it just has no assistance and returns to manual input only.

Hope that answers a few questions.
Super cheap project only a few hundred for all the bits.
I did consider mountingnit under the dash as per the off the shelf unit you can buy, but just didn't seem to fit anywhere on my Aussie RHD .

Cheers Andrew

 

[Rivalduke]

Old school ARB bar was a bit mangled and outer ends a bit thin with rust, so a bit of a trim and removal of the underside tubes and should be half presentable once sandblasted and powder coated.

Did a split fan shroud mod.

Bit more epoxy primer on tub.

Removing the gas system that was fitted , never liked the gas tank under the back.
Typical of how they fit tye tanks the rear underfloor croos brace has been oxy cut back to level with the floor in an attempt to get the tank as hig as possible.
I hung my old shorty up a number of times on the tank that had fitted , and always made me nervous.
Means I can fit an original air filter setupmas well.
Probably make an auxillary petrol tank under the rear that is suitably shaped and protected.

 

[Rivalduke]

Renovation of the blower motor.

Got some bits back from the powdercoaters.

Some color at last on the hood .

Part of the aircon stash . Need to find a manual to figure how it all fits in I have the loom that goes with it , but not sure how it integrates with the existing or if it does at all.

 

[Rivalduke]

Some color on the tub.

Raptor lined under and inside .

Started cleaning up some engine parts .. Inlet manifold cleaned up..

Excuse the chicken ..

 

[Rivalduke]

Got some Raptor liner on the transmission hump.
Kept the original insulation intact , kind of like the look and the nod to originality.

Cleaning up the brake booster , seems all in good condition apart from the seal between brake booster and cylinder.

First of the silver restored bits to go on, so good to finally be assembling some bits after nothing but taking stuff apart.

Tailgate painted and put back together .

More updates soon.

 

[rrv333]

Great work! That front bumper is quite impressive

 

[Rivalduke]

Got some rust blowout on the rear spring hangers to deal with. Will remove and clean up and bolt back together.

Some previous owner had converted the rear axle to later model self adjusting drums of a hj45. Bit of a hack job so will have to tidy up the conversion.

Cleaned up the AC controller

Cleaning up the AC underdash unit.

Cut up and modifying a PTO gear in preperation for a mcnamara type mod to the output gear. My transfer case is not a split case so I have have a plan for getting the extended spline to work inside the case seeing as it wont go thru the PTO opening.